Postel spoke briefly about his experiences throughout the past year and half as interim president, stating that he enjoyed the endless conversations and opportunities presented to him during that time.

“The past year and a half took a toll personally for me and my family, but all that said, it has been an extremely gratifying experience,” he said. “I’d like to thank the campus community for being responsive to our needs.”

Postel added that he has had numerous conversations with incoming president Neeli Bendapudi to help her “have a soft landing.”

“She is engaging, bright, fun to talk to and I think she will be a pleasure to work with,” he said.

Postel has compiled a transition document for Bendapudi that includes 195 active topics.

“She is not coming to the university in a time of full-blown crisis, but she is coming to a campus that has an awful lot of needs. Those needs are challenging. They will require year over year attention. She deserves and needs the full support of the university, the city and the state to move the needle,” Postel said.

Postel also touched on the state budget process, noting that the proposed 6.25-percent cut is disappointing, but some of it is offset by performance funding and cancer research.

“Still, we have to remain sharply focused. There is a pervasive attitude in Frankfort that higher education is bloated and we are forced to become lean – too lean in some areas,” Postel said. He submitted a list of priorities UofL needs to focus on to be transformational, including enhancing liquidity, retaining and recruitment of students, establishing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, asset preservation and more.

“These are not in the budget. The budget is balanced right now, but that doesn’t include these things, which we need to move forward,” Postel said. “We have to focus on revenue generation – re-gaining the trust of our donor community and student recruitment. We’re past the crises, but we still have some heavy lifting to get to where we want to be.”

Billingsley said the CPE has approved a 6-percent ceiling on tuition increases for the next two years. If the board refuses a tuition increase, UofL will have to implement budget contingencies again, noting that enrollment increases will continue to be critical.

A new, electronic faculty evaluation system has been proposed that aims to make the process easier and save money. Miami of Ohio implemented a similar system and realized an 80-percent saving of faculty time, for example. There will be a formal proposal to include this system in next year’s budget.

Billingsley noted that Beth Boehm will serve as acting provost beginning in June; Paul DeMarco will be acting dean of SIGS; and Beth Willey will be interim associate provost for undergraduate programs.

Brandeis School of Law Dean Colin Crawford provided an update of the work he has been focused on since starting in that role in the beginning of the semester. These focus areas include signature programs, such as the Human Rights Advocacy Program and Central High School partnership, as well as commercial law opportunities and international programming.

CHAWS proposal

A proposal was made for a Center for Health Air Water and Soil (CHAWS), to be housed in the Cardiovascular Institute and led by Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar from the School of Medicine. CHAWS received a $250,000 annual gift for five years and is expected to be self-funded after that time period.

The mission is “to support and promote innovative, environmental research and project focused on health in all policies using the city of Louisville as an urban laboratory; to improve the health and harmony of our community by empowering citizens and using inventive technology; and to encourage new conversations and find new solutions to health challenges in our community and in our world.”

CHAWS is to be part of an Envirome Institute that also includes the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Science; the Center for Integrated Environmental Health Science; Superfund Basic Research Program; American Heart Association Tobacco Center; Diabetes and Obesity Center; Center for Environmental Engineering; Center for Environmental Sciences; Center for Environmental Policy and Management; and Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil.

The proposal was approved by the Faculty Senate.

Geospatial Technology certificate

A certificate In Geospatial Technology was also proposed during the meeting. The 15-credit-hour undergraduate certificate complements other programs including criminal justice, engineering, anthropology and biology. It was noted that the discipline is marketable and multidisciplinary. The proposal was approved.

Other news

Enid Trucios-Haynes provided the chair’s report, .��

Elections were held and new senate officers include:

Chair, Krista Wallace-Boaz, Music

Vice Chair, David Owen, A&S

Academics Programs Committee: Chin Ng, Medicine; David Stirling, Medicine; Clare Sullivan, A&S

Committee on Committees and Credentials: Ben Foster, Business; Rebecca Jemian, Music; Michael Tseng, Medicine

Executive Committee: Diana Chlebowy, Nursing; J.P. Mohsen, Speed

Part-Time Faculty Committee: Robert Detmering, Libraries; Robert Myers, Business

Planning and Budget Committee: David Schultz, A&S

Redbook Committee: Forest Arnold, Medicine; John Ferre, A&S; Patrick Harris, Medicine

Academic Technology Committee: Patrick Harris, Medicine

Parking Advisory Committee: Ricardo Caicedo, Dentistry

Parking Appeals Committee: J.P. Mohsen, Speed; Eugene Miller, A&S; Patrick Lai, Dentistry

Staff Senate: Christopher Tillquist, A&S

Student Conduct Hearing Board: Joseph Gutmann, A&S; Diksha Katwal, Dentistry

SGA Representative: Patrick Harris, Medicine

Student Grievance Committee: Robert Barker, Business; Meg Hancock, CEHD; Avery Kolers, A&S; Patrick Harris, Medicine; Ben Schoenbachler, Medicine

Dr. Gail DePuy was named acting dean of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering as of July 1, taking over for Dr. John Usher, who stepped down after two years as acting dean.

DePuy has been a part of the Speed School since 1995 and most recently has served as an associate dean for Academic and Student Affairs. A professor of Industrial Engineering, DePuy’s research focus is in the areas of production planning, health care engineering and operations research.

She has written more than 80 technical papers and has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $2.4 million of funded research.

DePuy is a professional engineer and member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science, and American Society for Engineering ����ֱ��.

She earned her bachelor’s from North Carolina State University (1988), a master’s degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1990), a masters’ degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1992), and a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1995).

Usher is taking a sabbatical through December and will return to UofL in January as a tenured professor in industrial engineering.

A national search for a permanent dean will begin in the fall.

Meanwhile, Brandeis School of Law Professor Lars Smith is filling in as interim dean prior to Colin Crawford’s arrival Jan. 1.

Smith, who holds the Samuel J. Stallings Chair in Law, arrived at UofL in 2000. He teaches in the areas of intellectual property and business law and incorporates practice-based exercises into his Trademark Law and Business Planning courses.

In 2012, Smith received the University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching. In 2011, he received a Fulbright Scholarship Award to teach at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China, where he taught Chinese Masters of Law students about U.S. intellectual property.

He has been serving as associate dean for academic affairs at Brandeis for the past two years. Smith received his JD from the New England School of Law (1992).

Crawford was appointed dean of .��

He is currently finishing his obligation as the Robert C. Cudd Professor of Environmental Law at Tulane University, where he also directs Tulane’s International Development Studies in the School of Liberal Arts and the Payson Graduate Program in Global Development in the School of Law. He succeeds Susan Duncan, who was recently named dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law.

The university announced April 27 that will be the next dean.

He is currently the Robert C. Cudd Professor of Environment Law at Tulane University. He also directs Tulane’s International Development Studies in the School of Liberal Arts and the Payson Graduate Program in Global Development in the School of Law.

“I look forward to Colin’s arrival,” said Acting Provost Dale Billingsley. “His extensive research, global view and focus on finding solutions to important and current legal issues are a perfect fit for UofL.”

Until Crawford officially begins his new role, law professor Lars Smith will lead the school July 1 to Dec. 31, 2017, as interim dean. is associate dean for academic affairs and the Samuel J. Stallings Professor of Law for the school. He��received the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2011 and has traveled and taught widely, focusing on intellectual property law.��

Crawford, a native of Denver, joined Tulane in 2010. He previously taught at Georgia State University College of Law where he founded and co-directed the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth. He has been a visiting professor at many universities, including the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombia; the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, also in Brazil; and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

He was a Fulbright scholar at the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. During the current spring semester, he is visiting at the Carlos III University in Madrid, Spain, where he holds that university’s Santander Chair of Excellence.

“I am honored and delighted to be able to join the University of Louisville community as the next dean of the Brandeis School of Law. Louisville and Brandeis have long and impressive traditions, and I look forward to building upon the solid foundation laid by my predecessors,” Crawford said. “For me, this is a homecoming of sorts. My father was born and partly raised in western Kentucky and the state has always had a special place in my heart. So the chance to work with Louisville faculty, staff, students, alums and the larger community is an unparalleled and very special opportunity indeed.”

Crawford earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from University of Cambridge and a law degree from Harvard University.

He is an expert in international development and law and has lectured and written worldwide on environmental and urban issues and related topics. His teaching and research focus is on land-use issues, particularly comparative and cross-cultural environmental justice concerns, with an emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a note to the campus community that announced Crawford’s appointment, Billingsley thanked Susan Duncan who has served as interim dean of the law school for the past five years.

“Many changes and improvements were accomplished during her tenure as dean. We wish her the very best as she takes on a new challenge as dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law,” Billingsley said.