Professor Oluwaferanmi Okanlami encouraged attendees to ask that question at the 2024 health equity keynote: “Disabusing Disability: Demonstrating that Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability.” Okanlami, whose mission is to close the gap among the diverse members of our society to create a more equitable and promising future for all, highlighted shortcomings in how most of society views disabilities and what must change.

Born in Nigeria before immigrating to the U.S. at a young age, Okanlami attended high school at Deerfield Academy and went on to Stanford University where he also ran track & field, serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All-American recognition.��Okanlami earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan before matching into orthopedic surgery residency at Yale University. At the beginning of his third��year of residency, he experienced a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the chest down. After two surgeries and intense rehabilitation, he recovered some motor function and navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user.

Today, Okanlami is director of student accessibility and accommodation services at the University of Michigan, where he oversees the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, two Testing Accommodation Centers and the Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program. He also is an assistant professor of family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation and urology at Michigan Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition, he earned a master’s in engineering, science and technology entrepreneurship from the University of Notre Dame and completed his family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana.

As an accomplished athlete, he is passionate about adaptive sports and fitness and champions access to physical fitness and inclusive recreational and competitive sports for all.

At Research!Louisville, Okanlami’s topic provided insight into creating a health system which is accessible to and inclusive of both patients and providers with disabilities, as well as providing provisions necessary for students and employees with disabilities in higher education.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a person with a disability as an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. Okanlami’s work emphasizes that disabilities do not fairly identify individuals, but more than likely perceptions of disabilities can lead to artificially placing limits on people who have just as much or more to contribute to society.

As a disabled, Black, Nigerian, immigrant, cis-gender heterosexual, male, physician and athlete, Okanlami doesn’t just speak from an acquired knowledge-based perspective. He has experienced firsthand the difficulties of being identified in a culture that does not understand his main message that “disability does not mean inability.”

In his talk, Okanlami illustrated how each individual with a disability has unique needs for accommodations.

“When you have met one person with a disability, you have met one person with a disability,” he said.

Okanlami said that everyone must recognize that we live in an ableist world and we need to provide reasonable and appropriate accommodation for people that identify has having disabilities, whether those disabilities are visible or invisible.

“The health care system is ableist by definition. The medical model of disability teaches us that disability is pathology. It is something that is broken that should be fixed, prevented or cured,” Okanlami said. “The social model of disability does not see the problem living in the individual, it sees the system we are in as being inaccessible. If someone is born without the ability to walk, that shouldn’t be a problem if we have access to the resource they need to be able to navigate.”

But he encouraged everyone to take action.

“What is it we can do to make someone’s tomorrow better than their yesterday?” Okanlami said. “There is something that each of you can do, even if it is a tiny little bite, but the impact that little bite can have could be something that makes a profound impact on someone else’s life.”

Okanlami’s Research!Louisville presentation on Sept. 19 at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center was led by the HSC Office of Health Equity and Engagement and the School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement and Diversity. To watch his entire keynote discussion, visit the .

Betty Coffman contributed to this story.

The RJ Project will use the $75,000 award from the National Sea Grant Law Center through NOAA’s National Coastal Resilience Fund to examine coastal urban adaptation in the eight cities: Boston, Cleveland, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego, Savannah, Seattle and Tampa. Principal investigator Tony Arnold, the Herbert F. Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at Brandeis Law, and his team will collaborate with researchers at Georgetown University and Georgia State University.

The project will examine how the cities are currently ensuring that their climate adaptation plans are equitable and fair.

“We will assess plans, policies and laws affecting climate adaptation in these eight coastal urban areas with an eye towards addressing the vulnerabilities of low-income neighborhoods of color,” Arnold said. “We’ll then use our assessments to produce a guidebook of best practices and a series of webinars so that any city can use the information to make their climate adaptation planning equitable for all neighborhoods.”

