Summer 2023 Kentucky Alumni Magazine

Un iversit y of Kent uck y A lu m n i A s sociat ion

Alumni

Summer 2023

Stanley and Karen Pigman make history with a $34.5 million gift

Photo by Will Page

Contents

ON THE COVER

Stanley and Karen Pigman have left an indelible mark on the University of Kentucky through their giving, most recently with a $34.5 million gift to support the College of Engineering.

Photo by Will Page

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GATHERING AND REMEMBERING Black alumni gathered to reminisce about their years at UK and to celebrate a man considered a UK institution.

CELEBRATING UK WOMEN TODAY

By Stacey Gish It has been 135 years since the university’s first female student graduated. That milestone was celebrated with graduates and trustees.

PARTYING FOR A CAUSE

By Dan Knapp More than $17 million has been raised for the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center all thanks to a party on the eve of the Kentucky Derby.

SUPPORTING CLASSROOM TEACHERS

By Dani Jaffe Alumnus Don Frazier continues to do what he enjoys through a post-retirement appointment.

He’s running the Donald T. Frazier Science Outreach Center.

CORAL REEF BECOMES CLASSROOM What better place to learn about the environment than under the water in the Mesoamerican Reef?

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IT IS THEIR DREAM

By Lindsey Piercy Thanks to their generosity, Stanley and Karen Pigman are creating opportunities and transforming the lives of students for generations to come.

FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS

By Rosa Mejia-Cruz Members of Bill Borders’ family never wondered where they’d go to school or what they’d major in when they got there.

WITH THE HELP OF STUDENTS

By Sally Scherer Students have played a significant role in the Alumni Association through the years and it’s a win-win.

A RENAISSANCE WOMAN

By Patti Nickell With her degree from UK and a lot of help from her mother, Ann Evans has served the Commonwealth and a couple of governors.

Plus...

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From the President Pride in Blue News Research Club News

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Sports Class Notes In Memoriam Creative Juices Quick Take

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VOL. 94 NO.2 SUMMER 2023

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND LEADERSHIP ADVISORY COUNCIL

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 Christy Coffman ‘18 PH Dana Cox ‘87 CI Nancy Culp Caroline Francis ‘88 BE, ‘93 ‘02 ED Jack Gallt ‘84 CI Stacey Gish Emily Groves Leslie Hayes Kelly Hinkel ‘11 AS, ‘18 AFE Marci Hicks ‘87 AFE Lisa Hiscox ‘05 AS Albert Kalim ’03 ‘16 EN, ‘20 BE Ravyn Ladenburger ’17 AS Erica Langdorf Andrew Palmer ’12 ’18 AS Kirtland Roach Kathryn Schaffer ‘12 AFE Samantha Seitz: ‘22 AFE

Chris Shotwell Dawn Smallwood ’83 BE Logan Smart ’23 BE Shelby Stivers ‘18 CI Dave Timoney ‘06 FA, ‘20 GS Pam Webb Emma White Don Witt ‘82 ‘84 CI Christina Yue ‘11 CI Jing Zhang ‘23 ED

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 ‘23 SW Richard M. Womack ’53 AFE

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 J. Tim Skinner ‘80 DES Robin Simpson Smith ‘79 BE, ‘82 LAW Jonell Tobin ’68 ’95 ED Allen O. Wilson ’03 AFE, ’06 LAW

Leadership Advisory Council

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

CONTACT US King Alumni House 400 Rose St. Lexington, KY 40506 859-257-8905 800-269-ALUM Fax: 859-323-1063 Email: ukalumni@uky.edu Web: www.ukalumni.net

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

ukalumni @kentuckyalumni @kentucky_alumni ukalumni.net/linkedin

Kentucky Alumni (ISSN 732-6297) is published quarterly by the University of Kentucky Alumni Association, Lexington, Kentucky, for its members. © 2023 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.

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 ‘73 BE 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 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 G. David Ravencraft ’59 BE William Schuetze ’72 LAW

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 Constituency Group Representatives James R. Aaron ’04 CI: PrideCats Devon H. Ellison ’09 AS: Alumni Band Keith L. Jackson ’87 CI: Lyman T. Johnson African American Alumni Constituency Group Mike Morris: Alumni Band Appointed Dr. Michael A. Christian ’76 AS, ’80 DE: Honorary Jo Hern Curris ’63 AS, ’75 LAW: Honorary Katie Eiserman ’01 ED: Athletics Stan R. Key ’72 ED: Honorary Jake Lemon: Office of Philanthropy D. Michael Richey ’74 ’79 AFE: Honorary Marian Moore Sims ’72 ’76 ED: Honorary Amelia Pace: Student Government Association w w w. u ka l umni . net

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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

HOMECOMING 2023 O C TO B E R 9 – 15

W W W.U K H O M E C O M I N G.C O M

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M I S S O U R I V S . K E N T U C K Y F O OT B A L L TA I LG AT E & G A M E

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G O L D E N W I L D C AT S O C I E T Y I N D U C T I O N & AC T I V I T I E S

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LY M A N T. J O H N S O N AWA R D S L U N C H E O N

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B LO C K PA R T Y & P E P R A L LY AT A L U M N I COMMONS

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A DAY AT K E E N E L A N D & M U C H M O R E !

From the President T

Photo by Arden Barnes, UK Photo

his year at our Commencement ceremonies, I shared with the spring 2023 graduating class some words of wisdom from the poet Mary Oliver, who said, “tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? We are watching with great excitement.”

We are, indeed, watching with great excitement as our alumni lead lives of meaning and purpose.

This year, a record number of Wildcats will join you.

Based on preliminary data, we expect to award more than 8,000 degrees and 1,000 certificates in the 2022-2023 academic year, as defined by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

These numbers play a powerful role in the university’s efforts to put students first as we work to advance our Commonwealth.

