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recruiting pays off with record-breaking enrollment Aggressive recruiting pays off with record-breaking enrollmentACT scores, GPA also improve
The University of Kentucky has a record 34,182 students on campus for the 2002 fall semester, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year. The all-time high enrollment for the undergraduate, graduate and professional colleges, UK Chandler Medical Center colleges and Lexington Community College includes increases in virtually all academic areas and an 18 percent surge of freshmen. "I am very pleased with these numbers," said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. "I couldn't be more pleased with the demand for UK's academic services. I attribute much of our success in this area to the hard work of the staff members in our Office of Undergraduate Admission and University Registrar." Acting Provost Michael Nietzel attributed much of the jump in undergraduate enrollments to two sources – scholarships being made available to all Governor's Scholars and Governor's School for the Arts students, and the implementation of the Legacy Tuition Program, which allows children of UK alumni living out of state to attend the university at the in-state tuition rate. "Offering scholarships to all Governor's Scholars and Governor's School for the Arts students turned out to be extremely successful," Nietzel said. He added that the number of Governor's Scholars attending UK this year more than doubled from the previous year. The quality and the quantity of the fall 2002 freshman class showed gains with 3,722 students enrolled contrasted with 3,140 the previous year. The class includes 272 Governor's Scholars and Governor's School for the Arts students, 79 Legacy students, 148 high school class valedictorians, 51 National Merit Scholars, one National Achievement Scholar and one National Hispanic Scholar. The middle 50 percent of the ACT scores of the entering freshmen shows a composite of 22-27, above the national averages of 17-24 and equal to many of UK's benchmarks. The middle 50 percent grade point averages of the new students were 3.2-3.9, an increase over last year's 3.2-3.8. "It should be noted that it is very difficult to increase class size and also improve the quality of students, but we have done that with this freshman class," Nietzel said. Lexington Community College continues its growth. LCC is up another 6 percent in enrollment with 8,291 students. Last year LCC ranked fifth on the list of the nation's top 50 fastest growing public two-year colleges with enrollments between 5,000 and 9,999 students. The preliminary figures show that increased enrollment is prevalent in virtually every academic area. Areas with notable enrollment increases include agriculture, arts and sciences, communications and information studies, engineering, and nursing. In other examples of growth, both international and non-resident student enrollment and graduate school enrollment at UK increased by 7 percent. Most notably, the College of Engineering saw an increase of 36 percent in the number of students pursuing a doctorate, the College of Nursing saw an increase of 19 percent and the College of Social Work experienced a 20 percent increase in its master's program. "We are very excited about the increases in engineering, nursing and social work," said Nietzel. "These are all areas that are state priorities and are important for the economic development and the physical and social well-being of our citizens." The number of female students in the freshman class outpaced the number of male students (54 to 46 percent). Overall African-American enrollment increased by 2 percent. "The university has worked very hard and has been very proactive in its recruitment of minority students," said Nietzel. "Our admission office and the Office of Minority Affairs have worked closely together to focus and enhance recruitment efforts." "The positive enrollment news is a direct result of the 'team philosophy' that is very pervasive across the entire campus, from recruiting, orientation, advising, to registration and matriculation," said Don Witt, director of undergraduate admission and university registrar. Faculty, staff and the administration have all contributed to this year's success." Newtown Pike extension route unveiledThe route for a proposed Newtown Pike extension through to South Broadway and the University of Kentucky was announced by state, city and University of Kentucky officials Sept. 5. The extension would reach the UK campus in two places – at the Avenue of Champions (Euclid Avenue) and at Administration Drive. Officials from local, state and federal governments and the University of Kentucky signed a set of "guiding principles" to direct the project. The principles require that the project must improve downtown traffic patterns and access to the University of Kentucky and south Lexington, as well as address the needs of current Davistown, Irishtown and Pralltown residents, particularly in the creation of affordable housing.
