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and Excellence topWhite receives Collins leadership award
Alayne White makes a difference. As director of the UK Institute on Women and Substance Abuse, she has led an agency that recently received a $3.3 million contract renewal to fund the Targeted Assessment Project and continue five Kentucky pilot programs that address the needs of welfare recipients who have both substance abuse and domestic violence problems. She led the grant writing team that developed UK's Young Women in Science Program, which encourages Eastern Kentucky women to consider careers in science. She developed and directed the planning process that created Kentucky's first strategic plan for women's substance abuse prevention and treatment services. Those efforts, and others, led to her being presented the 2002 Martha Layne Collins Leadership Award at the Women's Business & Leadership Conference in September. White was a finalist with Crit Luallen, Gov. Paul Patton's cabinet secretary; Lexington Mayor Pam Miller; and UK graduate Susy Apraicio, a licensed family therapist and columnist for La Voz, a local publication for the Hispanic community. White came to UK in 1993 after six years as executive director of the Women's Center of Central Kentucky Inc., which provided services to adult women through a crisis phone line, counseling, workshops and other activities. A 1976 graduate of Centre College, White earned her master's degree in secondary education from UK in 1978. topDairy crossbreeding benefits presented in Egypt by extension specialist
Jack McAllister, UK Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist, was one of two invited speakers at the 53rd annual meeting of the European Association of Animal Production in Cairo, Egypt, in September. The cattle commission of the conference invited him to present information on dairy cattle crossbreeding. "Our research has indicated the benefits of cross breeding to be better fitness and longevity," McAllister said. He also said crossbreeding dairy cattle may increase longevity of individual cows in the dairy herd and improve reproductive soundness. Part of the expense of attending the conference came from a reciprocal arrangement with the American Society of Animal Science. This was the first time the meeting had been held outside of Europe. Due to Egyptian involvement in previous meetings, this year's meeting was held in Egypt and drew 700 participants. McAllister has been part of the animal science faculty since 1990. Janet Eaton topPR firm founder gets Lifetime Achievement Award
Jack Guthrie, the founder of one of Kentucky's best known public relations firms, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Relations from the School of Journal-ism and Telecommuni-cations on Oct. 18. Guthrie, a UK alumnus and former member of the Board of Trustees, is chairman and chief executive officer of Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations of Louisville. The firm is one of Kentucky's largest independently-owned public relations firms. Presentation of the award to Guthrie was part of the James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence Lecture Series activities at UK Oct. 17 and 18. On Oct. 17, Dick Truitt, a principal of Truitt Partners LLC, delivered the 2002 James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence Lecture. Guthrie started his public relations career with Philip Morris Inc. in New York City in 1964. He returned to Louisville in 1971 to serve as executive vice president of the Kentucky Derby Festival and currently serves as an honorary director. Under his direction, the festival achieved national prominence. Guthrie launched his own public relations firm in 1977. The firm has served many major corporations, including Philip Morris, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, United Parcel Service and Eli Lilly & Co. In 1987, Guthrie was one of the founding partners of The WORLDCOM Public Relations Group, the largest network of independent public relations firms in the world. Guthrie was president of UK's National Alumni Association in 1988 and is immediate past-president of UK's School of Journalism Alumni Association. As a UK undergraduate, he was editor of the Kentucky Kernel, UK's daily student newspaper, and a member of Sigma Chi social fraternity.
Truitt, the guest lecturer, formed his own communications consulting company in 1991. He also was president of Doremus & Co., a large corporate/financial advertising and public relations agency, and served 26 years at Carl Byoir & Associates where he became executive vice president in charge of U.S. operations and directly supervised the firm's office in Washington, D.C. Earlier in his career, Truitt was a business reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University. Truitt has counseled senior management at Hallmark, Honeywell, Kimberly-Clark, Fisher-Price, Delta Airlines, Citicorp and a number of prominent industry associations. His book, "Strategic Public Relations Counseling," was published in 1987. topSchafer named a Pisacano Scholar
In his first year of medical school, Michael Schafer, class of 2003, joined a group of students to expand and improve the student-run clinic at the Salvation Army in Lexington. He didn't know this community service project would lead to a reward a couple of years later. This year, Schafer was honored as a Pisacano Scholar - the first in the college's history. The Pisacano Scholar is named in honor of Nicholas J. Pisacano who actually held many positions at UK, including: member of the Board of Trustees, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, director of continuing medical education at the UK Chandler Medical Center, and assistant to the vice president at the Medical Center. He came to UK in 1962 and was voted UK's most popular professor in 1965. Pisacano helped the field of family practice become one of the major specialties in medicine. When the American Board of Family Practice was founded in 1969, he became the organization's first executive director and remained so until January 1990. Schafer was one of only four scholars chosen this year. Pisacano Scholars are physicians-in-training who have chosen family practice as their specialty and have demonstrated leadership skills, academic achievement, and a level of community service. "I have worked primarily in industry or some type of service capacity for most of my life," Schafer said. "From this I