Our alumni are helping us in that mission. The UK Board of Trustees approved a more than $34.5 million gift to the UK College of Engineering — one of the largest single gifts in the 158-year history of the university — from Stanley and Karen Pigman.

For their long-standing support, the college has been named the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. You will read more about the gift and its impact in this issue.

They are committed to helping students live their most wild and precious lives.

As the University of, for and with Kentucky, we also are committed to providing healing and hope throughout the region. It is a promise we make to those we serve.

The stories embedded in this issue illustrate this promise as well. They are stories of donors who hope to help heal fellow Kentuckians. They are stories of alumni who opened heavy doors and those who continue engaging in outreach.

They are stories of professional success in careers that serve our campus and the entire Commonwealth. They are stories of ongoing engagement in alumni clubs that maintain a precious bond between our graduates and this institution.

All of these stories illustrate what our alumni know so well: this university is a special place — a place committed to a shared promise of building a brighter future.

Sincerely,

Eli Capilouto President

University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto celebrated at the May 2023 commencement by sharing a fist bump with a graduate while entering the ceremony at Rupp Arena.

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Photo by Christiana Nyako

Pride in Blue

Emmett P. “Buzz” Burnam, director of Diversity and Undergraduate Student Recruitment and a longtime fixture on campus, and University of Kentucky Alumni Association President Antoine Huffman share a laugh at the Black Alumni Reunion dinner that recognized Burnam.

S

pring is a season of rejuvenation, but for me it is also a season of reflection. I think it’s important to reflect and understand the key attributes that paved the way to our present success. What sits in the forefront of my mind are the connections we make and the relationships we build over time.

As we soar into the summer, I am reminded that the sun shines brightly on the University of Kentucky.

The events that have taken place this year — from the celebration of 135 Years of UK Women to the Black Alumni Reunion and Founders Day festivities — have been tremendous and filled with love and grace with people from all over the world in attendance. And dare I say, it has taken a ton of energy and many people to create and organize them.

How thankful we are to now be able to have in-person events with gatherings for all to enjoy.

As I reflect on this year as president of the UK Alumni Association, I want to say how proud I am of our alumni and alumni staff. This year we revitalized what we do well. But we also had an opportunity to evolve and innovate in areas that improve our strategic pathways so we can continue to elevate our effectiveness and brand awareness with the university and alumni.

Let me remind you of a few achievements this year.

• Your alumni association was recognized by the Kentucky House of Representatives for events surrounding the recognition of 135 Years of UK Women, women who were empowered to help make change and move the University forward.

• This spring, along with the Office of Institutional Diversity, we hosted the first university sponsored Black Alumni Reunion.

• Commencement and Grad Gathering this spring were packed with more than 4,000 attendees for each of the four ceremonies and filled with excitement. As part of our tradition, students received a commemorative lapel pin from the association.

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Progress is being made on Alumni Commons and we’re looking forward to using the space later this year. It will be a wonderful place for students and alumni. One of President Eli Capilouto’s main objectives for the university is that it be a place where students come first. Alumni Commons is a direct result of that mission. The space is one of a kind and will be a comfortable place where students and alumni from diverse backgrounds can gather and foster new memories, learn and be educated together, and, just as important, be a place where we can celebrate with one another.

As I write my last letter for the magazine, I am reminded how much I love this university and my alumni family. To say I am honored and privileged to represent you all as your alumni president is an understatement. I am truly blessed to represent you and I stand a little taller because of who we stand for as Wildcats forever.

Remember, that everyone can’t be famous, but everyone can be GREAT because greatness is determined by the service you do and the significance of how you do it. The service the alumni association provides is significant because it can change the lives of students and the trajectory of their families.

Lastly, continue to win with people and for the people.

Go Cats!

Antoine Huffman ’05 CI UK Alumni Association President

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News

‘CADILLAC OF STILLS’ PART OF LARGEST TEACHING DISTILLERY IN U.S. Getting a 30-foot-high column still inside the under-construction University of Kentucky distillery was no small endeavor. The still is the centerpiece of research and education for the spirits industry’s next generation of distillers. A giant crane lifted the still from a tractor-trailer and carefully hoisted it high in the air before lowering it through the roof of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits.

“This will be the largest teaching distillery in the United States and in the world,” said Seth DeBolt, institute director and UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment professor. “We’ll have the ability to distill one barrel per day, but more importantly conduct research, education and outreach through the distillery.”

Vendome Copper and Brass Works partnered with the Beam Institute throughout the planning and construction process. They took parts of a still from the Beam Craft Distillery and customized them for the Beam Institute. Mike Sherman, vice president of Vendome, was onsite for the delivery.

“All of this equipment is the exact equipment you would see in a commercial distillery, just on a smaller scale with cookers and fermenters and a distillation column, condensers, beer heater,” he said.

“People can hands-on learn how to use the equipment and become distillers.”

“They have built the Cadillac of stills in our signature spirits industry,” he said. “It’s a real honor to have them here. They have such a rich history of engineering excellence.”

Sherman said this system will begin to help the Beam Institute educate future distillery workers in an industry with booming demand but lacking enough workers to keep up with that demand. ■ 8 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Third-year design students in the Product Design studio at the University of Kentucky were approached by the Office of Sustainability to create a custom circular conference table.

The opportunity gave the students handson experience with the entire process of product design, from design conception and prototyping to material selection and fabrication, to finishing and assembly. Additionally, students were able to learn about sustainable design practices and how to incorporate them into their designs.

The table was made from six distinct species of wood from the Campus Woods, an initiative between the Office of Sustainability, UK Grounds, and the University Forestry Department to find alternative uses for trees removed from the university campus.

The students not only learned about sustainable materials sourcing but also had the opportunity to delve into the fabrication process.

To begin the project, students visited the Campus Woods inventory to select the best boards of lumber, which were then transported to the Cox Shavings Facility for drying.

During this time, each student designed and created a miniature scale model of the tabletop, from which the Sustainability Office selected a final design. The final design selected is made from three nested circles.