"We've been talking about extending Newtown Pike since the 1970s, but in earlier plans the needs of the neighborhoods were ignored," said Mayor Pam Miller. "In this plan, the redevelopment of the neighborhood will go hand-in-hand with construction of the road." Miller said Davistown, Irishtown and Pralltown will be improved through the Newtown Pike Extension planning process. She added thatinput from the affected neighborhoods will be a cornerstone of the plan. Dorothy Coleman, a neighborhood liaison who is working for the project, was also introduced at the news conference. Coleman will have an office in the Carver Center, 522 Patterson St. She will facilitate the neighborhood goals of including affordable housing opportunities for existing residents, sewer improvements and highway design features such as medians, sidewalks and bikeways. James C. Codell, secretary of the state Transportation Cabinet, predicted the comprehensive project will become a national model for urban planners. "When completed, this roadway will provide a new gateway to the very front door of the University of Kentucky from the interstate highways," said UK President Lee Todd. "It will dramatically augment vehicular and pedestrian access through Scott Street directly to the driveway of the university, thus providing a highly desirable new link with the downtown district and the Urban Village neighborhood being discussed here today." The 1.25-mile extension will make a sweeping arch through existing neighborhoods to Patterson Street. There it will split, with one leg proceeding on to South Broadway at Bolivar. The second leg, several blocks to the south, will bridge over South Broadway at Scott Street and continue on down Scott to provide a new entranceway for UK. Because portions of the proposed road will use the right-of-way abandoned by the Norfolk-Southern Railroad, only about 10 to 11 houses lie in its direct path. After an extensive planning process, construction is expected to begin in 2006. Funding will come from the local, state and federal governments. The road portion of the project is expected to cost approximately $35 million. Costs of the total redevelopment are still being estimated. UK ranked in top 50 public national universitiesThe University of Kentucky was listed in the top 50 public national universities in rankings released Sept. 13 by U.S. News & World Report magazine. UK was tied with two other schools – Michigan Technological University and the University of Arizona – for the 50th place in the often-cited U.S. News annual issue of national rankings of colleges and universities. The University of California-Berkeley was listed number one in the ranking, which rates schools with doctoral programs. The University of Virginia was ranked number two. Tied for third place were the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. This is the first time UK has broken into the top 50 in the U.S. News rankings, and it is the only Kentucky public institution so ranked. U.S. News judges universities' rankings by assessment of administrators at peer institutions, retention of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and graduation rate performance (the proportion of students expected to graduate and the proportion who actually do). "The university is pleased with this recognition and we believe it reflects the high quality of the faculty at UK as well as the success the institution is having educating its students," said Michael T. Nietzel, UK acting provost. "The rating indicates that the university's improving graduation rates and overall quality of students are being recognized and rewarded at the national level," he added. |
Abraham Salazar shows a supercomputer simulation of a prototype developed to recapture automobile paint. |
The H-P Superdome supercomputer handles 700 billion calculations per second, enabling researchers across campus to obtain results more quickly. Research areas that are benefiting from the supercomputer include biochemistry, pharmacy, medicine, mechanical engineering, physics and astronomy, and others.
"The computer has become the laboratory," said Gene Williams, vice president for fiscal affairs and information systems.
UK's supercomputer also has implications beyond this campus. The supercomputer is connected to a network that permits researchers across the country and around the world to use it in their work.
"For 15 years, UK has aggressively established itself as a major national center for supercomputing. Our acquisition of this machine, along with our plans to make another upgrade next spring, signals a continuing and deepening commitment to providing the tools that our scientific and academic researchers need to expand the boundaries of knowledge," said John Connolly, director of UK's Center for Computational Sciences.
UK's supercomputer ranks 109th among the world's military, governmental, industrial and academic supercomputers, and eighth among American universities, according to a semi-annual listing prepared by the University of Tennessee and Mannheim University, Germany.
