Dear Colleagues,

Colleges and universities across the country are joining the University of Kentucky in celebration of National First-Generation Week, hosted by our Office for Student Success.

At UK, around 25% of students are first-generation students, meaning that their parents did not complete a four-year college or university degree. The University of Kentucky’s first-generation enrollment trajectory has increased degree and certificate production from about 1,200 in 2017-18 to almost 1,900 in 2022-23.

The transition from high school to college can present unique challenges to this population of students. UK’s Office for Student Success and colleges do an incredible job of ensuring our students have access to this guidance and encouragement.

During the trajectory of my educational journey and career, I have realized the importance of building a network of support. As faculty members, you play an integral role in supporting, mentoring and providing these students with opportunities that will elevate their passions and their purpose.

I want to thank you for all that you provide to our students. The support we offer makes a difference not only in their lives, but in the lives of their families and the communities they call home.

As the first in my family to graduate from college, this is an especially meaningful pursuit. You can read more about my journey to and through higher education here.

In the article, I was asked what advice I would offer to first-generation students:

1. Build your support structure of family, friends and mentors.
2. Find and follow your passion for a greater purpose.
3. Read a lot.
4. Stay persistent.

I would especially call your attention to the importance of mentors, and I know that you do this well. Faculty mentorship is very important and often helps guide our students in their career plans and success. Keep in mind how important this support and guidance are to first generation as well as to all of our students. You support, model and guide.

Thank you for all you do to help us support our students as we work together to advance Kentucky.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.  

Provost 

Dear colleagues, 

A central principle of our strategic plan, UK-PURPOSE, is taking care of our people. After all, you make possible UK’s mission of education, research, service and care.   

To support your work, I have elevated the role of the Office of Faculty Advancement (OFA) to better serve faculty at all career stages. OFA’s mission is to provide support and resources for the promotion and tenure programs and process, offer faculty development opportunities, foster recognition of faculty achievements in both scholarship and teaching, partner with units to recruit, retain and support a diverse faculty and promote leadership development of faculty into academic positions. 

Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement Lisa Tannock recently announced an opportunity for a colleague to serve as Assistant Provost for Faculty Professional Development. This position exists to expand this support by developing and overseeing workshops and strategies to increase faculty belonging, engagement and retention — essential to taking care of our people. This individual will serve as a resource for faculty members in need support, guidance or advice. 

Dr. Tannock is also leading efforts to plan innovative, relevant programming for spring 2024 to broaden the support this office offers to faculty across campus. For example, the office is in the planning stages of a continuation of new faculty orientation to follow up with our new colleagues as they begin a new semester.

As I noted in last week’s Faculty Focus, I am committed to visiting each college to hear from you.  I have asked Dr. Tannock to also attend the town halls to hear firsthand how you want to see the service of OFA, to best help.  We will continue to highlight these opportunities and other important initiatives in this space as they are implemented.  We will also continue efforts such as these faculty focus newsletters and town halls, to enhance communication and gain valuable input to continue to shape the Provost Office, to best serve. 

Thank you for all you do to help in our mission to advance Kentucky.   

Robert S. DiPaola, MD  

Provost  

Campus Community,

As you may know, Dean Mary Davis will step down from her position as dean of the J. David Rosenberg College of Law and return to the faculty full time, effective June 30, 2024. We thank Dean Davis for her service in this key leadership role for the University of Kentucky.

I met with the Rosenberg College of Law faculty last week to discuss the process to find a new dean. The search process will begin soon with the goal of the college’s next dean joining us by July 1, 2024.

The Rosenberg College of Law prepares graduates to excel as responsible members and leaders of the legal profession, Commonwealth and nation who are dedicated to the highest standards of ethics, excellence and professionalism. The college serves the community and the profession by enhancing public understanding of law, engaging in law reform, delivering continuing legal education and providing legal services to the indigent. This commitment is made possible through the hard work and passion of the Rosenberg College of Law community and its supporters.

The first step in the process is to form a search advisory committee composed of faculty, staff, students and alumni. In accordance with Governing Regulation VIII, which states that I shall request a recommendation on matters of appointments from a committee, and as part of our efforts to enhance communication, transparency, inclusion and shared governance, the Office of the Provost is seeking nominations to the search advisory committee. All recommendations and justifications are confidential.

