The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a grant of more than $6 million to the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy to study new treatments for nicotine addiction. This is the largest single grant ever received by the college. UK College of Pharmacy professors Linda Dwoskin, Ph.D., and Peter Crooks, Ph.D., in collaboration with Michael Bardo, Ph.D., professor of psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, will conduct preclinical studies to develop new therapies for tobacco use cessation and for treatment of nicotine dependence. Tobacco use and nicotine addiction are linked to depression, and innovative drugs also may prove to be new treatments for depression. The researchers are taking an integrative approach to increase understanding of the underlying mechanisms of tobacco use and nicotine addiction, with a focus on pharmacotherapeutic drug development.
UK’s Health Education through Extension Leadership (HEEL) recently launched “Get Moving Kentucky!” a community-based campaign to increase physical activity and health awareness in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. HEEL represents a partnership between the UK College of Medicine and its School of Public Health, and the College of Agriculture and its Cooperative Extension Service. UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. also announced $200,000 from the HEEL grant will be awarded as mini-grants to county extension agents for additional tools for continued health and physical activity programming at the community level. “Get Moving Kentucky!” is designed to encourage people to experience healthy behavior together.
UK Ophthalmology researcher Jayakrishna Ambati and colleagues reported in the November issue of Nature Medicine the discovery of the first animal model of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), similar to key elements of AMD in humans. The model provides a method to study how and why humans develop AMD and provides a platform on which to develop and validate new therapeutic strategies. Ambati’s AMD animal model closely resembles the anatomical appearance, biochemical composition, and functional disruption of AMD in humans.
A paper by chemical and materials engineering assistant professor Bruce Hinds on using carbon nanotubes to make membranes was published on November 27 on Science journal’s Science Express Web site, in advance of print publication sometime in January. The paper showed the potential uses for carbon nanotube membranes for a variety of pharmaceutical and environmental purposes. Hinds used a polymer to bind the nanotubes into membranes. The nanotubes were “grown” at UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER). Co-investigators on the project were CAER faculty Terry Rantell and Rodney Andrews, chemistry professor Leonidas Bachas and graduate students Nitin Chopra and Vasilis Gavalas.
The College of Education recently honored 90 Kentucky teachers at its annual Teachers Who Made a Difference program. UK Board of Trustees member and College of Education alumna Marian Moore Sims delivered the keynote address. She joined Dean James G. Cibulka, Mayor Teresa Issac, and former Pittsburgh Steeler Dermontti Dawson in welcoming and congratulating the honorees. Dawson and his wife, Regina, were presented with a Friend of the College award at the conclusion of the Teachers Who Made a Difference program. The Dawsons established a graduate fellowship for the College of Education in 2002. Dawson has also been a volunteer spokesperson for the Teachers Who Made a Difference program the last three years.
National Geographic magazine photographer Sam Abell was inducted into the College of Education Alumni Hall of Fame during a mid-October visit to campus. Abell delivered the 2003 Robert C. May Photography Endowment Lecture, sponsored by the UK Art Museum. At the conclusion of the lecture, Dean James G. Cibulka officially welcomed Abell into the College of Education Alumni Hall of Fame. Abell was inducted into the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni in May 2000 and named to the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1991. Abell has worked as documentary photographer for the National Geographic Society since 1970. His photography has been featured in several solo exhibitions, and he has produced several books of photographs, including his most recent publication, Sam Abell: The Photographic Life (Rizzoli, 2002), which accompanied a retrospective exhibition organized by University of Virginia Art Museum in July 2002. He has lectured on photography and exhibited his work to audiences throughout the world.
The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at UK and the Kentucky Department for Public Health developed “EMS Response to Terrorism – Awareness Level Training for Bioterrorism,” an online course that provides first responders with basic bioterrorism information. The course describes agents that might be encountered, assessment and treatment of contaminated casualties, potential targets, and personal protective equipment. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services funded the $95,920 program through a Homeland Security grant. The Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services assigned the course the equivalent of four hours of continuing education credit; one hour for disaster management; one hour for patient assessment; and two hours for medical emergencies. This program is now available to the public. The course can be found at www.kiprc.uky.edu/trap/.
UK inducted 249 new donors into its Fellows Society. Each member contributed or committed $10,000 or more to UK. The UK Fellows program honors various levels of giving: University Fellows ($10,000 or more, individuals only); Barker Fellows ($50,000 or more); Bowman Fellows ($250,000 or more); Patterson Fellows ($500,000 or more); and Presidential Fellows ($1 million or more). Since the program began in 1966, more than 5,700 Fellows have made or pledged gifts in excess of $520 million. The generosity of these and other loyal contributors enabled UK to exceed its Campaign goal of $600 million.
