Winter 2022 Kentucky Alumni Magazine

‘I Am From Here’

A HOMECOMING TO REMEMBER

Wildcats from far and near returned to campus for Homecoming 2022. Golden Wildcats were recognized, Lyman T. Johnson awards were presented and the football team played one heck of a game.

BECAUSE WE CAN

We are near the completion of the historic Kentucky Can: The 21st Century Campaign. We hope you will make a gift that will help us cross the finish line.

AWARD-WINNING CHEF

By Tom Wilmes

As a student at UK, Vishwesh Bhatt majored in political science, thinking he’d follow in the footsteps of his grandfathers. But working at a restaurant for “beer money” changed his life.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

By Sally Scherer

Scholarships for the 2021-2022 academic school year were received by 187 students and totaled $210,275.

WORK BEGINS ON ALUMNI COMMONS

Rose Street is being transformed and will soon include terraced lawn seating, a water feature and patio and garden areas designed to become a focal point on campus.

HE’S A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM SOLVER

By Sally Scherer

From assisting with COVID-19 vaccines to working on HIV/AIDS prevention, William Jansen has spent his career improving the outcomes of programs designed to better the lives of people around the world.

LENDING A HELPING HAND

When areas of Eastern Kentucky were flooded this summer, UK faculty, staff and students responded to the needs of the communities, many of which were devastated.

SO MANY STORIES TO TELL

By Sally Scherer

In the Agnes Luthi Mysteries, author Tracee de Hahn shares her love of history and her many years living in Europe with her readers.

A LIFE CELEBRATION

By Mark Mozingo

The late George R. Boulden III, associate director of bands and former director of the UK Wildcat Marching Band, was remembered with some of his favorite music.

Photos by Angie Mosier

CREDITS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jill Holloway Smith ’05 ’11: Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Executive Director of the UK Alumni Association

EDITORS

Meredith Weber: Senior Associate Director for Communications and Membership

Sally Scherer: Managing Editor

DESIGNER

Whitney Stamper: Graphic Designer

ASSOCIATION STAFF

Lindsey Caudill: Alumni Engagement Coordinator

Christy Coffman ‘18 PH: Alumni Program Coordinator

Dana Cox ‘87 CI: Philanthropy Assistant

Nancy Culp: Administrative Services Assistant

Caroline Francis ‘88 BE, ‘93 ‘02 ED: Director of Alumni Career Services

Jack Gallt ‘84 CI: Senior Associate Director of Alumni Engagement

Stacey Gish: Marketing & Communications Specialist

Leslie Hayes: Membership and Marketing Program Coordinator

Kelly Hinkel ‘11 AS, ‘18 AFE: Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Marci Hicks ‘87 AFE: Director of Philanthropy

Lisa Hiscox ‘05 AS: Administrative Support Associate - Programs

Albert Kalim ’03 ‘16 EN, ‘20 BE: Technical Support Specialist

Jesse McInturf ‘10 BE: Principal Accountant

William Raney ’14: House Support

Kathryn Schaffer ‘12 AFE: Alumni Engagement Coordinator

Amanda Schagane ‘09 AS, ‘10 ED: Associate Director of Alumni Career Services

Samantha Seitz: ‘22 AFE: Alumni Engagement Coordinator

Shelby Stivers ‘18 CI: Alumni Program Coordinator Senior

Pam Webb: Administrative Services Assistant

Don Witt ‘82 ‘84 CI: Assistant Vice President for Philanthropy

Christina Yue ‘11 CI: Associate Director for Administration and Strategic Initiatives

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND LEADERSHIP ADVISORY COUNCIL

Officers

Antoine Huffman ’05 CI: President

Janie C. McKenzie-Wells ’83 AS, ’86 LAW: President-elect

Robert “Rob” L. Crady III ’04 BE: Treasurer Jill Holloway Smith ’05 BE, ’11 AFE: Secretary

In-State Representatives

Michelle Bishop Allen ’06 ’10 BE

Jeffrey L. Ashley ’89 CI Heath F. Bowling ’96 BE Emmett P. “Buzz” Burnam ’74 ED John S. Cain ’86 BE James F. Gilles III ’10 AFE Emily C. Henderson ’01 PHA Mark Hogge ’97 EN

Kelly Sullivan Holland ’93 AS, ’98 ED Dr. H. Fred Howard ’79 AS, ’82 DE Michael H. Huang ’89 AS, ’93 MED Shelia M. Key ’91 PHA Kent T. Mills ’83 BE Sherry R. Moak ’81 BE Tonya B. Parsons ’91 AS Quintissa S. Peake ’04 CI Peggy Barton Queen ’86 BE John D. Ryan ’92 ’95 BE Robin Simpson Smith ‘79 BE, ‘82 LAW Jonell Tobin ’68 ’95 ED Allen O. Wilson ’03 AFE, ’06 LAW

Out-of-State Representatives

Brooke C. Asbell ’86 BE Erin Burkett ’01 EN Shane T. Carlin ’95 AFE Amanda Mills Cutright ’06 CI Ruth Cecelia Day ’85 BE Robert M. “Mike” Gray ’80 ’81 BE Dr. Michael L. Hawks ’80 AS, ’85 DE Vincent M. Holloway ’84 EN John T. “Jay” Hornback ’04 EN Erin Carr Logan ’06 BE Thomas K. Mathews ’93 AS Sylvester D. Miller II ’08 AFE Mary “Kekee” Szorcsik ’72 BE Quentin R. Tyler ’02 ’05 AFE, ’11 AS

Alumni Trustees

Brenda Baker Gosney ’70 HS, ’75 ED Paula L. Pope ’73 ’75 ED Rachel Watts Webb ’05 CI

Living Past Presidents

George L. Atkins Jr. ’63 BE Richard A. Bean ’69 BE Michael A. Burleson ’74 PHA Bruce K. Davis ’71 LAW Scott E. Davis ’71 LAW

Marianne Smith Edge ’77 AFE Franklin H. Farris Jr. ’72 BE William G. Francis ’68 AS, ’73 LAW W. P. Friedrich ’71 EN Dan Gipson ’69 EN Brenda B. Gosney ’70 HS, ’75 ED Cammie DeShields Grant ’77 LCC, ’79 ED

John R. Guthrie ’63 CI

Diane M. Massie ’79 CI

Robert E. Miller

Kentucky Alumni (ISSN 732-6297) is published quarterly by the University of Kentucky Alumni Association, Lexington, Kentucky, for its members.

© 2022 University of Kentucky Alumni Association, except where noted. Views and opinions expressed in Kentucky Alumni do not necessarily represent the opinions of its editors, the UK Alumni Association nor the University of Kentucky.

Wondering why you received Kentucky Alumni magazine?

All current Life and Active Members of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association automatically receive the Kentucky Alumni magazine quarterly. All who give $75 or more ($25 for recent graduates) to any UK fund, including UK Athletics/K Fund and DanceBlue, are recognized as Active Members regardless of alumni status.

G. David Ravencraft ’59 BE

William Schuetze ’72 LAW Mary Shelman ’81 EN David L. Shelton ’66 BE J. Fritz Skeen ’72 ’73 BE J. Tim Skinner ’80 DES

James W. Stuckert ’60 EN, ’61 BE Hank B. Thompson Jr. ’71 CI Elaine A. Wilson ’68 SW Richard M. Womack ’53 AFE

Leadership Advisory Council

In-State Representatives

Kevin L. Collins ’84 EN

Christopher J. Crumrine ’08 CI

Abra A. Endsley ’98, ’01 CI

Lu Ann Holmes ’79 DES

Lee A. Jackson ’73 AS

Ashley “Tip” Mixson III ’80 BE Grant T. Mills ’09 AS Glen H. Pearson ’87 AS

Dr. Barbara Sanders ’72 HS, ’77 ED Dena Stooksbury Stamper ’84 AS Lori E. Wells ’96 BE

Blake Broadbent Willoughby ’11 ’12 ’12 BE

Out-of-State Representatives

Shiela D. Corley ’94 AS, ’95 AFE

James F. Hardymon Jr. ‘87 BE Mark A. Ison ’99 FA Dr. Frank Kendrick ’90 ’92 DE Roshan Palli ’15 AS

Jane C. Pickering ’74 ED Nicole M. Segneri ’91 CI

Becky L. Spadaccini ’80 AFE

College Representatives

Michelle McDonald ’84 AFE, ’92 ED: Agriculture, Food and Environment

Winn F. Williams ’71 AS: Arts & Sciences

Michael R. Buchanan ’69 ’71 BE: Business & Economics

Jeremy L. Jarvi ’02 CI: Communication & Information

Dr. J. Clifford Lowdenback ’99 AS, ’03 DE: Dentistry

G. Haviland Argo III ’03 DES: Design

Cathy Crum Bell ’76 ED: Education

Dominique Renee Wright ’08 EN: Engineering

Joel W. Lovan ’77 FA: Fine Arts

Benjamin D. Gecewich ’03 HS: Health Sciences

Janis E. Clark ’78 GS, ’85 LAW: Law

Dr. Debra J. Sowell ’82 MED: Medicine

Laura B. Hieronymus ’81 ’15 NUR, ’83 ED: Nursing

Lynn Harrelson ’73 PHA: Pharmacy

Keith R. Knapp ’78 AS, ’05 PH: Public Health

Willis K. Bright Jr. ’66 SW: Social Work

Appointed

Dr. Michael A. Christian ’76 AS, ’80 DE: Honorary

Susan V. Mustian ’84 BE Hannah Miner Myers ’93 ED John C. Nichols II ’53 BE Dr. George A. Ochs IV ’74 DE Sandra Bugie Patterson ’68 AS Taunya Phillips ’87 EN, ’04 BE Robert F. Pickard ’57 ’61 EN Paula L. Pope ’73 ’75 ED

David B. Ratterman ’68 EN

Jo Hern Curris ’63 AS, ’75 LAW: Honorary Katie Eiserman ’01 ED: Athletics

Thomas W. Harris ’85 AS: University Relations

Stan R. Key ’72 ED: Honorary

D. Michael Richey ’74 ’79 AFE: Honorary Marian Moore Sims ’72 ’76 ED: Honorary Amelia Pace: Student Government Association

From the President

In recent months, our state has witnessed one of the most devastating flooding events in its history. We have experienced overwhelming grief for our fellow Kentuckians who will likely feel the catastrophic effects of this tragedy for years to come.

The idea of advancing Kentucky informs everything we do at the University of Kentucky — the education we provide, the service we render, the research we conduct and the care and creativity that we spread throughout the Commonwealth.

In September, we released preliminary enrollment numbers for this academic year that tell a compelling story of our progress and our potential with a record first-year class. We are maintaining our steadfast commitment to opening more doors to more students, from more backgrounds, while keeping our doors open widest to Kentuckians.

Through several new initiatives — including a first-of-itskind, incentive-based investment program for students, UK Invests, as well as a new mental health support hub, TRACS — we are supporting our students holistically and throughout their entire journey at UK.

We are preparing them for leading lives of meaning and purpose. And we know that supporting and investing in our students now means creating a healthier, wealthier and wiser state, country and world in the future.

This idea permeates the Big Blue Nation, near and far, and members of our family whose journeys at UK began

years ago and those whose journeys have yet to begin.

It includes our very own alumnus, Vishwesh Bhatt, award-winning chef and now author of “I Am from Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef,” who graduated in 1991 with a political science degree.

It includes our scholarship recipients, who were recognized at our annual scholarship dinner, demonstrating the promise our students have and their dreams for a brighter future.

And it includes those who have continued to provide response efforts in Eastern Kentucky, a region impacted by devastating flooding in July. Because where there is a need, we are there.

All these individuals — and several more — will be highlighted in the coming pages, and you will see so clearly the inextricable link between them all: something I call the “Power of We.”

Our institution is one of remarkable people, whose reach and resolve extend the boundaries of what is possible because of their desire to serve this state and their communities. Our collective commitment to do more and be more enlarges our capacity and expands what is achievable.

This is why the UK Alumni Association, anchored in its efforts to enhance the lives of the university’s students and alumni, is so critically important to this special place.

It serves our community by connecting us to each other beyond the walls of our campus and across state lines. Thank you for all you do in your communities as representatives of the University for Kentucky.

Sincerely, Eli Capilouto President

UK President Eli Capilouto talked with attendees at the 2022 UK Alumni Scholarship Celebration.

Photo by Tim Webb

Pride in Blue

Fellow Wildcats, this year’s homecoming weekend was nothing short of amazing and inspiring for me. Seeing alumni, friends and family back on campus – and throughout Lexington – reuniting, reminiscing, showing their pride and support for the University of Kentucky, demonstrated what Big Blue Nation is all about.

I had the pleasure of spending time with various alumni, including the Golden Wildcats who returned to celebrate their 50th reunion. Watching them rekindle friendships and hearing them reminisce about experiences and traditions, I really enjoyed learning about the impact UK had on their lives. Two memories shared at the Golden Wildcat Reunion breakfast stood out to me.

Friday night I attended Big Blue Madness in Rupp Arena. Standing alongside numerous proud and excited fellow Wildcat fans, I enjoyed watching the basketball team in action out on the court before their season kicked off.

I was very impressed with the talent I saw at the National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show. Like other events on campus, the step show had been postponed in recent years and it was great to see its return.

UK Alumni Association

President Antoine Huffman was photographed with George C.Wright ‘72 ‘74 AS and his wife Valerie A. Wright ‘72 CI at the Golden Wildcat Society Induction Breakfast. George C. Wright is a senior advisor to UK President Eli Capilouto.

Alumnus J. Fritz Skeen expressed how he came to campus as one type of person and left four years later a different individual. He said being on campus opened his eyes to an experience that was very different from the town where he grew up, including having a professor who was Indian and of the Sikh religion. Knowing this professor opened his eyes and the relationship he had with him made an impact in his life and how he viewed others.

For this alumnus, UK changed his worldview and his way of thinking. He was a better person when he left the university. That is a university to take pride in.

During my time on campus, I got to spend time with current students, too. Cruising around in the UK Alumni Association Swag Cab offering rides to class, I had the opportunity to chat and share fun facts about the university. Even though they were preparing for midterms, it was awesome to see students smiling and having a good time around campus. Many of them stopped by to take their picture in the Wildcat Alumni Plaza, an Alumni Association-sponsored event at the Bowman statue.

The Lyman T. Johnson Awards Luncheon was also back and in full swing after being postponed for two years. More than 60 alumni and students were honored and over 400 attended.

Following an exciting tailgate, we celebrated a homecoming win on the football field as our Cats won 27-17 vs. Mississippi State. I can still remember when we played Mississippi State at homecoming in 2005. That game has special memories for me. Not only was I a defensive back on the team, but it was the year I was crowned homecoming king and it was also the team’s first SEC win that year. Seeing another homecoming SEC victory was great. Homecoming reminded me why it’s so beneficial to return to campus during this special time. The stories I heard, the traditions I participated in, and feeling the pride of the bluegrass all around me are part of what makes the University of Kentucky such a wonderful place. It’s a feeling of coming home and there’s nothing like it. I heard we had record crowds this year and that all the events were a great success!

If I didn’t get to see you this year, I hope to see you at Homecoming 2023. Mark your calendars now for the week of Oct. 9-14 to see old friends, make new ones, and take part in UK’s traditions. Don’t miss your chance to make memories to last a lifetime. I look forward to seeing you there.

Go Cats!

Antoine Huffman ’05 CI UK Alumni Association President

Photo by Shelly Fryman, Mahan Multimedia

NEW COLLEGE OF NURSING DEAN IS A UK ALUMNA

Rosalie Mainous, a Lexington native and University of Kentucky doctoral graduate, has been named the sixth dean of the UK College of Nursing. Mainous is a neonatal nurse practitioner and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded researcher.