Each circle is half the size of the circle it is located inside. ■

Photo by Pooya Mohaghegh

Photo by Matt Barton, UK Agriculture

DESIGN STUDENTS CREATE TABLE FOR OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY

Photo by Mark Cornelison, UK Photo

W. T. YOUNG LIBRARY, ORAL HISTORY CENTER CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARIES

William T. Young Library, affectionately known as “Willy T.”, celebrates its 25th birthday this year. The building has been a center of both social and academic life for thousands of UK students since it opened on April 3, 1998.

The library houses 1.2 million volumes and provides seating for 4,000 users.

It took four years and $58 million to complete. At the time, it was the most expensive construction project in the University of Kentucky’s history.

Planning for a new library began in 1990 and started to be realized in 1991

with the gift of $5 million from local businessman William T. Young after whom the library is named. Young was a prominent local businessman, horse breeder, philanthropist and alumnus. He served on the UK Board of Trustees.

At the time Young made his gift, it was the largest cash gift ever given by an alumnus.

It is the third central library in the university’s history, replacing the Margaret T. King Library which opened in 1931 and the Carnegie Library constructed in 1909.

The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History which is internationally recognized for its work in collecting and preserving oral histories is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The program was named for former Kentucky Governor Louie B. Nunn.

With over 18,000 oral history interviews, Nunn Center collections span an incredible breadth of topics and provide resources to researchers across Kentucky and around the world. ■

TWO STUDENTS, ONE CITIZEN RECEIVE UK’S HIGHEST HUMANITARIAN HONOR Two University of Kentucky students and one local citizen have received UK’s highest honor for humanitarian efforts — the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, named in honor of the New York Southern Society’s first president Algernon Sydney Sullivan, a businessman and philanthropist.

This year’s Sullivan Award student winners are Alex Degen and Jessica Lamb. Christine Smith is the citizen’s award recipient.

Degen graduated in May with a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from the Martin School of Public Policy and an undergraduate certificate in financial planning from the Gatton College of Business and Economics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2021 and a bachelor’s in business administration in 2022. He is a pitcher for UK’s baseball team, the Bat Cats.

Degen began volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House of the Bluegrass his first year at UK. He has also served at other local non-profits such as Gods’ Pantry and the Miracle League, and has mentored children from local elementary schools regularly.

Lamb graduated in May with a bachelor of science in agricultural and medical biotechnology from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

She has received many awards and scholarships, including the Otis A. Singletary Professional Fellowship, William K.

Sharp Family Scholarship (awarded three years in a row), and Bill Gatton College of Medicine Scholarship award. Her major service interest lies in activities related to Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Smith has a bachelor’s degree in geography and international relations from Syracuse University. She earned a master’s degree in geography at UK with a graduate certificate in social theory; and successfully defended a doctorate degree in geography.

She is currently the executive director of Seedleaf, a community gardening organization based in Lexington that provides horticultural training for children and adults and supports the practice of gardening and small-scale farming.

She is a board member of the Good Foods Co-op, a founder of Climate Conversations and a former steering committee member of Patchwork Cooperative Loan Fund. ■

Alex Degen

Jessica Lamb

Christine Smith w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Lisa Cassis, College of Medicine, Melinda Ickes, College of Education, and Sherali Zeadally, College of Communication and Information, are UK Alumni Professorship Award winners.

Dating back to 1985, when faculty were “recognized for their influential scholarly contributions, sustained excellence in teaching, and outstanding career or public service,” the Alumni Professorship program is just one way for the UK Alumni Association to say thank you to the faculty members.

Cassis has served as the vice president for research since June 2015. She leads the university’s research enterprise and oversees research proposal development, grants and contracts administration, human subjects protection, 13 multidisciplinary research centers and institutes and seven service core facilities. She is the principal investigator on several multi-million-dollar federal grants.

Ickes is the director of graduate studies and professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion and will be transitioning to the new acting assistant dean of research in the College of Education. She has a joint appointment in the College of Nursing where she serves as co-director of the Tobacco Policy Research Program, Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments (BREATHE).

Zeadally has been named a highly cited researcher in Computer Science by Clarivate/Web of Science for the past three consecutive years. His research explores novel cybersecurity and privacy-preserving architectures and protocols that can make the world safer and more secure.

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association, with a committee chaired by the UK Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement G.T. Lineberry, presented this honor. Each of these professors will receive a $15,000 stipend per year for five years.

The Alumni Professorships are funded through the UK Alumni Association, and the selection and/or renewal of this professorship is managed by the Office of Faculty Advancement. ■

JAKE LEMON BEGINS AS VICE PRESIDENT FOR PHILANTHROPY AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT Jake Lemon, who has a nearly 20-year career in higher education philanthropy, has begun his duties as the vice president for philanthropy and alumni engagement at the University of Kentucky.

Lemon has most recently overseen philanthropic efforts 10 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Photo by Jalessa Wells

THREE SELECTED FOR UK ALUMNI PROFESSORSHIPS AWARDS

STUDENTS LEARN FROM GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN Seeking an opportunity for practical application, students in Jaleesa Wells’ arts administration class visited the Berea College Special Collections and Archives to view records from the collection of Janis Ian, an award-winning and world-renowned folk musician, social activist, and LGBTQ icon.

Students were able to look at an array of documents from the recently donated materials before the collection opens to the public in the spring 2024.

The Janis Ian Archives are a resource for music history research, offering access to evidence of Ian’s life and career, including publishing, recording and live performance contracts, copyright paperwork, tax returns, contracts and correspondence dating back to 1964.

In arts administration students had been studying policies and laws surrounding copyright, trademarks, intellectual property and licensing practices. Wells wanted students to investigate these topics by engaging with their practical applications in the arts.

“A critical learning objective was for students to access primary resources within the Janis Ian special collection in order to identify and summarize the differing aspects of artistic agency and to discover and investigate arts administration legal practices surrounding a successful musician’s career,” Wells said.

