Faculty Senate approves Center for Archaeology & Cultural Heritage

The Faculty Senate met April 3, opening the meeting with an action item to approve the Center for Archaeology & Cultural Heritage (CACHe), housed in the Portland neighborhood.

A draft of the mission statement reads: “The Center for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage is a teaching, research and curation facility dedicated to the scholarly pursuit of knowledge about human cultures, past and present. CACHe supports experiential student learning and active research pursuits of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Louisville and is a repository for regional archaeological collections. CACHe is a resource for collaborative research and is dedicated to engaged public outreach with the community of Portland, the city of Louisville and the greater Falls of the Ohio River region.”

The CACHe intends to:

• Preserve archaeological collections from the Falls of the Ohio and surrounding regions
• Create new curation contracts with state and federal agencies
• Offer collection revitalization services

The proposal was approved by the senate.

Senators held a discussion about what it means to be a “Great Place to Invest,” as part of the strategic planning process. Enid Trucios-Haynes, who is part of that committee, noted that “invest” means everything from capital to labor.

The Invest group is considering the following principles/framework to guide its work:

• Promote transdisciplinary/multidisciplinary education, research, scholarship and creative activity and service;
• Incorporate community-engaged partnerships and services;
• Ensure we are student-centered to advance educational excellence;
• Have a demonstrated economic, social and/or cultural impact in Louisville, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond;
• Serve the community as a whole by advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, including the interests of underrepresented minorities and historically marginalized communities; and
• Demonstrate principled leadership and responsible stewardship

As part of the discussion, senators offer suggestions such as focusing on small businesses (not just major corporations) and benchmarking other institutions.

Bob Fox, dean of Libraries, provided an update from his area. A new system is available on the HSC campus called “Browsing,” allowing faculty to access journal databases. Libraries has renewed all major journal and database packages this year, despite the campus-wide 5% cuts.

Fox is currently working on the FY20 budget and will request new books, specifically humanities and social sciences books, because ours are out of date. He said the last time we bought books from state funds was in 2012.

Fox also provided an update on the renovations taking place throughout the Libraries system. Light renovations were recently completed in the music library, while Ekstrom is gearing up for a large renovation to its third floor that will expand its on-site storage capabilities.

Finally, Fox provided an overview of accomplishments, including ThinkIR’s one-millionth download, new software instruction offered at the Delphi Center, and the installment of the Stan Denny collection this year. Denny was a photographer with the Courier Journal who focused mostly on sports.

UofL’s new chief information officer, Rehan Khan, was introduced to the senate. He said his goal is to be proactive, to understand constituents across campus and their challenge, and to engage with them all.

The department is changing its name from Information Technology to Information Technology Services.

Provost Beth Boehm provided a report from President Neeli Bendapudi, who couldn’t make it to the meeting. Bendapudi acknowledged the one-year anniversary of accepting the role as UofL president.

“I am happy to confirm there is no buyer’s remorse,” she said in a prepared statement. “This community has fully embraced me and I am grateful that everyone I’ve met wants UofL to be great. That level of support helps what we’re doing.”

Bendapudi also reiterated that the RFP process has been extended with Jewish Hospital, noting that several entities expressed interest initially, but there wasn’t enough time to fully vet a partnership. An extension could help.

The strategic planning process continues to move forward. Draft strategy statements and outlined actions are expected between mid-April and mid-May. Boehm encouraged senators to share their insights on the Strategic Plan website: http://louisville.edu/strategic-plan

Boehm also noted that UofL is extending its Frankfort Internship Program. Currently, this program includes political science majors, but we are aiming to get 20 total students involved across disciplines.

A Redbook Review Committee is currently working to update the Redbook, while an Enrollment Management Committee is feeding data to the Learn Workgroup as part of the strategic planning process.

Boehm also announced that Teresa Reed has been named dean of the School of Music. Ann Larson has moved from dean of the College of Education and Human Development into a role focused on the local high school pipeline.

“One of Neeli’s personal priorities is to make sure every high school student gets some type of college experience and Ann Larson has agreed to lead this strategy,” Boehm said.

Amy Lingo has been named interim dean of CEHD during this transition. Five-year reviews have been conducted for the dean of Medicine and SPHIS.

Finally, Boehm noted that the ACC Meeting of the Minds event hosted by UofL last weekend was a success.

“We have gotten such kudos on this. It was really successful and exciting and we showed that we belong in this league,” she said.

Reports

The Student Government Association introduced the next Faculty Senate representative – Sabrina Collins, a sophomore studying political science.

The Staff Senate reported that it has endorsed the values statement previously endorsed by the Faculty Senate. Staff senators are also very concerned about a parking rate increase. A full report is available online. 

Chair Krista Wallace-Boaz’s report included an update on the EVPRI search. The search firm – Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates – has been on campus for the process.

Additionally, HR is charging a workgroup to review the university’s health benefits. This group will help create a multi-year strategy that will help ensure that UofL continues to provide valuable health benefits while managing costs. The RFP process that the university entered last month did not produce a suitable partnership. This process on the HSC campus has been extended for 90 days. Her full report is available online.

Other reports are available online. The next Faculty Senate meeting is May 1 at 3 p.m.