Mainous was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow in 2009, is emeritus faculty at University of Louisville and most recently served as special assistant to the provost at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in Denton, Texas. She also previously served as dean of the TWU College of Nursing with oversight of three campuses in Denton, Dallas and Houston, Texas.

She is a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

“Dr. Mainous has an impressive background as an academic administrator, clinician, educator and researcher,” said Provost Robert S. DiPaola. “She is a proven and experienced leader with a vision to advance the College of Nursing and strive to meet the goals of our strategic plan’s mission to advance Kentucky.” ■

PUBLIC ART ON CORNERSTONE RECEIVES CODAAWARD FOR ALUMNA

University of Kentucky art alumna Helene Steene, in collaboration with the University of Kentucky, was recently awarded the 2022 Collaboration of Design + Art (CODA) award in the education category for the piece “Moon Sentinel.”

CODA recognizes outstanding projects that integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural or public spaces. The 10th annual international design competition announced winners across 10 categories as well as two People’s Choice Award winners.

“To receive the CODA award is a great honor, as artists from around the world are considered for this competition,” Steene said.

A jury of 18 members of the design, architecture and art worlds evaluated each of the 406 entries.

“To see my 7-foot-tall painting enlarged to 55 feet at The Cornerstone, was a great thrill. I’m grateful that UK had the technical skills to do something that I myself never could have achieved. It’s wonderful when classical painting skills can be combined with modern tech skills like this LED installation.” ■

Photo submitted

Photos by Claire Batt

AGED HORSE RESEARCH WILL TAKE PLACE IN NEW CENTER

The new Linda Mars Aged Horse Care and Education Facility, located on the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s C. Oran Little Research Farm, will help lead the way on breakthroughs in care for revered older horses, a demographic estimated to make up approximately one-third of the worldwide horse population.

Support from Linda Mars, philanthropist and avid horsewoman, made the facility possible. The college hopes to complete the center which is under construction by the end of this year.

UK’s Aged Horse Research Program was established by Amanda Adams, associate professor in the Gluck Equine Research Center. Adams, who specializes in the care of senior horses, is also an adjunct faculty member at Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine.

In 2019, Adams was named the inaugural MARS EQUESTRIAN™ Fellow in recognition of her expertise in equine science and dedication to creating a better world for horses. According to Adams, the new facility

CHILD LIFE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM LAUNCHES

is an important tool helping aged horse research unlock new ways of caring for aging horses. Additionally, the space will help train the next generation of scientists and will serve as an important resource for the university’s equine undergraduate students.

“I am beyond thrilled, and so very thankful to Linda Mars for her love of the horse and for her innovation and generous support and establishment of this new facility,” she said. ■

Certified child life specialists help to minimize negative hospital experiences by shepherding children and families through the process of illness, hospitalization and oftentimes, trauma.

Recognizing the importance of and growing popularity in the field, a child life certificate program was launched at the University of Kentucky this fall by the Department of Family Sciences in collaboration with Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

Although seemingly straightforward, the work of a certified child life specialist consists of very nuanced and multifaceted methods.

“Using their expertise in child development and family systems, they help pediatric patients and their families cope with hospitalization and medical care through therapeutic play, education, psychosocial support and advocacy,” explains Emily Bollinger, a certified child life specialist at Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

“We have already seen the benefit of UK graduates coming back to join the Child Life department at KCH and are excited for this trend to continue in the coming years as we add more child life specialist positions,” Bollinger added. ■

Photo by Matt Barton

Photo by Adam Padgett

FOUR INDUCTED INTO COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES HALL OF FAME

Three alumni and one faculty member were recently inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame recognizes UK Arts and Sciences alumni and faculty who have made meaningful contributions to the university, the Commonwealth and the nation in their respective fields. “Our honorees’ life stories reflect the power and purposefulness of their arts and sciences education as well as their ability to positively impact their professions, their communities, the Commonwealth and the nation,” said Ana Franco-Watkins, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

• La Tasha Buckner who is a 1997 graduate with a psychology degree who serves as the chief of staff and senior counsel to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear

• Dennis McCarty who earned his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in psychology and is professor emeritus at the Oregon Health and Science University- Portland State University School of Public Health and

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS

• Cynthia ‘Didi’

1975 and a master’s degree in 1976 in political geography. She spent four decades as a public servant, almost all of it with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Dwight Billings, professor emeritus of sociology, was also recognized. He has been a pioneer in Appalachian studies and the examination of inequity in the region. He joined the UK faculty in 1975. ■

SHARON WALSH WITH UK ALUMNI PROFESSORSHIP

Sharon Walsh, a professor of behavioral science, pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences and psychiatry in the UK Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and director of the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research has received a UK Alumni Professorship Award.

The UK Alumni Association, with a committee chaired by UK Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement T.Y. Lineberry, honors a select group of UK faculty members with these awards which have five-year terms. One professorship became vacant last year before the end of the official term which necessitates an off-cycle selection process to fill the vacant professorship.

She has been conducting clinical research on substance use disorder for nearly 30 years with an emphasis on opioid use disorder and its treatment. Her research program has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“The impact our faculty have on students lasts a lifetime. Our university’s success is built on a foundation of great teaching. The UK Alumni Association is pleased to support faculty who have been recognized for scholarly contributions, excellence in teaching and outstanding service, through Alumni Professorships,” said Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Executive Director of the UK Alumni Association Jill Smith. ■

Alumni recognized include:

Rapp who earned an undergraduate degree in Russian studies in

From left to right: Dwight Billings, La Tasha Buckner, UK College of Arts & Sciences Dean Ana Franco-Watkins and Dennis McCarty.

Photo by Jake Klein

Photo by Pete Comparoni

Research

RESEARCHER EXPLORES MULTISENSORY APPROACH AS TREATMENT FOR ALZHEIMER’S

A CD player. Lavender-infused lotion. A weighted blanket. A roll of red tape. The last things you’d expect when it comes to Alzheimer’s care. But every item was chosen for a specific purpose: to help care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias through their sense of hearing, smell, feel, sight and more.

“Aging dramatically alters and decreases the effectiveness of sensory modalities in our body to take in information. Enhancing sensory input through the body is one way to soothe and nourish the brain,” said Elizabeth Rhodus, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, Department of Behavioral Science and primary faculty of the Center for Health Equity Transformation.

The focus of Rhodus’ work is to enhance sensory input in order to improve behavioral symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This approach doesn’t involve medication but instead simple sensory changes in their home environment. With the help of basic tools and materials, caregivers can stimulate these senses in adults with dementia in ways that can make them feel safer, happier and more comfortable.

It is an approach that the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has supported. Rhodus was recently awarded a K23 grant from the NIA titled “Improving Person-Environment Fit of CommunityResiding Older Adults with Dementia Through Assessment and Individualized Intervention.” She will continue research aimed to assess and intervene on basic mechanisms between persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and the home environment, and mechanisms that may contribute to or minimize challenging behavioral symptoms of ADRD. ■

AWARD ADVANCES RESEARCHER’S LOW-COST WATER TREATMENT WORK

Along the rivers that snake across the Commonwealth, you’ll find a University of Kentucky researcher taking samples to study the health of the water flowing through the state.

Tiffany Messer, an assistant professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering, is working with a joint program between the College of Engineering and College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, studies ways to improve water quality in rural and urban areas. Messer is a 2008 graduate of UK with a degree in biosystems and agricultural engineering.

For her innovative approach, Messer is the recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

The honor is one of the “most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of teacherscholars who most effectively integrate education and research within the context of their organization’s mission,” according to the NSF.

“This is a unique opportunity for me to be able to connect both teaching and research aspects of my work and really be able to give back to the Commonwealth versus just studying a particular component of interest,” said Messer.

The award supports Messer with $530,000 over five years for her research on cost-effective wetland treatment systems and how they can filter contaminants, like nitrate, insecticides and antibiotics, from water runoff. She is using state-of-the-art tracers and automated sensing technology to determine how these contaminants impact the ecosystem. ■

Photo by Adam Padgett

Photo by Ben Corwin, Research Communications

Yours for the taking

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

OCT. 13 – 16 GOLDEN WILDCAT SOCIETY REUNION 20 22

HOMECOMING

HOMECOMING RECAP 2022

It was a picture-perfect weekend for the 2022 Homecoming and alumni, family and friends enjoyed the fall colors and the sunny skies while being back on campus and participating in numerous activities. he celebratory weekend included a Golden Wildcat reunion for the class of 1972, the Big Blue Madness basketball scrimmage at Rupp Arena, a beautiful afternoon at Lexington’s Keeneland Racetrack and a football Wildcat victory against Mississippi State, 27-17.

n addition, alumni were recognized at the Lyman T. Johnson Constituency Group Awards Luncheon, were amazed by the changes on campus during the campus tours, saw the crowning of the Homecoming king and queen during half time of the football game and were entertained by the UK band, cheerleaders, twirlers and dance team at the pre-game tailgate.

Scratch and UK Alumni Association President Antoine Huffman cruised around campus in the Swag Cab promoting Homecoming activities and handing out fabulous prizes to students.

UK young alumni joined in the fun at Keeneland during Homecoming weekend.

At Homecoming Pics in the Plaza, students were invited to get a picture taken with Bowman, the wildcat statue and pick up Homecoming swag.

The Golden Wildcat Society enjoyed spending the afternoon in the Phoenix Room at Keeneland during Homecoming weekend.

The Golden Wildcat Reunion committee from the class of 1972 were thanked for helping to coordinate the Homecoming weekend reunion in the winners circle at Keeneland.

Dr.

T. Johnson African American Alumni Constituency Group Awards Luncheon.

Students performed at the National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show at the Gatton Student Center Grand Ballroom during Homecoming weekend.

Members of the University of Kentucky Class of 1972 celebrated their 50th class reunion at Homecoming and were inducted into the Golden Wildcat Society.

More than 60 African American alumni and students were honored during the 31st Lyman T. Johnson Awards Luncheon. UK’s academic colleges and units selected at least one African American alum and student to receive an award. In addition, four students received scholarships through the Lyman T. Johnson Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Student tour guides from the Visitor Center, Emerson Palazzo and Casey Shelton, helped lead a campus bus tour during Homecoming weekend.

UK Alumni Association President Antoine Huffman addressed the Golden Wildcat Class of 1972 at the induction breakfast.

Katrice Albert, vice president, Office for Institutional Diversity, spoke at the Lyman

Lee A. Jackson, president of the Lyman T. Johnson Alumni Group posed with University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto prior to the luncheon on October 14.

Miss Kentucky Hannah Edelen joined the Golden Wildcats at the induction breakfast officially welcoming them into the Golden Wildcat Society.

Wildcat posed with fans at the pre-game UK Alumni Association tailgate.

The Bourbon Trailers shared their music with the crowd at the pre-game tailgate tent.

GOLDEN WILDCAT REUNION

The class of 1972 was honored throughout Homecoming weekend as it celebrated its 50th reunion. Campus tours showed the group just how much the campus has grown and changed since their time on campus.

The Golden Wildcat Society 50th reunion breakfast and pinning ceremony gave the alumni an opportunity to visit with each other and share memories from their time on campus. The women’s a cappella

ensemble Paws and Listen entertained the breakfast attendees.

One of Kentucky’s favorite activities – an afternoon at Keeneland Race Course – was a special treat for the alumni who won some and lost some at the track. And the group was introduced to the new men’s and women’s basketball teams at the Big Blue Madness Scrimmage. On game day, the Golden Wildcats had brunch together at the King Alumni House before taking advantage of beautiful fall weather at the pre-game tailgate tent party at the Tobacco Research Lawn.

There was fun for the whole family at the pre-game tailgate.

Wildcat fans were all smiles at the tailgate and pep rally prior to the Wildcat win over Mississippi State.

PrideCats handed out Halloween candy and joined in the fun at the pregame tailgate.

Alumni got into the spirit of the tailgate and pep rally by having their faces decorated for the festivities.

Laura Sutton (middle), senior major gift officer, College of Arts & Sciences, greeted Golden Wildcats at the tailgate.

Alumni, friends and family enjoyed a pregame tailgate cornhole game on a beautiful fall afternoon.

UK Alumni Association President Antoine Huffman showed his Wildcat spirit by dancing when the UK Pep Band played at the tailgate.

Aneisha Cox and Jordan Smith were crowned Ms. and Mr. Black UK 2022. The Mr. and Ms. Black UK Scholarship Pageant is an annual ceremony presented by the Black Student Union in partnership with the Mu Epsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Smith, from Henderson, Kentucky, is a senior majoring in neuroscience. Cox, from Radcliff, Kentucky, is a junior double-majoring in business management and marketing in the Gatton College of Business and Economics.

Kroger Field was packed with enthusiastic fans for the Homecoming football game against Mississippi State. Cats were victorious, 27-17.

Gracelyn Bush of Owensboro, Kentucky, and Johnny Zelenak II of Oldham County, Kentucky, were crowned the 2022 University of Kentucky Homecoming queen and king during the halftime ceremonies at the UK vs. Mississippi State Homecoming football game at Kroger Field on Oct. 15. Bush is a senior in the College of Public Health. Zelenak is a senior also pursuing a degree in public health.

The Golden Wildcat Reunion Committee from the class of 1972 was recognized before the football game at Kroger Field. Joining them was 1972 Homecoming Queen Judy Alexander Kastan (second from right) and Antoine Huffman (far right), alumni association president.

Photos by Scott Hayes, Patrick Mitchell, Mark Cornelison, Arden Barnes, Stacey Gish, Meredith Weber and Shelly Fryman, Mahan Multimedia.

BECAUSE WE CAN.

Kentucky Can: The 21st Century Campaign.

From the moment we publicly unveiled the University of Kentucky’s $2.1 billion capital campaign in 2018, we have wanted to show the world what Kentucky can do.

We believed the power of shared vision and generous philanthropy would lead to once-in-a-genera tion results, and you have rewarded our faith. From new scholarships for first-generation and deserving students with unmet financial need to the remarkably impressive $200 million Bill Gatton Student Center, we are repeatedly amazed by what your gifts have enabled us to achieve. This campus and the people who comprise our community will never be the same thanks to your commitment to our vital mission.

At this juncture, we are less than $300 million from meeting our audacious goal of $2.1 billion. As much as we have accomplished, much more remains to be done. For the University of Kentucky to fulfill its role as Kentucky’s flagship, land-grant institution, we must offer competitive scholarships; top-flight facilities to house groundbreaking research; resources and programs aimed at enhancing student success and much more. Our highest aspirations and greatest opportunities will only become reality if supporters like you invest in our future.

Thank you for all you do. Future generations of Wildcats will thank you, too.

University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto announced the Kentucky Can campaign with a goal of $2.1 billion in 2018.

Photos by Mark Cornelison, UK Photo

As we near the completion of this historic campaign, we have turned our fundraising efforts toward three urgent priorities: Scholarships, the Health Education Building and UK Invests.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The University of Kentucky is committed to being the University for Kentucky. To that end, we have created admissions requirements that open the widest door possible to students across the Commonwealth. As a result, the university welcomed more than 6,000 first-year students to the Wildcat family, this fall — the largest incoming class in our history.

UK’s ambitious strategic plan identifies undergraduate student success as the absolute top priority with targets of a 90% second fall retention rate and a 70% six-year graduation rate. Nevertheless, within four years, data-informed strategies and personalized implementation tactics resulted in over a four-percentage point increase in retention to 85.9%. The anchor initiative for student financial issues, as well as the primary driver of these increases, has been the UK LEADS (Leveraging Economic Affordability for Developing Success) program.