have learned that the most effective way to lead is to be of service. I believe that this type of leadership philosophy and my experiences in leading church ministries and the reorganization of a medical student-run free clinic are part of the reason I was chosen to be a Pisacano Scholar." With the help of Schafer, UK's medical students were able to raise approximately $70,000 in grants and private donations so services could be expanded at the Salvation Army Student-Run Free Clinic. Established in 1986, the clinic offers free medical care to residents of the Salvation Army Clinic and others who can't afford care. It's open from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and generally serves up to 10 patients a night. Medical students and an attending physician staff the clinic. "We didn't want to wait until we graduated to help people," Schafer said. "We saw all of the wonderful things going on at the Salvation Army Clinic and wanted to build on what was already a success story. "By bringing students on board in the first year, we hope to give them a sense of ownership in the clinic from the start of their medical school career and provide better continuity," Schafer said. Faculty at UK are not surprised by Schafer's success. "Mike has all the characteristics of being a Nicholas Pisacano Scholar," said Wanda Gonsalves, residency director and assistant professor of family practice in the UK College of Medicine, who helped guide the medical students to the Salvation Army Clinic project. "He is extremely bright, he has excellent leadership skills, with the ability to empower others to achieve the common good for themselves and for the community, and he is genuinely caring," Gonsalves said. "I can't think of one more deserving." After graduating with a bachelor of science degree in biology from Northern Kentucky University, Schafer was a minister for a year in his hometown. Before going to medical school, Schafer also worked for five years as a senior research associate with Proctor & Gamble, where he was the co-inventor of four patents. For his efforts, Schafer was awarded the community service award from the UK College of Medicine. In addition, he assisted UK's residency program director in developing a community/service-learning elective, the first of its kind for UK. He has authored a number of presentations, including co-authoring a proposal to the Kentucky Legislature last year to obtain funding for a family practice faculty member to work with the medical students at the Student-Run Free Clinic and the Kentucky Free Clinic Association. Schafer and other Pisacano Scholars will meet with some of the best-known leaders in family practice during his last year of medical school and during his residency. In the future, Schafer wants to complete his residency in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area and practice near his hometown in Alexandria, Ky. topUPR students attend classes at UK
A program designed to encourage students at the University of Puerto Rico to consider graduate study at the University of Kentucky will bring another 10 to 15 Spanish-speaking students to Lexington next summer. "Several of us will be going to San Juan in November to talk to faculty who are involved in this program," said Del Collins, associate vice president for research at Chandler Medical Center. The program brings about a dozen students from the University of Puerto Rico to UK each summer to study toxicology, biological sciences and computer science. It's one of several activities tying UK and UPR. "We also have an education and research collaboration which allows a student at UK or at UPR to get credit for taking a course at the other university with appropriate approvals," Collins said. In fact, a UK biological sciences graduate student recently performed research on a tropical rain forest outside San Juan, he said. Ashley Netherton, who is being mentored by biology Professor Scott Gleeson, was based at UPR for that research. Meanwhile, at least three UPR graduates are earning graduate degrees at UK. They previously had participated in the UK summer program. Collins also said a UPR undergraduate class in computer science is being taught by UK assistant professor of computer science Brent Seales via Internet 2. "He goes to Puerto Rico two or three times a semester for a workshop with the students," Collins said. topProfessor named to state task forceJody Clasey, a University of Kentucky College of Education professor, has been appointed by Lt. Gov. Stephen Henry to a task force charged with fighting the increase in obesity and diabetes in Kentucky's children. Clasey, a researcher and professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, was appointed to the executive steering committee of the Lieutenant Governor's Task Force on Childhood Nutrition and Fitness. She also was named chair of the task force's subcommittee on research and grants. When he established the task force last year, Lt. Gov. Henry cited several national and regional studies that showed Kentucky children rank among the highest in the country for childhood obesity. There was a causal link between this problem and a marked increase in the cases of type II diabetes in children nationally over the last 10 years, said Tonya Chang, Health Services Liaison for Lt. Gov. Henry's office. Type II diabetes was formerly known as "adult onset" diabetes. However, the term "adult onset" has been dropped in recent years due to an alarming rise of diabetes in school age children nationwide. This problem is of specific concern to Kentucky, Clasey said. Clasey said her research shows there is evidence of an increase in incidence of type II diabetes and that it is related to poor nutrition and a general lack of physical activity among school age children. topUK professor awarded endowed chairDaret St. Clair, Graduate Center for Toxicology, UK College of Medicine, has been awarded the James Graham Brown Chair in Neuroscience. St. Clair is one of the exemplary faculty hired through the Research Challenge Trust Fund, also known as "Bucks for Brains." Her research focuses on free radicals and their role in aging and cancer. St. Clair studies the structure and function of our natural defense systems in combating free radicals, as well as possible applications for antioxidants in cancer treatment. Her study of oxidative stress also has possible application in the increased understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease. |