Connolly said about 300 researchers, all but 75 on UK's campus, have used the supercomputer. The research ranges from critical projects on investigating causes and potential cures for cancer to developing industrial applications for capturing excess paint in automobile manufacturing.
Kozo Saito, a mechanical engineering professor and director of the Paint Technology Consortium in the Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems, uses the supercomputer to perform research through simulations. His work has helped Toyoto Motor Manufacturing Co. to develop new equipment to make automobile painting more efficient.
"I appreciate the support that UK gives to research," said Saito.
H. Peter Spielmann, associate professor of biochemistry in the UK College of Medicine, uses the supercomputer's enhanced technological capabilities and memory capacity to conduct complex research in cancer. Genetic research such as his may one day allow researchers to better understand cell damage, and thus, more effectively treat the disease. Specifically, Spielmann uses the technology to create simulations of DNA molecules, much like "DNA movies." Using the "movies," his research team tracks the complicated movements of between 10,000 and 20,000 atoms in less than one second. The simulations allow the scientist to see each and every atom, an impossible task without the aid of powerful computing capacity.
"The supercomputer allows us to conduct research that is applicable to all types of cancer," Spielmann said.
Thirteen researchers at other Kentucky universities also access the supercomputer: nine at the University of Louisville, three at Transylvania University and one at Eastern Kentucky University.
Connolly said the university's investment in the supercomputer – about $1.3 million in fiscal 2001-2002 – has helped the university attract more than $5.5 million in research grants over the same period. Since 1997, the University has invested nearly $6.5 million in upgrading its supercomputers, while researchers using the equipment have received grants exceeding $14.5 million.
The computer's power is more than 1,000 times greater than the fastest desktop computers now available, he said. The supercomputer uses 224 processors and offers 448 gigabytes of random access memory and 5 trillion bytes of disk space.
UK officials plan another computer equipment upgrade within the next year, Connolly said. In all likelihood, that machine will be able to handle more than 1 trillion calculations per second.
Students from Boyle, Casey, Garrard, Lincoln and Mercer counties now have a financial incentive to attend medical school at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
Scholarship funds are being established in each of these counties to assist with educational expenses for students from these Central Kentucky counties. The scholarships originated from a generous endowment from Michael Rankin. Rankin, who grew up on a farm in Lincoln County and graduated from Hustonville High School in 1967, obtained a degree in engineering in 1971 from UK and graduated from UK's College of Medicine in 1980.
He retired to Boyle County after operating a successful practice in Atlanta, Ga. The scholarships are designed to attract students from rural communities to attend the UK College of Medicine. The state's Research Challenge Trust Fund is expected to match Rankin's gift, and he is looking for additional funding.
"In the last 10 years, seven Lincoln County students were accepted into the UK College of Medicine," Rankin said. "Apparently, lack of financial resources was the factor in losing other students that might have been interested. The same is true for other area counties. We don't need to let finances stand in the way of these young folks joining this exciting career and returning to their home counties to practice medicine."
Rankin issued a challenge to physicians and residents in this five-county area to donate additional funds to help local students attend medical school.
The long-term goal of establishing these scholarships is to provide a continuing source of new physicians to Central Kentucky. By providing opportunities for young people in these counties to receive medical training, there is an increased chance they will return to their hometown to practice. In the past 10 years, only 13 students from Lincoln County have applied to UK's College of Medicine. This effort is designed to dramatically increase that number.
Physicians, medical practices and concerned citizens of Boyle, Casey, Garrard, Lincoln and Mercer counties are invited to participate in establishing medical scholarships for students from these communities.
"I'm quite pleased to be participating in the scholarship activities at the UK College of Medicine and thrilled that Dr. Rankin has issued this challenge for our community's medical future," said John R. Price, who chairs this effort in Casey County.
If you would like to help recruit and return young physicians to your community, please call Price at (606) 787-6246 or Susannah Denomme at the UK College of Medicine Development Office, (859) 323-6415.