The UK LEADS program utilizes a predictive model to isolate financial need as the root cause of student attrition and shift institu-

tional aid to a broader group of students to provide more equitable access to higher education. Due to the institutional commitment to these students, as well as philanthropic efforts, we have been able to assist an increasing number of students each of the past three years (178 in 2016-17, 365 in 2017-18, 485 in 2018-19 and 568 in 2019-20) and drive our overall second fall retention rate to unprecedented levels, reaching nearly 86% for the first time in UK’s history.

“The UK LEADS program has proven to be a game-changer for many students whose only barrier to success at our institution is financial aid,” Kirsten Turner, vice president for student success, said. “Supporting these students brightens hundreds of individual futures each year, while also contributing to greater success for the Commonwealth and beyond.”

UK LEADS’ success depends heavily upon the vision and generosity of our philanthropic partners. We need more donors to invest in these scholarships that make the crucial difference between a student making it to graduation and dropping out of school.

In addition, we want to continue to offer competitive merit-based scholarships to students from Kentucky, as well as from outf-of-state. With your help, we can enable more students to thrive in their UK experience without the stress of mountainous debt.

To better equip health professionals who will advance the well-being of Kentucky and beyond, leadership within the Colleges of Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences and Nursing have collaborated on a plan to construct a landmark new Health Education Building.

The Health Education Building will reside in the heart of campus, with an elevated pedestrian walkway connecting to the existing medical school and hospital. At seven or eight stories, it will be one of the largest facilities on campus.

“This building represents an opportunity for health disciplines on UK’s campus to come together for the betterment of the Commonwealth and the world. Through transdisciplinary collaboration, we will use this building to improve the lives and well-being of those in every corner of our state,” said Provost Robert DiPaola.

Although the building is in the early stages of design, the current timeline plans for the Health Education Building to be occupied by the end of 2026.

63,050 SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED NOW!

UK INVESTS

At the University of Kentucky, we are dedicated to upholding a powerful promise — to prepare students to lead lives of meaning and purpose. The success of UK students today is essential to a Kentucky that is healthier, wealthier and wiser tomorrow.

Part of that commitment is empowering and encouraging students to understand the importance of investing in themselves and their future.

In September 2022, UK launched a new, first-of-its-kind initiative — UK Invests — that helps students understand early the value of investing in themselves.

Students will have the opportunity to achieve financial awareness, education and security through a holistic wellness initiative anchored in financial education.

Through this initiative, all UK students (undergraduate, graduate and professional) will deepen their understanding of financial wellness, practice investing and receive monetary rewards for institution-identified healthy behaviors.

“This is the next step in our plan to support the holistic health and wellness of our students. UK Invests is a program that will encourage students to hardwire their habits around healthy behaviors: financial wellness, community and belonging, mental and physical well-being and intellectual and skill development,”

said J. Kirsten Turner, UK’s vice president for student success.

Personal investment accounts will be used to incentivize behaviors and habits beginning with financial education and expanding to include other wellness initiatives.

Students will build a foundation of financial literacy — allowing them to achieve greater financial security, career readiness and well-being.

The voluntary account will be matched in part by investments from the university. In the first year of the program, UK will invest $1 million — entirely through private and philanthropic support.

By making a gift to UK Invests, you will enable us to rapidly fund students’ accounts, thereby increasing access to this game-changing program. Just visit https://uky.networkforgood.com and specify that you would like your gift to go to UK Invests.

Help us finish this campaign by making your gift at www.kentuckycan.uky.edu. ■

‘I Am From Here’

New cookbook by award-winning chef and UK graduate explores his exemplary cuisine

By Tom Wilmes

Growing up in the state of Gajarat, India, Vishwesh Bhatt spent most afternoons in the kitchen of his family’s home, helping his mother prepare meals. The youngest child in a large extended family, at first tasks like setting the table and filling water glasses helped keep him occupied while she worked.

As he matured, his mother taught him to chop vegetables, measure spices, cook rice, make yogurt, churn buttermilk and help with anything needed to prepare a traditional lunchtime thali — an elaborate meal composed of many small vegetarian dishes.

“Without knowing it at the time, I was learning how to cook — and really enjoying it,” Bhatt writes in his new book, “I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef.”

When he was 17, Bhatt moved with his family to Austin, Texas, where his father, a physicist, had accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas. While the environment, food, and culture of the American South looked and felt quite different from his native India, Bhatt took comfort in the familiar produce and spices he found on store shelves.

“It was like, ‘oh wow, they have okra here, too, and they have eggplant — I started seeing a lot of commonalities,” he says. “Of course, meals were prepared very differently but the ingredients were here already.”

While Bhatt was making those connections and assembling the fundamentals that would one day lead him to be named the 2019 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef in the South, pursuing a culinary career never crossed his mind.

Rather, when his father transitioned to teaching at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Bhatt enrolled at the University of Kentucky with the idea of becoming a bureaucrat, as both of his grandfathers had been in India.

He arrived on campus with just the essentials, including several tins of garam masala, turmeric, mustard seeds and other spices given to him by his mother. Bhatt often cooked for himself and his friends — the dining hall offered little by way of vegetarian cuisine at the time — and frequented Alfalfa Restaurant in its original location on South Limestone Street.

Bhatt also enjoyed eating at Ramsey's Diner and High on Rose Cantina, and he and his friends were Thursday-night regulars at Joe Bologna’s Italian Pizzeria and Restaurant. He might also enjoy a meal at Dudley’s on special occasions, such as when someone’s parents came for a visit.

Photo by Pableaux Johnson

Vishwesh Bhatt was born and raised in Gujarat, India. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kentucky in 1991. He won a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the South in 2019.

Bhatt also fondly recalls the view from the top of Patterson Office Tower and hanging out by the fountain in Patterson Square. During the spring and fall meets at Keeneland, he and his friends would head to the track to enjoy the races.

“Everyone would place their $2 bets and then whoever won would buy pitchers of beer for the guys who didn’t win,” he says. “I made some really good friendships,” Bhatt says of his time at UK.

A few years after graduation — he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1990 — Bhatt enrolled in a graduate program to study public administration at the University of Mississippi, where his father was also then teaching. He didn’t enjoy the coursework as much as he’d anticipated, but he did enjoy the small college town of Oxford and filling in for his mother at Harvest Café, a vegetarian restaurant where she prepared a weekly lunch thali.

“At first it was essentially just for beer money, but I soon realized that I really enjoyed it, and I had a knack for it, so I stuck with it,” Bhatt says.

Bhatt took a position in the kitchen at City Grocery, owned by restaurateur John Currence and where he was a frequent patron, before continuing his training at culinary school in Miami. Restaurant jobs in Denver and Jackson, Mississippi, followed — where he also met and married his wife, Theresa — but Bhatt was always on the lookout for a way to get back to Oxford.

and a chef,” Currence writes in the forward of his friend’s book. “It was in this moment that people started to take notice of Snackbar and to become deeply interested in this Indian man in a small Southern town hawking the food that he loves.”

The broader culinary community took notice, too. Other chefs sought out his food when visiting the area, and Bhatt became involved with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, dedicated to the study of the diverse cultures of the American South.

“I learned how to cook professionally here in the South,” Bhatt says, “and part of that was being a part of the Southern Foodways Alliance and meeting and learning from folks like Ben Barker, Frank Stitt, Ed Mitchell, Mashama Bailey … the list goes on and on.”

At an SFA event, Bhatt met chef and fellow UK graduate Ouita Michel. “He’s one of the premier Southern chefs in America,” Michel says. “And now he’s had this amazing book come out and it’s my new favorite.”

Bhatt’s new cookbook, “I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef,” includes family recipes as well as recipes he’s developed throughout his culinary career, many with an Indian-inspired preparation of classic Southern dishes.

That opportunity came in 2002 when a chef position opened up at City Grocery. Bhatt was by then well-versed in both Southern cuisine and traditional French cooking techniques, and he helped further establish City Grocery’s reputation with elevated takes on classics like fried chicken and shrimp and grits.

Bhatt’s growing culinary prowess took centerstage at Snackbar, which he and Currence opened in 2009 in a strip mall not far from Oxford’s town square and where Bhatt remains executive chef. It’s there that Bhatt, inspired by his upbringing and by the memory of his recently deceased mother, started to incorporate Indian spices and preparations into his cuisine.

“The inability to contain that which drives your passion, and the ability to communicate that passion through food, is what marks the difference between an excellent cook

Michel said Vish, as he’s known among friends, taught her how to make his famous okra chaat at a fundraiser event several years ago. It’s since become a staple on the summer menu at Holly Hill Inn, one of her several Central Kentucky restaurants. Michel says she also enjoys making his Moussaka recipe because it reminds her of her own mother. Both recipes are included in “I Am From Here,” which Michel said she is cooking her way through.

“I find a lot of books contain the same information and I might not be as interested in them, but this book is a completely personal story and filled with fantastic recipes you would never find anywhere else,” she says. “Some of the recipes are his mom's, some his aunt’s, some his dad’s and some are his recipes from his professional life as a chef. They’re all delicious and also somewhat surprising.”

Bhatt’s ability to draw from and contextualize his myriad influences and experiences in his food has led to numerous accolades, including the 2019 James Beard Award for Best Chef: South.

“That’s recognition by your peers that people are noticing what you’re doing and it’s important work,” Bhatt says of the honor. “It’s also a huge recognition for our team, who have stuck with me on this journey.”

Bhatt is also a co-creator, along with chef Meherwan Irani, of “Brown in the South,” a collaborative dinner series that celebrates the work of Southern chefs of Indian and Sri Lankan descent. Samantha Fore, a young first-generation Sri Lankan-American chef from Lexington, met Vish via Twitter and has since become involved with the group.

“Without chefs like Vish, I don’t think my culinary journey would be as embraced,” Fore says. “Vish is relentlessly honest yet approachable when I need guidance, but more importantly he’s become a mentor and friend. He’s extended opportunities to many of us through his extensive work in the South. I can’t imagine what my career would look like without his influence and guidance.”

Bhatt is looking forward to connecting with Fore and other Lexington friends when he returns to town in December for a book signing and culinary event hosted by Michel.

“These days I visit more as a tourist, but I’m amazed by how much Lexington and the campus has grown. There are so many new buildings it’s almost hard to recognize,” he says. “But then you get out into the county a little bit and it’s just so gorgeous, and of course the food scene is fantastic.” ■

Bhatt’s Okra Chaat has become a signature dish at Snackbar, his Oxford, Mississippi, restaurant. Thin strips of flash-fried okra are seasoned with chaat masala spice and mixed with jalapeños, red onion, tomatoes, peanuts, cilantro, cayenne pepper and lime juice. Chaat is a catch-all term for savory snacks in India.

Vishwesh Bhatt honored with the James Beard Award

Photo by ©️

Hugh Galdones, Courtesy of the James Beard Foundation

Okra Chaat

Serves 6 to 8

Reprinted from "I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef" by Vishwesh Bhatt. Copyright © 2022 by Vishwesh Bhatt. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

• 3 C. neutral oil, such as peanut or canola

• 2 lbs. okra pods, wiped clean and tough tops trimmed

• 1½ Tbs. chaat masala (store bought or find Bhatt's recipe in his cookbook), divided

• Salt

• 2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed and minced

• 1/2 C. diced red onion

• 1/2 C. seeded and diced tomatoes

• 1/3 C. chopped dry-roasted peanuts

• 3 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro leaves

• 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

• 2 Tbs. cane syrup or sorghum syrup

Pour the oil into a Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot and heat to 350°F over medium-high heat.

Slice the okra lengthwise into very thin strips (1/8 to 1/4 inch). When the oil is hot, carefully add one-quarter to one-third of the okra to the hot oil. Fry the okra until it is dark and very crisp, about 1 minute. (You’ll notice that the water bubbles begin to subside when the okra is done.) Use a slotted spoon to transfer the okra to a paper towel–lined plate. Immediately season it lightly with a couple of pinches of the chaat masala and a pinch of salt. Repeat with the remaining okra. Once all of the okra is fried and cool enough to handle, gently toss it in a medium bowl with the jalapeños, red onion, tomatoes, peanuts, cilantro, cayenne, cane syrup, lime juice, and remaining chaat masala. Serve immediately.

Scholarship Celebration

By Sally Scherer

The scholarship recipients at the annual University of Kentucky Alumni Association Scholarship dinner were praised for their achievements and encouraged to set an example for the generations that will come after them.

“We want others like you to experience what you’ve experienced tonight,” said UK President Eli Capilouto congratulating the 187 students who received scholarships totaling $210,275. “Years from now, make it possible for someone else to have such a memorable evening.”

The scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year were awarded by the UK Alumni Association, local UK Alumni Association clubs and individual alumni scholarship funds.

During the 2021-2022 fiscal year, a combined total of $355,078 in gifts were made to alumni scholarship funds. In addition, 14 alumni clubs were recognized for a donation of $3,000 or more to their scholarship funds. Those clubs included: Chicagoland, Christian County, Clark County, Cumberland Valley East, Fayette County, Greater Houston, Kansas City,

Photos by Tim Webb

Greater Louisville, McCracken County, Greater Nashville, New York City, Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati, Sarasota/ Suncoast and Tampa Bay.

Capilouto commended the students for the hard work they did to receive the scholarships. And, he told them, “You are our future.”

Some of the students will become educators and economists, teachers and trauma surgeons, he said. And some will have careers “we haven’t even imagined. Your dreams are our hope and your fulfilled dreams allow us to commit and to deliver on our promise to Kentucky and to the entire country.”

He added that the university will “only meet the promise we’ve made to citizens in the commonwealth and really around the globe for a healthier, wealthier and wiser world when all of you come together and serve in your local communities; your statewide communities wherever you have your home; and your country communities wherever that may be to make for a better society.”

Cassidy Hyde ’16 AS is serving her local community as executive director of the Young Professionals Association of Louisville. Hyde, who received the 2022 Joseph T. Burch Young Alumni Service Award earlier this year, addressed the crowd via video.

Hyde encourages students to be involved during their college years in areas that interest them. She said that when she enrolled at UK, she knew she was in the right place at the right time. And it’s that sort of feeling she hopes current students will find. Follow your energy, she said.

“Get involved and get plugged in. Build your community, find your people, invest in those relationships. Try a little bit of everything. Find people who are passionate about things you’re passionate about.”

Lizzie Piipponen is a senior human health science and human nutrition double major and is president of the Alumni Ambassadors this year. Piipponen told the dinner attendees that she didn’t know anyone at UK when she started her first year. In fact, she met her roommate on Facebook. But that changed after joining Kappa Kappa Gamma and taking advantage of opportunities that came her way, including the Alumni Ambassadors program.

“These opportunities did not just fall into my lap,” she said. “And I am going to share one piece of advice that I have come to know. I’ve always heard the phrase ‘It’s not what you know it’s who you know.’ And while I have found this to be true, I have also found one more piece to this puzzle: It is not always what you know, and who you know, but a large part of it is how hard you work.”

She said that opportunities she never imagined possible — like standing on stage addressing those at the scholarship dinner — came her way because she pursued her dream and stepped out of her comfort zone.

“The scholarships available at the university are what have afforded me the opportunities I have had. They allowed me to not have to work as many hours to support myself so I can

focus on my academics and extracurriculars,” she said, adding that generous donors have relieved some stress that come from the financial burden of paying for a college education.

Three other students spoke about what receiving the scholarships meant to them via video.

Isha Chauhan, a junior biology major and a scholarship recipient, said opportunities to learn beyond the classroom have been of utmost importance to her as she decides her career path.

In addition to her studies, she has been involved with the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, the UK student-run fundraiser DanceBlue, the Lewis Honors College and she is an Alumni Ambassador. She is also involved with undergraduate research on campus.

“I never would have had the opportunity (to help with research) if I didn’t have the security that comes along with a scholarship,” Chauhan said before thanking scholarship donors.