The UK President’s Commission on Women joined with the Kentucky Commission on Women and the University of Louisville Commission on the Status of Women to collaborate on ways to improve the economic status of women in Kentucky. The three commissions had a historic first meeting in Frankfort on October 30 and decided to focus on issues - such as child care and violence against women - that often are impediments to women who want to pursue a higher education and better paying employment. The commissions will appoint a task force to develop a Web site and text-based resource for women on a variety of issues, and the three full commissions plan to meet twice a year to initiate new projects.
Fran Feltner, director of the UK Center for Rural Health’s lay health workers division, based in Hazard, gave testimony in October during a U.S. Senate Cancer Coalition hearing, “Challenges in Access to Cancer Treatment.” Feltner, who supervises the Kentucky Homeplace Program and Southeast Kentucky Community Access Program, told coalition co-chairs Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, about efforts in the Commonwealth to link uninsured and underinsured rural residents with available health services, particularly preventive measures.
Frank A. Rogers III, president of the Ale-8-One Bottling Company in Winchester, recently announced a $100,000 company gift to UK Lexington Community College in memory of Carolyn A. White. White, who served as executive assistant to Rogers and as a member of the board of directors, passed away August 27, 2003, just six weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer. LCC has proposed the construction of a 2,500-square-foot building for the Winchester-Clark County campus complete with classrooms, labs and a day-care facility to be located in the Industrial Park. The Winchester-Clark County Industrial Authority gave LCC the option to build a 20.36-acre site in phase 6 of the Industrial Park. The land is the largest single gift ever to LCC. The Ale-8-One Bottling Company is Winchester’s oldest manufacturing company. This is the largest gift ever given by the 100-year-old company.
Robert T. McCowan, a UK graduate and former chair of the UK Board of Trustees, died November 12. He was 75. A native of Carlisle, Ky., McCowan served on the UK Board of Trustees from 1981 to 1989. He served as the board’s chair from 1984 to 1988. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the UK College of Commerce, now the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics, in 1951. He worked for Ashland Oil Inc. from 1951 to 1988, rising through the ranks to become the company’s vice chairman in 1980. McCowan never forgot his UK connections and, as an Ashland Oil executive, urged the company to support the university. While he was a company executive, Ashland Oil bestowed the University’s first $1 million corporate gift. In 1993, McCowan and his late wife, Nyle, donated $1 million to the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. He was inducted into the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1980 and into the Gatton College Alumni Hall of Fame in 1994. The University awarded him an honorary doctor of law degree in 1978. He also served as chair of the UK Development Council in the 1980s.
The UK United Way campaign raised $404,000, 16 percent more than the previous fund-raiser. More than 3,100 employees and retirees made donations. The campaign, which had been held during the spring semester the last few years, was moved to the fall semester this year. Some 500 campus volunteers were involved in the six-week campaign that ended October 31. Marc Mathews, UK senior associate controller, served as campaign chair, and Sandra Chambers, assistant director, UK Hospital, served as co-chair and will lead the 2004 campaign. UK is the third largest giver to United Way of the Bluegrass, behind Toyota and Lexmark.
Frederik W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa, presented a lecture in October at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993, is best known for freeing Mandela and ending apartheid, the government policy that denied civil freedoms to the country’s black majority.
For two days in mid-October, the UK Chandler Medical Center offered drive-through flu vaccinations for $16 to persons age 18 and older. A total of 1,369 flu shots were administered with the help of more than 60 UK health care staff members. Community response to the program was positive, including a Lexington Herald-Leader letter to the editor praising the event.
UK Police launched a traffic and pedestrian safety campaign this fall in response to an increase in the number of pedestrian accidents during the first weeks of the semester. UK Police officers are maintaining stricter traffic law enforcement and distributing educational material when issuing citations. They also are talking to people they witness crossing the street in areas other than crosswalks and are stressing traffic and pedestrian safety as part of their regular programming for students living in the residence halls.
Kicker Taylor Begley was named to the first team and running back Alexis Bwenge and linebacker Justin Haydock were named second-team Academic All-District IV by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Begley, a sophomore from Danville, Ky., has a 3.904 grade-point average with a major in electrical engineering. By earning first-team Academic All-District IV honors, he will advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America. Bwenge, a sophomore from St. Apollinaire, Quebec, has a 3.484 GPA with a major in political science. Haydock, a junior from Louisville, Ky., has a 3.433 GPA and a major in marketing.
