The University of Kentucky seeks nominations and applications for the director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities (a 50% appointment). The Gaines Center was established in 1984 with a generous endowment gift by Joan and John Gaines. It provides an intensive educational experience in the humanities for students from various majors in the last two years of their undergraduate careers. It also serves as a collaborative home to a wide range of faculty from many academic units on campus and offers public programs with and for the university and the wider community, such as the Bale-Boone Symposium in the Humanities and the Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues. These functions require the Gaines director to be a scholar with considerable enthusiasm and a broad and lively interest in the humanities and community affairs.

The Gaines director will serve as a mentor to the Gaines Fellows and oversee the fellowship program. This includes supervising and overseeing the interdisciplinary humanities seminar for junior fellows and the senior fellows’ thesis projects (for 24 undergraduate student fellows). Alumni fellows of the two-year program have won many national and international awards, including scholarships such as Marshall, Truman, Jack Kent Cooke, Udall, Rhodes and Javits.

The director will oversee all Gaines-affiliated faculty. They will collaborate with faculty and staff from across campus and with community partners to maintain and advance the center’s mission.

The director will also supervise the Gaines Center associate director and administrative support staff members. Additionally, the director is responsible for fundraising, maintaining a strategic plan aligned with the university’s strategic plan, the UK-PURPOSE, and for overseeing the center’s three historic buildings. The annual operating budget for the Gaines Center is approximately $700,000. Please see the Gaines Center website for more information on the center, the fellowship program, humanities events and advocacy and more: https://gaines.uky.edu/.

The position of director also includes appointment as the John R. Gaines Endowed Chair in the Humanities and executive director of the Kentucky Humanities Foundation — a foundation affiliated with the university that provides support for programming and advises the Gaines Center on strategic issues.

Qualifications and expectations: The director of the Gaines Center must be a tenured associate professor or professor with national or international recognition for scholarly achievement in the humanities or a closely related discipline. They must also have a passionate commitment to excellence in undergraduate education. The ideal candidate should be able to articulate a sophisticated, creative and visionary understanding of the humanities, humanistic education and their role in a democratic society. The Gaines Center director will be expected to maintain an active research program and teach up to one course a semester in their home discipline. The director will hold an appointment in an academic department aligned with the appointee's scholarly background and research interests; they will meet the appointment, promotion and endowed chair requirements of the home college. The director will serve a six-year term, with the possibility of reappointment. The Gaines Center for the Humanities is administratively housed in the Office of the Provost.

Application process: To apply, please send a letter of interest that highlights related experience, including a statement that outlines the types of humanities courses and public programming the candidate proposes for the future of the Gaines Center. Along with the letter, the candidate should include a curriculum vitae and a list of three references. All materials should be submitted to Michelle Castro in the Office of the Provost at michelle.castro@uky.edu. Candidates selected as finalists will be asked to submit two additional letters of recommendation, including one from their department chair. Review of applications will begin January 22, 2024, and will continue until the position is filled. For questions regarding the search, please contact Dr. Katie Cardarelli at kathryn.cardarelli@uky.edu.

Kathryn M. Cardarelli, PhD
Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

Dear colleagues,

I want to remind you of the application deadline for the position of Assistant Provost for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. This position is a result of the re-envisioning of the Office for Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (OSPIE) that was performed during the past two months by an internal advisory committee with feedback from university stakeholders. This faculty leader position reports to the Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and is responsible for academic planning and institutional effectiveness activities on behalf of the Office of the Provost. The position is vacant until filled, with an anticipated start date on or before Jan. 1, 2024.

The Assistant Provost for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness leads accreditation and state compliance activities. They serve as a resource for university, college and department level leaders who need support on strategic planning activities and implementation.

This is a full-time appointment; any faculty members on any assignment period are eligible to apply. If you are interested or know someone who would be a good candidate for this position, please review and forward the information found here. 

Applications must be submitted by Nov. 14, 2023 at 5 p.m. 

