Kim Butterweck – UofL News Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:06:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 UofL’s 10 best moments of 2017 /post/uofltoday/2017-cardinal-countdown/ /post/uofltoday/2017-cardinal-countdown/#respond Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:40:55 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=39210 The University of Louisville this year continued the vital work of enlightening minds and changing lives that has been our hallmark for more than two centuries. From challenges tackled to achievements celebrated, there is much to be proud of and thankful for as we reflect on 2017. So, here’s a Lettermanesque round-up of a few of our many accomplishments:

10ESPN GameDay

Oval Prep for College Game Day
Oval Prep for College Game Day

The excitement of football season got kicked up a notch when ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast live from The Oval in September. We ready, and even of host Lee Corso, putting Cardinal pride and progress on full display for a national audience.

 

 

 


 

9Confidence restored

Forum on budget
President Postel asks UofL employees to ‘switch gears,’ focus on future

We attacked our issues head on and , conquered a and, by , proved the adage “tough times don’t last, tough people do.”

 

 

 

 


8University of Louisville Hospital

University of Louisville Hospital Transition
Signage changes took place as University Medical Center again took over as manager of UofL Hospital and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center following four years of a joint operating agreement with KentuckyOne Health.

On July 1, UofL’s University Medical Center of University of Louisville Hospital and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center following four years of a joint operating agreement with KentuckyOne Health. High-quality staff was retained and increased, and other improvements are well underway, making UofL a continued leader in teaching the next generation of caregivers and providing unsurpassed patient care.

 

 

 


7Research breakthroughs

Michael Detmer, professor, music therapist and the study’s lead researcher.
Michael Detmer, professor, music therapist and the study’s lead researcher.

UofL continued its growth as a premier metropolitan research university with life-changing discoveries and impacts including six years after a complete spinal cord injury, using one of our largest-ever federal grants to , as a public health strategy, on cardiometabolic disease and , and .

 

 


6Community Service

UofL's School of Dentistry has provided free dental care to local children on the first Friday in February (national Give Kids a Smile day) since 2002
UofL’s School of Dentistry has provided free dental care to local children on the first Friday in February (national Give Kids a Smile day) since 2002

The bunch of do-gooders that are UofL’s students, faculty and staff , , , , and more. Our signature partnership program and .

 

 

 


5Fundraising records

The 2017 total is the most the group has ever raised for the 18-hour dance marathon. The money goes toward pediatric cancer research at UofL.
The 2017 total is the most the group has ever raised for the 18-hour dance marathon. The money goes toward pediatric cancer research at UofL.

It was a record year for fundraising, with our largest-ever , and a banner year for the supporting pediatric cancer research.

 

 

 

 


4More graduates, more diversity

There were more than 2,000 at this semester’s celebration, making it one of the largest in university history.
There were more than 2,000 at this semester’s celebration, making it one of the largest in university history.

More than 3,000 this spring, making the graduating class of 2017 one UofL’s largest. Our is the most diverse in our school’s history, and the number of to study at UofL is on the rise.

 

 

 


3More opportunities

Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.

UofL expanded its academic offerings in 2017, including a , the first of its kind in Kentucky, and a new major and minor in music and new media. We added new certificates in engineering and , launched an online winter session and introduced a , providing even more ways for students to explore their career options and determine how they can make a difference in the world.

 


2Student successes

After finishing in the top three four years in a row, River City Rocketry finally took top honors at the NASA Student Launch challenge.

Student successes are commonplace here at UofL. This year, our at the NASA Student Launch challenge, our held onto its national ranking, entrepreneurship teams received accolades for and a way to , and our baseball team went to the College World Series (while also ).

 

 

 


1More student successes

L-R: Hannah Touchton, Jeremy Ball, Dzemila Bilanovic, Hung Ryan Vuong. Not pictured: James Logan Zechella.

Our students were so outstanding this year, it bears repeating. This means student success also is number one on our countdown. UofL students again proved they’re among the best in the nation. hails from UofL, and there were (including ) bringing our Fulbrights total to 110 since 2003, more than all other Kentucky public universities combined.

 

Check out the Cardinal Countdown video:

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UofL to expand need-based aid /section/campus-and-community/uofl-to-expand-need-based-aid/ /section/campus-and-community/uofl-to-expand-need-based-aid/#respond Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:38:17 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=39038 The University of Louisville is expanding its need-based aid programs to help students who struggle to meet the cost of attending college.

Beginning in fall 2018, UofL will add $1.5 million in need-based aid for incoming freshmen. The funding will be used to address unmet need, or the amount between financial aid already received and the actual cost of attendance.

“Most of our students receive some aid but still face financial hardships,” said Jim Begany, vice provost for strategic enrollment management and student success. “This funding will help more students enroll, stay in school and graduate with less debt.”

With the new program, UofL will have increased its student aid for incoming freshmen to more than $9.5 million, including almost 25 percent based solely on need. Overall, the university provides more than $36.5 million in financial aid each year.

In order to fund the need-based aid program, the Credit 4 Credits program will be eliminated.

“The change is about impact,” Begany said. “Our priority is to support as many students as possible, with emphasis on those most at risk of financial hardship. This shift of funding will fill a real need for many of our students.”

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Grawemeyer Award recipients: Inspiration, innovation and action for a better world /section/arts-and-humanities/2017-grawemeyer-award-recipients-inspiration-innovation-and-action-for-a-better-world/ /section/arts-and-humanities/2017-grawemeyer-award-recipients-inspiration-innovation-and-action-for-a-better-world/#respond Thu, 04 May 2017 13:38:25 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=36674 “We’re going to engage you in a discussion of a political, controversial issue,” said Paula McAvoy to the nearly 30 Central High School students assembled in the school library.

The students had filtered slowly into the room that morning to participate in an exercise similar to those that McAvoy and her colleague, Diana Hess, observed taking place in high school classrooms in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Their 4-year study of 35 teachers and their 1,000-plus students was the basis for the book, “The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic ֱ,” which earned Hess and McAvoy the 2017 Grawemeyer Award in ֱ.

A seemingly simple fill-in-the-blank exercise, “When I think about American politics I feel ________ because ________,” kindled discussion among the Central High students and, under Hess and McAvoy’s guidance, grew into a lively debate that cleared the early morning brain fog and spurred the school’s library media specialist, Lynn Reynolds, to effuse, “You have opposing views and you didn’t get mad! You listened to the different sides … You’ll be active citizens. You’ll be the example.”

Hope for a better tomorrow and the belief that ideas have the power to change the world prompted H. Charles Grawemeyer to establish in 1984 the awards program that bears his name. Since then, more than $14 million has been awarded to 148 winners across five fields: music composition, political science, education, religion and psychology.

The 2017 honorees — Hess, McAvoy, Andrew Norman, Dana Burde, Gary Dorrien and Marsha Linehan — recently visited the University of Louisville and to discuss their award-winning ideas.

Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy – ֱ

The civil exchange of ideas and opinions that led at Central High School demonstrated to students and onlookers alike that tackling controversial subjects in the classroom need not be taboo. “Our idea is that schools are a very good place to teach young people how to participate politically,” said Hess.

McAvoy added that when teachers encourage conversations about difficult political issues, “it is time well-spent in the classroom, that students really enjoy it, that it makes them more interested in politics, [and] they leave the class with a deeper knowledge of democracy …”

View photos from and the .

View video of .

View the video news story about the .

Andrew Norman – Music Composition

“‘Play’ is a universe that I created. It has a bunch of rules that determine how musicians interact with each other and the different ways they can control each other,” said of his award-winning, 47-minute orchestral work. “It’s an exploration of those ideas, control and how people react to them and then, ultimately, how a group of people might actually break through a system of rules or controls and create something new.”

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project performed the premiere of “Play” in 2013. Since then, the piece, which Norman said he’s rewritten “three or four times now,” has received considerable attention and critical acclaim, including a Grammy Award nomination.

Norman also outlined the distinction between listening to a recording of “Play” versus experiencing the piece being performed live. “To be there with the musicians as they’re actually making it and seeing them physically is really what this piece is about.”

Local audiences will have the opportunity next April to immerse themselves in Norman’s musical universe when the Louisville Orchestra performs “Play” as part of its Festival of American Music.

View photos from .

Dana Burde – Ideas Improving World Order

earned the 2017 World Order award for analyzing the relationship between education and political violence in Afghanistan, where she’s conducted research for more than a decade. Her 2014 book, “Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan” traces how foreign-backed funding for education can either undermine or support state-building and peacebuilding.

“Our U.S. government funded a curriculum to develop jihad literacy in the 1980s. And we did that because we thought it was critically important to undermine the Soviets who were occupying Afghanistan,” said Burde. “These textbooks cultivated a link — a very strong link — between religion and violence.”

Burde’s award-winning work also highlights positive outcomes of foreign aid and the power of good quality curricula and accessible, community-based schools. “Thoughtful aid that responds to important needs and social services can be very effective and much of our aid in Afghanistan has been, I would argue.”

View photos from .

Gary Dorrien – Religion

Beginning in the late 1800s and continuing through the early 20th century, progressive Christian leaders in North America advocated the Church’s responsibility to deal with the earthly matters of human rights and equality. This religious social-reform movement is known as the Social Gospel and has been widely — and incompletely — documented.

“I have long had this belief that the most important part of the story of the American Social Gospel and its enormous influence in American life, in politics, in society, in religion has just not been told because mostly it gets told as though it’s mostly white people and their institutions, and their ecumenical movement and their churches … that ends up dominating the narrative,” said , whose 2015 book, “The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel,” earned him the 2017 religion award, which is presented jointly by UofL and the .

Dorrien details the history of the Black Social Gospel and how it became a critical forerunner of the civil rights movement. “The greatest story we have in this country is the story of Martin Luther King Jr., and his formation, and his impact on society…” he said. “I hope it is an okay book, but I know it’s on a great subject.”

View photos from .

Marsha Linehan – Psychology

“My goal was to treat people who were high risk for suicide and difficult to treat,” said psychology winner . “I was looking to get people, essentially, out of hell.”

Linehan’s goal was achieved through her trial-and-error development of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which research has shown to be effective for conditions previously considered untreatable, including chronic suicidality and borderline personality disorder. DBT teaches patients new behavioral skills to balance acceptance and change, and was the first psychotherapy to incorporate the practice of mindfulness — being fully aware in the present moment and developing a nonjudgmental attitude — as an essential component.

“A lot of the treatment, not all of it but a lot of it, is training people how to change their own behavior to change their own lives,” said Linehan. “And the goal of the entire treatment is how to build a life that you experience as worth living.”

View photos from .

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2017 Grawemeyer Award winners announced /section/arts-and-humanities/2017-grawemeyer-award-winners-announced/ /section/arts-and-humanities/2017-grawemeyer-award-winners-announced/#respond Fri, 02 Dec 2016 16:50:32 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=34308 “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” – Robin Williams

The Grawemeyer Awards have been a longstanding tradition at the University of Louisville, created to honor those who have impacted the world with just a single idea. UofL graduate, former Louisville Seminary trustee, and philanthropist Charles Grawemeyer founded the awards program in 1984 to pay tribute to the power of creative thought.

The awards draw nominations from all over the world, recognizing pioneers in five fields – Music Composition, Ideas Improving World Order, ֱ, Religion and Psychology. Past winners have included those who have studied the promise of public education in America, developed potential treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, sought ways to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, explored why Christianity has failed in its attempts to heal racial divides, and used native, traditional music to pay tribute to victims of Cambodian genocide.

The list includes Aaron Beck, considered to be the founder of cognitive therapy, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. This year’s honorees and their ideas loom just as large. Their stories are featured below.

Music Composition

Andrew Norman, recipient of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Photo by Jessa Anderson

Andrew Norman, a Los Angeles-based composer of orchestral, chamber and vocal music, wrote “Play” for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, which premiered the piece in 2013 and released a recording on its own label. In three movements, “Play,” this year’s winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, explores the relationship of choice and chance, freewill and control.

The piece investigates the ways musicians in an orchestra can play with, against, or apart from one another; and maps concepts from the world of video gaming onto traditional symphonic structures to tell a fractured narrative of power, manipulation, deceit and, ultimately, cooperation.

