The following message was sent to faculty on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. 

Dear Colleagues,

Many of our students, faculty and staff and their families were affected in various ways by the historic storms Friday evening. For some, these effects will necessarily continue into finals week. Students could be experiencing significant injuries or deaths within their households or other circumstances, which the instructor of record would reasonably find cause for absence (Senate Rule 5.2.5.2).

We want to remind instructors of their responsibility for evaluating the reasonableness of the students’ causes for absence and encourage instructors to exercise this responsibility thoughtfully and generously given the severity of these storms.

The way a student’s absence during finals week is excused is also a matter of some instructor discretion. To help instructors understand their options, we worked together to propose the following considerations:

• Instructors may arrange for students to complete a final exam via an alternative format (e.g., online).
• Instructors may work with affected students to establish a later final exam or submission date. If feasible, this date would fall within the semester.
• If the date will fall later than necessary to meet the grading deadline for the semester (Dec. 20 at 5:00 pm), the student may request an I (incomplete) grade (Senate Rule 5.1.2.2).
• It should be noted that students cannot graduate with an I grade on their transcripts, so instructors should inform students of this prior to agreeing to assign an I grade.
• The instructor may not elect to simply calculate the student's grade on the basis of the other course requirements, unless the student agrees in writing. Senate Council encourages instructors to use this discretion to the benefit of our affected students.

We hope this helps, and we are always available to answer questions as we work together to get through this challenging time.

Robert DiPaola (MD), Acting Provost

Aaron Cramer, Senate Council Chair 

Colleagues,

This afternoon, I have the bittersweet task of informing you that Dr. Kathi Kern has let me know of her intention to leave the Provost’s office and return to the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences later this spring.

For several years, Kathi has led campus efforts around our online learning strategy as well as faculty development and training through the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT). She has led in both of these strategically pivotal spaces with intellect and skill as well as a sense of vision and, as always, keen humor and optimism.

As tough as it is to see her move on, I know teaching remains her first love and the College of Arts and Sciences and its students will be the undeniable beneficiary of this move. Many across our campus know that Kathi is a master teacher, with more than a generation of UK students looking to her for mentorship.

Consider the fact that Kathi has won the Chancellor/Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Alumni Great Teacher Award and the College of Education’s “Teachers Who Made a Difference Award” – a trifecta of honors that demonstrate how her fellow faculty, students and other stakeholders recognize her excellence in the classroom and deep commitment to students. She also spent a year as a visiting scholar at Princeton.

She took those skills – and insatiable sense of curiosity about how to do things better in her chosen profession – to the Provost’s office.

Kathi was the inaugural director of CELT, where she has spent more than a decade establishing and building out an innovative teaching and learning support unit, utilized by faculty across the campus. It also has been central to our efforts to cultivate a robust teaching community across disciplines.

One example, among many, of innovative approaches to teaching and learning is the effort in 2015 that Dr. Kern and her team initiated with conversations and inquiry around race and teaching. Those conversations continue to this day as programs centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the learning environment.

Similarly, Dr. Kern’s leadership of the UK Online initiative has led to the expansion of the university’s online footprint with high-quality, innovative, faculty-driven online programs launched at an unprecedented rate during COVID-19, from 37 to 87 programs since 2018.

In collaboration with the University Senate and faculty across the institution, Kathi and her team supported both new and established online programs to increase UK’s online enrollments and expand access to the benefits of a UK education to learners both near and far.

Nowhere has this combination of skills and effort been more invaluable than in helping navigate through a global pandemic. In March 2020, Kathi and her teams provided seamless and strong support for faculty and instructors as UK shifted all classes to a remote format in less than two weeks.

During this time, demand for instructional support surged like never before, and Dr. Kern led her teams as well as the institution’s academic course delivery workstream to maintain and, ultimately, strengthen the UK’s ability to fulfill its critical teaching mission for the Commonwealth and beyond.

Not surprisingly, Kathi has graciously accepted my request that she stay on in the Provost’s office for a time during the spring semester to help work through this transition period.

We will create a senior-level position to focus solely on online learning as we need to take the strong foundation that Kathi has helped build through COVID-19 and accelerate and expand our efforts. That will involve a national search. I will also appoint an acting director for a period of time as that search will likely take a number  of months. Finally, I will ask the Office for Faculty Advancement to oversee the important work being done in CELT.

But there will be ample time for transitions. Today, I know you all join me in celebrating Kathi’s significant accomplishments and steadfast devotion to this intellectual community, our faculty and the students who we are called to serve.

Thank you, Kathi.

Robert S. DiPaola
 

Dear Colleagues,

Our next Partnership with the Provost dialogue will take place Thursday, Dec. 9, in the Gatton Student Center E. Britt Brockman Senate Chamber at 1:30 p.m.

Those who cannot attend in person are welcome to attend virtually via Zoom.

We invite you to submit your questions and feedback via this Qualtrics link. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I review all comments that are made through this platform prior to the discussion.

As always, you also can view our previous conversation at the link below.

View Nov. 11 Partnership with Provost

Submit Questions and Provide Feedback Anonymously

Add Dec. 9 Partnership with Provost to Your Calendar

I look forward to engaging with you soon.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Dear Colleagues,

As the holiday season begins, I want to tell you how grateful I am to be a member of this community. It has been an honor to serve as acting provost alongside each of you this semester.

We continue to navigate circumstances we could not have foreseen just a few years ago. At every step of the way, however, you have stepped up and met the moment. You have demonstrated the compassion and determination that distinguish this special place.

Since I assumed this position just more than four months ago, it has become so apparent how passionate, resilient and caring for our students and colleagues you are, particularly in a time of challenge. Because of you, there is much for which I am thankful.

