Dear Colleagues,

Serving as your provost is an honor. For the past two years, you have taught me, inspired me and reminded me why the University of Kentucky is truly a remarkable place.

Your dedication to our students, each other, your research, your service and this Commonwealth is unmatched.

For the past eight months, Dr. Eric Monday and I have served our health care enterprise as acting co-executive vice presidents for health affairs. As you know, President Capilouto asked us to expand our roles and continue serving in this capacity on a permanent basis, as well as our current roles. I also will continue serving you as provost.

As provost, I believe this appointment creates greater opportunity to integrate and align further our academic, research, service and health care missions, with a focus on continuing to advance Kentucky in all we do. Doing so will strengthen us for the good of the Commonwealth and beyond. To improve what we do to serve our campus, we have strengthened multiple areas.

In fact, we are enhancing our academic mission regarding the role of the provost as UK’s chief academic officer. We are expanding our ability to serve all colleges and faculty in a more timely and comprehensive manner. For example, we have charged our Office for Faculty Advancement to enrich our efforts in supporting all faculty development as well as leadership development. Additionally, a new role in our office will be the vice provost and dean liaison, which will provide more frequent connections to all colleges, ensuring you have the support you need to achieve our mission to advance Kentucky. I will continue to meet regularly with college leadership, and I will provide more opportunities for you to share your experiences with me through town halls for all colleges throughout this academic year. Enhancing communication will be a top priority. Also, we will strengthen key initiatives to expand what we do in our academic efforts.

As an example, our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), called TEK (Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky), is a key initiative, focusing on our students and instructors. I will continue to oversee this program with its director, Dr. Susan Cantrell, as they increase opportunities to build critical employability skills; connect our students to industry partners; and provide opportunities for our faculty through the Faculty Fellows program.

Additionally, we are growing our academic mission within the university’s health system. As part of this strategic refresh, we have prioritized what we are as an academic health system and advanced subspecialty care, so no Kentuckian has to leave the state to receive care. We will work with all colleges, both health care and non-health care focused colleges, to develop collaborations for new educational, research and service opportunities with colleagues in the health care system.

These efforts will continue to transform our campus. The opportunity to bring together people from every corner of our campus in a transdisciplinary manner will ensure we enrich the Commonwealth through our education, research, service and clinical care.

As always, and especially throughout this time of transition, do not hesitate to reach out to your college leadership or the Office of the Provost.

Thank you for all you do.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Provost and Co-Executive Vice President for Health Affairs

Campus Community,

The College of Public Health strives to improve public health in the Commonwealth and beyond by developing leaders, conducting innovative research to strengthen practice, training students to lead a dynamic public health workforce, addressing public health challenges and empowering people to mobilize communities to improve public health. This is possible due to all your hard work and passion. 

I am pleased to announce that a national search process for a permanent dean of the College of Public Health will begin in September. 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, we are seeking nominations for members of the search advisory committee, comprising faculty, staff and learners. All recommendations and justifications are treated confidentially. 

If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else to serve on the search advisory committee, please click here. If you have any questions, please contact Shavonna Ross, director of operations (shav.ross@uky.edu). Please submit your nominations by Wednesday, August 23, at 5 p.m. 

I look forward to working with you and listening to your input as we work through the search process. Thank you for all you do as we work together to advance Kentucky. 

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D. 

Provost 

Dear Colleagues,

I am eager to announce a new opportunity being developed within the Office of the Provost: Vice Provost and Dean Liaison. This position will help us focus even more on academic efforts across our colleges. The full position description and call for a permanent search will be conducted soon. In the meantime, below are highlights of the role, which will first be filled on an acting basis:

• Function as primary liaison to college deans for day-to-day activities;
• Help colleges engage and leverage strengths of multiple shared services and central units;
• Provide leadership and management direction to staff; and
• Ensure compliance with federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations, and university policies, procedures and Administrative Regulations and Governing Regulations.

Those interested in this opportunity should have a terminal degree in their field of study, be at the rank of professor in the regular title series with tenure and have senior administrative experience leading an academic unit, e.g., college, for more than 10 years.

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 staff employees of the unit and others who may be affected.

Thus, in accordance with GR VIII, I will form an advisory committee of faculty, staff and students from across campus and meet with them to solicit their recommended names of acting vice provost and dean liaison candidates. If you would like to nominate an individual(s) to serve on the advisory committee, please click here.

Acting Vice Provost and Dean Liaison Nominations

In addition, anyone in the campus community is welcome to suggest names of candidates to serve as acting vice provost and dean liaison. Please click hereto submit your recommendation for an acting vice provost and dean liaison, including a brief justification. All recommendations and justifications are treated confidentially.