While much of the collection is composed of records, Ian’s donation included various artifacts as well, including hats, shoes and even Ian’s 1937 Martin D-18 guitar, which had belonged to her father. Students were able to play the guitar, per Ian’s wishes. ■

at the University of Connecticut. He led a team of more than 170 people at the UConn Foundation through three consecutive record-breaking years in fundraising.

“I am excited to see what Jake will do, in partnership with the terrific team in UK Philanthropy and the UK Alumni Association, to support our mission to teach, heal, discover and serve,” said UK President Eli Capilouto.

Lemon takes over for Tom Harris, who had served as interim vice president since January 2022 in addition to his existing duties as vice president for university relations.

Lemon earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from the University of Mississippi. He holds a certificate in financial planning from Florida State University. ■

Research

Photo by Ben Corwin

FIRST UKinSPIRE FELLOWS PURSUE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECTS

NEW TREATMENT TARGETS METASTATIC CANCER A new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study reveals more about changes that happen to cancer cells when they metastasize and identifies a promising target for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Metastasis is when cancer cells spread from the primary tumor to surrounding tissues and distant organs in the body and is the primary cause for breast cancer mortality. Cancer cells’ plasticity, or their ability to change and adapt, is critical for progression to metastatic cancer.

The research shows a metabolite called succinate plays a role in enhancing cancer cell plasticity and identifies an enzyme called PLOD2 as a regulator of succinate during breast cancer progression.

“The results reveal a previously unidentified function of succinate and its role in breast cancer metastasis, filling a critical gap in our knowledge regarding how changes in metabolites promote cancer cell plasticity,” said Ren Xu, the study’s principal investigator and a professor in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.

In collaboration with Andrew N. Lane, professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology and codirector of the Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry, Xu’s team studied metabolic reprogramming in mammary epithelial cells during epithelial mesenchymal transition, a biologic process that mobilizes cancer cells.

The results also suggest targeting PLOD2 could be a promising strategy to suppress breast cancer metastasis and drug resistance. ■

The first cohort of UKinSPIRE fellows has been selected. The Office of the Vice President for Research and the University of Kentucky International Center are jointly funding the UKinSPIRE opportunity to link faculty and international collaborators and to establish collaborations with new international partner institutions or add greater depth to existing institutional partnerships.

A review committee comprised of faculty and administrative staff provided recommendations to the Vice President for Research, Associate Provost for Internationalization and executive director of International Partnerships & Research.

The following projects have been selected for support starting July 1: • “Expanding a Transatlantic Research Alliance (ExTRA),” Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez (Center for Applied Energy Research) • “Supporting Inclusive Early Childhood Practices: A Collaborative Project between Valencia Catholic University and the University of Kentucky,” Jennifer Grisham (College of Education) • “Clinical Trial Planning for SJ733,” R. Kip Guy (College of Pharmacy) • “Coal Mine Restoration as Climate Mitigation? Evaluating the influence of planted tree species on soil carbon storage in reclaimed mine sites in Kentucky and Czechia,” Kenton Sena (Lewis Honors College) • “Resolving the Austronesian Problem: Community Archaeology and Heritage Science Education in Surigao del Norte (Philippines),” Hugo Reyes-Centeno (College of Arts and Sciences) • “Bilateral Partnership between the University of Kentucky School of Music and Ionian University Department of Music Studies (Corfu, Greece),” Jason Dovel (College of Fine Arts) • “Hybrids: Research Methodologies for Sustainability, Advancement, and Conservation in Polish and American Graphic Arts,” Jonathan McFadden (College of Fine Arts) ■ W W W.RE SE ARCH.UK Y.EDU w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Yours for the taking We want individuals with energy, enthusiasm, and—above all—a passion for learning. If you communicate well, multitask, and take care of business quickly and responsibly, we want you.

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Vacation awaits you

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UK BLACK ALUMNI REUNION T

he University of Kentucky Alumni Association was thrilled to host the UK Black Alumni Reunion April 13-15. The weekend event gave alumni an opportunity to gather, reconnect, socialize and come together through a series of engaging educational experiences, social events and networking.

From mingling at the welcome reception to sharing stories of career struggles and successes to discussions on the power and influence of Black women to recognizing the UK Director for Diversity Undergraduate Student Recruitment Emmett P. “Buzz” Burnam, the weekend was an enormous success.

Special thanks to the UK Office of Institutional Diversity, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, JT Davis, Cornett and the UK Office of Philanthropy for their sponsorship of various events and activities during the weekend. ■

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Photos by Stacey Gish, Jacob Klein and Christiana Nyako

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Support each other

Panelists recommend

speaking up and speaking out

By Stacey Gish

I

n recognition of the first woman to graduate from the University of Kentucky 135 years ago, The University of Kentucky Alumni Association is celebrating the women who have made an impact upon the university—from the trailblazing “firsts” to those who continue to make a difference in their respective fields.

The event that kicked off this initiative was a luncheon and panel discussion held on March 2 in the Gatton Student Center featuring four prominent alumnae:

Jennifer Barber ’05 CI, ’08 LAW,

office partner-in-charge with Frost Brown Todd Attorneys in Louisville

Dr. Laneshia Conner ‘02 SW,

assistant professor with the UK College of Social Work

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Dr. Ima Ebong ’13 MED,

assistant professor of neurology at UK

Ouita Michel ’87 AS,

owner and chef, Holly Hill and Company

and taking the good from each of those mentors and then making it your own. When I first started practicing law and I worked for this older partner who was terrific, but his style was so different than mine. … I took a lot of great advice from him. He had a really strong work ethic and lots of qualities I wanted to emulate. But then there were some qualities where I would be embarrassed if went into a courtroom and tried to say those things and talk that way.”