I am thankful for our faculty members who have delivered the transformative UK experience — in evolving circumstances — allowing us to return to a vast majority of courses delivered in person.

I am thankful for our students who remind us each day why we are here — to prepare the next generation of leaders, artists, scholars, healers and public servants.

I am thankful for our staff who deliver on our mission each and every day, despite facing new challenges.

I am thankful for the deliberative spirit of our partners in the University Senate and the collegial dialogue that shows our common purpose.

I am thankful for the committed community members across our campus who helped shape our strategic plan — a roadmap for our university’s success.

I am thankful for steady and sturdy leadership across campus.

I am thankful for this place — a campus that brings opportunities for transdisciplinary efforts that uplift communities — and the future we will build together.

I hope you are able to take time for yourselves to engage in rest and rejuvenation during the Thanksgiving break. Remember that, just as you have provided care and support for your students and colleagues this academic year, it is also important to engage in self-care.

Thank you for everything you have done — and continue to do — to uplift those we serve through education, research, service and care.

This holiday season, I am grateful for you.

With best wishes,

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Dear Colleagues,

I want to express my sincere gratitude to those who joined me for our most recent Partnership with the Provost discussion — the first we held in person.

I look forward to gathering once again for our next conversation on Thursday, Nov. 11 in the Gatton Student Center E. Britt Brockman Senate Chamber at noon.

Those who cannot attend in person are welcome to attend virtually via  Zoom.

We also invite you to continue submitting your questions and feedback via the Qualtrics link. I make sure to review all comments that are made through this platform, and your perspectives drive much of what we discuss in these conversations.

I will take this opportunity to provide updates on important topics at UK — from COVID-19 and our strategic plan, to work that is accelerating around our re-accreditation process, to ongoing dialogues I’ve been having with faculty representatives on issues of concern.

As always, you can also view our previous conversation at the link below.

View Oct. 28 Partnership with Provost

Submit Questions and Provide Feedback Anonymously

Add Nov. 11 Partnership with Provost to Your Calendar

I deeply appreciate your insights and contributions to this community. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Dear Colleagues:

Last week, I communicated with the campus that a new search process was beginning for the Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education.

I received feedback in follow up to that message regarding the internal scope of the search. I appreciate that feedback and am now adjusting the scope of the search. This will be a national search, open to both internal and external applicants.

Given this change, search committee nominations will now be accepted through November 11 at 5 p.m. Please submit any nominations by email to Anna Chalfant (anna.chalfant@uky.edu).

Again, thank you very much for participating in this important process.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Acting Provost

The following message from Acting Provost DiPaola was sent to UK faculty on Friday, November 5, 2021. 

Dear Colleagues:

As you know, nominations for membership of the search committee for the associate provost for faculty advancement were solicited in October. Based on those nominations, the committee has been formed.

The committee co-chairs are Katie Cardarelli, senior associate provost for administration and academic affairs, and Mark Shanda, dean, College of Fine Arts. 

Please see below for the remainder of the committee roster:

• Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, J. David Rosenberg College of Law
• Jennifer Haynes, Faculty Advancement Coordinator, Office for Faculty Advancement
• Cliff Iler, Deputy General Counsel, Faculty, Students and Research Group
• Derek Lane, Professor, College of Communication and Information
• Brian Lee, Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Resources, Planning and Assessment, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
• Sue Nokes, Professor, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment; Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Facilities, College of Engineering
• Anne Olson, Associate Professor and Chair of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health Sciences
• Treshani Perera, Librarian III and Music and Fine Arts Cataloging Librarian, UK Libraries
• Lisa Tannock, Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development, College of Medicine

I met today with the search committee to issue their charge and discuss the search process.

Please, feel free to contact Anna Chalfant with any questions.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Acting Provost

Dear Colleagues:

In follow up to the president’s communication to the campus earlier this year, I am beginning a new search process for the dean of the Graduate School and the associate provost for graduate and professional education. This will be an internal search process. The first step is a request for nominations for members of the search committee.

If you would like to nominate an individual to serve on the search committee, please send their name, contact information and a brief justification by email to Anna Chalfant (anna.chalfant@uky.edu). Please submit your nominations by Nov. 9 at 5 p.m.

Thank you very much for participating in this important process.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD
Acting Provost

The following message from Acting Provost DiPaola was sent to faculty on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2021. 

Dear Colleagues,

As a reminder, the next Partnership with the Provost conversation will take place on Oct. 19 at 11:30 a.m. on Zoom. I hope you will consider taking the time to engage with me as we discuss important updates in our campus community.

I plan to use the same question and answer format that I used in our most recent discussion, which you can now view at the link below.

View Sept. 9 Partnership with Provost

As always, you may submit questions via the Qualtrics link below, and I will review them and respond to the recurring themes that emerge. I look forward to reviewing your feedback from the last discussion.

> Submit Questions and Provide Feedback Anonymously 

> Add Oct. 19 Partnership with Provost to Your Calendar

I am truly grateful for the questions you submit and the feedback you provide. I look forward to our next discussion.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

The following message from Acting Provost DiPaola was sent to faculty on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. 

Dear Colleagues:

G.T. Lineberry has announced that he will step down from the role of Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement at the end of 2021 to begin his long-deserved plan to assume non-administrative responsibilities. During his time serving in this critical role, Dr. Lineberry has made invaluable contributions to the University of Kentucky. I hope you will join me in thanking him for his over nine years of service to our faculty, faculty administrators, and others within the University community.

We are planning to commence a search process for the next Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement. This will be an internal search process. The first step is a request for nominations for members of the search committee.

If you would like to nominate an individual to serve on the search committee, please send their name, contact information, and a brief justification by email to Anna Chalfant (anna.chalfant@uky.edu). Please submit your nominations by October 13 at 5 p.m.

Thank you very much for participating in this important process.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD