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Archive People Lifelong dream becomes reality for social work professor Three improve job skills with pro certification Natural smile makes K-Lair tops with diners Briefs People Lifelong dream becomes reality for social work professor Looking back, many people often see a reason for their direction in life. Marlene Huff is no different. In response to her childhood dream of earning a doctoral degree and becoming a university professor, a family doctor said, "Little girls from Eastern Kentucky can't do those things." "Well, little girls from Eastern Kentucky do get their Ph.D.'s, and they do earn master's degrees, and they do head offices, and they do make a difference," said Huff, a tenure-track professor who joined the College of Social Work Aug. 2 and a former Kentucky Healthcare Provider of the Year. But proving the doctor wrong was not Huff's intention when she strove to earn her degrees in psychology, medical sociology and social work. Huff, a native of Knox County, only intended to help people. Selena Stevens Marlene Huff, a recent addition to the College of Social Work faculty, looks over some employee information after beginning the move-in into her new Patterson Office Tower home. "Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, I saw the cycle of poverty. The needs of the people of the area have been great," she said. "I wanted to be able to contribute to that community and help with those things." One way Huff may give back is through her award-winning work. She has been nominated for Kentucky Woman of the Year and the Paul G. Hearn Award. The Hearn Award, given by the National Organization on Disability to disability leaders, includes a $10,000 gift. Huff said she would like to see that money go toward a UK development fund to further social work activities in Eastern Kentucky. After earning her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky in 1984, Huff earned a master of social work degree from UK in 1987. She then started in a career in social service. She's served as a clinical social worker at St. Joseph's Hospital, a family counselor and program developer at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and an individual/family therapist at Charter Ridge Behavioral Healthcare Systems, among others. Along the way, she earned her doctoral degree in medical social work also from UK. To join the faculty at UK, she left her position as client services division director for the state's Cabinet for Workforce Development Department for the Blind. There she oversaw an $11 million budget and supervised 150 people across the state. "It was an honor to serve in that position, especially since it was an appointment made by the governor," Huff said. "But I wanted to be able to write and teach." Huff, whose doctoral thesis centered on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on Vietnam veterans, said she hopes to help people in need from behind the scenes through her teaching and research. "Therapy can help people, but what's the next step?" she said. "There has to be a better way. Research helps us find those better ways, and that research is more important to people than they think. Helping people is important, but understanding the theory behind their actions can help them even more." Although becoming a faculty member at UK fulfills a lifelong dream, Huff said she will continue her work as a therapist. "Every time I see someone individually, I know I chose the right path for me," she said. "You can sit on boards and take part in committees, but that doesn't matter unless you can really make a difference in one person's life." Selena Stevens Three improve job skills with pro certification Three University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center employees thrive on learning new programs and areas to improve their work. Paula D. Bargo, Rebecca L. Flanagan and Kimberly Hall are the only three University employees who have a certified professional secretary (CPS) certificate through the International Association of Administrative Professions (IAAP). The three - Bargo, administrative support associate and general office manager for the chief of staff's office; Flanagan, administrative assistant and graduate program coordinator for the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health; and Hall, staff associate for the Department of Preventive Medicine - passed a rigorous international exam that covers items such as finance, economics, office technology, office administration and human resource management to receive their CPS certification. By joining IAAP, all three employees have made a commitment to continue their education. "With this organization, you are continuously learning new things," said Hall, treasurer of the Blue Grass chapter. "When you learn new things, you are bettering yourself along with making your job easier by adding skills." "I joined this professional association because I wanted to be with other administrative professionals who are proud of what they do and who are trying to continue their education," said Bargo, corresponding secretary of the chapter. Flanagan joined the organization after she received her associate's degree from Lexington Community College. Now, she serves as the president of the Blue Grass chapter. For more information about the International Association of Administrative Professions, call Flanagan at 323-8915, Bargo at 257-6467, or Hall at 323-6836. UK Chandler Medical Center Public Relations Natural smile makes K-Lair tops with diners For 27 years, Kathy Owens has greeted customers at K-Lair Grill by name. "She always remembers a name and usually an order," K-Lair Grill manager Doug McKenzie said. Doug Tattershall Kathy Owens has greeted K-Lair customers for 27 years. Her upbeat attitude has charmed many into repeat visits. That kind of personal attention helps make K-Lair popular among both students and staff, he said. Owens said she thinks convenience, affordability and eggs cooked to order have something to do with it as well, but she admits students enjoy seeing her as much as she enjoys seeing them. One student told Owens, "You can't retire until I graduate," she