“‘Play’ combines brilliant orchestration, which is at once wildly inventive and idiomatic, with a terrific and convincing musical shape based on a relatively small amount of musical source material,” said Award Director Marc Satterwhite. “It ranges effortlessly from brash to intimate and holds the listener’s interest for all of its 47 minutes — no small feat in these days of shortened attention spans.”

“Play” has also been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and Norman was recently named Musical America’s 2017 Composer of the Year.

Ideas Improving World Order

Dana Burde, recipient of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Photo by Jehanzaib Khan

Dana Burde’s 2014 book, “Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan,” explores the influence foreign-backed funding for education has on war-torn countries and how such aid affects humanitarian and peace-building efforts. Because of her analysis on this topic, Burde, an associate professor of international education at NYU, is this year’s winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

“I argue that instead of preventing conflict, U.S. aid to education in Afghanistan contributed to it — deliberately in the 1980s, with violence-infused, anti-Soviet curricula, and inadvertently in the 2000s, with misguided stabilization programs,” Burde wrote. “In both of these phases, education aid was subordinated to the political goals of strong states and used as a strategic tool — a situation made possible in part by humanitarians’ tendency to neglect education’s role in conflict.”

Drawing on extensive research on the impact of U.S.-funded community-based education programs, Burde also makes a case for a sounder understanding of the role of education in state-building and recommends contributing to sustainable peace through expanded access to community-based education with neutral, quality curriculum. Her book was grounded in eight years of field research in Afghanistan and Pakistan and backed by two decades of work on education in countries affected by conflict.

ֱ

Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy, recipients of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award in ֱ

Immigration. Gun control. Abortion. Gay rights. Religion. Are these and other polarizing topics too controversial to be discussed in today’s high school classrooms? According to Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy, co-winners of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award in ֱ, teachers should encourage conversations about difficult issues. These discussions, they opine, help students understand diverse points of view and become more politically engaged adults.

Hess and McAvoy’s 2014 book, “The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic ֱ,” explores the role of teachers in perpetuating serious political deliberation in schools. The book is based on a 4-year study of 35 teachers and their 1,000-plus students.

“Teachers are beginning to worry that all controversial topics are taboo,” said ֱ Award Director Marion Hambrick. “This timely book dispels that notion and provides tangible evidence that the classroom is an unusual political place where students can learn to carefully examine divisive issues.”

is dean of the School of ֱ at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and directs the Center for Ethics and ֱ at the same university.

Religion

Gary Dorrien is the 2017 Grawemeyer Award winner for Religion.

In “The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel,” social ethicist Gary Dorrien describes the early history of the Black Social Gospel from its 19th-century founding to its close association in the 20th century with W.E.B. Du Bois. He offers a new perspective on modern Christianity and the civil rights era by delineating the tradition of social justice theology and activism that led to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dorrien’s book earned him the 2017 Grawemeyer Award in Religion, given jointly by UofL and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

“We urgently need this historical and theological account in our religious communities and public discourse,” said Tyler Mayfield, Faculty Director of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion and the A.B. Rhodes Associate Professor of Old Testament at Louisville Seminary. “Dorrien’s book highlights a disremembered part of American religious history, one that holds relevance for contemporary discussions about race and U.S. religion. His compelling narration of the Black Social Gospel as a profoundly religious tradition of thought and activism underscores the crucial connections among the Black Church, social Christianity, the creation of black institutions, and the struggle for freedom.”

Dorrien, an Episcopal priest, is a professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and professor of Religion at Columbia University.

Psychology

Marsha Linehan is the 2017 Grawemeyer Award winner for Psychology.

Marsha Linehan, a psychology professor at the University of Washington, developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which balances acceptance and commitment to change in treating mental illness, distinguishing it from previous standard interventions. Research shows DBT to be an effective treatment for conditions previously considered untreatable, such as borderline personality disorder.

Linehan’s work has earned her the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology. In developing DBT, she sought out difficult-to-treat, suicidal individuals and, by trial and error, created an effective intervention, which led to treatment for multiple disorders. She drew on her personal experiences — she acknowledged publicly in 2011 her own longtime struggle with high suicidality — and training as a spiritual director and Zen Master to develop an approach that taught patients how to regulate dysfunctional behaviors. The therapy relies on a toolkit of behavioral skills, including mindfulness practices, that were previously not common in mainstream psychology.