The project utilizes the Resilience Justice Assessment Framework, pioneered by Arnold and Resilience Justice Fellows at Brandeis Law. The Resilience Justice Project addresses the inequitable vulnerabilities of communities, such as neighborhoods, to many different shocks and changes.

“Systems of injustice, inequality, marginalization and oppression have undermined the capacities of low-income communities of color to resist and adapt to shocks and changes,” Arnold said. “These shocks and changes include climate change, economic shocks, political change, disasters, pollution, health crises and many other disruptions.

“Many low-income neighborhoods of color have both community-based resilience but also vulnerabilities that come from inequitable conditions and systems of inequitable policies. We aim to empower marginalized communities so that they can thrive, not just survive.”

Arnold and his team will build on work they began last year using the framework in a project funded by the EPA and Kentucky Division of Water to examine the 34-square-mile Mill Creek watershed in southwest Louisville. In this study, the research team gathered the views and needs of residents on environmental and community conditions and is providing the information to the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District.

“We’re taking what we’ve learned about how the framework worked with Mill Creek to the eight cities in the new project,” Arnold said. “We’ll continue to be engaged with the Mill Creek watershed community while we carry out the work under our new grant. In this way, all communities involved can learn from one another.”

Along with his law school appointment, Arnold holds an affiliated professorship in , part of the College of Arts and Sciences. The Resilience Justice Fellows working on the project are Brandeis Law students Ralph Banchstubbs, Carcyle Barrett, Irie Ewers, Jake Mace, Colin Sheehan and Laken Wadsworth and Ph.D. candidate in Urban and Public Affairs Rebecca Wells-Gonzalez.

The collaborating groups working with UofL on the project are the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown Law School and the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State. They also will work with local governments and community-based environmental justice groups in the eight coastal areas.

The research project is titled “Equitable Coastal Urban Adaptation to Climate Change: A Resilience Justice Assessment” and is supported by National Sea Grant Law Center grant PTE Federal Award Number NA22OAR4170089, Subaward Number 24-07-08.

UofL News: Talk about your passion for research.

Collins-Camargo: As a social worker, the first thing that typically comes to mind is not research. Rather, one would more likely think about helping people address life’s challenges, lifting the voices of historically underrepresented groups and individuals, and advocating for social justice for all people. But what I have come to understand over the course of my career is that if we want to do any of those things well, we must have rigorous research to inform that work. This is one of the most important things we can do for our students—help them learn not only the knowledge and skills they require to be competent practitioners, but to embrace the need to inform our work with the latest evidence regarding how to practice in a way that makes a difference.

UofL News: What are some strategies for creating additional research opportunities for students at the Kent School?

Collins-Camargo: This starts with building an appreciation for research in our students, most of whom come to us to learn how to be social work practitioners. Once we light that fire, there are many opportunities for our students to be involved in the wide range of research that is going on at Kent, including what is happening at our Center for Family and Community Wellbeing which provides an array of research opportunities for students.

UofL News: How did you know that research would be a focus of your life’s work?

Collins-Camargo: I did not know this for a very long time. I came to academia as a second career after many years as a child welfare worker, supervisor, manager and advocate. My progression into higher education happened as I continued to seek a role in which I could truly make a difference. I became principal investigator of my first federal grant a year after assuming a fulltime faculty position. I applied for the grant because I wanted to be a part of an opportunity to help child welfare workers and their organizations serve children and families—I didn’t think about it as research. The next thing I knew I was leading a four-state research project, and collaborating with the inspiring researchers evaluating each site’s intervention. Before I knew it, I was hooked, because I could hear and see the impact that was having on the people doing incredible work in child welfare agencies.

UofL News: Your studies focus on strategies to help public and private child and family serving agencies improve their work with these families. Tell us about this.