Jackson Huse, a junior on a pre-medicine track, said he chose to attend UK because when he visited the campus, he met a lot of people and felt welcomed. The scholarship he received from the Alumni Association made him feel like he belonged here, he said.

Receiving the scholarship, “Gives a sense of safeness and makes me feel like there are more people supporting me. It gives me motivation to do better.”

Grace McDonald, a senior and a third generation UK student, is vice president of the Alumni Ambassadors. She appreciates the extra support, she said.

“Obviously, I take my school (work) very seriously and if someone else is looking at my grades and the things I’m doing and thinks, ‘OK, you’re doing really well and I want to help you out a little bit’ that’s really awesome.” ■

UK Alumni Association Awards Committee Chair John Ryan (left) and UK Alumni Association President Antoine Huffman (right) hold the check that totals alumni scholarship funds.

ALUMNI COMMONS PROJECT TO TRANSFORM ROSE STREET RENOVATION

A $9 million development project located on the University of Kentucky campus between Columbia Avenue and Huguelet Drive will be known as Alumni Commons. The University of Kentucky Alumni Association made a $3 million pledge to establish a capital project fund to support the design, demolition, construction, renovation, expansion and other costs related to the corridor project. The area will include terraced lawn seating, a water fountain feature, patio and garden areas and other installations. “We believe this will become a great focal point for faculty, staff and students on our campus as well as for alumni who return to their alma mater for events and celebrations,” said Tom Harris, UK vice president for university relations and interim vice president for philanthropy and alumni engagement. Antoine Huffman, president of the UK Alumni Association, said he’s “looking forward to Alumni Commons becoming a destination where students and alumni from all over and from different backgrounds can connect and build new traditions that will emerge from the transformation of this space.”

Alumni Commons is expected to be completed by Fall 2023.

Changing Healthcare Around the W rld

By Sally Scherer

Bill Jansen has spent his career bringing impactful change to seemingly unchangeable real-world situations.

While that may sound like a near impossible task, Jansen, a 1971 graduate from the College of Arts & Sciences, began learning how to make a difference from an anthropology professor at UK. And he has spent the last 46 years — more than 20 years as a commissioned U.S. Foreign Service officer — working to improve the outcome of programs designed to help people around the world.

Jansen, an international consultant in global health who is married to UK classmate Kathy Allen Jansen a 1971 graduate of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, recently received the 2022 Alumni Global Impact Award from the University of Kentucky’s International Center for his work.

“None of what I’ve accomplished in my career would have been possible without the education I experienced at UK,” he said in his acceptance remarks. “My degree from UK was paramount in creating the foundation for my life activities instilling in me transferable skills essential to success in my career: analytical observation, critical thinking and especially the power of listening.

“Education at UK created a solid foundation of possibilities for me and provided the intellectual keys to open the doors of opportunity, leading to a career of service within the global community.”

A native of Lexington, Jansen’s father was an English professor in the College of Arts & Sciences from 1949-1979. His father’s scholarly work focused on the cultural richness in storytelling. He had a special interest in folklore.

The family lived overseas for several years while Jansen was growing up and he credits his father with laying the foundation of his interest in international work.

Photo by Stacey Gish

“We lived in Indonesia and Turkey for a while,” Jansen said. “When I was a student at UK, I was the only American-born starting player on the UK soccer team. I learned how to play soccer while we lived in Indonesia.”

“I remember coming back from Indonesia to the United States. Socially, it was hard. But I began to learn what I needed to know to re-adapt to America. It was always a challenge learning how to adjust to a different culture and social setting,” said Jansen who went on to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The lessons he learned early on stayed with him throughout his career. For example, while working with Inuits in the Canadian Arctic he discovered that humor can be used to build bridges and ease tension between two cultures, especially when it comes to the information needed to avoid frostbite while using the bathroom outdoors when it’s 50 degrees below zero.

“Creating a bond with people helps you learn what’s really going on with them, what’s really troubling them. And using humor can make people feel at ease and create a shared sameness,” he explained.

Skills like that benefitted him while working for government and non-government agencies with residents of a mountain village in Mindanao, a farming community in Sri Lanka, a rural health clinic in Africa and a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

When asked to give an example of the impact of his work, Jansen cited being part of an effort to help the Sri Lanka government rid the country of malaria, a disease which had been a health risk to residents and visitors for decades. Jansen used his social anthropology skills to help find solutions.

While the government thought spraying homes with mosquito-killing insecticides would be an acceptable solution, many Sri Lankans were concerned about the smell of the spray and the disruption to their lives.

“Preventing malaria was not motivation enough,” he said of what seemed like a simple solution. Eventually, by listening to the concerns of the residents and approaching the remedy differently, change took place. Many Sri Lankans were willing to have their homes sprayed after learning the insecticide would also get rid of bed bugs and other pests. The country received a World Health Organization certification for its malaria-free status in 2016.

Although Jansen didn’t consider himself a health professional, after his work in Sri Lanka he became known as “the malaria guy from Sri Lanka,” he said.

“Physicians want a drug or a scalpel to work. We all have the same biology and therefore what works for one of us should work for all of us,” he said. “But behaviors and environments are unique. A perceived idea of how a program will function or what should work often doesn’t. There’s a lot of art to it. You need to learn techniques in the application of anthropology. There are a lot of tools that are valuable when it comes to figuring things out, the most important one is listening.”

Jansen worked with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health to control the growing number of cases of HIV/AIDS among heterosexuals before drug treatments were available for the virus. At the time, Zimbabwe was experiencing one of the world’s most severe HIV/ AIDS crisis. After studying the culture that surrounded the spread of the virus, hairdressers became a focus of changing the culture.

At the time, the suggestions of condom use or a “just say no” to risky behavior mentality wasn’t working. Jansen learned that most female sex workers were visiting hair salons before they went to work. Through his work, hair stylists learned about the severity of the virus and its deadly consequences and were trained on the benefits of female condoms. When the sex workers were getting their hair styled, the hairdressers shared the knowledge and offered them female condoms.

“It started working,” said Jansen of the behavioral change “We supplied and trained the hairdressers and at that time, Zimbabwe became the country distributing the most female condoms in Africa.”

Recently Jansen worked with the U.S. Embassy to assist Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to make COVID-19 vaccination more acceptable and accessible. Citizens were hesitant to get the vaccine, not because of information being provided by the Ministry of Health, but because of misinformation on social media and the internet, Jansen said. He began his work in August 2021, and the rate of vaccine acceptance increased by the end of the year, but efforts have slowed as the country now focuses on the war with Russia.

Jansen says most governments and organizations don’t want to do the kind of work he does prior to instituting healthcare changes. It’s often just faster and easier to call someone like him to fix the problems that appear after the programs have begun.

“I figure out the questions to ask and then I listen to more than one source,” he said about his work. On one level, it’s not rocket science and on another it is,” he explained. “There’s a problem to solve. The hunt to find the solution is the most enjoyable part to me.

“I’m very thankful to be receiving the Global Impact Award. It’s nice to be recognized. I know there are a lot more deserving people than me. I’m just the guy behind the scenes.” ■

Bill Jansen (pictured in the red jacket) participating in a field study in the Canadian Arctic with the Inuit.

Club News

1. The Fayette County UK Alumni Club partnered with the Cumberland Valley East UK Alumni Club to host a tailgate event at the home opening football game against Miami of Ohio. The raffle and donations provided a contribution of more than $450 to the Fayette County Club scholarship fund. It was a very good day at the game cheering the Cats on to victory!

2. The Arizona UK Alumni Club had a game watch party September 10 and celebrated the Wildcats win over Florida at Philly’s Sports Grill in Tempe, Arizona. Club President Chris McDaniel said, “We’re getting some decent turnouts even though we’re 2,000 miles away from the bluegrass!”

3. The Central Ohio UK Alumni Club hosted a Student Send-Off in July. Left to right: Craig Wallace, Jeff, Ansley and Kim Endres, Randall Norris and Cari Schultz.

4. The Fayette County UK Alumni Club hosted a tailgate at Keeneland and Day at the Races on October 9. Club members enjoyed the beautiful day and had a great time at the races (even though no one got rich)!

5. The West Virginia UK Alumni Club gathered together at the UK vs. Ole Miss game in Oxford, Mississippi, for some fun prior to the game. Club members include left to right in UK blue: Jim Garvin, Anita Casey, Christopher Settles and Amber Settles. Anita Casey and Christopher Settles serve on the club board. The Ole Miss fans from Charleston, West Virginia, are Gretchen and Glen Murphy.

6. The Tampa Bay UK Alumni Club had an outing to the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art in St. Petersburg, Florida in September.

7. The Central Florida UK Alumni Club volunteers Ty Best, Shayna Whacker and Courtney Willoughby served up some Kentucky hospitality and Kentucky bourbon at the annual Feast on the Fifty, an event sponsored by Florida Citrus Sports, showcasing alumni groups from the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and Florida universities.

CONNECTIONS

YOU CAN MAKE A

DIFFERENCE

Family watches out for family. When you become a Life Member of the UK Alumni Association, you help open doors of opportunity to transform the lives of students, serve alumni and improve the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond!

Brian Sumner Margaret Sutton David Tarter

A great university reflects the bestofour state, and the University ofKentucky hastaught generationsofKentuckians, including me, to appreciatethefinest Kentucky has to offer. Through Holly Hillwecontinuesharing inthat tradition. -- ChefOuita Michel

Leslee's Bourbon Sour for Two

Addallyouringredientstoashakertinanddryshake veryvigorouslyinyourtinwithNOICEfor15seconds. Dryshakingbuildstextureandemulsifiestheeggwhitewiththe otheringredientsandbuildsafluffierfoam. Openyourtin,fillhalfwaywithice,shakevigorouslyuntil yourshakerisicecold,another15seconds. Strainyourcocktailintoyourglassandaddafewdashes ofaromaticbitterstotopofeggwhitefoamifyoulike. see var iations online at www.hollyhillandco.com

Charred Baby Carrots

Thisdishisasmuchaboutphilosophyastechnique.Thebestthingabout(most) localvegetablesistheirintrinsicsweetness,oftenmissingfromsupermarket produce.Thissweetnessishighlightedbythesmoky,bittercontrastofgrilling andthetangycreaminessofthepreservedlemonyogurt,thenplayedupagainby thepistachiosandgoldenraisins. get the recipe online at www.hollyhillandco.com

UK RESPONDS

to Eastern Kentucky flooding victims

Heavy rainfall brought devastating flooding to Eastern Kentucky in July 2022. The large amount of water wiped out entire communities. Efforts across campus were mobilized to help with those whose lives were impacted. Multiple colleges took teams of volunteers, including students and staff, to help. Here is a sampling of how the University of Kentucky worked to improve living conditions for many in the area. These stories were originally published in July, August and September.

UK HEALTHCARE EFFORTS ADDRESS MEDICAL, DENTAL NEEDS

By Hillary Smith

UK HealthCare’s Chief Nursing Officer Kimberly Blanton, a Magoffin County native, knows all too well the impacts of flooding in the region filled by mountains and valleys. Helping organize UK’s relief efforts was personal for Blanton in many ways.

“This is why we get into health care, to help people,” said Blanton.

UK’s teams who live and work in Eastern Kentucky are all actively doing what they can to help.

“Our teams are working in the communities to help deliver food, water, personal hygiene and cleaning supplies. Kentucky Homeplace Community Health Workers and other employees are working in the shelters helping people access their immediate needs, medical supplies, medications, assisting with applications insurance certification as many have lost all their insurance cards,” said Fran Feltner, director of UK’s Center of Excellence in Rural Health which is in the hard-hit city of Hazard.

“The UK CERH maintenance and housekeeping crew members are helping to clean the UK June Buchanan Clinic to get it ready to open as soon as possible.”

UK HealthCare operates several clinics in the areas overwhelmed by flood waters, and the June Buchanan Clinic in Hindman took the biggest hit. Work is underway to get mobile clinics

UK HealthCare workers vaccinated people for tetanus and hepatitis at the Isom Medical Clinic mobile unit.

out to the communities — that includes transitioning a mobile dental clinic, operated by UK HealthCare in partnership withRonald McDonald House Charities, to a mobile medical clinic. Feltner says UK CERH bus drivers are helping by driving the mobile units. UK HealthCare’s teams in Hazard and Hindman are eager to utilize those to help the sick and injured in the area.

Meanwhile, Monroe is helping coordinate efforts in Lexington by working with the state’s emergency operations center.

“We are trying to identify those needs and put together a list of what people need,” said Monroe. “What happens too many times during these types of crises is people want to help, and they don’t know what to give. We have to really look and make sure the right materials and supplies are getting to those that need it.”

As the team organizes a concentrated giving effort, UK HealthCare is busy fulfilling immediate medical needs in the hurting communities. UK HealthCare has already sent a pharmacy team to the region, who have gone to several counties to vaccinate people for tetanus and hepatitis A.

Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH) is working with Costco, a strong Children’s Miracle Network partner, to supply clothing and necessities that were requested. Additionally, Lauren Johnson, who is on the Parent Partnership Council for KCH gathered funds from her community to donate new diabetes testing machines and supplies.

“Many children and families are in need in the area, and KCH wanted to be part of helping them in a meaningful way,” said KCH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Ragsdale.

The reality for many team members who work in the impacted region is that this is all happening not only to their workplace but also to their homes. The UK HealthCare ambulatory leadership team has followed up with employees living in the affected areas and they are connecting them with appropriate resources to help them, as many of these employees have lost their homes. ■

Photo by Hilary Brown, UK HealthCare

LAW STUDENTS, APPALACHIAN STUDIES PROGRAM ASSIST WITH AID APPLICATIONS

By Shawntaye Hopkins

University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law’s Billy Devericks, president of the law school’s Appalachian Law Caucus, organized a donation drive to provide victims of the catastrophic flooding with needed items, including cleaning supplies, toiletries, clothes and bottled water.

In addition, the law school’s Black Law Students Association helped organize students to assist area residents with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) applications. About 13 students signed up, including BLSA members and other students, and they provided pro bono assistance under the supervision of licensed attorneys.

“I am from Knott County, and I have driven through the county, witnessing the devastation throughout the community,” Devericks said. “It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Homes are washed away, and cars have been carried by the water and dropped into creeks and trees.”

Devericks worked in conjunction with Dinsmore & Shohl, where he worked over the summer, and the UK Appalachian Studies Program. The law firm delivered donations from the Huntington and Charleston offices in West Virginia as well as the Lexington office to the law school. Law school students, faculty and staff also contributed.

The UK Appalachian Studies Department organized two truckloads to impacted counties. Devericks rented a truck and delivered donations to two locations in Knott County: Beaver Creek Elementary and Knott County Sportsplex.

Tiffanie Tagaloa, a second-year law student and BLSA parliamentarian, said several students went to Whitesburg, Kentucky, in Letcher County, August 4-7, to help Eastern Kentucky residents complete FEMA applications online. She said some students also helped with clothing and food drives at a local high school.

“The community was really appreciative of our efforts and welcomed us,” Tagaloa said. The application process is a lengthy one and could take months, being able to provide communities in Eastern Kentucky with free legal assistance is going to be crucial to helping them recover what was lost to them.” ■

FLOODED FARMERS RECEIVE HAY, FEED, SUPPLIES TO GET BACK ON THEIR FEET

By Aimee Nielsen

Just after midnight on July 28, Doug “DJ” Fugate got a call from neighbors that the waters were rising. The farmer said he’s had a few problems with flooding in previous years, so he knew he needed to check the barn.

He rushed to get the horses out and moved as much hay to the loft as he could before the water rapidly began to rise. Water was already up two feet into the barn as he drove the trailered horses to higher ground.