Six Wildcats – a school-record – earned nomination for Academic All-America this season, including Begley, Bwenge, Haydock, sophomore tight end Jeremiah Drobney, sophomore cornerback Antoine Huffman, and junior punter Anthony Thornton. To be nominated for Academic All-America, a player must be a sophomore or higher in academic and athletic standing, have a career GPA of 3.2 or higher, and be a starter or key reserve.
W. James Host, 1961 graduate, was named as the recipient of the 2003 UK Public Relations Lifetime Achievement. Host, the founder of Host Communications sports marketing company, was honored at a luncheon on October 31. He is the fourth recipient of the award. The award is presented in conjunction with the annual James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence Lecture Series.
UK President Todd talked with dozens of Eastern Kentucky residents about the importance of the Robinson Scholars Program during a two-day, pre-Thanksgiving tour of the region. Todd spoke with school officials, local government officials, legislators and private citizens in London, Benham and Hazard about the program, which has helped more than 200 Eastern Kentucky students with college expenses since its inception in 1997.
The artwork of four UK Children’s Hospital patients is featured on the hospital’s 2003 holiday cards, which are available at the UK Hospital gift shop and all Kroger stores in Lexington and the surrounding area. The cost for a package of 14 cards is $6.50, and UK Children's Hospital benefits from the proceeds. With orders of 100 cards or more, a personal message can be printed on the inside of the card. To make a large quantity order, contact UK Children’s Hospital Fund Development at 257-1121 to reserve cards. To preview the 2004 holiday cards online, go to www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu/holidaycards.htm. Meanwhile, the UK Art Museum is offering holiday cards for the second year. At $10 for a box of 10 cards with envelopes ($8 for members of the Friends of the Art Museum), buyers can choose from Paul Sawyier’s “Fading Day,” Guido Reni’s “Madonna and Child,” David Lucas’ “Snowstorm in Whitesburg, Kentucky,” and a Venetian Tablecloth. Proceeds support the UK Art Museum. The cards can be purchased at the Art Museum in the UK Singletary Center for the Arts, or by calling (859) 257-8164.
The College of Law’s mock trial team, consisting of third-year students, Laura Ball, Nute Bonner, Lynsie Gaddis, and Clayton Oswald, competed in the Tournament of Champions, an invitational competition in which the top 16 teams throughout the nation contend for the national title. UK finished fifth, winning three out of four trials. Allison Connelly, associate clinical professor of law and director of the college's Legal Clinic is the adviser to the group.
Family and friends of students enjoyed a busy schedule during Family Weekend, October 31 through November 2. Entertainment and fun, along with the opportunity to visit sons and daughters, was the order of the weekend. Families toured UK's new state-of-the-art recreation facility, attended a study-abroad program open house, visited the Career Center, took a walking tour of historic downtown Lexington, and heard some of UK's finest musicians perform during a free concert. On Saturday, families enjoyed free food, entertainment, and giveaways as the UK Wildcats prepared to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.
An exhibit of photographs by professional photographer Gordon Baer at the UK Student Center’s Rasdall Gallery reveals the sharp decline in the health of his Aunt Beck after her admittance to a Louisville nursing home. The Cincinnati photographer documented his aunt’s deteriorating health for several months after the 94-year-old moved into the home. “Beck: End of Life Photographs by Gordon Baer” will remain on exhibit through December 12. It was unveiled on November 12, the day after a free symposium, “Compassionate Care: How Nursing Home Staff and Families Can Work Together,” was held.
A new Campus Improvement Program aims at streamlining some of the processes encountered by students, faculty and staff in conducting university business. Initially, the program will focus on work order processes and processes for developing estimates for renovation projects. The program is led by William F. Maloney, the Raymond-Shaver Professor of Construction Engineering and Management in the UK College of Engineering.
The Singletary Center for the Arts is now providing online ticketing for most of this season's events. Singletary patrons can purchase tickets online 24 hours a day up until midnight, the night before the concert. Remaining ticket purchases must be made at the Singletary Ticket Office or by calling 257-4929. To access the online ticketing service, go to www.uky.edu/SCFA/events.htm. A processing fee is charged for each ticket purchased online based on the price of the ticket. Most major credit cards are accepted, including Mastercard, VISA, American Express, and Discover. Group tickets are not available for online purchasing, and a maximum of 10 tickets may be purchased at one time. Tickets bought in advance will be mailed to buyers, but tickets purchased seven days or less before a performance must be picked up the day of the event at the “Will-Call” window. The Singletary Center Online Ticketing Service was made possible by part of a $10,000 grant from the Kentucky Arts Council.
UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and men’s head basketball Coach Orlando “Tubby” Smith led a lively discussion of the business-management book Good to Great during a late October meeting of UK’s Entrepreneurs Club. The book, by Jim Collins, outlines how certain corporations benefited from visionary leadership that helped them break away from their competitors. Todd has recommended the book to UK administrators, faculty, staff and students, while Smith has urged his assistant coaches, his players, and even competing coaches to study Collins’ findings. About 150 UK faculty, students, and local business people attended the meeting of the club, organized two years ago to encourage entrepreneurial thinking.
The UK Art Museum is hosting two new exhibits: “Latin American Art from the Collection” and “Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2001.” The collection of Latin American art will continue through February 29, 2004. “Visions from America,” which runs through January 25, is an exhibition of more than 140 photographic works drawn entirely from the Whitney Museum’s permanent collection. They reveal the diversity of photographic vision that has emerged in the past six decades. “Latin American Art” is free to the public. “Visions from America” ticket prices are $8 for the general public, $5 for senior citizens, and $6 for groups (by reservation), while UK Art Museum members and UK faculty, staff and students are free. The UK Art Museum is open noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays; noon to 8 p.m. Fridays; closed Mondays and university holidays.
More than 33,000 alumni are now members of the UK Alumni Association. The Alumni Association now boasts 64 individual clubs in 18 different states. UK now has more than 180,000 alumni located in the Commonwealth, across the nation, and around the world.
Wildlife television show host Jeff Corwin described his adventures with endangered species and ecosystems around the world to more than 1,200 elementary students at a special lecture on November 7 at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts. Corwin, host and executive producer of “The Jeff Corwin Experience” on the Animal Planet cable-television channel, advocates conserving endangered species and ecosystems around the world. He has been an activist on behalf of rain forests and other ecosystems since his childhood. From 1997 to 1999, he co-created, produced and hosted the Disney Channel’s “Going Wild With Jeff Corwin” television series. After Corwin spoke, representatives of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Education, and the UK Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment unveiled a special Web site designed to encourage youngsters to take care of the environment.
The Health Literacy Project recently launched its newest intervention, Reduce the Pressure, a blood pressure reduction program to assist individuals with blood pressure readings of 140/90 and above. Intervention goals are to reduce blood pressure to a physician-recommended level and improve how participants feel about their health. The program is created to provide a personalized intervention. Depending on the participants’ areas of need, there are multiple strategies, including weight reduction, an eating plan, exercise, lowering sodium intake, moderating alcohol consumption, and reducing stress. The Behavioral Health Improvement Program, BeH.I.P., is available for UK employees, employees’ spouses, and retirees. BeH.I.P. is a low-pressure approach to health improvement designed to encourage participants to adopt healthy behaviors.
The UK men's soccer team went unblemished in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season and several Wildcats were recognized for their outstanding play by the league office. Seven Wildcats received All-MAC recognition, the most in school history, including junior Jamal Shteiwi who was named 2003 MAC Player of the Year. Also, freshman Riley O'Neill was recognized as MAC Newcomer of the Year.
UK’s Early Childhood Lab (ECL) dedicated its new playground in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility on Washington Avenue in early November. The new playground replaces the previous wooden structure that was constructed in the 1970s by parents of children in the ECL program. Established in 1928, the ECL serves as an on-site preschool and child care program for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Children currently in the program have family members who work or study at UK, or live in the greater Lexington area. The ECL recently received a four-star rating, the highest rating an early care and education program can achieve in Kentucky’s STARS for KIDS NOW quality rating system. It is one of only two in Lexington and one of only eight in the state to receive this rating.
UK head basketball Coach Tubby Smith and his wife, Donna, were among several Central Kentucky residents recognized for giving time, talent and treasure to improve life in the Lexington area during National Philanthropy Day activities on November 13. The Tubby Smith Foundation received the 2003 Distinguished Philanthropy Award for supporting many area activities, particularly those for underserved children and young people. Three UK units participated: The Markey Cancer Foundation recognized the leadership and dedication of Angela and Antony Beck; the College of Education recognized Denny Howell, owner of Howell and Howell Painting Contractors in Louisville, and his wife, Laurie, a 1965 UK graduate; and the Gatton College of Business and Economics recognized Alan F. Bloomfield, retired president and chief executive officer of Gall’s Inc., and his wife, Irene. The event was hosted by the Bluegrass Chapter of Fundraising Professionals.