Collins-Camargo: Over time, much of my scholarship has come to focus on how these organizations, and the supervisors and managers within them, can put processes, structures and tools in place that promote the use of data to inform practice in terms of whether what they are doing is making a difference for the children and families with whom they work. When I was working in the field, we did not have access to data that enabled us to use it in this way. This also involves interorganizational relationships, because if we want to impact the well-being of children and families, both public and private agencies must be involved. In social work, our research is community-engaged, so this means getting out there and working in partnership with these organizations on how they function so they can help the families they serve, and that is an exciting privilege.

UofL News: What are some other outcomes of your research that have improved practice in the social work profession – any that make you particularly proud?

Collins-Camargo: I have had the privilege of being involved in some really incredible work—enhancing the type of supervision frontline child welfare workers receive so they are supported, and encouraged to use evidence to support the decisions they make in their work with families; working with state child welfare systems on the way they approach public/private partnerships to promote positive client outcomes; and implementing standardized screening and assessment for trauma and behavioral health needs of children entering out-of-home care in Kentucky. Most recently, I published a paper on the perceptions of public child welfare administrators on promoting equity and antiracist practice within these systems that we now understand have contributed to oppression and harm to some families. I am proud of that study because this is a defining moment in time for child welfare agencies, and they must change to antiracist approaches to promote well-being in children, families and communities.

UofL News: As you now serve in the role as interim dean, what is your vision for the Kent School?

Collins-Camargo: As an interim dean, I see my job as keeping the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science on course to promote the vision we have already established as we search for a permanent dean. We need to continue to do high quality research to address the many social problems our faculty are focused on, and to continue to prepare our students to be critical thinkers and competent social workers at all levels. For us that means continuing our efforts to build an antiracist curriculum which former Dean Jenkins initiated before he left. My short-term vision is that we will be in the best possible position to enable our new dean to be successful in leading us forward.

The Hub was launched earlier this year as a collaboration between UofL, The Humana Foundation, and Humana Inc. aimed at closing health equity gaps facing vulnerable populations. The 10 projects awarded in this initial round of funding furthers this goal by tackling inequities in areas such as access to mental and physical health care and healthy food. Projects were eligible for up to $100,000 per year for up to three years.

Monica Wendel, who leads the Hub, said finding solutions for these challenges will create more choices for people in making decisions that affect their health.��

“These factors play a huge role in our health outcomes,” said Wendel,��a professor��in the UofL School of Public Health��and��Information Sciences.��“We all want to be healthy and whole. But��the choices people make are the choices people have. For communities that have been marginalized, their choices are greatly limited by structural and social barriers. Our goal with the Hub and with this research is to dismantle these barriers, create more choices and thus empower people and communities.”

The funded projects include:��

• • The Pharmacy Accessibility Index (PAI) Project (Lihui Bai, J.B. Speed School of Engineering);
  • Healing-Centered Capacity Building: Social Justice Youth Development Certificate (Aishia Brown, School of Public Health and Information Sciences);
  • An Examination of the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Racial Trauma Processing for Family Health Intervention (Emma Sterrett‐Hong, Kent School of Social Work);
  • Exploring Workforce Development, Well‐Being, and Organizational Readiness to Recruit, Retain Black American Adults Living in Low Resource Communities (Meera Alagaraja, College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development);
  • A Community-Engaged Feasibility Study of hrHPV Self‐Sampling for Primary Cervical Cancer Screening in Sexual and Gender Minorities (Mollie Aleshire, School of Nursing);
  • A Community‐based, Knowledge Translation Approach to Address Neighborhood Factors that Impact HIV Care Continuum Participation (Jelani Kerr, School of Public Health and Information Sciences);
  • Assessing risk factors associated with childhood lead poisoning in Jefferson County: Structural racism and a legacy of lead (Brian Guinn, School of Public Health and Information Sciences);
  • “Getting the Listening” in Louisville: Environmental Health Literacy and Justice in and around Rubbertown (Megan Poole, College of Arts and Sciences);
  • Empowered by the Sun: Exploring the Intersections of Housing Justice and Green Technologies in Louisville (David Johnson, School of Public Health and Information Sciences); and
  • Equity‐Centered, Trauma‐informed Teacher Preparation: Development and Study of a Teacher Residency Curriculum (Shelley Thomas, College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development).