To nominate yourself or someone else to serve on the search advisory committee, please click here. Nominations are due Monday, Oct. 30, at 5 p.m. 

If you have any questions about the process, please contact Shavonna Ross, director of operations (shav.ross@uky.edu). 

Thank you, in advance, for your valuable input. We appreciate all that you do to advance Kentucky.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.
Provost 

Dear Colleagues,

To be Kentucky’s university, we must work together to prepare our students today to be Kentucky’s workforce tomorrow. I am thrilled to highlight TEK, the Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advancing Kentucky.

As stated in this week’s article in UKNow, the “bedrock principle” of TEK is “that the best solutions emerge when people with different backgrounds and expertise come together.” Here at UK — in everything we do — we believe collaboration and teamwork are fundamental to our success. In teaching, in researching, in clinical care and in service, we come together to solve problems, innovate answers and discover what is possible.

We created TEK, our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), as an essential part of our accreditation process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Launched earlier this year, TEK was developed after tremendous input from our people and implemented to imagine a future where UK meets the employment needs of the Commonwealth.

Our QEP involves our entire campus community — students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners — with identifying opportunities in the classroom, in labs, in clinical spaces, in the field and elsewhere to address the greatest challenges facing Kentuckians. I also wish to thank those of you who have stepped up to serve as Faculty Fellows, where you are using your expertise and passion to transform many of our current courses to enhance teaching of key employability skills, necessary for team-based approaches to solve our society’s most complex problems. In essence, TEK is central to our strategic plan, the UK-PURPOSE, which prioritizes our mission of advancing Kentucky above all else.

I hope you will read the UKNow article in this week's Faculty Focus newsletter to discover ways you can engage with this incredibly important initiative. Do not hesitate to reach out to TEK’s director, Dr. Susan Cantrell, if you have any questions. Thank you for all you do for our community.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

I want to thank you for all you do every day. You approach your teaching, research, service and care with so much passion. You demonstrate for our entire community what it means to live lives of meaning and purpose.

There are many efforts underway in the Office of the Provost that I wish to share with you. We have added new leaders to our office, including an acting vice provost and dean liaison to do more for our undergraduate efforts, as well as our new associate provost for graduate and professional education and dean of The Graduate School, Padraic Kenney.

The IMPACT Awards offer financial support to programs throughout the enterprise for educational incentives. And we have enhanced our commitment to your professional development as faculty through our Office for Faculty Advancement.

Additionally, to spend more time with you as your chief academic officer, I am doing a “tour” to meet and visit with each college. During these conversations, we will discuss your greatest challenges and highlight several opportunities, so the Office of Provost can best support you.

This weekly newsletter, “Faculty Focus,” and other efforts, such as the upcoming college tour, demonstrate our commitment to improve and intensify communication between our office and you. We are here for you. Thank you for all you do for the university and to advance the Commonwealth.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Provost

Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to inform you that Brandi N. Frisby, professor in the College of Communication and Information (CI), has agreed to serve as CI’s acting dean, effective October 1, 2023. This announcement is the result of feedback from CI students, staff and faculty, as well as conferring with an advisory committee. 

Dr. Frisby joined the University of Kentucky faculty 13 years ago after earning her Ph.D. from West Virginia University. At UK, she has supported multiple academic programs, published more than 80 journal articles and been named in the top 1% of prolific communication researchers. At CI, she has held several leadership positions, including senior associate dean, associate dean for student success, director of a graduate certificate program, an elected senator, member of the graduate council and basic course director for composition and communication courses. She has also represented UK in leadership positions for the National Communication Association (NCA) and the International Communication Association (ICA).  

I appreciate Dr. Frisby’s willingness to step into this role. I am confident that she — working together with the talented faculty and staff in CI — will continue the momentum established by the college in advancing the mission of the university.  

I also wish to thank Dr. Jennifer Greer for her service as dean and for serving as our acting vice provost and dean liaison. And thank you to each of you for supporting CI and our university.   

Robert S. DiPaola, MD 
Provost 

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for everything you do to educate, innovate, serve and care for others. There is a lot to be proud of at the University of Kentucky, and I am tremendously grateful for your passion, persistence and sense of purpose in all you do.

This past year, the Office of the Provost launched a new initiative called IMPACT to champion your hard work, inspire greater ingenuity throughout the enterprise and help you support your students and colleagues, especially with a focus on your educational efforts that will help our students have new opportunities.