said. "I like to treat these students like I would like to see my children treated if they were away from home," Owens said. "Most of our customers are regulars - they come back. Even our students - after vacation they're anxious to see you." McKenzie said the personal treatment students receive at K-Lair is especially important because of its proximity to so many first-year students. "Haggin and Donovan are made up of freshmen, and those students are away from home for the first time. Kathy helps them feel like they're not just faces in a crowd," he said.But her good mood affects the K-Lair staff as well, helping to make the grill a pleasant place to work, McKenzie said. "I can't take credit for it. She sets the tone," McKenzie said. "It's not an effort for her, it just comes naturally." Food Services Assistant Director Richard Clark is one of K-Lair's regular morning customers. He stops by most mornings for a cup of coffee. "I like to start my day over there, and it's largely because of her," he said. "If you don't like Kathy, then something's wrong with you. She has a way about her that just makes people like her." Her personality helps create a positive atmosphere that has helped make K-Lair so popular. It often has been named by the Kentucky Kernel as the best place to eat on campus. "A group of Haggin students nominated Kathy for a chancellor's award just out of the blue, without any prompting. That's how well she connects with the students," Clark said. Owens is the mother of five grown children. She has three grandchildren, one of whom she is raising and two others close by, in Garrard and Mercer counties. "I can't imagine my home without kids," she said. She and her husband raised their children with her working days at K-Lair and him working nights as a trucker. That way, they didn't need babysitters and daycare. "I was very lucky. They were rarely sick, so I hardly had to miss work at all," Owens said. Through the years, Owens has found time for herself in her garden. This summer, she is just growing tomatoes but she plans to plant a full vegetable garden as usual next year. "That is my seclusion. No one will bother me in the garden because they are afraid I'll put them to work," she said. Doug Tattershall Briefs UK employees featured on PBS Several University of Kentucky employees will be featured in an upcoming Public Broadcasting System program, "Workplace Essential Skills." The program is a 25-part series aimed at the unemployed and underemployed and presents strategies for finding and succeeding at a job. Several University employees involved with UK's Operation Educate program were interviewed on the job to demonstrate how improving educational and other skills improve work environment. They are featured in programs 16, 17 and 19 of the series. The employees featured are William Thomas, Mary Buchanan and George Brown, all of Lexington Campus Physical Plant Division Custodial Services. Nawal Hadi, Operation Educate staff member and tutor, and Charles Warren, Operation Educate computer instructor, also were interviewed for the series. The series will air on Kentucky Educational Television on Fridays at 9 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. beginning Sept. 17 and on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. beginning Sept. 21. Caldwell named chair elect Jeanie Caldwell, Human Resource Services, recently was selected chair elect of the UK Women's Forum board for the 1999-2000 year. In addition, Marilyn Underwood, Gatton College of Business and Economics, was named secretary; and Kathy Stanwix-Hay, Research and Graduate Studies, was named treasurer. UK women employees also elected seven new members to the board last spring The new members are Underwood; Stanwix-Hay; Faye Biddle, Duplicating Services; Joy Famularo, Lexington Community College; Kathy Johnson, Public Relations; Jennifer Peavler, Human Resource Services; and Pamella Shaw, Outreach Center for Science and Health Careers. The objective of the UK Women's Forum, chaired this year by Angela Back, College of Fine Arts, is to provide leadership in addressing challenges to UK employees, particularly women. Among the activities the forum coordinates are the annual UK Staff Appreciation Day, the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award for service to women and the UK Woman newsletter. The UK Women's Forum welcomes all women employees as members. To participate, contact Back at 257-1708 or aback@pop.uky.edu. Mooney earns Fulbright Professor Patrick H. Mooney, Department of Sociology, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research on Polish farmers' adaptations to post-communist economy and politics, according to the U.S. Information Agency and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Mooney is one of approximately 2,000 U.S. grantees who will travel abroad for the 1999/2000 academic year through the Fulbright program, which is designed "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." People Presentations - On Aug. 2, Jonathan Allison, English, presented a lecture, "Yeats's Political Aesthetic," at the 40th annual Yeats Summer School, Sligo, Ireland. Allison is assistant director of the school, which was officially opened this year by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. The school comprised 20 professors and over 120 students, many of them from the United States. - Edgar Enochs, math, presented "Covers and Envelopes over Group Rings" Sept. 9 at Some Trends in Algebra 1999 in Prague, Czech Republic. - Ling Hwey Jeng, library and information science, was a keynote speaker at the Joint Annual Conference of Special Library Association, Illinois Chapter, and the Chinese American Librarians Association, Midwest Chapter, in Chicago May 8. Her speech was "The Role of Cultural Awareness in Library Services." She also gave a presentation on diversity training at the Public Library Institute sponsored by Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives May 10. - Chi-Sing Man, mathematics, presented "Modeling of Textures in Aluminum Alloys for Online Ultrasonic Characterization" June 30 at the ninth International Symposium on Nondestructive Characterization of Materials in