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PeopleAlumna
honored by College of Communications and Information Studies Alumna honored by College of Communications and Information Studies
Rona Roberts, a Monticello native who earned a master's and doctorate in communication from UK before starting her own research and Web site firm, received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the College of Communications and Information Studies. Roberts, who along with partner Steve Kay co-founded Roberts & Kay Inc. in 1983, received the honor at the college's annual awards and recognition ceremony. Roberts & Kay offers qualitative research facilitators and Web site design services. Her clients have included the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, the Partnership for Kentucky Schools, Kentucky Utilities, the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and the Kettering Foundation. She also has authored several publications including “Just Call It Effective: Civic Change - Moving from Projects to Progress” in 1998 and “What Works, Study Circles in the Real World,” soon to be published. Roberts has served as president of the board of Actors Guild of Lexington, vice president of Syncopated Inc., chair of the Professional Women's Forum and founder of the Lexington Citizen Summit. Her most demanding civic work included helping launch the Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood Association in 1998. A Friend of the College Award was given to David L. Weller of Frankfort, a 1974 UK graduate who has been regional director of corporate and external affairs for BellSouth since 1991. Weller currently serves as a part-time instructor in the UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications and serves on the college's board of advisers. The UK communications college also honored many students, teachers and a staff member at the recognition dinner. The honors included: • Excellence in Teaching: Rosemary B. Bryant of Lexington, a lecturer in the Department of Communication, • Outstanding Staff Award: Henry Daniels III of Lexington, a staff support associate in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, • Faculty Research Award: Sorin Matei, assistant professor, School of Journalism and Telecommunications, • Faculty Community Service Award: Rick Roth, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications. toptopEmployees join ranks of UK Fellows
And some are doing it on the installment plan. “I'm giving $84 a month for the next 10 years. Doing it this way is quite painless,” said Marc Mathews, UK's senior associate controller. Mathews joined the ranks of UK Fellows last month. “I thought that since I'm going to work here and receive my income from UK, I ought to be giving something back to the university.” He learned about the UK Fellows payroll-deduction plan when he was answering an inquiry. “Someone had asked me if there was any way for employees to do a payroll deduction for a program, like for athletic scholarships,” Mathews said. Susan Renaker, director of administrative services at the Athletics Department, found out about it over a card table. “I play bridge with Susan Harper, who works in Development. For a year or two, she had said, 'If you're interested.' She was pretty persuasive,” Renaker said. “We were on a bridge trip, and I decided this was the time,” Renaker said. UK Chief Development Officer Terry Mobley said the payroll deduction option to become a UK Fellow dates from early 1990s. “It became a very popular way for employees to contribute during the William T. Young Library campaign,” he said. He also noted employees can give more than $84 to become a UK Fellow. Any amount is acceptable, as long as the total gift exceeds $10,000 by the end of the 10-year period. Many employees contribute to the university through payroll deduction in lesser amounts, he added. Any employee contribution is welcomed. Among other new UK Fellows are Agriculture Dean Scott Smith and Alumni Association Director Stan Key. topJazz studies lecturer competes in Paris piano competition
Raleigh Dailey, lecturer in jazz studies at UK, participated in the Third International Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition in October. Fifty-nine pianists from 25 countries participated; Dailey, 34, was one of nine selected from the United States. Dailey, keyboardist for the DiMartino-Osland Jazz Orchestra, submitted material from his own projects as well as from his work with DOJO. On October 8, the third day of the competition, Dailey performed a standard, “Stella By Starlight,” and an original composition, “Going Out (and Coming In).” Only two North Americans advanced to the second round (of three); while Dailey was not one of those selected, he felt he performed well. Discussing his distinctive qualities as an artist, Dailey sees himself as rearranging these standard jazz harmonies without