Wendel said the Hub will work closely with researchers and their community partners throughout the projects and plans to open a new round of research funding in 2023. Many projects will be conducted in collaboration with Louisville-based Humana Inc., which will share anonymized data for research purposes.��

“We’re proud to back both research and underrepresented minority researchers to help communities achieve greater health equity and improved outcomes,” said Keni Winchester, director, strategy & community engagement at The Humana Foundation.��“Through the collective efforts of researchers, community partners and the University of Louisville’s Health Equity Innovation Hub, people in Louisville and beyond will thrive.”��

The Hub launched with a potential total investment of $25 million from the Humana Foundation, Humana Inc., and UofL, representing one of the largest single donations in the history of the university. Humana also recently announced it would donate a fully furnished eight-story building, located at 515 W. Market St., to house the Hub’s administrative team and programming.��

“This research is an important facet of the great collaboration we have with The Humana Foundation and Humana Inc.,” Wendel said. “These projects are designed to lead to scalable solutions to health equity issues here in Louisville and beyond.”��

“The road to becoming a doctor is a long and often bumpy one for everyone. Having a community to support a student and provide guidance can make the difference between wearing a white coat and giving up on that dream,” said Brit Anderson, a physician in UofL’s Department of Pediatrics. “Students who do not have family and friends in the medical field may miss out on this supportive medical community.”

Anderson, along with V. Faye Jones, associate vice president for health affairs – diversity initiatives at the Health Sciences Center and vice chair of inclusive excellence in the Department of Pediatrics, teamed up with Leondra Gully, advisor for the Woodford R. Porter Scholarship Program, to create the new initiative.

The program is aimed at , a scholarship program for exceptional undergraduate students of color from Kentucky and neighboring Indiana counties. First-year students through seniors interested in health care go through an application process to take part in the niche Porter Scholars in Medicine Program, now in its second year. ��

Students receive mentoring and shadowing experiences from UofL physicians, and are also able to participate in clinical experiences including simulation and ultrasound. They learn about the medical school application process and entrance exam, gain insight related to the history of medical disparities in underrepresented communities and connect with students in ���Ǵڳ�’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association. The program also hosts book clubs and discussions.

“I don’t think people realize the value of this program; there were no specific programs for Black and Brown students wanting to go into medicine. This a welcome space, and a different feeling of support – it’s what we need,” said Hayley Benson, a biology major and one of 17 students participating in this year’s Porter Scholars in Medicine program.

Diversifying the medical field

Gully says the program not only supports students interested in becoming physicians, but the ultimate outcome is far reaching – to diversify the medical field.

“We know from life experiences and the literature more diverse doctors are needed,” she said. “Diversity in the medical field has been proven to impact health disparities for marginalized communities and goes a long way in helping those communities receive equitable health care and improve patient outcomes.”

Senior Diane Appiasie��can relate. She says her interest in medicine stems from the impact of health care providers throughout her life, and the aspiration to provide the same quality of care for others.

“I have been further driven to pursue a career in the medical field by a desire to continue advocating for health equity as a health care professional,” says Appiasie, who hopes to focus on a career in emergency medicine and neurology.

One future goal of the program is to engage students in off-campus experiences. Gully and her team are working to coordinate an opportunity this fall for Porter Scholars to see a live surgery through the Kentucky Science Center Pulse of Surgery program. Organizers also hope to explore ways to eventually secure funding for students who want to attend medical school.

“We know this program can be impactful, and we’re excited to see it grow,” Anderson said. “It is such an honor to work with this team and meet these wonderful students as we strive to advance health equity in our community.”

With the ability to reach over 50,000 student-athletes across 23 sports and 109 schools, the new NIL program will give eligible student-athletes of all genders the opportunity, directly with adidas, to become paid affiliate brand ambassadors. Launching in four phases over the next 12 months, the network will begin with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Power-5 conference partners in Fall 2022, scaling across all schools by April 2023.