“In addition to being considered the state-of-the-art treatment for chronically suicidal individuals, dialectical behavior therapy has been found to be effective for other behavioral disorders, including eating disorders, addiction, anxiety related disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression,” said Professor Woody Petry, award director.

All 2017 winners will present free lectures about their award-winning ideas when they visit Louisville in April to accept their $100,000 prizes.

 

 

 

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UofL offers financial aid workshops, Cardinal Preview Day /post/releases/uofl-offers-financial-aid-workshops-cardinal-preview-day/ /post/releases/uofl-offers-financial-aid-workshops-cardinal-preview-day/#respond Wed, 28 Sep 2016 17:54:25 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=32876 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Navigating the path between high school and college can be challenging and overwhelming for both students and parents. In order to ease the transition, the University of Louisville is offering a series of workshops to assist with federal financial aid applications, as well as a daylong campus open house event.

During the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion workshops, staff from the university’s student financial aid office will walk student and parent participants through the process of filing the FAFSA. Changes to the FAFSA process, as announced by President Obama last September and in effect beginning with the 2017-18 application, include an earlier filing start date of October 1 (previously January 1); and a requirement to report income and tax information from an earlier tax year. A detailed overview of the changes from the Federal Student Aid office is available .

The UofL-led workshops are free and students are not required to apply for admission to the university in order to participate. The workshops will take place on:

  • Oct. 5, 5–7 p.m., Seneca High School, 3510 Goldsmith Ln., Louisville
  • Oct. 6, 6–8 p.m., Oldham County High School, 1150 North Highway 393, Buckner
  • Oct. 11, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Martha Layne Collins High School, 801 Discovery Blvd., Shelbyville
  • Oct. 11, 6–8 p.m., Fern Creek High School, 9115 Fern Creek Rd., Louisville
  • Oct. 13, 5– 8 p.m., Jeffersontown High School, 9600 Old Six Mile Ln., Louisville
  • Oct. 15, 10 a.m. tonoon, during Cardinal Preview Day at the University of Louisville (details follow)
  • Oct. 20, 6-8 p.m., Southern High School, 8620 Preston Highway, Louisville

Cardinal Preview Day on Oct. 15 is open to anyone interested in learning more about attending UofL. Activities, including campus tours, workshops, information sessions and student panel discussions, take place from 10 a.m. to4 p.m. A complete schedule is available . Pre-registration is not required, although participants need to check in at the Swain Student Activities Center (SAC) West Plaza next to the George J. Howe Red Barn upon arrival. There is no cost for Cardinal Preview Day and parking is free at the Floyd Street parking garage, 2126 South Floyd St.

For more information about the workshops and FAFSA changes, contact Sandra Neel, 502-852-5517, sandra.neel@louisville.edu. Jenny Sawyer, 502-852-4957, jenny.sawyer@louisville.edu, is available to discuss Cardinal Preview Day activities.

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UofL’s preferred credit union partner to hold weeklong grand opening celebration /post/uofltoday/uofls-preferred-credit-union-partner-to-hold-weeklong-grand-opening-celebration/ /post/uofltoday/uofls-preferred-credit-union-partner-to-hold-weeklong-grand-opening-celebration/#respond Mon, 22 Aug 2016 18:43:22 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=32303 “We’ve created something completely different than any other branch,” said Leigh Ann Bowen, assistant branch manager for Commonwealth Credit Union, the university’s preferred credit union partner.

If the bright red, teal and white signage and new outdoor seating area in the Floyd Street parking garage courtyard isn’t enough to lend credence to Bowen’s claim, a step through the doors of the credit union’s newest location certainly will. With funky, silver-accented décor, flat screen monitor-adorned walls and popcorn-scented air, the Belknap Campus branch is an embodiment of the financial institution’s distinctive approach to doing business.

“Each individual that comes through that door, they’ve got a different past, they’ve got a different future and we try to match what we have to them so they can meet whatever goals that they have,” said Tracy Coffey, director of campus relations. “You’re not a number. You’re a person. We have passion — a passion to help and to serve.”