abandoning the conventions of the '60s and '70s. He adds notes to chords rather than notes to a melodic line. In this, his training in classical piano at Kent State comes to the fore. You can hear his extensions of harmonic conventions in his arrangement for DOJO of “Spring Is Here,” for instance, where Dailey places the C major triad over a D-flat. As a soloist, Dailey appears with saxophonist Miles Osland in duo performances, where his chordal innovations stand in contrast to Osland's technical exuberance. Another Kentuckian, Steve Snyder from Morehead, also participated; both Dailey and Snyder have backgrounds in the North Texas State Jazz program. Dailey has a master's degree in composition from that institution. The Office of Research and Graduate Studies supported his trip. Submitted topTeachers Who Made a Difference namedAmong the 63 teachers who were honored in a ceremony Oct. 26 celebrating Teachers Who Made a Difference were 15 of UK's own faculty members. The Teachers Who Made A Difference program is sponsored by the UK College of Education. The program, now in its fifth year, takes nominations for teachers who have made a difference in someone's life. Any teacher can be nominated, and they do not have to be affiliated with the university. Since the program began, 400 teachers from across Kentucky have been recognized. This year, teachers from Georgia, South Carolina and Arizona also were nominated. All honorees are invited to the reception, along with the people who nominated them. The UK professors honored this year were Nawanna Privett, Commonwealth Center for Literacy and Development; Paul Mechlin Eakin Jr. and Donald Saucier, College of Arts and Sciences; Stephen King and George Szekely, College of Fine Arts; and Richard Angelo, Bill Bintz, Elinor Brown, Kate Chard, Hank Cole, Janice Duncan, Sonja Feist-Price, Eric Moyen, Todd Savage and William Stilwell, all of the College of Education. Kristin Michelle Keith topSophomore studying at Biosphere 2
Neil Wilson, a sophomore from Louisville, is one of four undergraduate students attending the Fall '02 Earth Semester program at Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center to receive a $4,000 grant from the Bert W. Martin Foundation. The grants were made possible from the foundation's endowment, managed by Biosphere 2, that is earmarked for assisting undergraduate students who are interested in attending Biosphere 2's Earth Semester -- a series of studies in earth systems and policy designed to foster an understanding of critical global issues. The Earth Semester helps students understand the connections among the physical, biological and social components of the environment. Since 1998, the Martin Foundation, an Orlando-based private foundation, has contributed nearly $2 million to Biosphere 2 Center's capital building projects, education and public outreach programs. The Martin Foundation is named for Chicago industrialist and philanthropist Bert W. Martin, who was an early advocate of sustainable forestry practices. Biosphere 2 Center's fall '02 Earth and Universe Semester classes, which commenced in September, includes 49 undergraduates representing 25 colleges and universities across the U.S. This marks the 13th semester class since Columbia took over the Center in 1996. Located north of Tucson in Oracle, Ariz., Biosphere 2 Center is Columbia University's 250-acre Arizona campus devoted to deepening the understanding of earth systems vital to the policies and decisions that will affect earth's future. The Biosphere 2 Laboratory is the world's largest controlled facility for plant growth and integrated study of earth systems science. Submitted topGood fortune shared with universityLong-time employee and lottery winner donates $1 million to general fund
You just won a $41.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot. What would you do? Richard Barbella knew what he would do. He played the lottery religiously and always had a plan - just in case. So, after cashing his winning ticket he paid (no pun intended) UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. a visit. During the meeting, he opened up his checkbook and wrote a $1 million check to the university. “When I won the money I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it,” Barbella, a 28-year UK employee and alumnus, said. “UK is a great place to work … cut me open and I bleed blue.” The gift will be used to create and establish the Richard A. Barbella General Fund Endowment. “This generous gift to UK's general fund will allow us to use the money where we need it the most - salaries, scholarships or other operations or projects,” Todd said. “Mr. Barbella's gift is a testament of his love and loyalty for his alma mater.” Barbella, who retired from UK on Nov. 1 as a budget officer, said because of his position in the budget office he was keenly aware of what kind of money it would take for UK to become a top-20 institution. He designated his donation to the general funds because those dollars are unrestricted and can be used any way the president deems necessary. “Bucks for Brains dollars are great, but they are restricted to only one purpose,” he said. “I wanted my gift to be used anywhere necessary.” As for his future, Barbella says he is trying to live pretty much the way he did before becoming a millionaire and according to the “plan” he always had if he ever got lucky. “I'll be all right,” he said. topVisiting professor wins $35,000 Whiting Writing Award