This year, the Initiative for Mission Priorities to Accelerate Collaboration and Transformation (IMPACT) awarded more than $600,000 to support your colleagues in a variety of ways.

Eight different colleges received funding related to a variety of topics. The College of Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with seven other colleges, is focused on understanding instruction opportunities with generative artificial intelligence. The College of Fine Arts is establishing a program that develops curricular partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The College of Education, with three other colleges, is enhancing how we equip future educators through the Wildcat Teacher Residency program.

Special consideration was given to proposals that were transdisciplinary, innovative and aligned with some aspect of UK-PURPOSE. And over the coming months, we will showcase each recipient and highlight their efforts to achieve their goals.

And I am excited to share that next year, IMPACT will grant even more money to new projects that you and your colleagues propose.

Congratulations to faculty and staff from this year’s recipients, and as always, I appreciate you and all you do for this university.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD 

Provost

Dear Colleagues, 

As previously communicated, Dean Jennifer Greer has accepted the role of acting vice provost and dean liaison. While Dr. Greer serves the university as the acting vice provost and dean liaison, it will be necessary, in short order, to appoint an acting dean to lead the College of Communication and Information (CI). I am confident in Dr. Greer’s ability to aid in this transition until an acting dean is appointed. 
 

Advisory Committee Nominations 
  
Governing Regulation VIII (GR VIII) states that I shall request a recommendation on matters of acting appointments from a committee, which includes faculty members from that unit. Further, GR VIII specifies that input should be sought from unit staff and others that may be affected. 
  

Thus, in accordance with GR VIII, I will form an advisory committee of faculty, staff and students from CI and meet with them to solicit their recommended names of acting dean candidates. If you would like to nominate an individual(s) to serve on the advisory committee, please click here.
 
Acting Dean Nominations 
 
In addition, anyone in the CI community is welcome to suggest names of candidates to serve as acting dean. Please click here to submit your recommendation for an acting dean, including a brief justification. All recommendations and justifications are treated confidentially.
 

To ensure full consideration for both advisory committee membership and acting dean recommendations, please submit your nominations by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, September 12.  
  

Based on the recommendations of the advisory committee and CI community, I will consider the names suggested and engage in conversations with candidates of interest. 
  

With this critical input, I will select an acting dean and announce the appointment in late September.

Thank you very much for your assistance in this important matter. 

Robert S. DiPaola, MD 

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Greer as the acting vice provost and dean liaison.

Dr. Greer’s appointment to this role is effective September 18, 2023.

I am appointing Dr. Greer to this new and necessary leadership role after receiving feedback from our community. An advisory committee was formed consisting of a dean, representatives from the University Senate and Staff Senate, a staff member and a Student Government Association representative. I thank the advisory committee for their review of and insight on those persons nominated.

Dr. Greer has been the dean of the College of Communication and Information (CI) at the University of Kentucky since 2019. During her time in CI, she has strategically collaborated with college leadership to grow enrollment, especially among first-time undergraduate students. She expanded CI’s role in delivering UK Core courses; improved retention and graduation rates; and refurbished existing space in Lucille Little Library and McVey Hall. Under her leadership, CI also has embarked on two major capital projects — in Pence Hall and at Central Bank Center — which will transform the college for years to come.

Prior to her time at UK, Dr. Greer served as associate provost, interim dean and department chair at the University of Alabama, and acting dean, graduate director and academic chair at the University of Nevada.

We will be working with CI to identify an acting dean in accordance with our processes.

I greatly appreciate Dr. Greer’s willingness to serve as the acting vice provost and dean liaison. Please join me in congratulating and thanking her.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

Ned Crankshaw has served as the acting dean of the College of Design since August 16, 2022. Because of his effective leadership, I am pleased to reappoint Acting Dean Crankshaw.

Under Acting Dean Crankshaw’s leadership, the college has hired several new, remarkable faculty; promoted several existing faculty and staff members; and expanded the scope of its research. Enrollment has increased in multiple academic programs in the college, and there are numerous opportunities for non-design majors as well. Acting Dean Crankshaw has also led the college as it plans for the opening of the Gray Design Building.

I would like to thank Acting Dean Crankshaw for his leadership and willingness to serve the college as acting dean. Please join me in congratulating him on his reappointment.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost