|
Archive
issue
|
NewsInauguration
honors Todd Inauguration honors ToddNew president inducted officially with events set for mid-February. The University of Kentucky is preparing to inaugurate as its 11th president Lee T. Todd Jr. in a gala ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Feb. 15 in Memorial Coliseum. Todd, a UK graduate and former UK engineering professor who started two successful computer-related companies after leaving his UK faculty position, became the University's president July 1, 2001. UK professors and other officials will be in full academic dress for a procession into Memorial Coliseum on Euclid Avenue preceding the inaugural ceremony. Inauguration attendance is free and open to the public and will include music by the UK Orchestra and participation by UK Board of Trustee members led by Chairperson Billy Joe Miles. President Todd will welcome inaugural guests and participants at a 1 p.m. reception following the ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the UK Student Center. The reception also is free and open to the public. The formal inauguration caps two days of inaugural events on the UK campus in Lexington. On Thursday, Feb. 14, Molly C. Broad, president of the University of North Carolina, will deliver an Inaugural Convocation address at 1 p.m. in the Singletary Center for the Arts. The free Inaugural Concert will begin at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Singletary Center, featuring music from the UK Opera Theatre under the direction of voice Professor Everett McCorvey. UK voice students under McCorvey's direction will be accompanied by the UK Symphony Orchestra conduced by Robert Baldwin. On Thursday evening, the Presidential Inaugural Student Gala will begin at 9 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel. Students and members of the University community are welcome. Free tickets are available through the UK Student Activities Board. February events highlight African-American culture at UKFeb. 7 Morris Dees 7 p.m., Singletary Center for the Arts. Free. Sponsor: Student Activities Board.
Feb. 8 Carter G. Woodson Lecture Series Roger Cleveland, Kentucky Department of Education, "Through Black Eyes: African-American Students' Perception of the Achievement Gap," 4 p.m., 230 UK Student Center. Free. Sponsor: African-American Studies and Research Program, UK Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center.
Feb. 21 Kathy A. Perkins: "Making Theater for Change: Women and ëTheatre for Development' in Africa" 12:30-1:30 p.m., Briggs Theatre, 127 Fine Arts Building. Free. Sponsors: UK Women's Studies Program and Theatre Department.
Feb. 28 Wayne Shorter Quartet 8 p.m., Singletary Center for the Arts. Tickets: $17. Sponsor: African-American Student Affairs, Student Activities Board. TopGround broken for new science research buildingBiomedical/biological sciences will be focus of new facility. The University of Kentucky broke ground Jan. 7 for the new Biomedical/ Biological Sciences Research Building. Construction on the $67.2 million, 185,000-square-foot building is scheduled to begin this spring, with completion in the spring of 2004. The four-story building will be located on South Limestone Street across from the Kentucky Clinic.
Celebrating the occasion with UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and chairperson of the UK Board of Trustees Billy Joe Miles were Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton and Lexington Mayor Pam Miller. The building will provide state-of-the-art space for researchers in the fields of neurosciences, which will include the development of a Neurosciences Institute (including the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center and sensory biology), genetics and genomics, and vaccine development and host resistance. The Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research Building is the first development of the UK's West Campus. The Kentucky General Assembly approved $39 million for the building, with the remaining funding provided by the University. This represents the largest capital project UK has ever undertaken. "This new facility reflects the University's commitment to promote human and economic development through the extension and application of knowledge and to continue to develop distinguished researchers," Todd said. "Research in this facility will greatly contribute to important scientific advances as well as to regional economic development." Along with contributing to scientific advances, UK's research program also plays a critical role in regional economic development and has a tremendous impact on the state's economy. According to a model by the UK Center for Business and Economic Research, research grants and contracts from out-of-state sources resulted in a $327.7 million contribution to the Kentucky economy in fiscal year 2000-2001. UK Mortar Board received national honorAward recognizes leadership, service, scholarship excellence. The University of Kentucky's Mortar Board Staff and Crown Chapter has received the Silver Torch Award from the national Mortar Board organization. The Silver Torch is Mortar Board's second highest award for a chapter. Only 28 chapters received this honor from among the 200 chapters nationwide. The award recognizes chapters for their excellence in supporting the ideals of Mortar Board - scholarship, leadership and service. This is the first time UK Mortar Board has received the award. "It took hard work and dedication to get where we are now," said Michael O'Dea, president of UK Mortar Board. "We still have a long road ahead of us, but maybe next year, we will receive the highest honor - the Golden Torch." Established nationally in 1918 as an all-female honor society for students in their senior year, Mortar Board has grown to include 200,000 members at 211 schools. Men were admitted in 1975. The UK Mortar Board chapter was founded in 1920 and has 34 members this year. Womenıs commission holds issues forumsSpeakouts will be held at UK Student Center, Medical Center. The University of Kentucky President's Commission on Women will host "It's About Women! A Brown Bag Speakout" on three days in January and February to listen to ideas and concerns about issues of gender. The commission is especially seeking suggestions on expanding opportunities, ensuring equitable compensation, promoting female employees, fostering a hospitable climate and increasing institutional accountability. The speakouts will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 23 in the UK Student Center Theater and Jan. 30 in the UK Hospital Auditorium, HG611. Another will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5 in the UK Hospital Auditorium, HG 611. For more information, contact the commission at women@email.uky.edu or 257-3493. UK
student wins doctoral manuscript award for 2002
|
|
Submitted |
As part of a health care partnership with Pereyaslavska, Russia, the UK team, led by Elizabeth Schulman, an assistant professor in the UK Division of Health Services Management, opened a community health education center recently.
"The primary purpose of the Health Education Center is to provide community residents with an opportunity to easily access health education and promotion materials," Schulman said.
The center is equipped with anatomical medical models, computers with Internet access and healthy lifestyle information. In addition, renovated classroom space will enable medical personnel to present educational seminars to the public.
By the end of the next fiscal year, Schulman said she hopes to have a women's wellness center open within the local hospital to help with family planning and sexually transmitted disease treatment.
UK's colleges of Allied Health Professions, Medicine and Nursing, along with UK's Center for Rural Health, based in Hazard, and the Kentucky Department for Public Health, formed a health care partnership with Russia in 1999. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, and coordinated by the American International Health Alliance, the partnership between Pereyaslavska, a rural town in far Eastern Russia, and UK aims to improve rural health care in an area of Russia that has many of the same demographic features as Eastern Kentucky. Schulman is the lead investigator on the project.
"We are very pleased with the progress of our partnership and the concrete accomplishments that we have attained thus far. All of our activities are focused on and contribute to our overall partnership goal of improving the health status of the people living in the Lazo Region in far Eastern Russia," Schulman said.
The Kentucky Geological Survey at the University of Kentucky has released a new map that provides valuable insight into the regional geology of Central Kentucky.
The "Geologic Map of the Harrodsburg 30 by 60 Minute Quadrangle, Central Kentucky," by Thomas Sparks, Garland Dever and Warren Anderson is the first map in a new 1:100,000-scale series published by KGS. Although geologic maps of the state are available from KGS at the generalized scales of 1:250,000 and 1:500,000, the new 1:100,000-scale series is an intermediate scale that provides a high degree of accuracy and detail, as well as a fresh perspective on regional trends in geology.
"There is tremendous potential for exciting discoveries about the geology of Kentucky to be revealed as geologists begin to use this new map and others to be published in the 1:100,000-scale series in the near future," said KGS Director and State Geologist James Cobb.
The Harrodsburg map encompasses a 1,885-square-mile area, which includes all or parts of 15 counties that together have more than half a million people and the towns of Nicholasville, Harrodsburg, Danville, Berea, Richmond and Winchester. In addition to the paper copy of the map, the map data are available in digital data sets on CD-ROM.
"Although geologic maps are not common household items, the problems that can be addressed using them are common. This new map of the geology of Central Kentucky will be ideal for regional and county-level planning, such as building highways, managing watersheds, restoring wetlands, planning land use and reducing the risk of geologic hazards," Cobb said.
The Harrodsburg map is available for $10 from the KGS Publication Sales Office at the University of Kentucky or by calling 257-3896. For information about the map and the KGS digital mapping program, contact Warren Anderson at 257-5500 ext. 151 or anderson@kgs.mm.uky.edu, or visit the KGS Web site at www.uky.edu/KGS/digitalmapping.
At its December meeting, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved several changes to the University's retirement plan.
The changes were in the Mandatory 403(b) Retirement Plan, the Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Plan and the Voluntary 457(b) Retirement Plan.
Mandatory 403(b) Retirement Plan
The one-year waiting period for new regular full-time employees has been eliminated. The plan continues to be mandatory for all regular full-time employees who are 30 years of age and voluntary for employees under 30.
Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Plan
The Voluntary Retirement Plan is for employees who choose to tax defer additional salary beyond the Mandatory 403(b) Retirement Plan.
- Salary reduction limits have changed beginning Jan. 1.
- The Maximum Exclusion Allowance calculation has been eliminated. Employees can defer up to $11,000 for 2002 (or up to 100 percent of their salary).
- Employees over age 50 can contribute an additional $1,000 ($12,000 total).
Voluntary 457(b) Retirement Plan
The Board of Trustees also adopted a 457(b) deferred compensation plan for voluntary supplemental retirement contributions. This plan is similar to the voluntary 403(b) plan. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 has changed the nature of the relationship between contributions that are made to both a 403(b) and 457(b) plan in the same year. Prior to Jan. 1, contributions made to both a 403(b) and 457(b) plan were subject to the 457(b) limit, meaning there was no real advantage in participating in both plans. Effective Jan. 1, contributions made to a 457(b) plan are in addition to the maximum allowable contributions that are allowed under 403(b) ($11,000 voluntary, $40,000 overall).
For more information about these changes, contact UK Benefits at 257-9519 or benefits@email.uky.edu.
On Jan. 11, University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. announced a significant increase in the scope and impact of health education in Kentucky, which ranks near the bottom in nearly all health-status indicators.
|
George Lewis
|
Health Education through Extension Leadership, or HEEL, represents a new partnership between the UK College of Medicine and its Kentucky School of Public Health, and the College of Agriculture and its Cooperative Extension Service, which provides professional staff in all 120 Kentucky counties.
This partnership is made possible, in part, through earmarked funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. HEEL will be funded at the level of $800,000 for the fiscal year 2001-2002. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led the effort to secure the funding.
"This funding would not have come to UK or to Kentucky had it not been for Sen. McConnell directing it to us," Todd said.
"I believe that all Kentuckians, whether they live in a small town or a big city, should have access to basic health care information," Sen. McConnell said. "I worked hard to bring this funding home, and I am excited that UK students and researchers will be leading the fight to improve the quality of health of all Kentuckians."
HEEL, in combination with current programs in rural health services and wellness education programs, is meant to enhance Cooperative Extension agents' capacity to deliver health education statewide.
"Extension agents throughout the state are in daily contact with individuals and families. They have tremendous credibility and a forum to mobilize communities to improve their health," Todd said.
The program will function through health education specialists who will collaborate with Extension agents, health departments, school systems and community organizations throughout the state to take basic health education to the public. The specialists and Extension agents will apply the latest science-based strategy, technology and programs that have shown evidence of effectiveness in producing health behavior change and mobilizing communities to improve their health. A national search is under way for HEEL faculty administrators, who will be jointly appointed in the Kentucky School of Public Health and the College of Agriculture.
Todd said HEEL is an example of the way he likes to see the University combine academics and outreach to serve the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky.
"This marks a new beginning and a new partnership," he said. "We're going to provide a link that's been missing between the research and academics of the University and the health issues of the people of the Commonwealth. What has been lacking is the availability of health education specialists to work with Extension agents to modify citizens' health behaviors, both individually and on a community-wide basis."
Todd noted statistics that show Kentucky with abnormally high incidences of death related to cancers, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disease. For example, according to UK Markey Cancer Center data:
- Kentucky's cancer mortality rate for 1994 through 1998 was 12 percent higher than the national rate.
- Kentucky's lung cancer incidence rate is about 50 percent higher than the national rate.
- Kentucky's invasive cervical cancer incidence rate is about 40 percent higher than the national rate.
The Interlibrary Loan Unit of the William T. Young Library is offering a new service called ILLiad, and the library's Document Delivery Unit is offering a new service called Book Express to University of Kentucky students and employees.
ILLiad, short for Interlibrary Loan Internet accessible database, provides a Web interface for eligible individuals to use the library's ILL service to request materials not available at UK Libraries. First-time users are required to submit a simple registration form, choosing a user name and password. For all future requests, the customer need only submit a request form for the material. Access through ILLiad allows users to not only submit requests, but also track transactions, place renewals and receive updates and incoming articles as electronic copies.
ILLiad also allows the staff to automate many more functions and to keep an electronic database of records instead of paper files.
"These time-saving features will allow staff to process requests more quickly and provide a better turnaround time for researchers," said Barb Hale, head of access services at Young Library.
To register and use the ILLiad service, visit illiad.uky.edu/ WTYILL. For more information on Interlibrary Loan borrowing policies and procedures, see www.uky.edu/Libraries/illpolicy.html.
Book Express is a free service for UK faculty and staff that allows library staff to locate and retrieve requested items from the circulating book collections of Young Library. The materials then are placed on hold for pick-up at the Young Library circulation desk. Requests may be submitted using the online form at www.uky.edu/Libraries/ddbe.html.
Other features of the service include referral to Interlibrary Loan if the UK library material is lost or missing, notification of material availability within 24 hours of submitting requests and placing a hold/recall on titles that are charged to other users.
Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery staff welcome comments on these and other services offered. Contact the offices in Young Library, first floor/Core 1, or send an e-mail to bshale@uky.edu.
The University of Kentucky Center for Health Services Management and Research and the UK College of Medicine Department of Family Practice have received a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that will help strengthen research competitiveness.
The $623,052 grant will fund three family practice faculty for a two-year fellowship to build research skills and conduct pilot research studies.
Awarded through AHRQ's Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity program, the grant is intended to enhance the competitiveness for research funding among institutions located in states where successful applications for funding historically has been low.
"The BRIC fellowships provide an important opportunity to develop primary care researchers and foster research partnerships between Kentucky family physicians and UK faculty in family practice and health services research," said Joyce Beaulieu, UK Center for Health Services Management and Research. "Research projects to be conducted will enhance our knowledge of primary care and, ultimately, improve the quality of primary care for Kentuckians."
UK was selected for one of six grants awarded from 24 applicants. More than $1.7 million was given to institutions in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Utah and a consortium involving Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
Results from the Warfarin versus Aspirin Recurrent Stroke Study show that warfarin and aspirin are comparable in their ability to prevent recurrent strokes in patients who have had a prior ischemic stroke and who did not have atrial fibrillation.
The University of Kentucky Stroke Program, co-administered by the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and the Department of Neurology, UK College of Medicine, participated in the eight-year study sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
"This study reaffirms the role of aspirin, a simple, low-cost treatment that has few side effects, in the prevention of the nation's third most common killer," said L. Creed Pettigrew, professor of neurology and director of the UK Stroke Program.
After a decade of earlier research that verified the drug's benefit, physicians now routinely prescribe the blood thinner warfarin to prevent first and recurrent strokes in individuals who have atrial fibrillation, a condition characterized by an irregular and rapid heart rhythm. People with atrial fibrillation are at risk higher for stroke. Because warfarin use has been connected to hemorrhages, many physicians have been hesitant to use it.