That passion will be on full display during Commonwealth Credit Union’s Grand Opening Week, August 29 throughSeptember 2. Guests can enjoyfree food, games and prizes; ham it up in the Derby City Selfie booth; and take advantage of special offers, including a $100 incentive to open a new checking account.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 31 at 10 a.m. will feature appearances by Louie the Cardinal Bird, the Ladybirds and the Pep Band. .

Bowen and Coffey have a combined 40 years of tenure with Commonwealth Credit Union, the largest state-chartered credit union in Kentucky, and both jumped at the opportunity to become part of the Cardinal family. The UofL partnership is unique in the institution’s 65-year history. Both employees cite the chance to work with students and help build a more financially literate generation as one of the most exciting aspects of the venture.

One thing both Bowen and Coffey want to make clear: there’s no quid pro quo.

“You don’t have to be a member. Come on over, we’ll pull you a credit report. We have a passion to help people,” reiterated Coffey. “I’m hoping that as we go through the years, this [branch] becomes a place to hang out. You know you’re going to get free cappuccino, free popcorn, free cookies, water. Stop in every morning on your way through, get a cappuccino — member or not.”

Although the official grand opening takes place next week, the branch at 2126 S. Floyd St.has been open for a month and the Commonwealth CU team has had a presence on campus since last fall.

“You guys have made us feel welcome,” said Coffey. “Everywhere I go now, I know someone. We are part of the campus community now.”

The Belknap Campus branch is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Fridays from 9 a.m. to6 p.m. More information about Commonwealth Credit Union, including a list of UofL ATM locations, is available at .

 

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Honoring ideas that inspire humanity /section/arts-and-humanities/honoring-ideas-that-inspire-humanity/ /section/arts-and-humanities/honoring-ideas-that-inspire-humanity/#comments Tue, 03 May 2016 15:34:22 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=29998 “It validates these ideas and says that they really matter,” said Susan R. Holman of winning the 2016 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. “It is an incredible honor. It is an immense responsibility — a sense of how can I pay back with my life for this recognition?”

Holman and her fellow 2016 recipients — Hans Abrahamsen, Gary Haugen, Victor Boutros, Karl Alexander, Linda Olson and Steven Maier — are the latest in a line of more than 130 people whose powerful ideas and creative works have been encircled in the spotlight of H. Charles Grawemeyer’s vision and generosity. A University of Louisville graduate, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Grawemeyer believed ideas have the power to change the world and so established the awards program to recognizeachievements in several fields of endeavor: music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology.

The 2016 honorees recently visited the University of Louisville to accept their $100,000 prizes and to discuss their award-winning works with hundreds of lecture-attending students, faculty, staff and community members.

Hans Abrahamsen – Music Composition

The Grawemeyer Award-winning song cycle for soprano and orchestra, “let me tell you,” is about “a woman who dares now to take her words and tell her story,” said Danish composer .

His half-hour work presents a first-person narrative by Ophelia, the tragic noblewoman from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The libretto by Paul Griffiths is adapted from his 2008 novel — also titled “let me tell you” — and consists of seven poems created using only the minimal vocabulary that Shakespeare originally scripted for Ophelia.

“The voice of the singer, somehow she is created out of the orchestra, out of the music,” said Abrahamsen. “She becomes stronger and stronger.”

View photos from and .

Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros – Ideas Improving World Order

“The poor are struggling to get out of their circumstances of desperation and that effort is just totally undercut by these predatory forces of violence that are not being controlled in the developing world,” said Haugen, founder and president of the International Justice Mission, a human rights organization that works with local authorities to combat violence and build justice systems.

The absence of law enforcement in developing countries and how it undermines the fight against global poverty is explored in the 2014 book, “The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence.” The work earned this year’s award for Ideas Improving World Order.

“You don’t want to draw nearer to pain that you feel can’t change. For me, the great hope that has come from doing this work … is seeing that [conditions] do change,” said Boutros, a visiting scholar at George Washington University Law School and a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, where he investigated human trafficking and hate crimes around the country. “That has been such an encouragement that the Grawemeyer Award has brought to me because I know that its focus is not just on world impact, but ideas that are really feasible.”

View photos from .