“At adidas, we are committed to creating change through sport and recognize the important role student-athletes play in shaping the future,” said Rupert Campbell, president of adidas North America. “Our groundbreaking NIL program advances our commitments toward building inclusivity in sport and inspires athletes to realize a more equitable world. I can’t wait to see it come to life.”

According to adidas, to illustrate the importance of a more inclusive environment for student-athletes, women’s and men’s teams at March Madness will be seen wearing t-shirts with ‘More Is Possible’ on the front and Title IX passage on the back, along with notable athlete partners who join together to support the program.��

Lee Gill, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president for inclusive excellence at Clemson University, will join UofL as vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion on May 15.

With more than 25 years of experience in the diversity field, Gill currently is a member of the president’s leadership team at Clemson, where he is credited with building a sustainable infrastructure to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts into the campus culture and with creating programs that support and address the challenges facing women, Black and Hispanic students and the LGBTQ community.�� He created the Clemson University Men of Color National Summit, which brings together more than 2,000 students, educators, business professionals, government officials and community leaders from around the country to explore issues and share best practices to increase high school and college graduation rates.

Gill serves on a number of boards of directors, including the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher ����ֱ��. In 2014, he received the National Diversity Visionary Award from Insight into Diversity magazine for his significant contributions to diversity in higher education.

“Mr. Gill’s extensive experience in building programming and weaving diversity, equity and inclusion efforts into the fabric of the universities he has served stood out among the many qualified candidates we reviewed,” said Lori Stewart Gonzalez, ���Ǵڳ�’s interim president. “His enthusiasm is contagious, and we are excited about the advancements our campus community will make under his leadership.”

Prior to joining Clemson, Gill served for eight years as associate vice president for inclusion and equity and chief diversity officer at the University of Akron. He previously had served as chief executive officer of Stratus Group Consultants Inc., a firm providing diversity audits and training, management assessments and other services. Prior to that role, he held the position of dean of the Institute for Diversity and Leadership at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

“I am excited at the opportunity of working with Interim President Gonzalez and the leadership team to help advance the DEI mission of this great university,” Gill said. “So many best practices, and national models are in place here at UofL along with an engaged faculty, staff and student body. I look forward to working with them and others to continue building a dynamic, inclusive campus community.”��

Gill holds a juris doctorate in law from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Michigan.

He succeeds V. Faye Jones, who has served as interim senior associate vice president for diversity and equity since 2019. A tenured professor of pediatrics, Jones will continue her appointments as associate vice president for health affairs – diversity initiatives at the Health Sciences Center and vice chair of inclusive excellence in the Department of Pediatrics.

“Dr. Jones has served the university community well in her many roles, including as interim vice president,” Gonzalez said. “We look forward to her continuing commitment and excellent work on behalf of our students, faculty and staff. I hope the entire campus will join me in thanking her for her efforts and wishing her well.”

UofL News: What are the main struggles for youth transitioning to adulthood?��

Brown: It is important that we not only think about young people as “the future.” They hold a lot of power now, whether adults want to acknowledge it or not. For example, we have a number of youth across the country currently advocating for safer school environments related to both the COVID-19 pandemic and censorship bills being passed that prevent them from learning about the history of the world we live in. I believe that one of the biggest barriers youth experience today is related to systemic racism and oppression. These are the root causes of a lot of the issues we see youth experiencing today.

UofL News: How can we make it easier for young people to succeed throughout life?��

Brown: Adults, especially those in positions of power, should learn about the importance of understanding how critical it is to have youth who come from historically excluded backgrounds at the table when making decisions that directly impact them and their communities. These young people should be able to have a say in what policies are created and enforced, not just in the realm of education but in every single system that impacts their wellbeing. This includes our political, social, economic and education systems.