To ensure full consideration for both advisory committee membership and acting vice provost and dean liaison recommendations, please submit your nominations no later than noon on Friday, August 11.

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

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

Robert S. DiPaola, MD

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to inform you that Dr. Charles “Chipper” Griffith has accepted our offer to serve as dean of the UK College of Medicine. He has served in this role in an acting capacity for the last two years, and I am grateful for his steady leadership during this time.

Pending approval from the Board of Trustees, he will begin his appointment on July 15, 2023.

After graduating from the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University in 1988, Dr. Griffith moved to Lexington to complete his residency at UK in internal medicine and pediatrics. In 1991, he became chief resident, before earning a master’s degree in public health. In 1994, Dr. Griffith joined our health care enterprise as a physician and the college as an assistant professor, eventually earning tenure as a professor.

Since his arrival at UK in 1988, Dr. Griffith has cared for innumerable patients, including countless children. He has taught thousands of students who have studied at the college, he has championed medical education throughout the region and he has served in many leadership positions.

For the last two years, as acting dean, Dr. Griffith has led the college through increased enrollment; strengthened investments in student support services; and ensured the college remains focused on supporting the university in achieving our purpose of advancing Kentucky.

Through the years, Dr. Griffith has played an instrumental role in the health and well-being of many Kentuckians, and in the academic success of some of our brightest students. Dr. Griffith understands Kentucky needs the UK College of Medicine, and he undoubtedly will serve the college and the Commonwealth every day with this in mind, as he has for the past 35 years.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Griffith on his appointment as dean of the UK College of Medicine.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost

Dear Colleagues, 

Dr. Heather Bush has served as the acting dean of the College of Public Health since July 1, 2022. Given her steady leadership, I am pleased to reappoint Dr. Bush to a second one-year term, beginning on July 1, 2023. Dr. Bush’s reappointment will continue through June 30, 2024, or until the position is filled on a permanent basis. 

During her tenure, the college launched its first “Pump It Up” celebration for faculty, staff, students and partners who are improving public health in our community. They have expanded their efforts during National Public Health Week and continue to support their students — especially first-generation students — every day. Research in the College of Public Health grew tremendously, and faculty across all four departments were successfully promoted.  

I would like to thank Dr. Bush for her leadership and eagerness to serve the college as acting dean. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Bush on her reappointment. 

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D. 

Provost

Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce that Lisa Tannock has accepted the position of Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement at UK. She will begin her duties in this pivotal position in July.

Dr. Tannock currently serves as Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development in the College of Medicine — a position that, in many respects, mirrors the responsibilities she will take on in leading Faculty Advancement for the entire university.

In her current role, she serves as the lead for virtually all issues related to faculty, in a college with more than 1,200 faculty of diverse disciplines and backgrounds including physicians, scientists and educators.

In her current role, Lisa leads executive searches within the college and is responsible for the processes regarding appointments, promotions and tenure. She works to develop programs to ensure faculty retention, starting with comprehensive recruitment and onboarding efforts. She also helps oversee faculty annual reviews and appeals processes and works cohesively with the college’s Faculty Council in a shared governance approach.

Lisa has been an innovator in this role, as well and works in a collaborative way to best help faculty. She has overseen, for example, the college’s compensation program for clinical faculty and helped lead the development of a new compensation plan for non-clinical faculty, with the goal of ensuring equity and transparency.

Even with all these duties, Lisa remains an accomplished scholar and clinician. She has been a tenured full professor since 2015 with a lengthy list of peer-reviewed publications, grants and an outstanding record of academic mentoring and advising to her credit. With this background, she dedicates significant time to helping faculty with their scholarly pursuits and career development.

In addition to her ongoing administrative duties, she has continued an active and funded research lab as well as her clinical practice in Endocrinology. She also previously held other senior administrative positions with the Department of Internal Medicine, which included faculty recruitment, development and retention for a unit with more than 300 faculty.

As Vice Dean in the College of Medicine, she has been an outstanding leader and advocate for faculty development. She founded and co-leads a leadership academy in the college to support new and emerging leaders.

As part of a steadfast commitment to inclusive excellence, Lisa also was one of the founders of the College of Medicine Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS). Through workshops and development programs, among many initiatives, this program’s goal has been to facilitate career opportunities for the advancement of staff, students and faculty across all stages of their careers.

Lisa deeply understands and is strongly committed to the idea — fundamental to who we are — that faculty are the lifeblood of our institution. 