The Performance Development Partnership (PDP) Task Force is entering the final phase of its evaluation of PDP. The Task force will recommend whether to keep PDP, modify it or replace it as a method to evaluate employees at the University of Kentucky.
The task force has held six open forums and 10 focus groups. Using the information gathered from those meetings, the task force wrote a survey, which it mailed to about 1,200 randomly selected staff members and their supervisors. Task force chairperson Nancy Johnson wants to encourage those who received the surveys to complete and return it to the task force members.
"We've learned a lot about what staff thinks about PDP through the open forums, focus groups and e-mails, but the survey will help us discern whether or not these views are widespread," said Johnson, who teaches in the Gatton College of Business and Economics.
The task force will compile information taken from the surveys and draft a report, which will be posted in early October on the task force Web site. A final report with recommendations on the fate of PDP is likely to be completed by the end of the semester, Johnson said.
A specialist in human resource management, Johnson said the goal of any performance evaluation process is to help employees do their best. It should also lead to an understanding of institutional barriers that hinder performance, she said.
For more information, including a list of task force members, summaries of the forums and focus groups, and minutes of task force meetings, visit gatton.uky.edu/PDPTaskForce/.
Randy Weckman, associate professor in the new Community and Leadership Development Department in the College of Agriculture, serves watermelon to Amanda Osborne (center), senior in agricultural economics, and Alison Smith (left), graduate student in agricultural education. |
Students joined with faculty and staff on September 4 for a Watermelon Bust to celebrate the formation of the Department of Community and Leadership Development in the UK College of Agriculture.
The new department combines faculty from rural sociology, agricultural education, agricultural communications, and program and staff development into one academic department. Department personnel mingled with students and other guests over slices of watermelon on the plaza outside the W.P. Garrigus Building.
According to Gary Hansen, chair of the new department, the UK Faculty Senate approved the formation of the department last spring.
"We share a lot of common interests and can accomplish more in terms of outreach to the state, instructional programs and research by being in one department," Hansen said. "What we are doing is really in line with the new emphasis of the University on outreach to the state."
The department is the home of the undergraduate degree in agricultural education, communication and leadership.
"It was a great program to begin with, but, with the new department, possibilities for agriculture majors have broadened," said Lori Bigelow, agricultural communications senior.
Julie Zimmerman, assistant Extension professor, sees the department opening new opportunities and bringing new energy to community and leadership development.
"I see the partnership bringing a new visibility," she said. "Because of that visibility, it offers up new opportunities to collaborate across campus with other aspects of the University in new ways."
University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging gerontological social workers Terri Kanatzar and Marie Smart will participate in a free elder care seminar from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library. "Elder Care 101," sponsored by Lexington Family Magazine, is designed to help community members better understand the elder care services available in the area. In addition, the magazine is sponsoring an Elder Care Facility Tour Nov. 2-3. For more information, contact Lexington Family Magazine at 223-1765.
Through a partnership with a locally owned and nationally recognized data and software firm, the University of Kentucky is developing innovative technology to improve health care throughout the Commonwealth.
Data Futures Inc., (DFI) based in Harlan and founded in 1983, has partnered with the UK Center for Rural Health, as well as UK employees, to develop efficient, inexpensive and innovative health care programs and services.
This collaboration of business, health care, research and education has yielded two programs that provide more effective systems for reaching Kentucky's low income and underinsured populations.
A long-time UK employee, Elmer Whitler, director, Division of Research, Technology, and Workforce, UK Center for Rural Health, has been instrumental in developing one of these programs – he worked with DFI to develop software for the Kentucky Homeplace Program's new pen tab computers. Whitler had come in contact with pen tab technology in use at the UK Chandler Medical Center, and thought that it was an ideal technology for lay health care workers. Through working with DFI, Whitler jumpstarted a program in which UK employees use pen tab technology to collect patient data and record it accurately and efficiently with minimal chance of error.