Until now there has been no research about warfarin's value compared to aspirin in the prevention of stroke in the majority of people who do not have atrial fibrillation but have had a prior ischemic stroke.
Although both drugs provide a reduction in the risk of having another stroke, this study showed that each year at least 8 percent of patients taking either warfarin or aspirin still would have another stroke. Further research is ongoing to develop new methods to reduce this continuing recurrence rate.
Study suggestions help improve campus library services.
University of Kentucky Libraries has been busy during the past year monitoring suggestions, holding focus groups and participating in a quality survey to help improve service within its system.
"Many improvements already have been put into place thanks to the responses of our faculty and students," said Mary Molinaro, William T. Young Library director.
Improvements are ongoing, as is the survey process, she said. The survey helps participating libraries identify the best practices in library service and allows libraries to share strategies for improving service quality.
The study, which measures users' expectations and perceptions of service quality, is a research and development project undertaken by the Association of Research Libraries in collaboration with Texas A&M University with financial support from the federal Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. ARL is an organization of more than 120 of the largest research libraries in North America. More than 20,000 people representing 43 academic research libraries completed the survey during spring 2001. A sample of UK faculty, graduate students and undergraduates were sent an e-mail invitation to participate in the Web-based survey; 801 completed the survey.
"Traditional measures of research libraries are quantitative and consist of factors such as number of volumes held, number of serial titles, total number of staff and size of budget," said Judy Wiza, who heads the survey effort at UK. "The current study measures service quality and responds to the increasing demand for libraries to demonstrate outcomes in areas important to the institution and the increasing pressure to maximize use of resources."
The UK library system was at the median for all 43 libraries in "Overall Satisfaction," "Satisfaction with Service Affect" and "Support for Scholarly Efforts."
Eight UK benchmarks participated in the study. UK Libraries ranked at the median score among the participating benchmarks for total perceived service quality and for the four major factors: Affect, Library as Place, Personal Control/Self-Reliance and Information Access. The survey identified several areas where UK Libraries can improve service quality, and many improvements already have been made. The changes have included:
- New signage in Young Library.
- More journals available electronically.
- New copiers, including color copiers, in the UK Chandler Medical Center Library.
- Young Library Drive now open for 5-minute stops.
- More instruction available, including drop-in tours and instruction at the William T. Young Library.
- Young Reference Desk hours extended to 10 p.m.
- Replacing missing books and filling gaps in collection.
- Copyright permissions service available.
- Improved microform services including free printing.
- Projects to improve catalog quality.
- Return books at any library location.
- Improved Web pages.
- Drinks in spill-proof containers now permitted in Young Library.
- Book drops open all the time.
- Electronic reserves available.
- Message board.
- New technology system for interlibrary loan requests.
- Book Express service.
This spring, UK Libraries is participating again in the service quality survey, with some 171 libraries nationwide.
|
Submitted |
"Sunlight and Shadow: American Impressionism 1885-1945," an exhibition including 78 impressionist works rendered in oil, watercolor and pastels, and dating from 1885 to 1945, is on display at the University of Kentucky Art Museum through March 10.
Although it focuses on impressionist landscape painting, the exhibit is not entirely made up of landscapes, but also contains still-life and portrait paintings. A private collector through the Fuller Art Museum of Brockton, Mass., has loaned this exhibition. With the assistance of Smith Kramer Inc., a fine arts service company in Kansas City, Mo., the exhibition will travel to 20 museums across the United States in the next two years.
In conjunction with "Sunlight and Shadow," the Art Museum's Education Department has organized an exhibition of related works from the museum's permanent collection. "Around the Corner: Selections from the Collection" showcases paintings, works on paper and photographs made between 1885 and 1945. "Around the Corner" will be on display in the UK museum's Richard B. Freeman Gallery through March 3.
For general museum information, call 257-5716 or visit the museum Web site at www.uky.edu/ArtMuseum.