UofL News: You hold a PhD in recreation, park and tourism sciences with a concentration in youth development. Some of your work examines recreational healing spaces. Can you explain the meaning and how these spaces are so important for youth development?��

Brown: When it comes to youth development, we tend to only view it through the lens of education. However, what we know is that the education system does not always have the capacity to support youth within the context of their communities. We also have a great deal of evidence on certain groups of young people, such as Black and Brown youth, being pushed out of school into the criminal legal system due to inequitable policies and practices that exist within the education system. With that knowledge, I focus my work on community spaces where youth find safe havens and safety. These spaces, like a community center, boys and girls club, summer camps, have the power, resources and abilities to cultivate healing spaces for youth to recover from the oppression they experience in school or in their communities.

UofL News: Tell us about the professional development program you are creating.

Brown: The professional development program utilizes the Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) framework, an approach focused on the adoption of principles and practices that work to close the gaps created by inequities and access to opportunities for youth.

First coined by Shawn Ginwright, a researcher at San Francisco State University, SJYD is an approach to engaging in youth work that shifts the focus from changing youth behaviors to acknowledging the role that systemic racism and oppression play in the lives of youth who come from communities who have been historically excluded.

Since its inception in 2010, a number of youth development researchers and practitioners, including myself, have adopted this framework as a tool to cultivate social change in their communities by engaging with youth in a way that redistributes power between youth and adults. SJYD creates opportunities for youth voices to be placed at the center of decision-making about ways to address issues that directly impact them and their communities.

UofL News: Before joining the SPHIS faculty, you completed a post-doc at UofL, working with the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center (YPPRC). How did that work build your current research?��

Brown: My work with the YVPRC focused on integrating SJYD into youth violence prevention research. This helped to support the team at YVPRC to shift the narrative about the cause of youth violence being interpersonal behaviors to focus more on structural violence. During my postdoc with YVPRC, I learned that a number of youth development professionals wanted to use SJYD approaches in their work with youth but did not have the tools, resources or supports needed to integrate it into their day-to-day activities. They needed not only training support but also funding which is why the professional development program we are building is focused on both youth development professionals and youth serving organizations and funders.

UofL News: Long-term, what do you hope will be the outcome of your research?��

Brown: My hope is that youth development professionals, youth serving organizations and funders of youth development work integrate more equitable approaches in their policies and practices in order to integrate SJYD throughout the whole system of youth development. My hope is also that through this process of creating room for more equity within the youth development system, the voices of youth are not just heard but also have decision-making power.

UofL News: Anything else you’d like to share?����

Brown: We are currently to help us lead the work of developing the professional development program for youth development professionals in Louisville. Additionally, I’m always trying to amplify youth voices whenever I am given the opportunity to. I would like to take this opportunity to uplift the work of the youth at the Food Literacy Project in Louisville and encourage everyone reading this to check out their .

In February 2021, the university took a significant step in that direction with the opening of the . The center provides various employee-centered resources and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Coaching circles allow employees to gather and collaborate on significant topics, such as anti-racism initiatives. Well-being retreats and mindfulness initiatives are also offered to cultivate a strong community of care. Award programs, which honor employee achievements and milestones, are also part of the center’s many efforts.

From the goals set in the Strategic Plan came seven initiatives to maintain a thriving spirit for UofL employees and ensure the institution is, indeed, a “Great Place to Work.” They are outlined below.

Web Improvement
The is a multi-year initiative aimed at revamping and improving the entire digital presence of the university. The effort marks the first funded, comprehensive web initiative in ���Ǵڳ�’s history and is the largest concurrent “reset” of UofL websites, systems and platforms.

The project focuses on enhancing the daily lives of students, faculty and staff by modernizing and improving all university web-based experiences, as well as the processes behind developing and maintaining them. This digital overhaul will allow the university to attract new students, foster a stronger relationship with the community and provide staff with opportunities to further develop and implement current technology in their professional capacities.

