The exhibit, presents more than 30 of Douglas’s paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. It is on display until Oct. 1 in the museum’s second-floor Chellgren Gallery. Read this review by Forbes magazine .

UofL students, faculty and staff enjoy free general admission to the Speed Museum. Through a generous donation from Eleanor Bingham Miller, general admission for all members of the public will be free through Oct. 1, during the run of this exhibition.

Douglas�� was a prolific visual artist and longtime resident of Louisville’s West End, a former community organizer, and a teacher and mentor to generations of artists and thinkers. He earned a fine arts degree at UofL in 1963 and, after obtaining his master’s and Ph.D., returned to UofL as a PAS and art professor.

To discuss the relevance of his work in examining and reflecting the Black community in Louisville, two UofL professors will hold a at the Speed Museum at 6 p.m., Sept. 7. will feature , UofL associate professor of English, and , chair of PAS and director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.

The event, hosted by the , honored UofL faculty and staff nominated by their colleagues or self-nominated for outstanding research and scholarship accomplishments in fiscal year 2021.

“I often say that UofL is a true research engine, continuously blazing new trails and seeking answers to important questions,” said Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez, speaking at the event. “Our researchers, scholars and research administrators are the very backbone of that work and they deserve this celebration and recognition.”��

In addition to the roughly 90 recognized, six major awards were presented to:��

• • Kenneth Palmer, of the School of Medicine, who won Researcher of the Year, in part, for work to address the global COVID-19 pandemic, securing $8.5 million from the Department of Defense to adapt a novel broad-spectrum antiviral as a coronovirus-fighting nasal spray;
  • Hui Wang, of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won Emerging Researcher of the Year for work to advance solid ion conductors and electrochemical energy storage;��
  • Becky Antle, of the Kent School of Social Work, who won Collaborator of the Year for serving as an evaluator on numerous groundbreaking projects with principal investigators across the university;
  • Monica Wendel, of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Empowering our Communities in part for work to launch a new Health Equity Innovation Hub at UofL, backed by Humana Inc. and the Humana Foundation;
  • Shirish Barve, of the School of Medicine, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Advancing our Health for work to uncover the connections and impacts of alcohol on the body and organ injury and studying the gut/brain axis in HIV and aging; and
  • Joshua Spurgeon, of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Engineering our Future Economy for work to create clean fuels using just water, carbon dioxide and sunlight, paving the way for more low-carbon power.

In addition to presenting awards, the event also highlighted the Office of Research and Innovation’s recently launched Ascending Star Fellowship program, which provides mentorship, funding and other support to high-performing associate professors. The inaugural class includes Cheri Levinson, Brandon McCormack and Kaila Story, all from the College of Arts and Sciences.��

Kevin Gardner, UofL’s Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, said his office launched this inaugural awards event to recognize faculty and staff for their contributions to UofL’s research and scholarship.��

In the past fiscal year, their work helped bring in record $201.5 million to support groundbreaking work that saves and improves lives and shapes our society and culture.��And, UofL recently received another consecutive Research-1 designation from the , placing it among just 4% of schools considered.��

“What we celebrate and recognize reflects our values as an organization and as a community of scholars,” Gardner said. “Each researcher, scholar and administrator being celebrated is absolutely critical to our important work here at UofL, and we want you to know your efforts are appreciated.”

UofL professor Michael Brandon McCormack and the UofL Black Diamond Choir are among the local, national and international faith, thought and community leaders who will participate in the event. Festival programs will celebrate the unique beauty, power and strength of the Black faith experiences while facing the profoundly brutal outcomes of genocide, slavery and “profit at any cost.”

McCormack, professor in the departments of Pan-African Studies and Comparative Humanities and director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, will present “The Ghosts and Growing Edges of Black Faith: Intersectional and Interreligious Conversations.” His presentation, Nov. 19 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., will focus on emergent religious experiences and spirituality as tools for liberation and inspiration to address the oppression of Black people and the justification of systemic racism, patriarchy, sexism and homophobia.