DFI also designed the management information system for the Southeast Kentucky Community Access Program, in partnership with Harlan Countians for a Healthier Community and Hazard Perry County Community Ministries. This unique management information system collects data from a variety of sources to address all aspects of health care for a target group of clients - uninsured and underinsured Kentucky residents with specific ambulatory care sensitive diseases.
DFI has responded to requests nationwide for their new software and is developing even more software to make providing services to low income populations less expensive and more efficient.
In addition to local and statewide projects, the company also has gained notoriety on the national level and is in the process of establishing a dealer network to provide local and regional service throughout the nation.
DFI recently received the 2002 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award, an annual honor that recognizes outstanding achievement in economic success and community involvement, from the Eastern Kentucky University College of Business and Technology.
For more information, please contact Judy Jones, UK Center for Rural Health, at (606) 439-3557.
A University of Kentucky College of Dentistry researcher recently received a grant to see if expectant mothers with periodontal disease have an increased chance of giving birth to pre-term, low birth-weight babies.
Recent epidemiological studies noted that expectant mothers with periodontal disease may have a three to seven times greater risk of giving birth to pre-term and low birth-weight babies.
Jeffrey Ebersole, Ph.D., director of the Center for Oral Health Research at the UK College of Dentistry, is principal investigator for a multi-institutional oral infection study. |
Jeffrey Ebersole, director of the Center for Oral Health Research at the UK College of Dentistry, is principal investigator for a multi-institutional study in collaboration with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and The Forsyth Institute in Boston. The study is now underway at an NIH-supported National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas.
At the center, Ebersole and his collaborators are looking at pregnant baboons that develop periodontal disease similar to humans, to see if there is a link between oral infections and premature and low birth-weight babies. Samples are taken from the baboons in San Antonio and brought to UK, where they are studied.
The study is being conducted with a five-year, $3.3 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the largest research grant in the College of Dentistry's history.
Periodontal disease occurs when, due to poor oral hygiene, bacterial plaque builds up on the teeth, causing the gums to become inflamed, which damages the bone and gums that support the teeth.
Kentucky has the second highest rate of edentulism--loss of all teeth – in the U.S., often resulting from periodontal disease. Also, when the bacteria or their toxins from the mouth get into the blood, they clearly increase the risk for general health problems, like endocarditis and diabetes, and also appear to contribute to pre-term and low birth-weight babies.
An average of about 10 percent of births are pre-term and 8 percent of infants born have a low birth-weight, according to national health statistics. These rates are even higher in minority populations and medically underserved women, such as those in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia. This rate has been virtually unchanged over the last two decades.
Ebersole's study uses baboons because of their similarity to humans in both pre-term birth and periodontal disease.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General's report, oral health is integral to overall health. The mouth is a mirror for general health and well-being.
"Good oral health is not just a matter of having an attractive smile." Ebersole said.
Ebersole and his research collaborators in San Antonio and Boston are trying to provide evidence to make oral health a part of pregnant women's prenatal care. By receiving oral health care, even after conception, it should be possible to deter the effects of gum disease on the unborn baby and protect the newborn infant.
"Our goal is to develop information to demonstrate that it is very important for physicians to consider a pregnant woman's oral health as part of their overall health screening during prenatal care," Ebersole said.
A joint project of University of Kentucky and University of Louisville researchers has used innovative scientific technology to identify oxidized proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The findings may lead to a greater understanding of this devastating disease.
Pictured (left to right): Jon Klein, professor of medicine and biochemistry and molecular biology, University of Louisville School of Medicine; Allan Butterfield, professor of chemistry, UK College of Arts and Sciences; and, Alessandra Castegna, graduate student in chemistry. |
Allan Butterfield, professor of chemistry, and Alessandra Castegna, graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, UK College of Arts and Sciences, have been working on the project, funded by the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Jon Klein, professor of medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology and director of Core Proteomics Laboratory, University of Louisville School of Medicine, has been of integral assistance to Butterfield's UK team.
