Development and Stewardship Committee

Development and Stewardship Committee

Committee responsibilities

1. Assist Dean, Directors, Chairs and Development staff in the formulation of advancement efforts.
2. Help facilitate, increase and secure private support for the College, its students and programs.
3. Ensure proper care and help establish protocol regarding donors to the College.
4. Assist the College’s Development Officer with stewardship projects.
5. Help identify areas where additional scholarship dollars are needed and potential donors.

External Relations Committee

1. Help College to establish relationships with foundations, corporations, businesses and other agencies or groups to further the mission of the College, its units, and our teaching and learning centers.
2. Recruit, nominate and advise new members to the National Advisory Board.
3. Assist Dean in establishing contacts for the iNET program for student internships, summer boot camps, Venture Challenge and other iNET activities.

Student Recruitment and Retention

1. Help plan activities and events to assist with student recruitment and look at ways to help retain students at all levels.
2. Make recommendations on ways to keep curricula and instruction current with industry practice.
3. Help identify internship sponsors.

College Activity Highlights November 2011-April 2012

Heather Saxon left to work at Keeneland as their Senior Writer and Digital Marketing Coordinator. Erin Berger is responsible for College communications and the annual awards and recognition dinner.

Charlene Monaghan, the Dean’s Administrative Assistant received the College’s 2011-12 Outstanding Staff Award.

Deb Weis is the new Director of iNet. She will also work with Erin Berger on College communications. Deb is an alumnus of our college (journalism) and has worked at UK for the past 15 years. Prior to joining CIS, she was Marketing Communications Director for the Office for Commercialization & Economic Development and before that she was Director of Communications for Research, which included Odyssey magazine.

The University Council and Senate have voted in favor of changing the College name to College of Communication and Information. The name change needs final approval from the UK Board of Trustees. The request will go forward at the May BOT meeting.

The College’s External Review was completed and submitted to the Office of the Provost in January, 2012. The team identified key themes and potential areas of improvement based on the College self-study. (A copy of the External Review is included in your packet).

At the annual College Recognition Dinner, awards were presented to the following faculty, staff, friends and alumni:

Jeffrey T. Huber, (SLIS)-Excellence in Faculty Teaching.

Jami Warren, (Instructional Communication)-Faculty Community Service.

Bobi Ivanov, (JAT)-Faculty Excellence in Research...

Pat Dalbey, general manager and president of WLEX-TV, Friend of the College.

Elizabeth L. Petrun, (JAT)-Excellence in Graduate Teaching.

W. James Host, a (JAT/1961) was named Outstanding Alumnus.

Charlene Monaghan, (Dean’s Office)-Outstanding Staff member.

The first-ever "Venture Challenge" was held March 24. Stadionaut, a mobile application development startup, took the $2,000 grand prize. Third-year medical students Edward Wood and David Nelson took second prize and $1,000 for their business concept for EHW LLC. The other two teams who will represent UK are Tag-a-Pet in the undergraduate business plan category, and AwesomeMed, in the graduate business plan category. Student winners go on to "Idea State U" where they compete with teams from seven other Kentucky universities for a grand prize of $35,000.

President Capilouto visited the College last fall. He said, “Given the critical nature of communications it’s no surprise that the College is working in collaborative partnerships both within the university and in communities across the state. The College is at the forefront of what cutting-edge companies want from our graduates and in terms of what communities need to grapple with a multitude of vexing challenges: communicating clearly and effectively in an increasingly complex economy and world.”

The Urban Mountain Challenge was organized by Pat Dalbey and WLEX-TV. The Urban Mountain Challenge is an individually timed event where climbers compete against the clock for the fastest time. Participants climb 29 stories, or 638 stairs, to the top of the Lexington Financial Center, the big blue building at 250 West Main Street in Lexington. Proceeds benefited the UK College of Education, UK College of Communications and Information Studies and the Downtown Lexington Corporation Foundation.

The College co-sponsored the health communication session featured in the 2011 China Communication Forum at Shanghai University’s International Convention Center. The Forum is the top annual convention under the auspices of the Chinese Association of Communication, China's premier national organization for educators and researchers in journalism and communication education and research.

The 12th biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC), titled "Health Literacy Research and Practice," was held April 19-21. The Conference brought together researchers, educators, health care providers, policy makers and students for two and a half days of competitive paper and panel presentations, a competitive poster session and invited speaker presentations, many of which focus on themes related to health literacy, the ability of individuals to understand basic health information and make appropriate decisions.

A panel of Chinese researchers spoke at the 12th biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication. The panel, titled "Health Literacy and Communication in China in the 21st Century: Challenges, Opportunities and Research Strategies," aims to create a forum for leading researchers and scholars from China to discuss existing challenges and emerging opportunities in the field of health communication research in China. The panelists, representing four top-tier universities from China, presented a state-of-the-field overview of the latest progress in health communication research across China.