Conner: “I think peer mentorship is invaluable. That has helped me a lot to have people who are on my level and we have different contributions to one another. It’s an investment.”

Question: What are some of the best ways that women can support each other either personally or professionally?

Michel: “When I came back from chef school, the only person who would hire me was Debbie Long who owns Dudley’s Restaurant. She’s been my friend and mentor ever since then. I don’t golf and I really hate small talk and I’m not good at cocktail parties. But, when I need her, she is there. And when she needs me, I am there. I think that’s so important. As women, we don’t have to compete with one another. We do know how to support each other. That’s our secret superpower.”

Ebong: “The biggest thing we can do to support each other as women is to just speak up. Don’t be silent if you see there’s some injustice going toward your fellow women colleagues. … Today I went to the bathroom … there are sanitary napkins for free in the Student Center bathrooms.

I work in the Medical Center, and we don’t have that there.

I made a note to email someone as soon as I get back to my office. Just speak up and speak out.”

Question: What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?

Ebong: “Whatever you want, just do it. Don’t put off family, don’t put off your friends for any of this. Your family and your friends are your backbone. They will be there to support you.

Don’t push them away. Work will always be there.”

Conner: “Lose the definitions. As women, we have followed definitions that were created with us not in mind. Write your own definition. If somebody doesn’t know, then educate them.”

Barber: “When you are comfortable, the bar is not set high enough and you’re not challenging yourself enough.

A healthy level of discomfort means you are challenging yourself and I think that’s really important to succeed.”

Michel: “Whatever you’re doing, don’t assume that you are less than. That you are somehow behind the pack or even in the middle of the pack. Assume you are ahead and listen to your own instincts.”

Photos by Shelly Fryman

UK Student Government Association Vice President Amelia Pace served as the discussion moderator.

The women shared personal experiences from their career journeys as well as practical advice for the audience of current students and alumni. The following is an excerpt from the discussion. The conversation in its entirety can be found on the From the Blue podcast at ukalumni.net/podcast.

Question: Can you talk about your time at UK and how that prepared you for entering the workforce?

Michel: “From UK, I got this incredible intellectual foundation. And sometimes I feel a little sad when we talk so much about how a college education has to make you job ready. In my mind, you’ve got decades to work. You only have a short period of your life where you can indulge in absolute curiosity and passionate curiosity. So why not use that time to learn about as many different things as possible? And then whatever you do, you’ll be prepared for it.”

Question: Were there any organizations or leadership positions that helped you develop key skills that you now use in your career?

Barber: “My experience here at UK was one that was really transformative for me. It was so instrumental in my development of leadership skills and my development of teamwork abilities. I think those have carried throughout my career. I was a UK Ambassador while I was here. Our jobs were to learn the ins and outs of the university. Then we would go out and go to rural parts of Kentucky and help with recruiting. I feel like those basic skills of learning a product, learning how to sell the product, getting out in Kentucky and traveling, doing public speaking… really led to some of the same skills that I use to advocate for our clients.”

Question: What is an obstacle you faced in your career and how did you overcome it?

Conner: “Working in social work, you do deal with not just the clients you work with, but also the stereotypes about the work that you do. … I struggled a lot with messaging. … I spent a lot of time … trying to write and sound like other people. I didn’t have a lot of guidance of how you pull yourself into the work that you do. … I like to think there are opportunities to educate people and to normalize that you do have to develop your own voice and it takes a long time.

Ebong: “There have been some obstacles not necessarily because I was a woman but also because I am a Black woman.

One of the things that sticks out to me, and I get a little shaken when I talk about it, I was called the “n” word on my third-year surgery rotation by a patient and that almost broke me. Because that never happened before. But I didn’t let it break me.”

Question: How have you built up your confidence over the course of your career?

Barber: “There will inevitably be times in your career where you feel like you don’t belong. You probably won’t feel confident, but no one needs to know that and you have to be comfortable in your own skin to use your own life experiences and bring that to the table, even if that’s different. That’s why I think diversity is so important.

Whether it’s by age, or gender or race, because we all take our life experiences to the board room or to the office or wherever and you’ve got to speak up about your perspective because that’s what makes things better.”

Question: Did you have a mentor during your time at UK or have a role model that you look up to now?

Barber: “The key is surrounding yourself with mentors

Left to right are Jill Holloway Smith, associate vice president for alumni engagement and executive director of the UK Alumni Association, UK Student Government Association Vice President Amelia Pace, Barber, Conner, Ebong and Michel. w w w. u ka l umni . net

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From the

Trustees’perspective

Dream beyond your wildest dreams

By Stacey Gish

A

s the UK Alumni Association recognizes the impact women have made upon the university over the past 135 years, it is essential to consider the influence of the Board of Trustees as it governs the institution’s educational and financial policies.

The UK Board of Trustees consists of 16 members appointed by the Governor, two members of the faculty, one university staff employee and one member of the student body. The terms of the appointed members are six years.

Georgia M. Blazer was the first woman appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees. She served from 1939 to 1961. Mira Snider Ball was the first woman to serve as chair of the UK Board of Trustees in 2007. Today, the three alumni representatives to the Board are women: • Brenda Baker Gosney ’70 HS, ’75 ED • Paula Leach Pope ’73 ’75 ED • Rachel Watts Webb ’05 CI These women recently talked with UK Alumni Association Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives Christina Yue to share how UK has impacted their personal and professional lives. The following is

an excerpt from the discussion. The conversation in its entirety can be found on the From the Blue podcast at ukalumni.net/podcast.

Question: Can you tell us a little about yourself, your career and your involvement in UK? Gosney: “I started my career as a physical therapist at a large teaching hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. I did some teaching at UK. [I was] Director of Rehabilitation at a community hospital in Cincinnati. Following that, I started working for a for-profit health care company and was an administrator in their outpatient division. After doing that for probably 10 years, I went to their inpatient division and became the Chief Executive Officer of HealthSouth Northern Kentucky Rehabilitation Hospital. I retired from there.”