“Water has been in my barn five times total since I’ve been old enough to keep track,” he said. “Most time, it wasn’t that bad, two to three feet maybe, but this time, it got up to my loft.”

Fugate raises Hereford cattle on the family farm that his grandfather bought in the early 1970s. The cattle went to higher ground and escaped the flood, but rising water took the barn, fencing and all the hay he had stored to feed the livestock.

“Several of my neighbors didn’t fare so well,” he said. “They had to cut fences to let their cattle loose. Some cows, goats and horses drowned. It just came so fast; you didn’t know what to do.”

After the initial search and rescue phase, agents from the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service put boots on the ground to assess the community needs and mobilize efforts to respond. Agriculture and natural resources extension agents Charles Ma, from Perry County, and Reed Graham, from Breathitt County, took the lead finding a place to store the many donations that came in for flooded farmers. They joined forces with other agents and the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association to reach farmers in Breathitt, Perry, Knott and Letcher Counties.

“It was really hard at first because there was no electricity in most of the county,” Graham said. “We reached out to farmers and then to donors. People wanted to bring supplies almost immediately, but people were still cleaning up and going to funerals for loved ones.”

Donations started pouring in from across the United States — hay and feed, fencing supplies, tools and other items — and agents needed a dry storage facility with easy access for farmers and donors to store it all. Graham sought help from Mountain Cattlemen’s Association President Arch Sebastian. Together they secured a warehouse in Jackson, large enough for tractor-trailers to drive in and unload.

“I was flooded in for about three days at my farm,” Sebastian said. “I knew what was transpiring, but we didn’t really know the magnitude of everything for a few days. Agriculture is a big part of Eastern Kentucky and a lot of people forget that. You’d be surprised how many people raise

Photo by Matt Barton

Reed Graham of Breathitt County helped collect the hay that was donated from farmers to help flood victims.

goats and how many people have chickens, cattle, horses and hogs. We’ve been lucky enough that the industrial board let us use this building and the water district has been kind enough to help. It’s a great place to organize this effort.”

The agents distributed a needs assessment survey to farmers to help determine their needs. The survey enabled agents to help hundreds of farmers.

“The system has been very successful,” May said. “It helps us make sure we’re getting the feed and supplies out to people who need them.

Gary Lawson owns a trucking company in London. He transported hay donations from farmers in Laurel County. Farmers there got a lot of rain during the same time as the catastrophic flooding in Appalachia, but they fared well and didn’t suffer the same losses.

“We were fortunate we didn’t get the flooding like they got here,” Lawson said.

Kentucky’s R.J. Corman Railroad Group has dozens of employees in Eastern Kentucky. Because of this, they’ve been involved in many relief efforts, but they also have a heart for farmers. Their farm division in Jessamine County donated several truckloads of hay to flooded farmers. Farm manager Marc Preston said helping others is fundamental to the company’s culture.

Graham said helping the farmers and the community sends him home each day with a sense of hope.

“We are able to take things from people who want to give to people who need them,” he said. ■

BUCKET BRIGADE HELPS KNOTT COUNTY FIVE GALLONS AT A TIME

By Aimee Nielsen

After historic flooding in Eastern Kentucky, Lindie Huffman sat in her Williamstown home with a heavy heart. She was brainstorming ways to help her counterparts who were going through hell in high water.

“For anyone who knows the little town of Falmouth, we were hit by a flood in 1997, so this hits close to home,” said Huffman, University of Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources in Pendleton County. “I was thinking, ‘what can I do to make a small impact,’ and be as specific as possible since there’s a lot of resources coming into the flooded counties right now. Then I thought about five-gallon buckets. Buckets are as handy as a pocket on a shirt.”

Huffman texted her coworkers and told them her idea to fill buckets with supplies for flood victims. First, there were two buckets in a trailer. Huffman gathered volunteers and began visiting Pendleton County churches and businesses with flyers about the items they wanted to collect.

“We had three asks,” she said. “Will you share our flyer, can you give us a discount if people shop here for supplies and do you want to donate? Within four days, we had collected more than 150 buckets. I sent a message to the Knott County Extension office through Facebook and here we are.”

The person Huffman contacted was Lorie Adams, the new UK extension agent for family and consumer sciences in Knott County. Adams lives in Leslie County and the flooding did not affect her home, so she was able to spring into action and be the first agent on

the ground, even though she’s only been in the county for about a month.

“I didn’t even know who she was,” Adams said. “She wanted to bring buckets, so I said yes, please come.”

With no running water and the few local lodging spots full, Huffman and the volunteers, mostly from the Pendleton County Farmers’ Market, camped out in tents outside the Knott County Extension office. Huffman gave the team the name “Bucket Brigade.”

The brigade of volunteers brought with them 156 five-gallon buckets filled with cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products. They also had enough to fill a tote bag for each recipient with paper products, water and a quilt square with a prayer and message of hope for each recipient.

While Huffman was mobilizing volunteers, Adams received a call from the Jessamine County Beef Cattle Association. They wanted to come to Knott County and feed people a hot meal. The Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association provided enough beef patties and hot dogs for nearly 1,000 meals.

Families that could get to the Knott County Extension office drove through a line to receive a bucket, a bag and a hot meal. But the flood left many people in isolation. It cut them off from the world for more than a week and they had not eaten a hot meal during that time. Huffman and Adams found a way to deliver more than 150 hot meals to isolated areas like Caney, Hollybush and Frogtown.

“Extension is all about meeting the needs of the community,” Adams said. ■

Photo by Matt Barton

Bucket brigade volunteers distributed 156 five-gallon buckets filled with cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products.

STUDENT-RUN PROGRAM PROVIDES MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

By Hillary Smith

The list of needs changed and grew as Eastern Kentucky cleaned up from the July floods.

Donation efforts in the initial days centered around cleaning supplies, water, nonperishable foods, clothes and other immediate needs. By late August, many are realizing what exactly was either swept away or can’t be salvaged, and a big category on those lists is medical equipment — wheelchairs, canes, crutches, walkers, shower chairs and more.

“I think the need was already great in our state especially here in Eastern Kentucky, and I think it is going to get even greater. I don’t think we have seen the true need yet,” said Keisha Hudson, rural project manager at the University of Kentucky’s Center of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH).

Due to the need, Project CARAT — short for Coordinating and Assisting the Reuse of Assistive Technology — began in 2012 as a collaborative Health Resources and Services Administration grant with CERH, the UK College of Health Sciences Physical Therapy Program and the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Roughly one in seven Americans live with a disability that impacts daily mobility. The average cost of a wheelchair

ranges from $500 to $2,000 without insurance, seriously curbing access to this essential equipment for patients who lack

proper coverage.

Unfortunately, most of this medically necessary equipment is thrown out after acquiring wear and tear. The team behind Project CARAT works to repair, sanitize and rehome used equipment.

This has been a vital program in Eastern Kentucky in recent years but is taking on an even greater role in the aftermath of July’s flooding for those who lost equipment or have equipment that is damaged beyond repair.

The student-run program is busy working to assess and refurbish dozens of pieces of equipment as they continue to get requests from flood survivors. Their supply received a big boost after a large donation from the Paducah CARAT site. Program coordinators are also working hard to get the word out about the program.

“The commitment of our students, community health workers, leaders and many community members is truly amazing!” said CERH Director Fran Feltner. “Serving others is the main goal. Providing access to the items needed improves quality of life and rehabilitation support when needed.” ■

UK, EQUINE INDUSTRY PARTNERS RESPOND TO HORSES IN NEED

By Holly Wiemers

After the water began to recede from historic July flooding, 13 Eastern Kentucky counties were declared federal disaster areas. Communities began to take stock of the toll inflicted by one of the most devastating flooding events in the state’s history and identified an immediate need to help horses in the impacted areas.

Flooding disasters bring an increased risk for diseases spread by mosquitos, flies, ticks and other pests as well as an enormous need for vaccinations and fly and tick control. An equine industry group sprang into action, responding to the need with donations and expertise.

Fernanda Camargo, associate extension professor in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Sarah Coleman, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Council, led the group responsible for vaccinating and deworming more than 200 horses in Eastern Kentucky and distributing more than 200 pairs of mud boots and more than 300 bottles of fly spray.

They provided medicated shampoo, delivered thousands of pounds of donated hay and

supplied halters, fly masks and buckets.

“Animals are an integral part of our lives,” Camargo said. “So, in times of utter devastation, I feel that if we can help care for these animals, we free up victims’ time and brain space so they can deal with and focus on rebuilding their lives.”

Camargo said this disaster was challenging in many ways. Not only did people lose loved ones, houses and belongings, but the flooding happened in a mountainous area, with hard-toreach places.

“Some places were already difficult to get to before the flood, but now roads have been washed away and people and animals are islanded,” Camargo said. “Communication is near impossible in some cases. What used to be fields of grass are now covered in mud, so these animals don’t have anything to graze on. If people had already stocked hay for the winter, they may have lost it all, or they need to feed it now because they have no fields and will be short on hay in the winter. Fences have been washed away, so it’s hard to contain farm animals. Some have even been tied to trees, so they don’t wander away.” ■

Photo provided

Students assessed and refurbished dozens of pieces of medical equipment.

Photo by Sarah Coleman

Fernanda Camargo, a UK extension professor, helped lead a group that vaccinated and dewormed more than 200 horses.

NEW

TRACK

TORI HERMAN NAMED SEC WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY SCHOLARATHLETE

OF THE YEAR

Kentucky’s Tori Herman has been named the Southeastern Conference Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the first Wildcat to earn the honor since it was first awarded in 2014.

The junior finance major boasts a 3.810 GPA. Outside the classroom, she recently placed second among 173 runners at the Panorama Farms Invitation with a personal-best 5,000-meter time of 16:29.2 and placed third out of 388 runners in the North Alabama Showcase, with a time of 16:33.65. ■

AND FIELD FACILITY TO BE NAMED FOR NCAA, SEC CHAMPION

A new indoor track and field facility will be called the Jim Green Indoor Track and Field Center, named for Jim Green, the first African American student-athlete at Kentucky and in the Southeastern Conference to win NCAA and SEC Championships.

“The Jim Green Indoor Track and Field Center will highlight the groundbreaking career of a UK alumnus – the first African American student-athlete to graduate from the university of Kentucky,” Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said. “I am pleased that the facility be named in honor of 1971’s fastest man in the world, Jim Green.”

“I am elated!” Green said. “It is a great honor and so very exciting - to have your name attached to something like this is special. I want to thank the university for everything they have done for me.”

The new facility for men’s and women’s indoor/outdoor track and field and

cross-country teams will be adjacent to the UK Outdoor Track and the teams’ locker rooms and strength and conditioning areas in Shively Sports Center. It will feature a high-banked track, enabling the runners to train on a surface that is now standard for NCAA and SEC indoor championships.

Green was one of the SEC’s pioneers of integration and was a 2007 inductee into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. He’s an inductee into six Halls of Fame.

“It will be an honor to send our young athletes out to train and compete in a facility bearing such a prestigious namesake,” said Lonnie Greene, head coach of track and field and cross country. “Mr. Green blazed a courageous path of opportunity for so many who followed him, including our current team.”

Green was the first African American at UK to serve as co-captain on

the track team and in December 1971 became the first African American student-athlete to graduate from UK.

Despite facing open hostility at many competitions, Green was a two-time NCAA champion, winning the indoor 60-yard dash in 1968 and 1971.

He earned All-America honors six times and won eight SEC individual events, including the indoor 60-yard dash (1968, 1971), outdoor 100-yard dash (1968, 1970, 1971), and outdoor 220-yard dash (1968, 1970, 1971).

A 1971 UK graduate, Green was born in Eminence, Kentucky.

The UK Board of Trustees approved spending of $20 million for the indoor track earlier this year as part of $30 million in approved funds for three UK Athletics capital projects, including new football scoreboards and the Nutter Field House renovation. The facilities are being financed by UK Athletics fundraising, which is in progress. ■

Jim Green was the first African American track and field athlete in the Southeastern Conference and the first African American athlete to graduate from UK.

Photo provided

WOMEN’S GOLF FINISHES FALL CAMPAIGN WITH BACK-TO-BACK WINS

The Kentucky women’s golf team wrapped up its fall season in spectacular fashion, finishing first in back-to-back tournaments in October and marking a few school records along the way.

The team set the school record for the best team round in program history at the Illini Women’s Invitational in October, turning in a 13-under-par 275 in the first round (pictured). The team recorded a 277 in round two and 278 in round three to set another school record 34-under-par 830 to capture the title. The Cats won by five strokes, breaking the previous record, which was set during the spring 2022 campaign, by three strokes.

The Wildcats topped the field at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational at the Governors Club Golf Course in midOctober with a 4-under-par 860, winning over No. 1 ranked Wake Forest and No. 8 ranked Duke.

The team is scheduled to resume competition at the UCF Challenge, Feb. 5-7, in Orlando, Florida. ■

A SEASON OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Kentucky men’s basketball team is riding high expectations into this season. The team was selected by Southeastern Conference media in preseason poll voting to win the conference title, an accomplishment that would be the seventh regular-season title earned under 14-year Head Coach John Calipari.

Senior Oscar Tshiebwe (pictured) was named preseason SEC Player of the Year with senior Sahvir Wheeler joining him on the preseason All-SEC First Team list. Tshiebwe, who is the reigning college basketball player of the year, was voted a unanimous preseason First Team All-American by the Associated Press. Wheeler was named to the watch list for the 2023 Bob Cousy Award, given to the best point guard in college basketball.

Tshiebwe and Wheeler will be joined by familiar faces including senior Jacob Toppin, junior Lance Ware and sophomore Daimion Collins. C.J. Fredrick, a redshirt senior who sat out last season

rehabbing a hamstring injury is now healthy.

As always, high-caliber recruits have come into Lexington fighting for playing time.

Freshman Cason Wallace is a McDonald’s All American who averaged 19.9 points, 7.4 boards and 6.1 assists per game as a senior at Richardson High School in Dallas, Texas. Antonio Reeves is a senior transfer from Illinois State who has proven his mettle early by earning Most Valuable Player honors the Big Blue Bahamas Tour in August and the Blue-White preseason scrimmage in October.

Freshman Chris Livingston was added to the preseason watch list for the 2023 Julius Erving Award, given to the best small forward in college basketball.

A revamped roster highlights the Kentucky women’s basketball team for the 2022-2023 season as graduation and transfers took out five key players from last year’s SEC Tournament Championship squad.

Third-year Head Coach Kyra Elzy’s team features 10 newcomers as six first-year students and four transfers join returning players Robyn Benton (graduate), Blair Green (graduate), Emma King (senior), Nyah Leveretter (junior) and Jada Walker (sophomore).

Walker is expected to continue the momentum she gained during her outstanding breakout year, recording 47 steals, 64 assists and 10.4 points per game.

Junior guard Maddie Scherr (pictured), a transfer from Oregon and a former Kentucky Miss Basketball, brings experience and competitiveness to the shooting guard role. Benton is the team’s leading returning three-point shooter.

While Green is still working to get back to full strength after missing last season with a torn Achilles tendon, her contributions as a fifthyear senior leader are seen as crucial to the team’s continued growth. ■

Photos by UK Athletics

Police Inspector Agnes Luthi works in the violent crimes’ unit in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is also the main character in two Agnes Luthi Mysteries written by University of Kentucky alumna Tracee de Hahn ’91 DES, ’00 AS and published by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books.

In “Swiss Vendetta,” Luthi finds herself called to the grand Chateau Vallotton on the eve of the worst blizzard Lausanne has seen in years. She’s sent there to investigate her first homicide case. In the second book, “A Well-Timed Murder,” Luthi is at the world’s premiere watch and jewelry show when the supposed accidental death of a Swiss watchmaker turns out to be something else.

de Hahn came to mystery writing — also known as crime fiction, one of the most popular genres read today — with two degrees from UK, one in architecture, the other in history.

THE FUN OF BEING A MYSTERY WRITER

By Sally Scherer

She will tell you that her degrees have helped her be a good writer. There are parallels between the study and practice of architecture and writing, she said. Both are creative, involve almost unlimited possibilities within constraints and offer all sorts of areas for preference, from beauty of the building to endless possibilities of where a storyline can take a reader.

“The things I learned at UK certainly impacted me from that day forward,” she said.

Her knowledge of history and many years living in Europe with her husband architect Henri de Hahn, helped her create the Luthi character and the environment in which her novels are set. And, in case you’re wondering, Tracee recently finished writing a mystery that takes place in Lexington, Kentucky. The main character is a woman who inherits a distillery and returns to Lexington after her husband is sent to prison.

Photo provided

Tracee grew up in Madisonville, Kentucky. She wasn’t much of a writer growing up, but she was a reader. When it came to choosing a career path, she was thinking of something traditional, like a teacher or a lawyer, an engineer or an architect.

One summer her father told her that he had an idea for a story and he needed her help to write it. She said she was excited about the idea and together she and her father spent the summer writing in what she calls a self-taught master’s class involving lots of research and lots of reading of other books. The story was completed, but they never pursued publishing it. They wrote two books together.

She practiced architecture after graduating from UK but had fallen in love with writing. But, she said, she didn’t realize she could switch gears and become a writer.

She and her husband moved to Europe where he taught for several years. After returning to the United States, she worked for non-profits including Lexington’s Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and as assistant vice president of alumni relations at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.

And she kept writing. She tried her hand at different genres, a thriller, a romance, a mystery. And then she took the next step and attended a workshop in New York City on how to pitch a story to agents and publishers. She met other writers and editors there and she found a woman who offered to represent her and a publisher who agreed to publish her work.

“It felt like a nice pool,” she said. “I was just walking around the pool and the next thing I knew I went off the high dive.”

“Swiss Vendetta” was published in 2017. “A Well-Timed Murder” in 2018.

Tracee is proud to be a mystery writer. She calls mystery writers, “the greatest group of people.” Even best-selling authors like Stephen King

and Louise Penny want other mystery writers to do well and have success with their writing and their stories, she said.

“From those who write nonfiction to the horror thriller writers and the stories with the cats who talk and the ladies who knit, everyone is so nice.”

She participates in mystery writing groups, saying they help her learn. She’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers and she is the national membership liaison for Sisters in Crime. She also regularly attends mystery writer fan conferences such as Bouchercon, an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction named for writer, reviewer and editor Anthony Boucher.

Her advice to others interested in writing? Keep at it, she says, and read as much as you can. Also, listen to criticism. “The best books have probably been edited so many times it would make your head hurt,” she said. “Writing is really re-writing. Prepare for that.”

What about the adage “write what you know”?

“The number of writers of crime fiction who actually commit crimes (particularly murder) is practically zero. I hope that’s enough of an example to demonstrate that writing what you know isn’t true,” she said.

She is doing research for another book that take place in the Baltic states between the first and second World Wars. It’s more of a historic novel, really, and Tracee has been reading memoirs as part of her research for it, one of which was written by her husband’s grandmother who was German and lived in the Baltic states at the time her novel is set.

“I know who my main character is and I know her story,” she said, explaining her writing process. “Now I have to decide who else is going to get a voice.”

“I have so many stories to tell,” she added. “That’s part of the fun of it.” ■

Class Notes

1960s

Congressman Hal Rogers ’64 LAW was recently inducted into the Somerset Community College Foundation Hall of Honors.

1980s

Terry Crowley ’81 BE was named the interim executive director of the Economic Development Partnership Board of Directors in Danville, Kentucky. Crowley ended his 28-year career with Sellers Engineering in 2009 and completed his career in the steam industry with Spirax Sarco in 2021. He is a 33-year volunteer with the Danville Brass Band Festival.

Suzanne Firstenberg ’81 BE created the art installation “In America: Remember” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It featured white flags symbolizing each American life lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The installation received media attention and Firstenberg was named one of the “10 Washingtonians of the Year” in 2021 by Washingtonian magazine.

Gregory N. Stepp ’83 FA, ‘92 ED relinquished the 202nd Army Band command in September. Stepp has served the commonwealth of Kentucky in a variety of roles for over 30 years. He has been a band director at LaRue County

High School, Western Hills High School and Glasgow High School, all while balancing his responsibilities in the Kentucky National Guard.

Teresa Trimble Hail ’85 AS was recently inducted into the Somerset Community College Foundation Hall of Honors. Hail is president and co-owner of D.C. Trimble, Inc. She is past vice chair of the SCC Foundation Board.

1990s

Paul Daruwala ’92 PHA has become the president and CEO at Cellics Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company. Daruwala has more than 30 years of experience in biotech drug development. He was most recently chief operating officer at Cidara Therapeutics.

Brian Mallory ’92 EN was named the 2022 Volunteer of the Year by Louisville Business First. Mallory volunteers at the residential homes of Bellewood and Brooklawn, operated by the nonprofit Seven Counties Services. He first visited the homes for vulnerable children and their families in 2015. Mallory is executive director, supplier quality at GE Appliances, a Haier company.

Mike Feldman ’94 ’97 BE is a new board member at Kentucky Capital Develop-

ment Corporation. Feldman, senior vice president at Traditional Bank, was appointed to the seat. He has been working in the banking field for more than two decades.

Marc Nyarko ’95 HS has joined the senior leadership team at WellCare Kentucky, a provider of government sponsored health plans. Nyarko has more than 20 years of experience implementing operational solutions and strategic expansions. He was vice president of Medicaid operations at Highmark where he served as executive sponsor of the Medicaid Service Operations Transformation Initiative.

Kimberly Baird ’96 LAW was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear as Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Kentucky. Baird has

served as assistant commonwealth’s attorney since 1996. Baird is a Lexington native and is the first Black woman to serve as a Commonwealth’s Attorney in Kentucky.

Pete November ’96 LAW has become CEO at Ochsner Health. He joined Ochsner in 2021 and has held senior leadership positions ranging from operations and finance to partnership development and digital health. He led the development of Ochsner LSU Health System in North Louisiana, a $200 million investment.

Brad Shelby ’96 NUR received the Janice Drake CRNA Humanitarian Award during the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology Foundation annual congress. Shelby was nominated for his work with the non-profit Surgery

Photos courtesy of ExploreUK

Two women playing in the snow in the 1940s.

on Sunday which provides elective surgeries to those who are not financially able to pay for healthcare costs. Shelby is the chief anesthetist at Frankfort Regional Medical Center in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Chris Corwin ’97 EN has joined environmental and construction services firm Brown and Caldwell as the company’s national drinking water leader. Corwin was a faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Melanie Goan ’97 ’00 AS spoke at the sixth annual Sid Easley Lecture at Murray State University. Her lecture, “A Simple Justice: Kentucky Women Fight for the Vote” was based on her book by the same title. Goan teaches at the

University of Kentucky and specializes in 20th Century United States history with a specific interest in gender, Appalachia, Kentucky and medical history.

Rob Manchester ’97 ’03 ED has started his second season as the athletic director and head football coach at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia. Manchester played football at UK under Coach Bill Curry. He earned four letters mostly on special teams and at defensive back.

Paul Cherukuri ’98 AS has been named Rice University’s first vice president for innovation. Cherukuri was the executive director of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering. He is a physicist, chemist and

med-tech entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in academia and the pharmaceutical industry.

Jennifer R. Olges ’98 AS, ’06 PH, ’09 MED has been named Governor of the Kentucky chapter of the American College of Physicians, the national organization of internists. She is a board-certified internist and an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Louisville.

Aslihan D. Spaulding ’99 BE, ’00 ’02 AFE has joined the Department of Economics as the interim chairperson at Illinois State University. Spaulding joined Illinois State in 2003 and has served in many roles in the Department of Agriculture, including his role as the graduate program coordinator and the study abroad coordinator.

Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club. Koch is the farm manager at Shawhan Place which breeds about 100 mares a year.

Jennifer Mooney ’01 ‘11

AS has been named district director of the Northern Kentucky Health Department. Mooney served as assistant health commissioner since 2019. She held leadership roles with the Cincinnati Health Department from 2011-2019. She spent 10 years teaching and conducting research at UK prior to that.

Osamah Rawashdeh ’01 ’03 ’06 EN, chair of electrical and computer engineering at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, has led a team of OU engineering students to win a $1 million international award for designing the Loon Copter, a multi-rotor drone that can operate aerially and underwater.

2000s

Ground (and snow) were

University of Kentucky

new $14 million Mining and Resource Building. The building was opened in 1988. Holding the shovels from left to right are Jim Rose, chairman, building trust fund committee; Donald Haney, state geologist and director, Kentucky Geological Survey; Wimberly Royster, dean, UK Graduate School; Phil Miles, chairman, Kentucky Geological Survey Advisory Board; Art Gallaher, chancellor, UK Lexington campus; Roy Bowen, dean, College of Engineering and Joe Leonard, chairman, Department of Mining Engineering.

Kentucky Geological Survey

James Detwiler ’00 AS is the Kentucky Air Guard’s newest chaplain. Detwiler is a native of Eminence, Kentucky. He has a master’s in divinity from Gold Gate Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Matthew Koch ’01 AFE was chosen as the Ted Bates Farm Manager of the Year. The honor is given annually to a horse farm manager by the Kentucky

Keith Bricking ’02 MED is serving as Premier Health’s chief clinical officer, a newly created position that will help coordinate care across the health system’s provider work force. Bricking has served as president of Atrium Medical Center in Middletown, Ohio.

Meagan Curtis ’02 AFE has been appointed to the Del Norte County Fair Board in Crescent City, California. Curtis is a financial advisor at Edward Jones since 2014. She was an of-

broken by

and

representatives on the

fice manager at Alexandre Dairy and executive director at Crescent City and Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce.

Eric Jackson ’02 EN is part of a team that is planning to open an $30 million autonomous vehicle test track and research facility at the University of Connecticut. Jackson is a UConn engineering professor and director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center in Storrs, Connecticut.

Dr. Gina L. Bingham ’03 MED was recently inducted into the Somerset Community College Foundation Hall of Honors. She practices at London (Kentucky) Women’s Care.

Dustin Howard ’03 ’04 ED has been named superintendent of Clark County Public Schools in Kentucky. Howard served as Clark County Public Schools assistant superintendent/chief academic officer and principal of Robert D. Campbell Middle School.

Dr. Charles F. Closson ’04 AFE, ’16 MED has joined the medical staff at Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, Kentucky. Closson is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is board eligible in gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.

Guillaume Julien Jacq ’04 BE has been appointed

chief financial officer for Northern Graphite Corporation. He brings 20 years of international financial experience to the team with more than 10 years in business and corporate financial roles.

Kristen Murphy Luttrell ’04 ED has received the 2022 Outstanding Clinical Educator Award from the American Physical Therapy Association Kentucky Chapter. Luttrell is assistant rehabilitation manager at Masonic Homes Kentucky. She is a certified exercise expert for the aging adult and a geriatric clinical specialist.

John Miller ’04 MED has joined the Surgical Health Arts Center in Fort Myers, Florida. He was most recently a general and bariatric surgeon in Kentucky where he was one of a few in the region to offer sleeve gastrectomy with the da Vinci Robotic surgical system.

Brad Wilder ’05 EN is the new director of the Association for Materials Protection and Performance Standards Program. Wilder has more than a decade of experience working in project and general management for an industrial painting contractor where he focused on bridge preservation and protective coatings.

Lindsay Miller ’07 AS has joined Lit Communities as president of consulting for the fiber optic broadband

consulting, construction and design firm based in Birmingham, Alabama. She has been partner and vice chair of the Government Law Group in the Columbus, Ohio, office of Ice Miller LLP.

Betty Sivis ’08 AS has become the new pastor at Perry Christian Church in Canton, Ohio. She has served congregations in Indiana and Kentucky and has served as a regional board member in both regions. She is the third consecutive generation of her family to serve as a Disciples of Christ minister.

Brittney Lavens Saitta ’09 DES has joined DP3 Architects as the hospitality studio interior designer. She brings more than 15 years of design experience to her new job having worked in a variety of commercial settings including hospitality, healthcare, higher education and corporate interiors. She holds a National Council for Interior Design Qualification certification.

Austin Tarkington ’09 BE has been named the director of advancement at Madisonville Community College in Madisonville, Kentucky. He was employed by 5/3 Bank in Madisonville as the financial center manager and personal banker.

Kayla Williams ’09 FA, ’10 AS, ’19 MED has joined Harris Medical Associates

providing primary care services to those in Sylva, North Carolina. Williams has participated in quality improvement projects to address discharge processes and patient education among VA hospital systems.

2010s

R. Cameron Henzman ’11 MED has joined the medical staff as an interventional radiologist at Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, Kentucky. A native of Lexington, his practice includes diagnosing and treating disease using medical imaging and minimally invasive techniques.

D’Arcy Robb ’11 GS has been named the executive director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities. She served as public policy director for GCDD for almost two years. Prior to that she was the public policy coordinator the Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities in Kentucky.

Chase Hieneman ’12 AS, ’12 BE was chair of the Taste of the South charitable event in Washington, D.C., this summer. The event started 40 years ago and was founded by Charlie Grizzle ’73 AS and was known as Evening of Old Kentucky Hospitality. Both men are Greenup County natives. Close to $1 million was raised.

Brian Shlonsky ’12 CI has joined the public relations team at PriceWeber in Louisville, Kentucky. Shlonsky was a WAVE anchor/reporter since 2019, is a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award.

Kyle Bellone ’14 AS was selected to attend officer training school at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, to become a missileer officer. Bellone’s previous units included the 690th Cyberspace Control Squadron as a crew commander and the 693rd Intelligence Support Squadron at Ramstein Air Force Base where he served as a

Aaron Petty ’14 BE is expanding his business, Mitivate, an Atlanta-based software-as-a-service company. Mitivate offers a platform that aims to streamline health care data management for hospitals and health plan providers.

Tiffany Monroe ’17 AFE is a fifth-generation farmer, co-owner of Monroe Farms in Junction City, Oregon, and one of a handful of young Black farmers in the state. She is also president of Lane County Farm Bureau, president of Lane Families for Farm and Forests, cochair of the Environmental Equity Committee on Gov. Kate Brown’s Racial Justice

the Black Food Fund.

Cole Steber ’17 MED is part of University Cancer and Blood Center Radiation Oncology Clinic in Athens, Georgia. He completed his residency at the Wake Forest School of Medicine where he served as chief resident from 2020-2021.

Daria M. Smith ’18 FA is the exhibitions analyst for the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center. Smith received a scholarship through the St. Louis American Foundation to earn her UK degree in digital media and design. She has a Master of Arts in museology/ museum studies from Johns

Academic Programs.

Spencer Wright ’18 DEN is expanding his dental practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Wright opened his practice two years ago but is moving the practice, Wright Dental Studio, to a building at 398 Lovers Lane. It is twice the size of his current location.

Brandon Bohac ’19 CI has been named marketing manager at Louisiana-based Oracle Lighting. The business has been designing innovative lighting products and technologies for the automotive/12 volt, powersports, motorcycles and marine markets since 1999.

Career Corner Career Corner

IS A CAREER PIVOT IN YOUR FUTURE?

Bored or unhappy in your current career? Has the industry changed? Are there new interests or passions that you would like to explore further? There are plenty of valid reasons for people to switch careers. In fact, Americans will likely work in several different careers over their 40-60 year working lives.

Alumni Career Services helps scores of alumni each year make the pivot. First, we advise assessing if you simply need a job change or a career change. Sometimes utilizing your current skills but simply changing companies or working with a different leadership team or culture could result in increased happiness.

If a job change does not help, follow the steps below to begin your career transition.

• Assess your VIPS — values, interests, personality, skills. Your Alumni Career Services team has a variety of assessments to help.

• Identify your strengths and transferable skills.

• Begin a brainstorming list of careers and industries you are curious or passionate about.

• Explore and dabble. Take a class. Volunteer. Shadowing and informational interviews are also great ways to learn about new careers.

• Strategically tailor your resume. Consider a functional/ skills-based resume. Again, Alumni Career Services can help.

• Rebrand. Be sure your LinkedIn profile and social media are consistent with your target direction. Find ways to build your expertise such as writing articles and delivering presentations.

• Let your network speak on your behalf and open the doors. This is especially important for switchers.

• Prepare for future interviews. Can you convince a hiring committee and justify your switch?

There are few classic pitfalls of switchers to avoid. Many switchers fail to invest the time and energy in selfassessment. Others quit their jobs without a transition plan, overlook their network or fail to anticipate challenges or hurdles when it comes to breaking into a new field.

According to research in “The 100 Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity,” by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, our first career will likely not be our last. A career will require lifelong learning and resilience.

UK alumna Gwyn Nelson Everly ’98 EN shifted from the engineering industry to education and she is now the owner of J. Render’s Southern Table and Bar in Lexington. She said, “The best advice I can give if you are faced with a career pivot is not to panic. I spent many sleepless nights after facing a layoff from Lexmark in 2009, but one thing my education from the University of Kentucky taught me is resilience. I had the tools to survive and remake myself in a completely different career. The education I received was the building blocks I needed to be successful in whatever career I chose.”

Caroline Francis is Director of UK Alumni Career Services. UK Alumni Association Life/Active Members are eligible for two complimentary appointments per year with a certified career counselor. Visit http:// www.ukalumni.net/career to learn more about changing careers, resume critiques, career assessments, interview preparation, Central Kentucky Job Club, encore careers and other Alumni Career Services. Alumni Career Services: Celebrating 20 years of helping UK alumni advance their careers.

Class Notes

Addie Meiners ’19 CI has joined the WLKY news team as a multimedia journalist. A Louisville native, Meiners worked as an announcer and host of football games and gymnastic meets at UK.

2020s

Ben Hanley ’20 AFE has joined WinStar Farms as a member of the stallion season sales team. He has a degree from the Irish National Stud course and has worked as assistant yearling manager for Airdrie Stud Farm and as stallion groom at Ashford Farm.

Dagan Montgomery ’20 AFE is the agriculture and natural resources extension educator for Sublette County, Wyoming. Montgomery recently completed his

master’s degree in animal science from Oklahoma State University.

Ellen White ’20 DEN is opening a new dentist office in Liberty, Kentucky. White Smiles Family and Aesthetic Dentistry will open in 2023.

Cagney Coomer ’21 AS has been selected as a 2022 Hanna G. Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is one of only 25 biomedical researchers chosen this year for the award. Coomer is a postdoctoral trainee in the Halpern Laboratory in Molecular and Systems Biology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.

Information in Class Notes is compiled from previously published items in newspapers and other media outlets, as well as items submitted by individual alumni.

Send us your class note by emailing ukalumni@uky.edu or submitting your information in the online community at www.ukalumni.net/class.

COLLEGE INDEX

AFE Agriculture, Food & Environment

AS Arts & Sciences

BE Gatton College of Business & Economics

CI Communication & Information

DE Dentistry

DES Design

ED Education

EN Engineering

FA Fine Arts

GS The Graduate School

HS Health Sciences

HON Honorary Degree

LAW Rosenberg College of Law

MED Medicine

NUR Nursing

PHA Pharmacy

PH Public Health SW Social Work

Concert dedicated to former band professor

By Mark Mozingo

The University of Kentucky Wind Symphony and UK Symphony Band presented a concert in September in memory of professor George R. Boulden III ’84 FA associate director of bands at the University of Kentucky and former director of the UK Wildcat Marching Band. Boulden died in August at age 61.

Boulden served as the director of the Wildcat Marching Band and Basketball Pep Band from 1995-2008. During that time, the UK Athletic Bands served as musical ambassadors through performances at the Outback Bowl, three Music City Bowl games, a Bands of America Regional Championship, and three NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship games.

Under Boulden’s direction, the UK Symphony Band was a featured ensemble at the 2003 and 2008 KMEA In-Service Conference, and the 2005 FMEA (Florida Music Educators Association)/MENC (National Association for Music Education) Southern Division Conference in Tampa, Fla. UK Symphony Band also presented a clinic performance at the 2010 KMEA In-Service Conference.

In addition, Boulden has served as an adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States and Canada. He served as editor of the KMEA state music education journal, the Bluegrass Music News.

The music selected for the concert

was intended to celebrate the life of an exceptional man, husband, father, educator and musician. Many of the works performed were favorites of Boulden — works that he performed with his ensembles on many different occasions over the years. They included “Downey Overture,” Oscar Navarro; “Home,” James Daughters; “Sunrise at Angel’s Gate,” Philip Sparke and “Blessed Are They,” Johannes Brahms.

Boulden served as associate director of Bands at the University of Kentucky from 1995-2022. He was the conductor of Symphony Band from 1995-2022. He most recently enjoyed working with student teachers in the UK School of Music.

He taught for nine years in the South Carolina and Florida public school systems. Boulden was selected as the 2011 Kentucky Music Educators Association College/University Teacher of the Year Award recipient, received the 2014 Outstanding Bandmaster Award from the Psi Chapter of Phi Beta Mu and was twice named a Teacher Who Made a Difference by the UK College of Education.

He was most honored as an inductee into the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame. Boulden served as a clinician for the Conn-Selmer Music Education Support Network and served as an adjudicator for Music for All/Bands of America, Drum Corps International, and for

many state and regional marching band championships throughout the United States. He was a frequent visitor, clinician and guest conductor for many bands throughout Kentucky and across the state and the nation.

Music education junior Juliana Boulden, George Boulden’s daughter and a member of the UK Wind Symphony, performed with the UK Wind Symphony on oboe and English horn. ■

Photos by David McRae

In Memoriam

Dr. Mary R. Hove ‘43 AS Northfield, Minn.

Ruth M. Henderson ‘47 AFE Mount Pleasant, Tenn.

Anne Charlotte Lindsay ‘47 EN Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Thornton E. Bryan Jr. ‘49 AS Cadiz, Ky.

Gertrude L. Patch ‘50 FA Pinehurst, N.C. Fellow

Tom R. Underwood Jr. ‘50 LAW Lexington, Ky.

Clarence C. Fox ‘51 ‘52 EN Williamsburg, Ohio

John H. Harralson Jr. ‘51 BE Louisville, Ky. Life Member

Frank G. Jones ‘52 EN Hebron, Ky. Life Member

June Dolores Keiler ‘52 AFE Paducah, Ky.

Marcus H. Lackey ‘52 EN Alton, N.H. Life Member

Karen Marvin ‘52 AFE Paducah, Ky.

Opal L. Reynolds ‘52 ED Lexington, Ky.

Marion Long Russell ‘52 ED Maysville, Ky.

Dr. William T. Clark Jr. ‘53 BE, ‘55 AS, ‘67 ED Vanceburg, Ky. Life Member

Lester D. Richard ‘53 BE New Albany, Ind.

Roger Williams III ‘53 FA Johns Island, S.C.

Marilyn J. Driscoll ‘54 SW Montgomery, Ala.

Donald T. Fritts ‘54 PHA Morganfield, Ky. Life Member

Elsie B. Harber ‘54 AS Claremont, Calif.

Col. Douglas A. Harper ‘54 BE Lexington, Ky. Life Member

Carl T. Fischer Jr. ‘55 AFE Louisville, Ky.

Frank E. Owens ‘55 EN Ashburn, Va.

Henry R. Bennett ‘56 EN Saint Matthews, Ky. Life Member

Dr. William H. Keller II ‘56 AS Lexington, Ky.

Don W. Stanfill ‘56 EN Severna Park, Md.

Dr. William A. Thomas ‘56 ‘57 AS Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Blanche B. Trimble ‘56 AS Tompkinsville, Ky. Fellow

Joseph L. Wagner Jr. ‘56 PHA Louisville, Ky.

Charles L. Metcalf ‘57 AFE Richmond, Ky.

Walter G. Norris ‘57 AFE Fort Thomas, Ky.

Robert A. Walsburger ‘57 EN Louisville, Ky.

Maj. William A. Cisney ‘58 AFE Madisonville, Ky.

Jamie R. Keller ‘58 AFE Lexington, Ky.

James E. Vogt ‘58 BE Louisville, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Wheeler W. Worten Jr. ‘58 EN Saint Cloud, Fla.

William H. Baker Jr. ‘59 EN Frankfort, Ky.

Harvey Frances Crowe ‘59 SW Brentwood, Tenn. Life Member, Fellow

Miss Iris Dixie Grugin ‘59 AFE Frankfort, Ky.

Lawrence Hall ‘59 AFE Elizabethtown, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

John S. Huefner ‘59 EN West Haven, Utah Elisabeth A. Jacobs ‘59 ED Louisville, Ky.

John A. McKinney ‘59 BE Hermitage, Tenn.

Jerry A. Risk ‘59 EN Carrollton, Ky.

Larry H. Spears ‘59 PHA Dry Ridge, Ky. Fellow

Thomas A. Calvert ‘60 AFE Atlanta, Ga.

Richard H. Gatlin ‘60 EN Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Donald C. Johnson ‘60 EN Lexington, Ky.

Walter P. Maynard ‘60 BE Greensboro, N.C.

Betty Jo McClure ‘60 ED Oakland, Calif.

Hon. Henry R. Wilhoit Jr. ‘60 LAW Ashland, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Smith D. Broadbent III ‘61 AFE Cadiz, Ky.

James B. Day ‘61 ‘69 EN Beavercreek, Ohio

Dr. Charles A. Girard ‘61 ‘70 AS Danville, Ky.

Ross E. Melton ‘61 PHA Mount Sterling, Ky.

Edwin C. Young ‘61 EN Prospect, Ky.

Dr. Charles R. Allen ‘62 AS, ‘67 MED Lander, Wyo.

Lucinda L. Stein ‘62 AS Suwanee, Ga.

George R. Black ‘63 EN Paducah, Ky.

Carl B. Boyd Jr. ‘63 AS, ‘84 LAW Tropic, Utah

Robert Louis Herrick ‘63 EN Lexington, Ky.

George W. Mills ‘63 BE, ‘65 LAW Lexington, Ky.

James C. Rice ‘63 EN Erlanger, Ky. Fellow

W.Hunt Smock ‘63 BE, ‘65 AS Prospect, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Beverly R. Windscheffel ‘63 AS Grand Junction, Colo.

Dr. Ann Capshaw Heard ‘64 ‘67 AS Lexington, Ky. Fellow

William R. Townsend ‘64 BE Crestview Hills, Ky. Life Member

David E. Burgio ‘65 BE, ‘91 GS Lexington, Ky.

Dr. John C. Caton ‘65 AS, ‘69 MED Frankfort, Ky. Life Member

Dr. Roger L. Ewing ‘65 AS, ‘69 DE Bedford, Ky. Life Member

Caroline P. Harris ‘65 ED Valdosta, Ga.

Jennifer McNew Appelt ‘66 ‘68 AS Nashville, Tenn.

George H. Collignon ‘66 DES Owensboro, Ky.

Michael A. Hurter ‘66 AS, ‘70 LAW Lexington, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Douglas E. Johnson ‘66 AS, ‘69 LAW Lexington, Ky.

Patsy L. Russell ‘66 ED Mackville, Ky.

Charles W. Arnold ‘67 AS, ‘70 LAW Lexington, Ky.

Edward W. Boss ‘67 EN Winchester, Ky.

Thomas E. Dillion ‘67 EN Lexington, Ky.

Francis G. Mayer ‘67 AFE Bluffton, Ind.

William H. Phillips ‘67 ‘68 EN Frankfort, Ky. Life Member

T. S. Porter ‘67 BE Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Wilma Barnstable ‘68 AS Louisville, Ky. Life Member

Rev. Susan M. Bartlett ‘68 ED Pittsboro, N.C.

Dr. Luther Stripling ‘68 FA Colleyville, Texas

Paula Cline ‘69 AFE Versailles, Ky.

Sharon Sue Dowdy ‘69 SW Clayton, N.C.

Ned E. Farrar ‘69 ‘02 FA Lexington, Ky.

Frank E. Hamilton ‘69 BE Lexington, Ky.

William D. Johnson Jr. ‘69 DES Church Hill, Tenn.

M.Lynn Lowe ‘69 BE Gadsden, Ala. Life Member

Bettie Jo Majors ‘69 ED Owensboro, Ky. Life Member

Dr. Robert H. Morris ‘69 AS, ‘74 DE Richmond, Ky. Life Member

Quentin W. Walker Jr. ‘69 BE Lexington, Ky. Fellow

S.Joseph Dawahare ‘70 BE, ‘73 LAW Lexington, Ky. Life Member

Quinten B. Marquette ‘70 BE, ‘73 LAW Bowling Green, Ky.

Rodney W. Morman ‘70 AS Catlettsburg, Ky.

James M. Wood III ‘70 ‘72 ‘73 AS Lexington, Ky.

Nelson F. Graveline ‘71 EN Knoxville, Tenn.

Glenn C. Kirk ‘71 ED Lexington, Ky.

Deanna Hudson Marcum ‘71 CI Kensington, Md.

James T. Mitsch ‘71 DES Fort Thomas, Ky. Life Member

Lester B. Roberts ‘71 DES Lexington, Ky.

Dr. William S. Talbot ‘71 DE De Leon Springs, Fla.

Susan M. Watson ‘71 ‘75 ED Lexington, Ky.

John T. Cook ‘72 EN Louisa, Ky.

Larry G. Dukes ‘72 PHA Sellersburg, Ind.

Constance L. Jones ‘72 PHA Russell Springs, Ky. Life Member

Dr. Elizabeth A. Kirlin ‘72 SW, ‘74 ED Seneca, S.C.

Jusith Kay Lowry ‘72 AS Virginia Beach, Va.

Dr. James W. Matthews ‘72 DES Lexington, Ky.

Richard L. Moffitt ‘72 EN West Hartford, Conn.

Lynn Penn ‘72 NUR Rochester, N.Y.

Susan Margaret Peterson ‘72 ‘98 NUR Lexington, Ky. Life Member

William M. Sphire ‘72 AS Fairfield, Ohio

Sumner P. Terry ‘72 LAW Lexington, Ky. Life Member

David E. Cecil ‘73 BE Grundy, Va. Life Member, Fellow

Rebecca S. Ford ‘73 CI Louisville, Ky.

Lancie J. Meredith ‘73 EN Elizabethtown, Ky.

Robert A. Moller ‘73 AS Clinton, Conn.

Thomas R. Bradley ‘74 AS Ashland, Ky.

Dr. John C. Hughes ‘74 AS Louisville, Ky.

In Memoriam

Walter A. Tolliver ‘74 AS, ‘77 BE West River, Md. Life Member

Dr. William T. Wade ‘74 MED Bowling Green, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Charles J. Arnold ‘75 LAW Fort Myers, Fla.

Sanford D. Cohn ‘75 AS West Hartford, Conn.

Larry R. Fannin ‘75 AFE Murrells Inlet, S.C. Life Member

Cathy S. Hunt ‘75 ‘78 FA, ‘81 CI Lexington, Ky.

Ricky A. Meeks ‘75 BE Paducah, Ky. Life Member

Dr. Stanley R. Mitchell ‘75 AS Deland, Fla.