Butterfield has used proteomics to identify specifically oxidized proteins involved in AD. Proteomics is used to study how proteins affect the behavior of cells, tissues and organs. By studying how proteins behave in certain instances, researchers hope to gain a greater understanding of disease processes. This is the first time that the method has been used to identify oxidized proteins involved in AD.
Proteomics technology separates proteins, in this case from AD and control brains, in two dimensions and analyzes them by mass spectrometry, a sophisticated imaging technique, following digestion with enzymes.
"Scientific developments over the last 10 years have greatly advanced the capabilities and potential of this method," Klein said.
The research team has found three proteins to be specifically oxidatively modified in AD brains-creatine kinase, glutamine synthetase and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase. The results of the study have been published in Free Radical Biology & Medicine.
AD is the most common form of dementia among the elderly in the world, and there are an estimated four to five million cases in the United States alone. "This new method of identifying minute amounts of oxidized proteins has the potential of providing insight into the mechanisms of neuronal death in AD," Butterfield said.
Women's health is a fairly new area of scientific medical research. As evidenced by several conflicting studies and subsequent public confusion, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is one area of women's health that is in need of much more study.
The University of Kentucky is taking an active role in furthering such research in HRT. The behavioral science department at UK has collaborated with obstetrics and gynecology in a one-year study evaluating the effects of HRT on behavior, memory and mood. Primary investigators in the study include Thomas H. Kelly, professor of behavioral science, and Kenneth R. Muse, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, UK College of Medicine.
Postmenopausal women are evaluated for memory, object orientation and mood, through a battery of tests, including the evaluation of urine and blood samples as well as brief computerized tasks and questionnaires. The women are then given one of two types of HRT, estrogen or raloxifene, or placebo. Hormone effects are determined by comparing behavioral measures before the initiation of therapy with those taken after one, six and 12 months of daily treatment in matched groups receiving the two forms of HRT or placebo.
The study is part of the $8.3 million Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Women's Health, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Thus far, this grant has been the largest single grant ever to be awarded in the area of women's health at UK.
To participate in this study, you must be a healthy, postmenopausal woman, have never had HRT or have not received HRT in the last year, be able to attend 15-minute sessions once per month, and be able to attend five-hour assessments four times during the year.
Qualified participants will receive, at no cost, study-related physical examinations and hormones, as well as compensation for participation. For more information on this study, please call (859) 277-3799 or go to http://www.mc.uky.edu/cobre/project5.asp.
The war on terror is not only being fought on the battlefield or in the legislature--it is being fought in the laboratory right here at the University of Kentucky.
UK researchers are studying plague, the second greatest bioterrorism threat next to anthrax.
"UK has a top notch team of plague researchers, perhaps the best in the world," said Alan Kaplan, chairperson, department of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, UK College of Medicine.
Robert Perry and Jacqueline Fetherston, both professors of microbiology, department of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, UK College of Medicine, are studying the bacteria that causes plague, yersinia pestis, which is similar in composition to e-coli. They are investigating the systems that transport bacteria and allow it to function and transmit disease to humans. They are also studying genetic composition and how bacterial systems affect virulence in animal models.
"Plague is not as great a threat for bioterrorism because it is difficult to prepare in the lab. Anthrax is easier to prepare," Perry said. "However, plague is contagious, while anthrax is not."
There is currently no vaccine for plague. The work being conducted in Perry and Fetherston's laboratory could possibly be applied to human vaccines in the future.
A Humana claims representative will be available on Friday, Sept. 27, to meet with participants in the UK PPO Low, UK PPO, UK PPO High, UK EPO and UK Indemnity plans. The claims representative will answer any questions regarding claim problems or coverage issues. Meetings will be held in the Employee Benefits conference room located in 115 Scovell Hall.
Individual meetings must be scheduled in advance. To schedule a confidential meeting, please call Employee Benefits at 257-9519 and select option 1. Please bring any bills or Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) that are in question to your scheduled meeting.