Wildcat fans lined up at blood-donation stations during the week of November 17 through 21 to out-donate their University of Tennessee rivals in the 16th annual Big Blue Crush blood drive. The drive brought in 2,232 pints to the Central Kentucky Blood Center this year, but UT’s total was 2,615. Over the years, the Big Blue Crush has added nearly 72,000 pints of blood for blood banks in Lexington and Knoxville, benefiting more than 215,000 patients needing transfusions and other blood components.
A new, more comprehensive program of online courses, ranging from office software applications to project management, is now available on the Web to UK faculty, staff, administrators and students. ExecuTrain Virtual Campus offers five libraries of courses, with the total number of courses available numbering nearly 900.
Two colloquia on the Integrative Study of the Biosphere focused on the ancient and present town of Todi, Italy, as a sustainable city in mid-November. Among the topics were “Sustainable Cities: An Alternative for a Post-terrorized World,” “The Future Medieval City,” and “The Aalborg Charter: The European Charter of Cities and Towns Toward Sustainability.” Sponsors included the College of Education, the Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment, the Center for Sustainable Cities, the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, and several departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Kentucky Geological Survey will be collaborating in a $3.2 million project with the Illinois State Geological Survey and the Indiana Geological Survey in a two-year investigation of the potential for carbon sequestration in the Illinois Basin in western Kentucky. The project will compile and update data on the major carbon dioxide sources and storage sites in the Illinois Basin. James Drahovzal, Energy and Minerals Section Head, received a grant of $200,842 for the KGS portion of this $3.2 million project.
The UK College of Communications and Information Studies presented its 2003 Alumnus of the Year Award to Jody Carbiener Dreyer, a 1983 graduate who is now senior vice president for corporate public service at The Walt Disney Company. Others recognized at the college’s annual awards dinner on November 14 were Nell Blair Vaughn, a 1950 graduate, recognized as a Friend of the College; Pamela A. Thompson, who received the Outstanding Staff Award for her service in the School of Library and Information Science; Derek R. Lane, a communication associate professor, the Faculty Research Award; and John F. Clark, assistant professor of telecommunication, the Excellence in Teaching Award.
UK senior Thomas Morgan followed a first-place performance at the SEC Championships by capturing first place at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Greenville, N.C., on November 15. Morgan paced the men to a second-place finish and came in first among 181 competitors from 23 schools in the southeast. Morgan finished the 10k race in 29:56.2, more than four seconds ahead of Scott Shaw of Clemson. The Cats' Nick Devenport, David Freeman, and Hunter Spencer all boasted top-20 performances, as Devenport (30:28.5) came in 12th, Freeman finished not far behind with a 15th-place time of 30:37.4, and Spencer came in 20th in 30:49.0. Freshman John Richardson also fared well in his first post-season appearance with a 47th-place finish (31:26.3).
A recent poll of adults in Lexington/Fayette County by the UK Survey Research Center found respondents evenly divided on a question of whether bars should be allowed to sell alcohol after the current 1 a.m. prohibition. The survey found that about 47 percent of survey respondents favor and about 47 percent are opposed to the later bar hours. The number of respondents favoring extended hours for liquor sales on weekends was higher – 54 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed. The Survey Research Center said the results of the survey do not necessarily indicate that there would be “masses of additional people” staying out later drinking at the bars on weekends if the hours were extended by the Lexington Fayette/Urban County Government Council.
UK and the University of Louisville will battle vigorously when their basketball teams meet on December 27 at Rupp Arena, but the schools have joined hands to urge fans to support organ and tissue donation. UK and U of L have mounted the third annual Gift of Life Challenge to encourage Kentuckians to sign driver’s licenses or organ-donor cards. UK won the first two years. The winner of this year’s competition will be announced at the ball game.
The UK Children’s Hospital will benefit from proceeds of the Campbell House Inn’s New Year’s Eve party. All proceeds go to the hospital. Dinner, dancing, a silent auction, a champagne toast at midnight, and music by Brian Moore and Plan B are included in the price of admission. The celebration starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 31. Tickets are $90 per person, $175 per couple, and $1,000 for a table of eight. For more information, contact UK Children’s Hospital Fund Development at 257-1121.