Pope: “I am a native of Ironton, Ohio.

I was a student at Ohio State University and married at the end of my junior year. My husband was a UK graduate and lived in Lexington. I like to say he recruited me to UK. I graduated with a degree in social studies education and went on to get a master’s in higher education. I taught school for a while,

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worked for the mayor of Lexington, and became assistant director of the Chamber of Commerce. Finally, that job I was looking for at UK became available. I was the first fundraiser for the libraries. …For 17 years I was director of fundraising for the libraries.

After we opened the new library and I felt like I had done these things about three or four times over again, I felt there was time for a little change.

I moved to the central development office and for the next 18 years was a fundraiser and donor relations director for the university. Loved every minute of it. I retired five years ago. It was a joy and a wonderful career.”

Webb: “I grew up in Shelbyville, Kentucky, so not too far down the road. I remember when I left, my dad said, ‘You may have been a big fish in a little pond, but now you are going to be a little fish in a big pond.’ As soon as I headed to campus, which was a lot larger, I was determined to get involved. I studied integrated strategic communications at the College of Communication and Information and minored in sociology focused on public relations. Just as much as my classwork,

I think my extracurricular involvement gave me tremendous experiences. I was able to get involved with student government and focus on advocacy. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to work in government relations for the university, advocating on a grassroots level for policies and funding. Trustee Gosney was one of our many alumni around the state who I was fortunate to work with and who helped to advocate for policy matters. I’ve been fortunate to have a varied career in mostly nonprofits – health care, community health communication — and we also have a small family business in commercial real estate that my husband started 25 years ago.”

Question: Can you describe the impact UK has had on you?

Webb: “At the University of Kentucky, you have endless possibilities. Not just in what you major in but in connecting with people. Coming from a smaller town, I was kind of limited on my experiences and encounters with people who are different from me, meeting people from the International Student Council or various organizations who had different life experiences and perspectives. That made my life much richer and opened my eyes. I think that has really helped me to become a better citizen.”

Gosney: “I always say UK has given me so much. It’s almost like a debt that one could never repay. First, it gave me a great career I loved. I had the opportunity to be a clinician, an educator, and administrator. It’s given me my precious Wildcats to which I am blindly loyal. And of course, it’s given me the opportunity to serve in the Alumni Association, which I’ve been a part of almost since graduation. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being able to give back through the Alumni Association as well.”

Question: Can you talk about your role as Alumni Trustee representative and the impact you hope to make on the university?

Pope: “I have been involved since the early ̦90s with the Alumni Association and served as a past president. I think what I bring to the university is a historical perspective and again all of the context all the alumni and the donors that I have met over the years. They feel comfortable contacting me and I feel comfortable contacting them when issues or just matters of interest arise.”

Webb: “I feel like the Alumni Association is the umbilical cord for me to the university. I’ve been involved in a lot of different ways but that’s really kind of the lifeline and like they said, the relationships are centered through the Alumni Association. I got involved as a student and I just keep coming back. We’re always looking for new alumni to get involved and energize and bring their perspectives. That would be my encouragement. If you haven’t gotten involved, we need you and there’s a seat for you at the table.”

Gosney: “I think the Alumni Association because we’ve all been involved for a very long time, it’s given us a knowledge of the university that we wouldn’t have had otherwise as we step into our role on the Board of Trustees. I really do think it gives you a leg up with that knowledge.”

Question: As trustees, can you talk a little about the impact you would like to make in this role?

Gosney: “My first year, my hope is to listen and to learn.

I think one of the important things that the university does is health care. It’s one of the major things that the university offers to our community, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the people of Kentucky. Hopefully because of my background

in health care I’ll be able to contribute to move that forward in a positive direction.”

Webb: “I chair the academic and student affairs committee so that is the area that I feel most passionate about in a lot of ways. We exist to improve the lives of Kentuckians. Our society is so fractured right now. So many different opinions and people are pretty divided. But one thing we all agree on is that we want there to be a better quality of life. Whether that’s jobs, health care, we want those opportunities for our families, for our children, for generations to come. I believe that is why the university is so unifying. That is something that we can all get behind is the opportunities that education provide for our communities.”

Pope: “When I first got on the board, I thought, ‘Oh I’m going to have a short learning curve here because I’ve been around for 35 years. I know pretty much everything about the university.’ The first thing I learned is how little I knew about the university. It is a vast, vast enterprise. I want alumni and beyond to know what an incredible resource this institution is. I want them to be proud of it because the things that we are doing are earth shaking, international and even out in space.”

Question: We’ve been talking a lot about the emphasis on 135 years of UK women and how we all stand on the shoulders of the people who came before us. I would love to hear from you what advice you would give to the next generation of female leaders.

Webb: “I’m sitting here with two women… Brenda, I saw her as a businesswoman and visited her in her office when she was CEO. Shortly after graduation, I saw how she gave her time to the university as a volunteer. Paula, I saw her working for the university and help start Women & Philanthropy. These two women I’m here with, I stand on their shoulders, and I feel very honored to serve on the board with them. The main thing that I would encourage women is that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking there’s scarcity of opportunities. Remember, the more that we lend to others, the more we promote other women, speak well of them and give them opportunities. It doesn’t take away from us, it actually expands tenfold what comes in our lives. I hope that’s what we can do as women who are part of the Wildcat family.”

Pope: “As a high school graduate in the ̦60s, the glass ceilings were just beginning to be broken and many of us felt like our choices were limited – you could be a teacher, you could be a nurse, that sort of thing – once I got to college, my eyes were opened to lots of other career opportunities. UK uses the phrase, ‘Things are wildly possible.’ I think I would encourage women to dream beyond your wildest dreams because you can be anything you want to be.”

Gosney: “Women in leadership is just one of the things I feel very passionate about. I ‘grew up’ in a female-dominated profession so I really had an advantage and the opportunity to see a lot of strong women leaders. I would say to the women to be confident. Your opinions matter. We need to support each other in our roles as leaders and as women.

