Executive Vice President and University Provost Lori Gonzalez provided senators with updated COVID-19 vaccination rates for the university community. As of Oct. 5, 2021, students reported the highest rate of vaccination at 86.1%, followed by 82.7% for staff and 82.1% for faculty at UofL. During the month of October, vaccinated students have the option to enter a drawing for a variety of prizes including priority registration, a blue parking pass, a year of free coffee from the campus Starbucks or a semester of undergraduate tuition.

Gonzalez also addressed enrollment figures. Gonzalez encouraged senators and their constituents to aid in the retention effort by submitting progress reports to identify students in need of academic intervention.

“Last month, I shared that our budget was built on the expectation from the colleges that we would increase our enrollment by 200 students. In fact, we were down 194 students. That means we have 394 less students than our budget was based on,” Gonzalez said. “We are working with the colleges to true up those budgets, but there are some things that can happen at the college level to impact retention from fall to spring semester. The main thing faculty members can do is to complete progress reports for students who aren’t performing well so that we can start academic intervention efforts.”

Executive Vice President of Research & Innovation Kevin Gardner reported that the university received a record breaking $201.5 million in awards during the 2021 fiscal year. Gardner shared additional record-breaking figures from the university’s research, innovation and commercialization efforts.

“Our total award volume in 2020 was $170 million and this year, it was $201.5 million,” Gardner said. “This fiscal year, we’ve had 80 patents issued, $27 million in innovation income and 482 other agreements, such as material transfer agreements.”

Faculty Grievance Officer Cedric Powell provided the to senators. Powell reported that a total of five grievances had been filed from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 1, 2021. Two Type 1 grievances were filed, as well as three Type 2 grievances.

Two grievances were filed from the School of Medicine; however, neither met the jurisdictional requirements for a formal grievance and the complaints were dismissed. Two grievances were filed from the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Business and the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law each had one grievance filed. A Type 2 grievance from A&S, a Type 2 grievance from the College of Business and a Type 1 grievance from the School of Law each went forward with the formal process and appeal with the opinion of the Faculty Grievance committee ultimately being affirmed by either President Bendapudi or Provost Gonzalez.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be accessed on the . The next Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for Nov. 3 via a hybrid format with the option of remote attendance via Teams, or in-person attendance at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium.

He is active in several community and UofL organizations and was recently named the university’s faculty grievance officer, where he will assist faculty in dispute resolution. UofL News had the chance to talk to Powell recently about his career path, his public service work and his loyalty to Cleveland sports.

UofL News: What brought you to the Brandeis School of Law?
Cedric Powell: Before I came here, I was at a large New York firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. I was there about four years, but I always wanted to teach. Before that, I was the Karpatkin Fellow in the American Civil Liberties Union in their national legal office. Before that, I clerked in DC. I did different things looking toward teaching.

I went to what they called the “meat market” years ago, an annual recruitment event they have in DC. I interviewed at some schools and got a call back here, interviewed and got the job and been here ever since.

I always envisioned, at least at some point, being a law professor.

UofL News: What was it about being a law professor that was attractive to you?
Powell: You can do a lot of different things. You’re not formally practicing but you’re bringing practice experience. There still is the opportunity to be involved in discrete projects, calling upon what you did in your former career. I’m still involved in a lot of public interest litigation on some level, usually working on appellate briefs or amicus briefs.

You can be involved in a lot of different things as well as being in the classroom and having the time to think, research and write. People say that scholarship is just talking to ourselves and just the professors read it, and on some level that is true.

But scholarship should also try to push for change in a positive way. That’s important in the law. That’s something that judges do. We certainly aren’t judges, but we certainly have the ability to impact public opinion. And that’s probably the most appealing part about this job — being involved in everything.

UofL News: You’re dean for research at Brandeis Law. What does that role entail?
�ʴǷɱ����:��It provides support for the faculty. You bring in interesting speakers for symposia. Last year we brought in someone to talk about the bar examination and incorporating those techniques into the classroom. We did a panel discussion on community-engaged scholarship because we’re actively involved in trying to define that and how we measure both our impact in the community and how faculty members will be evaluated.

I provide support for junior faculty in advancing their scholarship, which may mean just sitting back and helping them pay for a symposium to talk about writing or trying to organize informal workshops where they can get comments on their papers. Some of that, they do by themselves, but I’m here to help with suggestions on articles and any other discussions that they may want to have.

It’s sort of like continuing legal education for law professors.

UofL News: You were named UofL’s faculty grievance officer in September. How do you plan to approach that role?
�ʴǷɱ����:��I will continue in the tradition of my predecessor and colleague, , who recently began her tenure as Faculty Senate chair, to ensure that faculty members are fully informed about the procedures outlined in the (UofL’s basic governance document) and how to work through the informal and formal grievance processes to resolve disputes in a manner that respects our shared values at the university.

UofL News: You’ve been chairman of the TARC board since 2008. What is that work like?
�ʴǷɱ����:��We’ve been able to do some things to modernize our transit system. We have electric buses. We have fuel-efficient buses.

We recently dedicated a $50 million improvement on Dixie Highway. Louisvillians derisively refer to it as “Dixie Dieway” because of the high speeds, narrow lanes and high occurrence of serious accidents. We’re trying to change that with dedicated bus routes. We’re going to do something called bus rapid transit, which will focus on access, mobility and broader lanes for buses. We’re going to try to change the traffic pattern. We hope that this will lead to better things in terms of looking at a modern transportation system.

UofL News: What’s something that people might be surprised to know about you?
�ʴǷɱ����:��I like Cleveland sports. I’m from Cleveland. The baseball team is playing well. I keep telling my friends they’re going to win the World Series. Nobody believes me.