Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 164.367 and 164.821 prohibit teaching and administrative staff to be directly or indirectly interested in any contract with the university for the sale of property, materials, supplies, equipment or services unless specifically approved by the Board of Trustees. Members of the Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee noted that the reconsideration of the statutes in these three instances is in the best interests of the university given the positive implications of the research.

Research takes flight with Michael Menze’s proposal to study red blood cell preservation for exploration spaceflight transfusion therapy. Menze, a professor and associate dean in the Department of Biology, submitted a pre-proposal for the research to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Establish Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. As part of the proposal, a subcontract to a small business, DesiCorp, is included. Menze is a co-founder, president and holds equity in DesiCorp. 

Back down on Earth, Claudio Maldonado looks for ways to treat myocardial infarction (heart attack), which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, impacts about 805,000 people in the United States every year. Maldonado, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Department of Surgery, has submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health to study the mechanisms of lipid therapy to treat heart attacks. As part of the proposal, a subcontract to a small business, EndoProtech, is included. Maldonado is co-founder, president and holds equity in the business. 

Sports performance gets specialized thanks to Ernest Rimer’s efforts to assists sports programs in the design and implementation of individualized training programs for athletes and sports. Rimer is director of sports science at UofL Health and holds equity in FYTT Inc., which markets the performance software that develops the training programs and provides monitoring tools to assess those programs. The UofL Athletic Association intends to procure a six-month trial license for evaluation purposes and, if successful, would potentially pursue a full license of the software. Since Rimer is an employee of UofL Health, this would not normally invoke the KRS restriction against an interest in the contract. However, Rimer’s spouse is currently a UofL employee and therefore the restriction comes into consideration.

Philosophy MA moves forward

The Academic and Student Affairs Committee approved a motion to create a Master of Arts in applied philosophy degree. As part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the degree will be a 33-credit-hour program. Since 2008, philosophy has anchored the Master of Arts in interdisciplinary studies – health care ethics (IS-HCE). The program has produced 49 graduates. Having demonstrated viability, the HCE program will move under the rubric of applied philosophy.

According to Interim Provost Gerry Bradley, this move satisfies the original intent of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Studies umbrella and strengthens the Department of Philosophy. The program will be the only Master of Arts program in Kentucky dedicated to health care ethics.

“This degree program strengthens both the Department of Philosophy and the College of Arts & Sciences,” Bradley said. “Furthermore, it demonstrates how the oldest discipline in the humanities can reaffirm its relevance in today’s higher education landscape.”

Finances remain firm

Dan Durbin, executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer, gave a financial update for Fiscal Year 2022 through Jan. 31, 2022. Revenues and expenses were up compared to January 2021. So far, revenues for FY 2022 are $145,832,000 more than expenses with an increase in net position of $45,584,000 compared to January 2021.

According to Durbin, significant revenue fluctuations are attributed to student tuition and fee revenue increases, consistent rent and lease payments from UofL Health, an increase in grant revenue, increase in intercollegiate athletic revenue due to the release of COVID capacity restrictions at events, among others.

Editor’s note: the various committees of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees will present their full reports at the April 21, 2022, regular meeting of the trustees.

The 20 students participated in the Kentucky-Princeton Undergraduate Summer Institute on Inequality, sponsored by the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Through academic study, field study and service learning, the participants explored various theories of what inequality is and why it matters and examined how inequality affects people across sectors of society and aspects of their lives such as housing, justice and health.

Carmen Mitchell, a UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences doctoral student, helped with the institute, serving as a local resource and residing with the group in Kurz Hall. She was impressed by the conversations, listening to “the participants connecting what they are learning with their own experiences. That’s one of the best parts, actually – them getting to interact freely, not being graded, building relationships and friendships as well.”

Mitchell also presented to the group on her focus area of health policy, particularly in health disparities. In giving a public health overview, she wanted to identify some of the barriers such as provider access, rural care and a history of racism and sexism. “It’s very complicated.”

“More than memorizing facts, I want the students to have a framework for how to talk about the issues,” Mitchell said.

After morning seminars in the Overseers House on Belknap Campus, the students ventured out to various sites in Louisville, including Churchill Downs and the Backside Learning Center, an environmental justice tour, a meeting with the mayor and a civil rights history driving tour developed by UofL’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research. Central Kentucky tours took them to a Pathways Inc. health clinic, a horse farm and a distillery. Capping off the week was a Saturday service learning project to participate in New Directions Housing Corp.’s Repair Affair on a Louisville house.

Micah Castanon, a UofL philosophy and sociology major and Pan-African studies minor, was looking forward to the hands-on nature of the service project after the week of an institute he described as “really good and super relevant.”

The Glasgow student was interested in the experience because of “the prospect of gathering practical learning of equality and inequality – who it affects – and being able to carry it away from here and implement it in actions and everyday decisions.”

UofL philosophy professor Avery Kolers and Anna Stilz, Princeton professor of politics with the University Center for Human Values, coordinated the institute. Additional faculty participants were from several UofL departments as well as Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky. The faculty volunteered their time, and the students had an all-expenses-paid educational experience.

In October, the students will go to Princeton for a weekend to learn from faculty presenters there and to work on op-ed writing projects together, as well as visit Trenton, New Jersey, Stilz said.

The institute “brings a lot of depth” to an academic experience, she said. “It adds a lot to your understanding. The students are fantastic.”

The summer institute was the first of its kind; organizers plan to gauge its impact and possibly offer future seminars, varying the topics annually to look at other questions about values in public life.

During his presentation, Oduor explained that liberal democracy struggles in Africa because it does not match its cultural values and is considered an “alien concept.”

“Democracy has not failed in Africa, liberal democracy has,” he said. “Something alien has problems.”

Liberal democracy tends to emphasize the individual, while Africans focus on community and seeing others as family, Odour said. Residents of his country, for example, call their president “father of nation.”��

“(Africa is) not nations, but multi-ethnic states,” where everyone feels they belong, he said.

Oduor said a model for African democracy includes socialism based on African communalism, joint power, and a fusion of African and Western democracy.

Oduor’s discussion was hosted by the Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society department, Arts and Science and Philosophy.