Karl Alexander and Linda Olson – ֱ

ֱ can’t trump impoverished beginnings. That key conclusion, outlined in the 2014 book “The Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Urban Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood,” earned authors this year’s education prize. The sociologists’ decades-long research study of 800 Baltimore-area urban youths from first grade through adulthood challenges the idea that access to public education means equal opportunity.

“We’d like to think this is the land of opportunity. That if you work hard, play by the rules, do what your parents tell you, do what your teachers tell you, then good things will follow,” said Alexander. “We would like to think that we’re able to deliver on that promise, but in point of fact, the reality is: it falls short.”

View photos from .

Susan R. Holman – Religion

Having earned degrees in religious studies, nutrition and psychology, , a senior writer at the Global Health ֱ and Learning Incubator at Harvard University, is uniquely qualified to address what she calls a “divide between religion and health.” Her award-winning idea—that faith-based and human rights organizations’ divergent ideological approaches can create discord and ultimately undermine both groups’ efforts to address global health issues — is examined in the book, “Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights.”

“I thought, ‘There needs to be some kind of basic primer to help my faith-based friends actually learn the … human rights language and something that would also speak to the public health people to realize that dialogue and appreciation for history has benefits,’ ” said Holman.

The religion prize is awarded jointly by the University of Louisville and the .

View photos from .

Steven Maier – Psychology

“What makes some people vulnerable to bad events and what makes others resilient and bounce back?” said , distinguished professor of psychology and neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience director at University of Colorado-Boulder. “Once we can get an idea of the fundamental differences, can we figure out how the brain makes this happen?”

His pursuit to answer these questions led to the discovery of a brain mechanism that not only produces resilience to trauma but also aids in coping with future adversity and earned Maier the 2016 psychology prize. The idea that behavioral control induces resilience has become important in psychology, neuroscience and other academic disciplines, as well as clinical research and therapies for depression and anxiety disorders. Maier laid the groundwork for understanding the brain mechanism involved in how one assesses and deals with adverse events.

View photos from .


Interested in hearing more from the 2016 Grawemeyer Award winners? Listen to these extended interviews featured on the UofL Today with Mark Hebert radio show:

Check out photos from the .

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CEHD Dean Larson co-chairing Presidential Session on educational reform /post/uofltoday/cehd-hosting-discussion-on-educational-reform/ /post/uofltoday/cehd-hosting-discussion-on-educational-reform/#respond Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:45:29 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=28995 University of Louisville Dean Ann Larson is co-chair of an April 11 Presidential Session at the 2016 (AERA) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

Dean Larson

The gathering draws more than 14,000 educational researchers, faculty, deans, and higher education administrators worldwide.

The session, “The Power of Public Scholarship to Transform Policy and Practice,” will feature four recipients of the University of Louisville — Linda Darling-Hammond, Michael Fullan, Andy Hargreaves and Diane Ravitch — for a panel discussion about their award-winning ideas and experiences working with policymakers and practitioners to prompt educational change. Valerie Strauss, education reporter for The Washington Post and session co-chair, will moderate the discussion.

Darling-Hammond

received the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for her book, “The Flat World and ֱ: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future,” in which she presents her theory that the United States no longer leads the world in education because it spends far less on low-income and minority students than it does on affluent students. Her research showed that although nations in Europe and Asia fund schools centrally and equally, the wealthiest American school districts spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest.

 

Ravitch

’s book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining ֱ,” earned her the 2014 Grawemeyer Award. The work chronicles her decades-long journey from reform advocate to critic and encourages a return to school curriculums that value art, literature, creativity and problem solving.

 

 

 

Hargreaves and Fullan

received the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in ֱ for ideas outlined in their book, “Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School.” They found that placing teachers in a team environment that encourages individual contributions, group interactions and continuous learning is a more effective approach than using performance-based education models to reward or punish individual teachers.

UofL presents the annual Grawemeyer Awards for outstanding works in music composition, ideas improving world order, psychology and education and gives a religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Feature photo courtesy of

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Grawemeyer Awards Lecture Series spotlights recipients’ work /section/arts-and-humanities/grawemeyer-awards-lecture-series-spotlights-recipients-work/ /section/arts-and-humanities/grawemeyer-awards-lecture-series-spotlights-recipients-work/#respond Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:57:05 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=28083 Recipients of the 2016 Grawemeyer Award will discuss their winning works at the University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in April.

UofL presents the annual prizes for outstanding works in music composition, ideas improving world order, psychology and education and gives a religion prize jointly with . This year’s awards are $100,000 each.

The schedule for the 2016 Grawemeyer Awards Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public, is as follows:

  • , distinguished professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Center for Neuroscience at University of Colorado-Boulder, will present “Behavioral Control, Resilience, and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex” on April 13 at noon in room 100 of the Bingham Humanities building. He won the psychology award for discovering a brain mechanism that not only produces resilience to trauma but also aids in coping with future adversity.
  • ֱ award recipients will speak April 13 at 5 p.m. in the University Club Ballroom. They and their late colleague, Doris Entwisle, were recognized for their book, “The Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood,” which details their decades-long study of urban youths. All three authors were employed at Johns Hopkins University.
  • , senior writer at the Global Health ֱ and Learning Incubator at Harvard University, will present “Health Justice— Hermeneutic of Blessing?” on April 13 at 7 p.m. in the seminary’s Caldwell Chapel. She received the religion award for her book, “Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights,” in which she examines how faith-based and human rights organizations’ divergent ideological approaches can undermine efforts to address global health issues.
  • , authors of “The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence,” will speak April 14 at 1 p.m. in the Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium. They received the award for Ideas Improving World Order for outlining how the absence of law enforcement in developing countries undermines the fight against global poverty. Haugen is founder and president of the International Justice Mission. Boutros is a visiting scholar at George Washington University Law School.
  • On April 14 at 3 p.m. in UofL School of Music’s Bird Hall, Danish composer will talk about “let me tell you,” a song cycle for soprano and orchestra that earned him the 2016 music composition award. Librettist Paul Griffiths and Abrahamsen’s wife, pianist Ann-Marie Abildskov, also will participate to highlight the winning piece, which presents a first-person narrative by Shakespeare’s Ophelia.

UofL graduate and philanthropist Charles Grawemeyer created the awards program in 1984 to pay tribute to the power of creative thought and emphasize the impact a single idea can have on the world. Grawemeyer further distinguished the awards by requiring the selection process involve a lay committee to ensure the winning ideas are comprehensible to a broad audience. The Grawemeyer Awards celebrated its 30th anniversary last fall with a series of special events, including the naming of boxing legend and humanitarian Muhammad Ali as the first recipient of the Grawemeyer Spirit Award.

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Susan Holman wins Grawemeyer Award in Religion /post/uofltoday/susan-holman-wins-grawemeyer-award-in-religion/ /post/uofltoday/susan-holman-wins-grawemeyer-award-in-religion/#respond Thu, 03 Dec 2015 21:32:25 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=27275 Both faith-based and human rights organizations work to address global health issues, but divergent ideological approaches can create discord and ultimately undermine the efforts of both groups. This idea, examined in the book, “Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights,” has earned its author the 2016 University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Susan Holman explores how healthcare efforts based on a human rights approach can overlook the important role religions play in communities; and how faith-based initiatives are often more focused on the benefactor than on the recipient of care. She highlights how a combined approach, incorporating religious views and traditions with dialogue about economic and social rights, can be useful in combating global health problems.

“This is theology at ground level,” said award director Shannon Craigo-Snell. “Holman investigates specific events, people and situations to glean wisdom regarding both religion and global health. By the final chapter, she evokes an image of global humanity in which we all recognize that we are beholden to one another—both givers and receivers in inescapable interconnection.”

Holman, a senior writer at the Harvard Global Health Institute, is uniquely qualified to address these topics. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Brown University, a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Science degree in nutrition from Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Her two undergraduate bachelor’s degrees—one in psychology and one in nutrition—are from Valparaiso University.

Holman is among the five winners named this week, pending formal approval by the university’s board of trustees. The University of Louisville presents the prizes annually for outstanding works in music composition, ideas improving world order, psychology and education and presents a religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The 2016 winners will present free lectures about their award-winning ideas when they visit Louisville in April to accept their $100,000 prizes.

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