Metrics and guiding strategies of the project will be routinely re-evaluated and the response with the web realigned accordingly.

Digital Transformation
To prepare the UofL community for engagement in the evolving global market, the university has undertaken a broad array of digital transformation projects designed to provide the digital and mobile on-demand solutions and services required to efficiently work, learn and create, as well as training opportunities for high-demand workforce applications.

The implementation of Microsoft Teams and other Office 365 applications has improved efficiencies in academic and operational services. Every active UofL student, faculty member and employee now have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud at no cost thanks to a university enterprise license. Creative Cloud is an industry standard platform for creating documents, videos, audio, graphic design, photos, illustrations, websites and mobile apps.

���Ǵڳ�’s provides training for these and other software applications to faculty, staff and students at little to no cost. Many training programs come with badges, certificates or other credentials upon completion.

The Employee Success Center and the DTC announced in March that UofL employees and students have no-cost access to LinkedIn Learning. The platform includes more than 16,000 virtual courses designed to refine and develop technical, business, software and creative skills.

Workday
In order to simplify and enhance the day-to-day lives of employees, the university is transitioning from PeopleSoft human resources software to a newer, more accessible system. Information Technology Services identified the system that would best address employees’ needs. After working with various members of the campus community and engaging more than 77 stakeholders across 20 departments for feedback, the software was selected as the best system for the university.

Workday is an industry leader that provides a unified system for Human Capital Management. The implementation of the modern cloud-based system will offer timely and cost-effective functionality to employees while simplifying and standardizing numerous human resources processes across the university. The functionality of the software will improve hiring processes, reduce payroll calculation and processing errors, upgrade security and provide users with a more positive overall HR and payroll experience.

Brand Evolution
At the direction of the Office of the President and in support of the university’s Strategic Plan, UofL has refreshed its identity to include the addition of a strategic brand framework and messaging guidelines to complement the existing core brand visual standards.

More than just a logo, colors or tagline, the represents the core of who we are — from what it feels like to be a part of the Cardinal Family to the interactions that our faculty and staff have with students, families, fans and supporters.

Throughout the summer and fall of 2021, the Office of Communications and Marketing hosted several workshops to share ���Ǵڳ�’s new brand positioning and messaging with faculty, staff and students. These sessions also included the rollout of an extensive toolkit for communicators across campus and coincided with the formation of the UofL Brand Council. Comprised of the top-level communicators in each school/college and key administrative units, the council is responsible for developing and managing communications and marketing strategies to improve overall brand awareness, perceptions and engagement.

The official brand rollout to the entire university will take place Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.

Grand Challenges
UofL is dedicated to creating and applying knowledge that improves lives. By harnessing our research and scholarship efforts behind three of our time, we will find solutions that make a difference and lead to thriving futures here and beyond. The three Grand Challenges, as identified by a president-appointed subcommittee are: 1.) empowering our communities; 2.) advancing our health; and
3.) engineering our future economy.

Throughout the past year, the UofL Office of Research and Innovation has expanded or launched programming aimed at celebrating and supporting researchers and their work in the Grand Challenges. That work is now the focus of the office’s research and innovation town hall meetings, where UofL researchers can share their projects and find collaborators.

R&I, in partnership with the UofL College of Arts & Sciences, Office of Diversity and Equity and ATHENA program, also launched a new program called Ascending Stars that provides mentorship, funding and other support to high-performing associate professors who focus on work in diversity, inclusion and empowering our communities.

Other efforts have focused on giving researchers better tools. UofL recently selected a new Electronic Research Administration system called Cayuse, for example, meant to minimize the administrative burden of conducting research and facilitate the growth of UofL research programs.

Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda
In the summer of 2020, the Office of the President announced a goal for the university to become the “premier anti-racist metropolitan research university in the country.” To guide us toward this goal, UofL has launched the .

While the university has taken many strides toward service to a more racially and socio-economically diverse workforce and student population, it is appropriate as a higher education institution to explore and to grow for the purpose of being a model for the communities we serve.