Nancy Harrington, professor in the Department of Communication and associate dean for research, was the guest on "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Iowa State game (NCAA Tournament).

A study led by the UK researcher Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles found that hospice family caregivers are "second order patients" themselves and require their own unique care needs. The study, published in a recent issue of Qualitative Health Research, assessed the individual stressors that caregivers experience. The researchers recorded discussions between hospice caregivers and the intervention team. The caregivers were asked to identify and describe the most pressing problems or concerns they faced.

After a 30 year absence, the Kentucky High School Speech League (KHSSL) returned “Back to the Bluegrass.” During the March 23-24 Senior State Competition, 493 students representing 51 schools competed. During the March 30-31 Junior State Competition, 371 students representing 39 schools competed. This means that 862 of Kentucky’s best and brightest potential recruits from 90 schools across the Commonwealth were on campus.

The Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious national debate competition for high school debaters from across the country, will held on campus from April 28-30.

The UK debate team won the novice division at the Intercollegiate Debate Season Opening tournament held Sept. 16-19 at Georgia State University in Atlanta.UK took three teams to the tournament to compete, and the team of Alejandra Zavala and Nicole Schladt were named champions of the novice division. Schladt was also named top speaker in the novice division.

Four University of Kentucky freshmen in the First Generation Living Learning Community have been invited to give presentations at the Eastern Communication Association convention, to be held April 26-29 in Boston. The cohort, taught by faculty members Sarah Kercsmar and Jami Warren from the Division of Instructional Communication, comprises the two-semester core composition and communication sequence taken by all UK freshmen (CIS 110/111). This sequence emphasizes multimodal communication, including writing, public speaking and digital communication. The first course in the sequence addresses self-perception and perception of others, with the second course exploring persuasion in community issues.

John Harwood, Chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and a political writer for the New York Times presented the 35th annual Joe Creason Lecture.

The 2011 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity, and tenacity in rural journalism was presented to Stanley Nelson and to the weekly newspaper he edits, Concordia Sentinel of Ferriday, La. The award was presented by Al Cross, the Director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, before the board of visitors at the LSU journalism school. Nelson and the Sentinel showed courage and unusual tenacity in investigating an unsolved murder from the era of conflict over civil rights, and in January 2011 named a living suspect in the 1964 killing of African American businessman Frank Morris. A grand jury was convened and continues to investigate.

Six members were inducted in the 2012 class of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. The inductees are: Albert B. “Ben” Chandler, Jr., publisher of The Woodford Sun and writer of the “Happy Landings” editorial column in that newspaper; D.J. Everett III, president of Ham Broadcasting Company, which operates three radio stations serving Western Kentucky and Tennessee, WKDZ-FM, WKDZ-AM and WHVO; Chip Hutcheson, publisher of The Times Leader in Princeton, Ky., past president of the Kentucky Press Association; Bill Luster, retired photojournalist with The Courier-Journal and winner of Pulitzer Prizes in 1976 and 1989, among numerous other awards; Dr. Bob McGaughey, retired chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Murray State University; and Michael M. York, former reporter with the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Washington Post and winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Aaron M. Smith, a UK journalism junior from Oldham County, has been selected as the recipient of the first David Dick "What a Great Story!" Storytelling Award.

The University of Kentucky's own Ashley Judd stars in “Missing,” a new drama from ABC. UK’s School of Journalism and Telecommunications presented a free sneak preview of the program.

The Kentucky Kernel staff won the General Excellence award for college newspapers in the Kentucky Press Association’s 2011 competition. This is the eighth straight win for the Kernel as the best college newspaper in Kentucky.

Beth Barnes, director of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications was a guest on “UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Vanderbilt game.

Al Smith, a tireless advocate for open government as a newspaper editor, publisher and industry leader, and the journalist who created a statewide forum that has fostered public discussion of Kentucky policy and politics, was chosen the 2011 recipient of the James Madison Award for service to the First Amendment. Mark Feldstein, author of "Poisoning the Press," was the featured speaker at the annual First Amendment Celebration sponsored by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center.

The University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications finished 10th in the annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation's Journalism Awards Program Intercollegiate Writing Competition for 2011-12. UK’s win was due to the work of journalism majors writing in the Kentucky Kernel, the independent student newspaper at UK. The Hearst program consists of five monthly writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, three broadcast news competitions and four multimedia competitions, with championship finals in all divisions.

SLIS held its annual 44th annual McConnell Youth Literature Conference. The program included sessions with authors and illustrators, a variety of breakout sessions, and book signings.

The program received approval to begin an undergraduate minor in information studies. The minor will be launched in fall 2012 and is entirely done as on-line courses.

Dr. Terry Birdwhistell (’78), Dean of Libraries and William T. Young endowed chair at the University of Kentucky, has been chosen to receive the School of Library and Information Science Outstanding Alumna/us Award 2012.

Professor Lois Chan, who joined the faculty of what was then the College of Library Science in 1970, retired at the end of the fall semester. In recognition of Professor Chan’s contributions to UK, the College conference room has been dedicated in her honor and is now the Lois Mai Chan Conference Room. Dr. Deanna Marcum (’71) has established an endowed enrichment fund in honor of Professor Lois Chan. The agreement establishing the endowment provides that “Income from the Fund shall be used to support students enrolled in the School of Library and Information Science.

Professor Donald Case completed a short-term Fulbright lectureship in Finland.

The School’s enrollment this spring, 239, is above fall 2011 enrollment, 236, which was a nearly 10% increase from fall 2010 enrollment, 215. Perhaps of greater significance, last fall 52 students, or 22% of the total, did not reside in Kentucky. This spring 65 students, or 27.2% of the total, do not reside in Kentucky

The School applied to the Women & Philanthropy Network at UK for funds to support the Alternative Spring

Break Program, and in January Director Jeff Huber learned SLIS had been awarded $10,000 in scholarships for that

purpose, for spring 2013. Students selected to participate this year at the Library of Congress are Mindy Groff,

Laura Hess, Holger Lenz, Susan MacDonell, and Daniel Weddington.

This year the National Library of Medicine would participate in the alternative spring break program, and students Lauren Coil and Kelly Lee had been selected for internships at NLM.

The students in the Graduate Program have earned an unprecedented number of fellowships sponsored by the Graduate School. The fellowships are reserved for recruiting exceptional students to the University of Kentucky. In 2012-2013 five students will be sponsored by Graduate School Fellowships.

More than half of the students currently active in the Graduate Program published their research in refereed journals and/or had papers accepted for presentation at competitive communication conferences. In addition, nearly two-thirds of our graduate students are actively engaged in funded research with graduate faculty.

CIS Development

College Fundraising Priorities 2012-13

1. Student Support: Provide support for scholarships and fellowships, and increased stipends for our graduate students. Goal: $500,000 over five years ending on June 30, 2015. Amount raised to date $135,000.
2. UK Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking: iNET will engage UK students through an undergraduate, interdisciplinary entrepreneurship certificate, business plan competitions, entrepreneur-in-residence, UK living-learning community, colloquia, and summer e-Academy for high school students to develop innovation and entrepreneurial leaders who will create social and economic wealth in Kentucky. Goal: $200,000 over five years ending on June 30, 2017.
3. Technology Resources and Management: Establish the College as a leader in information and communication technology (ICT). Generate support for current programs and new initiatives; develop ICT-related industries (including digital, information and media literacy) for students; increase academic and scholarly productivity; and new cutting edge technology. Goal: $100,000 over five years ending on June 30, 2014.
4. Centers of Excellence: Provide additional support for the Centers of Excellence and Professorships in the College. (Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues; First Amendment Center, Anne McConnell Center, etc.). Goal: $250,000 over five years ending on June 30, 2017.

Annual Phonathon

2009-10 Phonathon792 pledges/$44,835

2010-11 Phonathon 829 pledges/$46,986

2011-12 Phonathon*767 pledges/$49,930

*Although down in total pledges for the year, we were able to contact more CIS alumni and friends, and experienced an average pledge nearly $9 higher than last year. We exceeded FY11 pledged dollars both in the fall and spring. Here are some other highlights:

• A 6.4% increase in dollars pledged
• The percentage of those who pledge increased from 24.17% to 32.15%, a huge increase overall.
• Matching gift dollars went through the roof, with $1,325 committed this year versus only $150 last year.
• Credit card dollars increased 10.5%.
• The percentage of those pledging via credit card increased from 12.18% to 15.78%, and more than 20% of those who pledged in the spring did so via credit card. Our overall goal is 20%, and CIS is one of the few units to get there already, so we’re thrilled about that.

The total number of pledges fell by 7.5%. While in many cases this may be a cause for alarm, CDO doesn’t feel so in this particular instance because last year, we had so many future donors pledge (a total of 144—which is a huge number for a college our size). It is far more difficult to renew first time lybunts than regular lybunts and sybunts. So while we would have liked to have seen more first time lybunts renew—they did manage to do so at a 33.33% rate.

Scholarship Dollars Awarded College-Wide

*2009-10$76,900

*2010-11$91,500

*2011-2012Not available at this time

Total from 2007-2011 is $333,441 and does not include external scholarships.

Private Gift Count

Gift CountDonor CountAmount

2009-10 1,850 1,097$374,089

*2010-11 1,967 1,268$484,961

**2011-12 1,625 1,000$298,911

*Numbers may change as gifts solicited from that time period may still be paid.

**Through March 31, 2012

Endowment Market Value

2009-10$3,813,849

2010-11$4,672,118

New Endowments/Scholarships/Professorships

2009-103

2010-11*5

2011-124

*One received RCTF match