Dr. Steven E. Shuey ‘75 AS, ‘79 DE Lexington, Ky. Life Member

Mark D. Whitley ‘75 EN Keller, Texas

Carey Annette Durrett ‘76 SW Frankfort, Ky.

John W. Stewart ‘76 LAW Adams, Tenn.

Dr. Richard C. Vari ‘76 ‘80 ‘84 AS Fincastle, Va.

Craig R. Wilkie ‘76 BE Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Robert G. Kinker ‘77 MED Ponte Vedra, Fla.

James P. Mattingly ‘77 ED Owensboro, Ky.

David C. Crutcher ‘78 AFE Sebastopol, Calif.

Dr. Douglas D. Durbin ‘78 ‘83 DE Lexington, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

Ellen M. Kelly ‘78 CI Hiltons, Va.

Patti B. Strickler ‘78 SW Louisville, Ky.

Theodore J. Kircher ‘79 BE Canyon Country, Calif.

Sidney C. Roseberry, Jr. ‘79 ‘82 AFE Louisville, Ky.

Jenay Tate ‘79 CI Norton, Va.

Hazel W. Chappell ‘81 NUR Lexington, Ky. Fellow

Dr. Galen W. Conley ‘81 DE Olive Hill, Ky.

Lydia Marie Lovell ‘81 AS Paris, Ky.

Daniel D. Schwartz ‘81 EN Ft Wright, Ky.

Lawrence R. Taylor ‘81 AS Folsom, Calif.

Ricky A. Biggs ‘82 BE Ashland, Ky.

Eugene E. Gloss ‘82 EN Pickerington, Ohio

George R. Boulden III ‘83 FA Richmond, Ky.

Donna S. Potter ‘83 BE Somers, N.Y.

John B. Schroering III ‘83 AS Lexington, Ky.

Paul E. Mackey ‘84 BE Lexington, Ky.

Col. Josef H. Moore ‘84 HS Boerne, Texas Life Member

Scott A. Malkmus ‘85 BE Louisville, Ky.

John F. Roach ‘85 EN Bloomington, Ind.

Denise M. Robison ‘86 PHA Louisville, Ky.

Mary Elizabeth Baldock ‘87 ‘91 ED Louisville, Ky. Life Member

Phillip Kevin House ‘90 AFE Fort Myers, Fla. Life Member

Rev. Dr. James H. Brooks ‘91 ED Gardendale, Ala.

Janie Elizabeth Hite ‘91 ED New Haven, Ky.

Jeffrey R. Murphy ‘91 CI Lexington, Ky.

Clemma Kathleen Snider ‘92 NUR Lexington, Ky.

Dana C. Kays ‘94 PHA Mount Washington, Ky.

Julie B. Hayden ‘94 AFE, ‘99 ED Lexington, Ky.

Jodi Schmidt ‘94 SW Alexandria, Ky.

David W. Simons ‘94 LCC/LTI, ‘99 EN Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Charles E. Anderson ‘95 AFE Bowling Green, Ky.

Dr. Mary C. Linton ‘95 AS Marquette, Mich.

Terri L. Neufeld ‘95 LAW Overland Park, Kan.

Dr. Evelyn M. Parrish ‘97 ‘08 NUR Lexington, Ky.

Donald Ray Anderson III ‘02 EN Morgantown, W.V.

Brandon Aaron Blakey ‘04 EN Elizabethtown, Ky.

Dr. Lillian Carla Mahan ‘04 ‘07 ED Winchester, Ky.

Kate E. Miller ‘05 AFE Fostoria, Ohio

Todd Benjamin Crawford ‘07 AS Paducah, Ky.

Tiffany Nicole Clifford ‘09 FA Louisville, Ky.

W.Scott Miller, Jr. ‘09 AS Louisville, Ky.

Kavya Priya Balaji ‘17 AS Bowling Green, Ky.

Andrew Wallace ‘18 AFE, ‘18 BE Winchester, Tenn.

Sarah Elizabeth Chastain ‘21 AS Lexington, Ky.

FORMER STUDENTS AND FRIENDS

Leslie Allen Jordan Los Angeles, Calif.

Dr. Laurie R. Thomas Lexington, Ky.

Charlotte G. Aldridge Lesage, W.V.

Betty J. Berryman Winchester, Ky.

Molly J. Britt Lexington, Ky.

Sandy Capparell Los Angeles, Calif. Life Member

Lyndon Eades Crockett Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Jose M. Feola Lexington, Ky.

Anne Marie Geiske Fort Mitchell, Ky.

Paul Oliver Haering Lexington, Ky.

Christine Harris Lexington, Ky.

Georgia Lee Hocker Lexington, Ky.

Sally C. Johnston Lexington, Ky.

HENRY R. WILHOIT JR.

Henry R. Wilhoit Jr. ’60 LAW of Grayson, Kentucky, passed away on Sept. 12, 2022.

Wilhoit began practicing law in 1960 with his father and was the family’s fourth generation of trial lawyers dating back to 1867. He began hanging around courthouses watching his father try a murder case in Elliott County when he was only 11 years old. During his practice, he served as Grayson City Attorney and Carter County Attorney. He believed in the dignity of his profession and the importance of our jury system, and he led by example. All three of his children went into law (with two judges), and three of his grandchildren extended the family legacy to six generations of attorneys.

He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Just a few months after being sworn in as President of the Kentucky Bar Association in June of 1981, then President of the United States Ronald Reagan appointed him to serve as a trial judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky. For more than 40 years, he held the position of United States District Judge in Ashland and Lexington and presided over some of the most complex federal cases in our legal system.

John P. Leindecker Lexington, Ky. Fellow

Margaret G. Little Frenchburg, Ky. Life Member

Joseph R. Medley Bonita Springs, Fla.

Guy W. Morriss Lexington, Ky.

Robert G. Myers Estero, Fla.

Dr. Kirk Madison Neuberger Sandy, Utah

Patricia K. Rose Lexington, Ky. Fellow

Sandra Spoonamore Lexington, Ky.

Donna N. Stoess Louisville, Ky. Life Member

Alice S. Swanson Apex, N.C. Life Member

Dr. Thomas R. Tolbert Franklin, N.C.

Harold S. White Lexington, Ky.

David Dallas Willoughby Atlanta, Ga.

In 1998, he became Chief Judge of the Eastern District before taking senior status on Dec. 31, 2000.

He continued to administer a docket until he went inactive shortly before his death. His reported cases have been used in law school textbooks and his high-profile cases have been the subject of books, a Sports Illustrated article, and a TV series

Wilhoit was a renowned storyteller and had a knack for dramatic speeches that captivated his audiences. He was a treasure trove of witty sayings and sage advice. He was a natural public speaker and his rapport with people helped establish himself as an excellent trial lawyer. His peers recognized him in Martindale Hubbell Directory as a preeminent attorney with its highest ethical rating.

He had a booming operatic voice performing “Thus Sayeth the Lord” in Handel’s Messiah on numerous occasions. He proudly professed that he never needed a microphone. Singing Irish tenor to “My Old Kentucky Home” at UK football games was one of his favorite past-times. Oh, and he did bleed Blue. He was a proud member of the UK Marching 100 Band in college. He was a former president of the UK Alumni Association in 1977 and served on the UK Board of Trustees from 1988-1994.

He is survived by his childhood sweetheart of 66 years Jane Horton (Huff) Wilhoit, a brother, three children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. ■

Alumni Feature

DISTINGUISHED COLLEGE OF PHARMACY ALUMNI

RECOGNIZED FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

By Rosa Mejia-Cruz

Three accomplished University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy (UKCOP) alumni have become the latest inductees to the College’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni. The College recognized their professional achievements at the Hall of Distinguished Alumni and Preceptors Awards Ceremony.

The 2021 inductees include Young Alumni Award winner Dr. Joshua Brown (’16) and Lifetime Achievement Award winners Dr. Eiichi Akaho (’79) and Dr. Stephen W. Schondelmeyer (’77). Their peers selected these three new inductees for their exceptional contributions to their respective fields and their embodiment of UKCOP values.

Dr. Stephen W. Schondelmeyer

“For more than 150 years, the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy has produced outstanding pharmacy practitioners and researchers who have changed how we think about patient health and scientific progress,” said Dean R. Kip Guy. “We are proud to celebrate the achievements of three bold innovators who have dedicated their lives to improving the way we teach and practice pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.”

Part three of this series highlights Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award recipient Dr. Stephen W. Schondelmeyer.

Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, PharmD, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, where he holds the Century Mortar Club Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Management & Economics. He founded and serves as director of the PRIME Institute, which focuses on economic and public policy related to making pharmacists and medicines affordable and accessible to all. Schondelmeyer serves as the co-principal investigator of the Resilient Drug Supply Project. Following a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (1974) at the University of Missouri and a Doctor of Pharmacy (1977) and clinical residency (1974-1977) at the University of Kentucky, Schondelmeyer completed a Master in Public Administration (1979) and a Ph.D. in Administrative & Social Sciences in Pharmacy (1984) at the Ohio State University. He has served as a professor at the University of Arizona and Purdue University before his more than 30 years at the University of Minnesota.

For over 45 years, he has conducted economic and policy analyses related to pharmacists, pharmaceuticals and society. His insightful and credible research has influenced and shaped public policy, including the passage of generic substitution laws and the development of drug formularies in the 1970s and 1980s, the

emergence of managed care and PBMs in the 1980s, development of the Medicaid Drug Rebate program in the 1990s, the passage of the Medicare Part D program in the 2000s, the role of drug prices in affordability and accessibility of pharmaceuticals in the 2010s, and most recently, the need to end drug shortages and to assure a resilient U.S. drug supply. He has testified before state, national and international governmental bodies more than 150 times over the past few decades, including testimony more than 25 times before the U.S. Congress. He was appointed to serve Congress as a member of the Medicare Prescription Payment Review Commission (1988) and to serve as an advisor to several state attorneys general.

Schondelmeyer has conducted more than 160 funded research studies, including projects with NIH, NSF, FDA, AHRQ, AHCPR, CMS, OTA, GAO, OIG, and ASPE. He has received generous funding from major pharmacy professional associations and private foundations. He has published more than 400 research articles and reports on pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical economics, and public policy. His research has been published in journals such as Health Affairs, Medical Care, Archives of Internal Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Services Research, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy and others. Schondelmeyer has given more than 900 invited presentations over the past 45 years and is recognized for insightful content and engaging delivery.

He has been a leader his whole career–from 1973 to 1974 when he was the national president of the Student American Pharmaceutical Association, as a founding member of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Outcomes & Research (ISPOR), and while serving as head of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems for more than 20 years. Among his numerous awards are the Impact Award (1977) from his Pharm.D. peers at the University of Kentucky, the prestigious Paul F. Parker Lecture Award (2000), the APRS Research Achievement Award (2006), the Humphrey Award from APhA (2012) for public policy impact and service, the Tyler Prize for Stimulation of Research from APhA (2014) and the Leadership in Action Award (2016) from the Minnesota Health Action Coalition.

Schondelmeyer, born and raised in Sedalia, Missouri, is an Eagle Scout, and a gentleman farmer of the 520 acres of land that have been in his family for more than 150 years. He was one of four children, is a father of two and has five grandchildren.

Creative Juices

Melva Sue Priddy ’96 ED has written “The Tillable Land,” a collection of poetry. It is easy to love a land that loves you back and offers its rewards freely. But Appalachian soil isn’t the forthcoming kind. As seen through the collection, it requires constant vigilance and care. But these poems cover more than just the land, they also offer a portrait of a complicated family life. The collection offers not only a glimpse into the life of an Appalachian farmstead, but the feminine experience in such a setting.

Duane S. Nickell ’83 AS has written “Scientific Kentucky,” a glimpse into the lives of 17 scientific heroes from Kentucky. Biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan laid the foundation for modern genetics. Chemist William Lipscomb made important discoveries about the structure of molecules and chemical bonding. Astrophysicist J. Richard Gott is a leading expert on cosmology, general relativity and time travel. And inventor George Devol built the world’s first programmable industrial robot.

Ashley Belote ’18 FA has published “A Partridge in the We Tree,” a follow up to “The Me Tree.” The children’s book “The Me Tree” tells the tale of a bear who learned to happily share his space. In this festive follow up, Christmas visitors quickly put the bear’s patience and hospitality to the test. Designed to engage early readers, this story combines charming characters with simple text, lively illustrations and laugh-out-loud humor to help boost kids’ confidence and create lifelong readers.

Kevin Cook ’84 EN has written “House of Champions: The Story of Kentucky Basketball Home Courts.” Cook combines research and interviews with players and coaches to reveal the rich history and colorful details of the structures that have hosted University of Kentucky basketball. Fascinating backstories are uncovered, including the excitement of Alumni Gym’s opening night in 1925, the problematic acquisition of Black community land for the building of Memorial Coliseum and the painstaking inscription of nearly 10,000 names of Kentucky’s World War II and Korean War heroes to be displayed along the Coliseum’s pedestrian ramps.

James Baker Hall ’57 AS has published “The Missing Body of the Fox” posthumously. The book is a memoir about his search of the mother he lost to suicide when he was 8 years old. Working his way through a memory shattered by trauma, the late Kentucky Poet Laureate tries to recover the story of his beloved mother Lurlene Bronaugh and the long consequences of her death for his childhood self and the man he becomes. In what author Erik Reece calls “genuine, probing, and courageous” language, Hall seeks out a story that was shuttered in silence and shame.

Wendell Berry ’56 ’57 AS, ’86 HON has published “The Need to be Whole Patriotism and the History of Prejudice.” Following on his groundbreaking “The Hidden Wound” (1970), and “The Unsettling of America” (1977), Berry continues to explore the themes of racial division and the destruction of land-based communities. He finds our country fraught with destruction and disorder. Seeing a divided nation and our commonwealth threatened, Berry offers a conversation of hope with thoughts on a better way forward.

Michael K. Cundall ’96 AS has written “The Humor Hack: Using Humor to Feel Better, Increase Resilience and (Yes) Enjoy Your Work.” This playbook is filled with anecdotes, exercises and discussion of topics that will provide readers a way to understand how humor works and how they can take this knowledge and enrich their personal and professional lives with more laughs, enjoyment and mirth. The book’s content is based in research, but not academic in tone or format, and is accessible to the general reader.

UK and the UK Alumni Association do not necessarily endorse books or other original material mentioned in Creative Juices. The University of Kentucky and the UK Alumni Association are not responsible for the content, views and opinions expressed on websites mentioned in Creative Juices or found via links off of those websites.

Quick Take

BIG SANDY FOR THE WIN

Members of the University of Kentucky Big Sandy Alumni Club presented the Blue-White Game MVP trophy to basketball team member Antonio Reeves during the annual scrimmage in October. Left to right with Antonio Reeves are Big Sandy Club Board members Tom Smith, Kevin Holbrook, Jim Keenan, Janie McKenzie-Wells and Robin Smith.The annual men’s basketball scrimmage took place in Pikeville, Kentucky, at the Appalachian Wireless Arena as part of an effort to raise funds to provide relief to the region that was devastated by flooding in July. Reeves scored a game-high 27 points during the scrimmage before a sell-out crowd. It was his second MVP award for the Wildcats. He also came away with the award during Kentucky’s Big Blue Bahamas tour.The effort raised $162,450 and the entire Wildcats team presented a check to Gov. Andy Beshear in that amount for his Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief fund.

Photo by Chet White, UK Athletics

For the seventh year in a row, UK HealthCare has been ranked #1 hospital in Kentucky by U.S. News Best Hospitals. Seven years at the top—and we’re always improving. Always conducting new research. Always finding new treatments.

See how we’re moving the field of medicine forward and advancing care for all Kentuckians at ukhealthcare.com/best