As vice provost for faculty affairs, Dawson-Edwards will work with the provost and academic deans to oversee all faculty personnel actions and provide faculty and administrator professional development programs. Her service in the provost office begins Feb. 1, 2022.

Prior to her current role, she served as the department chair for A&S Criminal Justice, director of the A&S Social Change Program and acting director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.

“She is a passionate educator and a justice-oriented scholar who focuses on the intersection of public policy and criminal justice with a specific focus on race, schools and juvenile justice,” said UofL Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez in an announcement to the university jointly issued with Interim Provost Gerry Bradley. “Throughout her career, she has worked tirelessly for institutional and community change, always striving to bring greater equity and inclusion to the policies and practices of organizations.”

Outside of her work at UofL, Dawson-Edwards currently serves as the Kentucky affiliate representative on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union with a recent appointment as the nationwide ACLU deputy affiliate equity officer, where she ensures that equity and inclusion have a constant presence in the search and placement of organizational leaders. She has also worked with numerous school districts conducting professional development trainings and consulting on racial equity and workplace restorative justice practices. Dawson-Edwards received the 2016 University of Louisville College of Arts & Sciences Community Service Award.

“We are confident that her work will touch every part of our university to ensure our faculty know they are supported,” Gonzalez said. “Her personal and professional experience and interests as well as her service to the university make her the ideal person for this role, which is vital to our administration.”

Learn more about Cherie Dawson-Edwards .

Criminal justice faculty and students joined Louisville native and College of Arts and Sciences supporter Sam Lord Nov. 30 in celebrating his gift for a renovated Justice Laboratory in Brigman Hall.

The first-floor space includes a light-filled laboratory with enhanced technology that enables instructors to teach students and community members online and in-person at the same time and even asynchronously to allow access at a different time. The criminal justice department and the College of Arts and Sciences also would be able to hold a conference, record and-or stream it live.

The improvements would leverage the technology to reach a broader student base and even a global audience.

鈥淚t gives us a lot of capabilities that we didn鈥檛 have before,鈥� said Tad Hughes, criminal justice department chair. 鈥淚 promise you we will use this all the time.”

Hughes explained that the multi-chair work stations, each with one of six screens, would allow students to work more collaboratively, interacting with their cellphones and laptops or tablets — plus the teachers can pull from each station for class discussion using a larger central screen at the front of the room. 聽

The laboratory opens onto a newly painted hallway wall with the words 鈥淥n a journey to be better together鈥� along with 鈥淐ommunity-engaged, Future-focused, Policy-oriented.鈥�

鈥淛ustice is equally important in government as safety, and it intersects with safety a great deal. We don鈥檛 know enough about justice, and we don鈥檛 know enough about systems and how they work,鈥� Lord said. 鈥淢y investment in this classroom and in all of your and the students鈥� work is to help you bring better knowledge of criminal justice and to experiment.鈥�

A plaque in the space is dedicated to Lord鈥檚 brother, chaplain Nathan Macauley Lord, and in memory of his parents and native Louisvillians Nathan Shrewsbury Lord, a longtime UofL law professor, and Rachel Macauley Smith Lord.

Cherie Dawson-Edwards, former chair and a criminal justice faculty member who also serves as the college鈥檚 associate dean for diversity, engagement, culture and climate, recalled taking classes in the formerly outdated space as a student and shared that she was excited about teaching her social and restorative justice class there in the spring.

She envisions encouraging the campus and community to think beyond the words “criminal justice” and use the space 鈥渢o engage in justice work. It can be about equality; it can be about social and racial justice.鈥�

President Neeli Bendapudi drew from her experience as a professor of consumer behavior in remarking about the transformative impact that space has people, both functionally and symbolically.

鈥淚 can just imagine the students who are going to benefit,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his benefits the institution and the learning they are going to get.鈥�

Bendapudi expressed gratitude to Lord鈥檚 longtime generosity to UofL, dubbing the Louisville philanthropist a Renaissance man for his interest in several aspects of university life.

鈥淲e are so grateful you鈥檙e ours. Thank you so much,鈥� she said.

Lord previously funded a mathematics laboratory and a physics and astronomy computing platform and technology-enabled classroom, also in memory of his parents. He also has supported the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Brigman Hall, a large brick building along the Oval at Belknap Campus鈥� west entrance, was erected in 1893 and later named in 1949 for Bennett Brigman 鈥�18, a College of Arts and Sciences teacher who became the first dean of Speed Scientific School (now J.B. Speed School of Engineering) at its 1925 inception. After serving as part of the engineering school, the building was home to the business school and then the public administration program before currently housing the criminal justice department and some Kent School of Social Work offices.

The Bingham Fellows program is facilitated by the Leadership Louisville Center and brings together about 40 leaders in the city every year to address one of the region鈥檚 most critical issues. The cohort of professional peers meet with topic experts and local stakeholders and form project teams to take action.

This year鈥檚 class is focused on the topic, 鈥淏elonging: Building a Culture of Inclusivity.鈥� , Bingham Fellows will gather leaders from every sector in the city to examine racism and bias that has led to income and wealth inequality, social segregation and lack of diversity in leadership positions.

A BetterUp study from September 2019 finds that companies experience a 56% increase in job performance when employees feel like they belong, as well as a 50% drop in turnover risk and a 75% reduction in sick days.

The cohort鈥檚 project launch event is scheduled for January 20, 2022.

Dawson-Edwards and Smith join a long list of UofL participants in the Bingham Fellows program, illustrating the university鈥檚 commitment to community engagement and leadership. Last year, for example, CEHD Dean Amy Lingo was part of the program, while in 2019, Brandeis School of Law Dean Colin Crawford was a Bingham Fellow.

Other UofL representatives, including Anita Barbee, Eugene Krentsel, Suzanne Bergmeister, Karan Chavis, Monique Ingram, Dave Simpson, Karen Newton, Mitchell Payne, Jenny Sawyer, Patrick Piuma and Dr. Gordon Strauss, have been part of the program throughout the past 10 years.

Past projects have included the West Louisville community development organization OneWest, regular Caf茅 Louie conversations with elected officials at Louisville Free Public Library locations and a sustainable model for neighborhood 鈥淟ittle Free Libraries.鈥�

Bingham Fellows was created in 1988 through a $500,000 endowment from Mary and Barry Bingham Sr.