Co-presenters include Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of “Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals” and cofounder of the Mobile Homecoming Trust; Sunni Patterson, an internationally acclaimed poet, performer and an initiated priestess and minister; and Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund and co-chair of the Ferguson Commission.

“I am particularly excited about this panel discussion,” said McCormack. “It will invite us to expand our thinking about the interplay between faith and race by thinking about those who are often marginalized within, or by, our faith traditions. This might be those whose social location, in terms of age, gender or sexuality, has rendered their voices silent within Black church traditions. It might also be those who find their faith and/or religious identification outside of that tradition altogether. Many of those marginalized voices have important wisdom to share about how their particular experiences of faith and race might offer spiritual resources for those involved in ongoing struggles for freedom.”

Later that evening, from 7 to 9 p.m., the University of Louisville Black Diamond Choir will be among the presenters for “Artistic Expressions of Racial Healing and Repair.” The choir, along with the Keen Dance Theatre, the Louisville Jazz Initiative, spoken word artist Hannah Drake and poet Sunni Patterson, will offer an evening of music, dance and spoken word that celebrates hope and activism in the face of oppression.

“It is essential that the Black Diamond Choir and UofL are present for Festival of Faiths, because our students are still living through the daily struggle of racial repair,” said Brandyn Bailey, assistant director of the UofL Cultural Center and advisor for the Black Male Initiative. “From the perspective of gospel music, [the choir] will offer the lineage of our genre since the era of slavery. Our message is a double-edge sword for participants and onlookers alike, that invites hope, redemption and victory.”

Now in its 25th year, the Festival of Faiths is an annual event that celebrates religious diversity, promotes unity and strengthens the role of faith in society. According to Sarah Reed, managing director of the Center for Interfaith Relations, the community is long overdue for “sacred change.”

“National headlines shed light on Louisville’s deep-rooted, institutionalized/systemic disparities of human experience predicated by the color of our skin,” said Reed. “Our city may not be unique in this, but as we became an epicenter at this intersection of turmoil, the painful truth was unavoidably clear — as was our responsibility to seek transformative change.”

Details and tickets for the 2021 Festival of Faiths are . Discounts for student tickets are available.����

The new Ascending Star Fellowship provides mentorship, funding and other support to high-performing associate professors. The goal is to boost the national impact of the fellows’ scholarship, with a heavy focus on work in diversity, inclusion and community empowerment.

The UofL Office of Research and Innovation launched the program this year and partnered with the to select the inaugural class, which includes:

• Cheri Levinson, director of the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Laboratory within the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and founder of the Louisville Center for Eating Disorders;��
• Brandon McCormack, director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Pan-African Studies with a joint appointment in Comparative Humanities; and
• Kaila Story, Audre Lorde endowed chair in race, gender, class and sexuality studies with joint faculty appointments in Departments of Pan-African Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.��

Levinson’s work focuses on diagnosing, understanding and treating eating disorders and anxiety disorders. McCormack’s focus is on the intersections of Black religion and cultural studies, including the hip-hop generation. And lastly, Story’s work focuses on the intersections of race and sexuality, with special attention to Black feminism, Black lesbians and Black queer identity.

“These fellows are already stars — their outstanding work speaks for itself,” said M. Cynthia Logsdon, the Office of Research and Innovation’s director of research academic programs, who leads the fellowship program. “With this support, we want to help them shine even brighter, advancing their scholarship, magnifying their national recognition and extending the impact of their work.”

In addition to other supports, the and UofL’s , aimed at improving equity for female STEM faculty, will provide educational and enrichment activities geared toward advancement of diverse communities and populations. ��

To be considered for the program, faculty must be associate professor rank, must be nominated by their unit and must show a “consistent record of scholarship with the passion and desire to achieve greater national recognition.”