Women must be best friends to each other, to other female leaders, it’s not a competition. We are here to support each other, to help each other succeed and we need to have cooperative, compassionate relationships with female leaders.”

WA NT TO HE A R MORE? L IS TEN TO THE F ULL EPISODES ON THE FROM THE BLUE P ODCA S T. W W W.UK ALUMNI.NE T/P ODCA S T w w w. u ka l umni . net

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WIN, PLACE AND

SHOW OUT

NOTED UK ALUMNI OPEN THEIR DOORS AND RAISE THE ROOF TO GENERATE MORE THAN $17 MILLION ON BEHALF OF DIABETES AND OBESITY RESEARCH

By Dan Knapp

I

n the hours before his chestnut colt, Aristides, galloped to victory at the inaugural Kentucky Derby, thoroughbred owner and notorious gambler Henry Price McGrath was already celebrating. While luxuriating beneath a dense grove of locust trees on his Lexington stud farm known as McGrathiana — now home to the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research Campus — McGrath and fellow silk hat-wearing gentry gorged on a feast of burgoo, mutton and bourbon. Lots of bourbon.

This lavish tradition continues a century-and-a-half later throughout the Commonwealth as a ritual known as the Derby Eve Party.

Some Derby eve festivities are sedate, dignified affairs; others can generously be characterized as “raucous” or “hedonistic.”

Most fall somewhere in the middle.

Regardless of the size, menu or guest list, these bacchanals all pay tribute to the Sport of Kings. Only one event, however, can lay

claim to the highest order of both festivity and charity: the annual Barnstable-Brown Derby Eve Gala.

The Barnstable-Brown Gala emerged out of necessity when Derby-themed parties were de rigueur for the Kentucky social elite.

Despite Louisville’s storied Churchill Downs racetrack being the site of the Run for the Roses since the beginning in 1875, most Derby gaiety was concentrated 80 miles to the east in Lexington. Former Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum spokesmodels Patricia “Tricia” Barnstable-Brown and Priscilla “Cyb” Barnstable — along with their mother, Wilma “Willie” Barnstable — took it upon themselves to fill a merrymaking void for Louisvillian society closer to home.

Tricia and her husband, physician and educator David E. Brown, first opened their tony mansion overlooking Spring Drive to a few hundred celebrants in 1989. Leveraging contacts from the twins’ years working in Hollywood, the black-tie gala started to

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Photo by Michael Hickey, Getty Images Photo submitted by Barbara Edelman

Considered by many to be the heart and soul of the Barnstable-Brown Gala, Willie Barnstable is remembered as the driving force not only of the party, but of the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center.

Photo by Tim Webb

Renowned endocrinologist Dr. Dennis Karounos discussed the future of the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center with Tricia Barnstable-Brown and her son, Christopher.

Photo from ExploreUK

draw a veritable “who’s who” of sports and entertainment to their nascent parties.

“It was astonishing that there really weren’t any celebrations at that time in Louisville,” Tricia says. “We started with about 500 people.

We invited James Garner. Dixie Carter. Lots of stars. And they came!”

Influential industrialists brushed elbows with glamorous supermodels. Motown divas danced into the wee hours next to gridiron Goliaths.

It soon became the proverbial hottest ticket in town. The New York Times dubbed it “the granddaddy of all Derby parties.”

“Now, the party has more than doubled in size,” Tricia continues.

Throngs of shiny limousines and stylish SUVs slowly snake their way through Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood to deliver the occupants within. Paparazzi flashbulbs and a cacophony of spectator screams announce the arrival of the latest pop culture sensations like Jack Harlow or Morgan Wallen. Media outlets from around the globe report on the comings and goings. Christened by Condé Nast as one of the 10 best parties in the world, the event has grown beyond the Barnstable-Browns’ wildest expectations.

“It’s almost unimaginable,” Tricia sighs incredulously. “The thing that most people may not realize is that it was a fundraiser for diabetes from the very beginning because diabetes runs through David’s side of the family.”

As his wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law bore much of the heavy lifting in terms of the party planning duties, David’s favored role was to ensure everyone felt welcome.

Before they achieved prominence through modeling and television appearances, the Barnstable twins were UK cheerleaders.

“That was important to him,” Tricia recalls of her husband, a former United States Army Captain. “He greeted and thanked each person for attending and for their support. Every. Single. One.” Despite bouts of debilitating illness, he gladly filled this position until his death from diabetes complications in 2003, aged 68. In the wake of the tragedy, the family decided to add even greater purpose to their annual soiree by using it to help fund a diabetes and endocrinology research center at the University of Kentucky.

Since its establishment in 2008 with a gift in David’s memory, the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center has become a recognized leader in diabetes research, treatment, prevention and education. The annual gala has generated more than $17 million for the center over the past 15 years.

“Credit goes to my mother. She was instrumental in the idea of donating to the University of Kentucky,” Tricia explains. “She made up her mind that she wanted to be involved in UK HealthCare.”

The decision to root a center at UK seemed an obvious fit. After all, the family is composed of generations of Wildcats. The parents met at UK in the late 1940s.

Born and raised in Illinois, Dale Barnstable was a star athlete who helped lead the UK men’s basketball team to their first two NCAA national championships.

Willie Haverly, a native of Corbin, Kentucky, was an academically gifted teenager who dreamed of being a teacher. At 16, Willie hopped a train to Lexington and enrolled at UK to study history.

“My father played for Adolph Rupp,” Barbara Barnstable Edelman explains.

“When my mother met my father, that’s when she became a total Wildcat sports fan — lifelong.”

All four of the couple’s children — Tricia, Cyb, Barbara and Dale Jr. — graduated from UK. The twins were on the cheerleading squad. Dale Jr. was a basketball walk-on under Joe B. Hall. Barbara’s future husband, Ray, was a scholarship player under legendary coaches Rupp and Hall between 1970 and 1974.