Kim Edwards, a visiting professor in the University of Kentucky English department, has won a 2002 Whiting Writers Award worth $35,000. The prize, one of only 10 awarded annually by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation in New York, is for emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise. In addition to Edwards, a fiction writer, this year's recipients included four other fiction writers, three poets and two playwrights. Edwards, a native of Skaneateles, N.Y., was chosen for the award based on the publication of the first collection of her stories, “The Secrets of a Fire King.” The book of stories, which originally appeared in Antaeus, American Short Fiction and The Paris Review, was published by W.W. Norton in 1997 and by Picador in 1998. The book was also a Barnes & Noble Discovery selection and a finalist for the best first book selection of PEN/Hemingway award. Her stories encompass a wide range of people, times and places, but are unified by themes of love, loss and secrets. Edwards is finishing a novel, titled “Capturing Light,” that also turns on secrets. It features a man who kept a secret for 30 years and explores how keeping that secret rippled through his life and the lives of those around him. As expected, readers will have to wait for the book to be published to discover what that secret is, Edwards said. The Whiting Writing Awards was totally unexpected, Edwards said. She said she was aware of the award and knew writers could not apply for it. “You just get a call,” she said. In Edwards' case, though, the call turned into an e-mail because she had moved and her new telephone number was not available. “I got an e-mail telling me to contact the Whiting office and I couldn't call until the next morning.” Along with the other winners, Edwards was flown to New York City to receive the prize and attend a reception. Winning the award, she noted, “is a wonderful thing – such good news that it's hard to assimilate.” The award money, she observed, will give her the opportunity for more writing time and “it will make an easier path” for future publications. The mother of two daughers, aged 7 and 4, Edwards said her love of books and writing came from her mother who read to her daily when she was a child. That love of literature led her to earn an undergraduate degree form Colgate University and a master's degree in fine arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. She shares a passion for the written word with her husband, Thomas Clayton, an associate professor in the UK English department, whom she met at the Unviersity of Iowa. In addition to her desire to write Edwards said she has developed a fondness for teaching. In her first semester at UK, she is teaching advanced fiction writing and a course in literary nonfiction. Sharing her own experiences is a big part of those classes. “I advise my students to just write, write a lot, make explorations,” Edwards commented. “You can't write just to publish,” she added. “You have to write to discover what you have to say.” toptop
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•Robert
Geraghty, RCTF-Micribiology and Immunology, $127,750, Spread
of HSV-1 Mediated by the gD Receptor Nectin-1.
•Craig
Grimes, formerly with Department of Electrical Engineering, and
co-inventors Dale Grimes, Faton Tefiku and Gang Liu received a patent
for "Electrically-Small Low Q Radiator Structure and Method of Producing
EM Waves Therewith," #6,437,750.
Gloria
Allaire, lecturer in Italian, College of Arts and Sciences, presented
the paper “The ‘Matter of France’ and the Italian Manuscript Book: A Typology”
at the 29th Annual Saint Louis Conference on Manu-script Studies sponsored
by the Vatican Film Library at Saint Louis University in October.
Gloria
Allaire, lecturer in Italian, College of Arts and Sciences, had
her essay “Filigrane divine: Watermarks as Images in Dante’s Paradiso”
published by the Electronic Bulletin of the Dante Society of America and
can be read at 
Thomas
R. Zentall, Department of Psycho-logy is currently serving as
president of the Midwestern Psycholog-ical Association. The Midwestern
Psycholog-ical Association is a regional Association of over 3,000 active
re-search psychologists (primarily but not exclusively from the Midwest)
who meet once a year in Chicago to present their research.