She promotes our outstanding teachers, who prepare students for success in careers and in life, understanding that faculty generate the sparks of discovery that challenge old theories and find new solutions to intractable challenges. They teach, discover, serve and heal — to change lives by working in every community of our Commonwealth and around our world.

The Office of Faculty Advancement is a critical area of support and advocacy for our faculty and all their efforts — their career advancement, leadership development, recognitions, rewards and retention across our campus.

Lisa will work closely with me and our team, our deans and faculty throughout UK to ensure that the collective voice of our more than 3,000 faculty is heard and listened to as part of our mission to advance this state in all that we do.

I want to thank the search committee members — led by Sue Nokes, our Acting Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement — for their outstanding work throughout this process. I know you join me in congratulating Lisa as she joins the Provost’s leadership team in such a vital role at an important moment for faculty and our campus.

Thank you.

Robert DiPaola

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to provide an update on the next phase of an important campuswide initiative.

Dr. Susan Cantrell will serve as our new director to lead the Office of Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky (TEK). The TEK director plays a key role as part of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), a requirement of reaffirmation through the Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Dr. Cantrell, a professor in the UK College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, led the effort around the development of TEK, which was a critical area of discussion throughout the review team’s visit, and which now will be a point of focus as we implement it across our campus.

With the announcement of Dr. Cantrell’s appointment, it is important to note that she will continue to serve as a professor in the College of Education.

TEK is rooted in the idea that we can develop programs thoughtfully and creatively to have an impact on student success and faculty opportunities. Dr. Cantrell’s background in research that focuses on teachers’ professional learning, efficacy development and instructional change will be a major asset as TEK expands throughout our campus in the coming year.

Dr. Cantrell’s appointment took effect May 1, 2023.

I am sincerely appreciative of Dr. Cantrell’s leadership and support of TEK. Please join me in congratulating her on this appointment.

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost

Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that I have appointed Dr. Alice Turkington as the University of Kentucky Academic Ombud for the 2023-2024 academic year, effective July 1, 2023. The Academic Ombud is the university officer charged with facilitating the resolution of academic issues that may arise, in a manner that is fair and equitable for all parties.

In her more than 20 years at UK, Dr. Turkington has exhibited outstanding leadership of and service to this community. She has served as director of undergraduate studies in the department of geography and currently serves as director of the certificate in undergraduate research in social science. Dr. Turkington is also an associate professor of geography.

I greatly appreciate Dr. Turkington’s willingness to serve as Academic Ombud. I know she will be excellent in this role as evidenced by her numerous academic accomplishments and her proven steadfast dedication to students.

Please join me in congratulating and thanking Dr. Turkington.

Sincerely, 

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

It is an exciting time at the University of Kentucky as we close out another academic year and celebrate the graduates who will soon walk across the stage during next week’s commencement ceremonies. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. I recently provided this memo to academic leadership, and to continue to work on enhancing our communication, I wish to share it with you as well.

Our office, and, in this case, specifically the Office for Faculty Advancement, is committed to ensuring greater trust, transparency and accountability in our work — a core principle of our strategic plan. To that end and to enhance communication, we post memos on our webpage and communicate with you regularly.

Today, I encourage you to review the memo, titled “Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Procedures for 2023-2024.” Decisions to promote faculty and to award tenure are important to faculty development and among the most important judgments made by any university. We recognize this responsibility, and we want to ensure you fully understand the relevant procedures.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this memo, any subsequent memos or anything related to the work of the Office for Faculty Advancement, please contact their team at facultyadv@uky.edu.

Thank you,

Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.

Provost

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sue Nokes as the Acting Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement.

Dr. Nokes’ appointment took effect July 11, 2022.

I am appointing Dr. Nokes to this critical post after an internal search process, which included the work of a search committee co-chaired by Mark Shanda and Katie Cardarelli. I thank the committee for their vital contributions to this search process.

Dr. Nokes has been a University of Kentucky faculty member since 1995. She has served in numerous administrative leadership roles during this time period, including Chair for the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Facilities in the College of Engineering. With a research emphasis on bioprocess engineering, Nokes has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and received over $12 million in grants. She earned several awards for her teaching, including the UK Provost’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2012, and holds one patent.

Prior to her time at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Nokes was a Research Scientist at The Ohio State University in the Department of Agricultural Engineering after earning her PhD in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from North Carolina State University.

I greatly appreciate Dr. Nokes’ willingness to serve as the Acting Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement. Please join me in congratulating and thanking her.

Robert S. DiPaola, MD
Provost