Sydney, Australia. Awards - During its June meeting, the UK Alumni Association presented Alumni Service Awards to Donald L. Armstrong, class of 1953, retired from the Division of Disaster and Emergency Services in Frankfort; Kathleen DeBoer, class of 1989, an associate director of UK Athletics; Liz Howard Demoran, classes of 1968 and 1973, an associate director of UK Alumni Affairs; and James E. Humphrey, classes of 1953 and 1954, retired civil engineer and volunteer project manager for the King Alumni House renovation. - Allison Carll, interior design, merchandising and textiles, was named an Interior Design Educators Council fellow during a spring meeting in Clearwater, Fla. - Gail Mitchell Hoyt, economics, has received special recognition from the Teaching and Learning Center for the service-learning component in her business statistics course, which provides statistical analysis to various charitable organizations. - Laura Jolly, interior design, merchandising and textiles, was one of 10 to receive the 1999 American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Leaders Award during the association's annual meeting in June in Seattle. - William Turner, family studies, received the American Family Therapy Academy Research Award in April for his innovative contribution in research related to family therapy; he also was awarded the Citation of Distinguished and Meritorious Contribution by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Deaths - Francis J. Derbyshire, director of UK's Center for Applied Energy Research, died Aug. 17. - Edward G. Sandidge, retired equipment attendant in the UK Hospital, died Aug. 15. Appointments - William Turner, family studies, has been appointed to the board of directors at Abilene Christian University in Texas, his alma mater. - Doris Wilkinson, sociology, served as a senior fellow at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., this summer. At Smith, she held faculty discussions about issues of pedagogy and diversity and met with doctoral and master's students about their dissertations and theses. While a senior fellow at Smith, Wilkinson continued her interdisciplinary research on folk medicine and on "The Underground Railroad: The Kentucky Connection." - Steven Yates, chemistry, has been appointed to the board of chemical sciences and technology of the National Research Council. Research and other funding - David Allen, Kentucky Transportation Center, $112,500, "Development of a Field Permeability Test for Asphalt Concrete and Aggregate Bases." - Michael Andrykowski, behavioral science, $379,697, "Research Training in Biopsychosocial Breast Cancer Research." - John Anthony, chemistry, $160,000, "Career: Cycloaromatization Approach to Graphite Oligomers." - Gregory Brock, family studies, $177,217, "Training Resource Center." - Lauretta Byars, Minority Affairs, $102,980, Advancement Via Individual Determination." - R.R. Clayton, Center for Prevention Research, $1,356,550, "Tobacco Etiology Research Network;" $368,550, "Research Network on the Etiology of Tobacco Dependence Training/Mentoring." - John Connolly, computational sciences, $445,000, "State EPSCoR: Systemic Improvement." - Joseph Crabtree, Kentucky Transportation Center, $141,000, "Intelligent Transportation Systems Architecture/Strategic Plan. - Elizabeth Dickey, chemical and materials engineering, $332,405, "Interface Segregation in Oxide Ceramics: Atomic-Scale Experimental and Theoretical Studies;" $555,000, "Initiative No. 2 State EPSCoR." - John Fowlkes, pediatrics, $221,612, "The Physiology of IGFBP-degrading Proteinases in Bone." - Bryan Hall, pediatrics, $235,000, "Genetic Services." - Ron Harrison, interdisciplinary human development, $175,000, "SIG Transition Para-Professional Component." - Janet Holloway, Center for Business Development, $278,500, "Kentucky Business Environment Assistance Program - Air Quality." - Davy Jones, Graduate Center for Toxicology, $109,500, "Structural and Functional Ligand Binding Features of USP;" $198,944, "Dipteran Development Regulated by a Cell Death Inhibitor." - Robert Littrell, pharmacy clinical program, $861,221, "Research and Information System Management for the Kentucky Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services." - Craig Jordan, internal medicine, $436,000, "Antigenic and Molecular Characterization of Human Leukemic Stem Cells." - Rebecca Langston, campus police, $166,092, "Community Policing Program." - Charles F. Mactutus, pharmacology/toxicology, $320,971, "Developmental Neurotoxicity of Cocaine: An IV Rate Model." - Karen Main, Center for Rural Health, $1.9 million, "Kentucky HomePlace." - Merwyn Mullins, dentistry instruction, $160,000, "Support for Dental Public Health Activities." - Avindra Nath, neurology, $188,044, "Role of Glial Cell Activation in HIV Protein-Indust Revolu." - Hatim Omar, pediatrics, $284,000, "Young Parents Program." - Thomas Pauly, pediatrics, $523,200, "Infant Intensive Care Project." - Lyle Snider, Center for Rural Health, $222,897, "Appalachian Health Policy Advisory Council." - Carl Spurlock, Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, $361,654, "The State Injury Prevention Program;" $158,981, "Programs for the Prevention of Fire Related Injuries." - Kathryn Thrailkill, pediatrics, $130,000, "Metabolic Services." - Andrzej Wala, mining engineering, $142,232, "CFD Analysis of Mine Face Ventilation Systems." - Peter Wong, primary care, $150,000, "Regional Pediatrics." Activities - Ling Hwey Jeng, library and information science, attended the Congress on Professional Education in Washington, D.C., April 30 and May 1 as a delegate. - Herbert Reid, political science, and Elizabeth Taylor, Appalachian Center, took part in a roundtable discussion, "Reclaiming Appalachia: Regional Studies in the Time of Ecological Crisis," May 22 at the Wexner Center for the Arts during the "Going Native: Recruitment, Conversion and Identification in Cultural Research" conference. The conference was hosted by Ohio State University's Center for Folklore Studies in Columbus. Housing House for rent: 112 State St. Within walking distance to medical center, 2,100 square feet, 4-5 BR, LR, DR, den with fireplace, 1.5 BA. 276-1926.