UofL has already established a few key commitments, including the recruitment and retention of more Black employees and students, building intentionally anti-racism curriculum across all disciplines, ensuring diverse representation on boards and committees, developing budgets that reflect the priority of diversity and equity and more. The in partnership with the , leads the charge to engage our community for more potential items to add to the anti-racism agenda.

Additionally, a vice president of diversity and equity will be named in 2022. This position will report directly to the university president, serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet, senior leadership team and other key institutional committees.

Total Rewards and Compensation Studies
Finally, the Strategic Plan identified fair and equitable compensation for faculty and staff as a critical aspect of ���Ǵڳ�’s commitment to being a great place to learn, to work and in which to invest. To honor this commitment, the Office of Human Resources is leading the . These studies will assess both employee wages and Total Rewards, which is the total of benefits offered including health care, tuition remission, paid leave and more.

The comprehensive studies are divided into a six-phase approach that will be accomplished over the next 18 to 24 months with assistance from Segal, an outside human resources consulting firm with extensive experience in conducting higher education compensation studies. Findings from the studies will provide the necessary framework for employee salaries and benefits moving forward.

Another new course��–��Power, Oppression and Liberation, taught by Trinidad Jackson, faculty member and inaugural assistant dean for Culture and Liberation in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences��– is offered as part of a new track in Social Justice and Health Equity. Ashley Barnette, a junior majoring in public health with a focus in religious studies, is a member of the inaugural class.

“I love the class and feel anyone going to the university should study how oppression works in society. No matter who you are, you are facing some sort of oppression under the systems we have,” she said.

In the class, Jackson and co-instructor Tanisha Howard engage students in exploring white dominance in education, identifying missing perspectives and then deliberating over aspects of education philosophies.

“It is not enough just to learn about power, oppression and liberation—they must translate that knowledge into critical social action. As our collective critical consciousness has transformed over the semester, students are concluding the course by organizing efforts that aim to facilitate justice-oriented learning environments for students across the state,” Jackson said.

Monica Wendel, chair of the SPHIS Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences and associate dean of Public Health Practice, helped lead the school in forming the new Social Justice and Health Equity track. She says although social justice and health equity have historically been implicit in public health training and practice, “given the current state of our world, as well as the evolution of the discipline, it is time to make social justice and health equity the explicit focus — it is why we do what we do.”

She says making advances in social justice gets at the root causes of health inequity. And, although it will take time, Wendel points out that increased racial and social equity will yield advances in health equity across a myriad of risk factors, health conditions, outcomes and mortality.

The courses in the curriculum are designed to intertwine critical thinking and socio-political development of students, while at the same time building practical skills around strategic communication, community organizing, resource mobilization and social justice practices in public health. In addition, the school’s activists-in-residence provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities in their capstones to exercise these new skills.

Recently, the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health Sciences with a specialization in Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences curriculum was revised to center on social justice and health equity. SPHIS also is in the process of changing its Master of Public Health concentration in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences to take on the same focus; the new curriculum will be implemented in Fall 2022.

Other new UofL offerings with a similar theme include a track in Diversity and Inequality within the Bachelor of Arts in Sociology; a concentration in Diversity Management and Leadership in the Master of Public Administration; and an undergraduate minor in Peace, Justice and Conflict Transformation. All of these are available through the College of Arts and Sciences, which also offers a graduate certificate in Diversity Literacy. The College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development is in the process of restructuring its established concentration in Policy and Equity within the Master of Arts in Higher ����ֱ�� Administration.

For Barnette, although it is a little late in her academic trajectory to take all the new courses in the Social Justice and Health Equity track, she says taking classes like these are never a waste to a student’s flight plan or time.

“These are long-overdue. I think every major has an opportunity to have a social justice track, and it is needed in every aspect of life,” Barnette said. “I think it is great that UofL is leading in these opportunities for students.”