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely, 

Katie Cardarelli, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

Dear colleauges,

I am pleased to announce an opening for Assistant Provost for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. This position is a result of the re-envisioning of the Office for Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (OSPIE) that was performed during the past two months by an internal advisory committee with feedback from university stakeholders. This faculty leader position reports to the Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and is responsible for academic planning and institutional effectiveness activities on behalf of the Office of the Provost. The position is vacant until filled, with an anticipated start date on or before Jan. 1, 2024.

The Assistant Provost for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness leads accreditation and state compliance activities. They serve as a resource for university, college and department level leaders who need support on strategic planning activities and implementation.

This is a full-time appointment; any faculty members on any assignment period are eligible to apply. If you are interested or know someone who would be a good candidate for this position, please review and forward the information found here. 

Applications must be submitted by Nov. 14, 2023 at 5 p.m. 

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely, 

Katie Cardarelli, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to provide an update on our efforts to name an acting director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities. After receiving feedback in accordance with GR VIII, I have appointed Dr. Richard Schein to serve in this role.

The Gaines Center is a remarkable exemplar of a transdisciplinary approach to education, research and service. It is imperative that those efforts are led by someone in the interim who appreciates the mission of the Gaines Center and understands how that mission helps the university advance Kentucky.

Dr. Schein is a professor of geography in the College of Arts and Sciences and an affiliated faculty member in Historic Preservation in the College of Design. He has been at UK for 30 years and has served the Gaines Center in many capacities as a faculty member.

Additionally, Dr. Schein has served as the Fulbright Bicentennial Chair of North American Studies at the University of Helsinki in Finland, as chair of the Department of Geography and as associate dean for faculty in his college. His research and teaching explore the American landscape, including its origins, forms, meanings and contestations. He is particularly engaged in documenting the geographies of race and racism in U.S. cities.

Dr. Schein begins his one-year appointment on July 1, 2023.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Schein.

Kathryn Cardarelli

Senior Associate Provost for Administration and Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

Dr. Melynda Price has announced that she will step down from the role of director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities at the end of June. During her time serving in this significant role, Dr. Price has made invaluable contributions to the University of Kentucky. Please join me in thanking her for her years of service to our university community.

While we will commence a search process for the next Director of the Gaines Center in the fall, at this time, we are requesting nominations for Acting Director. This is a position that will begin July 1, 2023.

Please click here if you would like to nominate a faculty member for the position of Acting Director of the Gaines Center. Nominations are due by Friday, May 26 at 5 p.m.

Thank you very much for participating in this important process.

Kathryn Cardarelli, Ph.D.

Senior Associate Provost for Administration & Academic Affairs

The following communication from Dr. Cardarelli was distributed to all faculty and provost area staff on Feb. 18, 2022. If you have any questions about the search, please contact Anna Chalfant (anna.chalfant@uky.edu) in the Office of the Provost.

Dear Colleagues,

As previously communicated, I am commencing a search process to fill the position of Chellgren Chair and Director of the Chellgren Center on a permanent basis, which includes creation of a search committee. After a campus-wide call, we received many nominations for members of this search committee.

The search committee chair is Sue Roberts, Professor of Geography and Associate Provost for Internationalization.

Please see below for the remainder of the committee roster:

• Olivia Allran – Undergraduate Student; SGA Assistant Director of Health and Wellness; Chellgren Student Fellow
• Anna Bosch – Associate Professor, Linguistics; Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Arts and Sciences
• Chelsea Brislin – Associate Director, Gaines Center for the Humanities
• James Brusuelas – Associate Professor, Computer Science; Chellgren Faculty Fellow
• Czarena Crofcheck – Professor, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering
• Herman Farrell – Professor, Theatre Arts; Former Chellgren Endowed Professor
• Katherine McCormick – Professor, Early Childhood, Special Education and Counselor Education; Acting Associate Provost for Planning and Assessment
• Jennifer Stevens – Director of Academic Advising, Public Health; Former Chellgren Student Fellow

I will soon meet with the search committee to issue their charge and discuss the search process. I am grateful for their time and service as we seek to fill this important leadership position. As we move further into the process, the search committee will be seeking input campus-wide from faculty, staff and students. We will communicate more about opportunities for participation in the search as it proceeds.

Please feel free to contact Anna Chalfant with any questions.

Kathryn M. Cardarelli, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Provost for Administration and Academic Affairs