Gaines Center Goals, 2016-17

Enhance the fellows’ experience

  • Try to make last May’s China trip a recurring possibility. Here, we remain dependent on UK Confucius Institute(UKCI)and (by extension) on Hanban, the Beijing headquarters of Confucius. We have been fortunate to partner with UKCI to send most of our rising juniors to China two years in a row now – most recently to Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing. I’m in discussion with Huajing Maske about a possible trip in May 2017 – possibly a bigger group composed of Honors students as well as Gaines fellows. Students and parents will need to cover full airfare plus visa fees (~$1,600-$2,000)
  • Ensure widespread Gaines participation in established UK undergraduate-research venues, notably the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars and Posters-in-the-Capitol
  • Ensure regular participation of Gaines fellows in the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR). This year’s meeting: April 6-8, University of Memphis.Ten fellows participated in Asheville last year. It’s reasonable to expect robust participation for Memphis, as well.
  • Work closely with the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards to optimize opportunities for Gaines fellows. Take a targeted approach, in close consultation with Dr. Pat Whitlow (UK Director of Nationally-Competitive Awards).This fall, Gaines fellows are competing for campus nominations for the Rhodes, Marshall, and Fulbright Scholarships.
  • Continue to closely superintend the thesis advising process. Orientation meeting for thesis chairs, regular schedule of thesis workshops with series of deadlines (incl. extensive peer review). A coordinated approach to thesis advising has yielded excellent results over the last 2 years.
  • Get interested Board members involved in informal mentorship of individual fellows. I would like to facilitate this sort of informal mentoring on an annual basis.

Enhance alumni and current fellow relations

  • Continue to seek good contact information for as many alums as possible (via email solicitation by graduating class). We are reasonably far along with this goal, but we hope that over time we can reach an even higher percentage of our alums.
  • Keep alumni well informed. I have endeavored to send a director’s message 3 times per year (August, December, May). Alumni have let me know their appreciation.
  • Coordinate director’s message with annual giving endeavors
  • Targeted solicitation of cohorts (esp. for the Gray Travel Fund)
  • Establishan informal professional network for current fellows. As we compile better contact information for alums, we can build a reliable database of professional expertise.
  • Hold a conversation with current fellows about the importance of annual giving. Brainstorm with student representative (Rachel Dixon) about strategies for soliciting class gifts and encouraging the habit of annual giving.
  • Host a reunion picnic at the Gaines Center. The first one (in April 2016) featured a great presentation by Alyssum Pohl and a tribute to Ron Pen. We are hoping that alumni attendance might be a bit stronger the next time around. We’re aiming for October 2017 (during the Keenelandfall meet and at a good time of year for our current fellows)

Enhance recruitment

The number of Gaines applicants had dropped to the mid-20s in AY 13-14. They were back up to 34 in AY 14-15, and then up to a record 40 in AY 15-16. We’d like to see that number continue to grow.

  • Reach out to Honors underclassmen, Singletary scholars, and Chellgren fellows. Chellgren & Singletary dinner at the Gaines Center (November). Presentation in Honors dorm to start getting word out to Freshmen (spring)
  • Reach out to Honors instructors, DUSs and other faculty members who are likely to know promising students
  • Personal message from director to every student referred to him

Position the Gaines Center as a Humanities “hub” at UK

  • When appropriate, take a more collaborative approach to Lafayette Seminar and Bale Boone Symposium planning

Bale Boone Symposium: Paying Attention and the Way We Live Now

  • 7:30pm, Monday, October 3 (Memorial Hall): Paying Attention and the Way We Live Now. A roundtable discussion among NEH Chairman William Adams, artist Mira Schor, and creators of “We are the 15%” photographic archive Michael Murphy and Alyson West, moderated by UK Art Museum Director Stuart Horodner. A reception follows the event (8:30pm, Woodward Hall, Gatton College of Business & Economics)
  • 6:30pm, Wednesday, October 5 (Kincaid Hall, Gatton College): The Destruction of Memory: The War against Culture and the Battle to Save It film screening and discussion with director/producer Tim Slade
  • 6pm, Thursday, October 13 (106 Whitehall Classroom Building): Talk (Title TBA) by Michael Rock, founding partner and creative director of 2x4, Professor of Design at the Yale School of Art
  • 7pm, Thursday, February 9 (W. T. Young Library Auditorium): Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age (dir. Delaney Ruston) film screening and roundtable discussion with producers

Our partners for the Bale Boone Symposium this year include the UK Art Museum, the UK College of Design, and the Lewis Honors College.

Lafayette Seminar, spring 2017: University Cities Summit. In partnership with the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and with the support of a Kresge Foundation grant (thanks to Scott Shapiro’s leadership in obtaining Kresge support), we will plan a University Cities Summit that expands upon the 2016 Lafayette Seminar, University Cities: A Conversation Mayors Jim Gray of Lexington and Wade Troxell of Fort Collins, CO. The summit will feature discussions by and with representatives of the six university cities as well as the presentation of research related to the university cities concept.

  • Begin soliciting possible themes for 2017-18 (and beyond) Bale Boone Symposium via a request for proposals

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