“I’ve always laughed that I’m the only one who didn’t do anything athletically, so I just became a super fan,” Barbara says.

Barbara confirms having the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center at their alma mater is a source of pride for the family because it serves the broader Kentucky community that has been heavily impacted by diabetes.

“This is a place that we love — our family loves this university,” she explains.

“It’s deeply, deeply ingrained in all of us. It’s hugely significant that the center is here in Lexington and that it’s at UK. The university gave a lot to us, and this is a way of giving back. I’m always championing how important it is to stay focused on fundraising for UK.” Barbara describes the center as a symbol of the family’s priorities.

“It’s easy for people to give their money to the athletics department, and you’ll not find bigger fans of UK basketball and football than our family — I w w w. u ka l umni . net

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GENERATIONS OF UK BARNSTABLES Dale Barnstable ’50 ED Willie Haverly Barnstable ’50 AS Tricia Barnstable-Brown ’73 ED Priscilla Barnstable ’73 ED Barbara Barnstable Edelman ’74 BE, ’77 LAW Dale Barnstable, Jr. ’80 BE Ray Edelman ’74 BE, ’77 LAW Mitchell Edelman ’14 BE Laura Ellen Edelman ’16 LAW

mean, we’re huge fans of all the athletic endeavors — but diabetes is real and it’s not glamorous,” she says. “It’s such a problem, so it’s very meaningful that the Barnstable legacy is trying to do something about a problem, not just talking about it. And it really is a standing tribute to my sister and certainly my mother.”

Among the matriarch’s defining attributes was a razor-sharp mix of intellect and creativity, according to Barbara. This combination helped turn the gala into such a rousing success and inspired those around her.

“She knew how to get things done,” Barbara says. “She had a solid work ethic and high expectations for herself and everybody around her — especially her children.”

“Nobody got off easy,” she laughs.

“Willie was amazing,” says Lisa Tannock, UK College of Medicine vice dean for faculty affairs and development, Schwartz Commonwealth Professor for Physician Leadership and professor of internal medicine at UK. “She was this tiny ball of energy. She was truly committed and a tremendous organizing force behind the gala.

Obviously, the rest of the family is critically involved, but she had the vision. She was just down to earth with the most amazing people skills at all levels.”

While the annual gala provides a glitzy opportunity for the worlds of equine racing, celebrity, fashion and high society to align in a prelude to the “most exciting two minutes in sports,” the Barnstables still are ever mindful of their initial and ongoing goal: funding diabetes research and care.

Photo submitted by Tricia Barnstable-Brown

Photo by Tim Webb

Accompanied by her sister Barbara Edelman (left), Tricia BarnstableBrown speaks with reporters at the 2008 dedication of the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center.

Cyb Barnstable (left) and Tricia Barnstable-Brown wave to the swarm of local, national and international media that descends on their annual Kentucky Derby eve celebration each spring.

“Mother and Tricia were very interested in how the money would be spent and what it was going toward — whether it would be going to what they wanted to be done with it, which was research,” Barbara recalls. “They didn’t want it to just go to administrative costs, overhead and the like. It had to be for something very quantifiable with a real purpose. Mother was involved in every aspect of the vision and how they wanted the proceeds to be used.”

Charles “Chipper” Griffith, acting dean of the UK College of Medicine, says the center’s importance should never go unrecognized.

“The support from the Barnstable-Brown family has catalyzed our ability to provide more coordinated clinical care for patients,” Griffith explains. “It’s catalyzed the research and educational aspects. It’s brought together a cadre of investigators — from the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, from Internal Medicine, from Endocrinology, from Pediatrics to any number of other departments — to do cutting-edge research into diabetes. The synergy is where the center’s power comes from — that’s its power and strength.”

At the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, the only facility of its type in Kentucky, researchers are working on ways to fight and understand the complications that arise with the disease.

“Much of our research at UK involves why patients develop certain complications from diabetes,” Tannock elaborates. “Dr. Simon Fisher is looking at hypoglycemia and low blood sugar risks. Dr. Philip Kern is investigating metabolic syndrome and associated vascular risk. My area deals with why people with diabetes have heart attacks and strokes. There’s a number of us who look in those areas. It’s not just the fact that they have diabetes and their blood sugar is high; it’s also the other ways diabetes impacts their lives, and we’re trying to figure out why and develop new treatments to help prevent it and save lives.”

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(NAME) DROPPING THE MIC The most coveted invitation in town, the Barnstable-Brown Kentucky Derby Eve Gala is largely regarded as Louisville’s premier social occasion. Co-hostess Tricia estimates she has welcomed more than 500 celebrities over the past 34 years, including Janet Jackson, Tom Brady, Chris Pine, Patrick Mahomes, Usher, Jeff Bridges and Jeff Bezos, as well as more local UK luminaries such as Miss USA 2021 Elle Smith and former Wildcat Randall Cobb.

Behind the wrought-iron gates at the Barnstable-Brown hillside home, onlookers enjoy a bevy of eclectic musical performances.

These performances are wholly organic — no set lists, no rehearsal.

Musical guests do not arrive expecting to perform—most simply jump on stage and entertain. In the past, surprising collaborations such as R&B legend Smokey Robinson dueting with “Fight Song” singer Rachel Platten (pictured above) or the unlikely trio of former Supreme Mary Wilson, guitarist Richie Sambora and vocalist Taylor Dayne have dazzled attendees with impromptu jam sessions on cloistered stages in the estate’s backyard.

“There’s always a house band, and they have to be versatile enough to play anything,” Barbara explains. “That’s been the case for years. In the early years, nobody knew if anybody would get up and do anything.

And then suddenly, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, George Strait is heading to the stage!’ And Tricia laughed and said, ‘I hope they know his music!’”

Beyond being a welcoming diversion for Kentucky’s A-List and out-of-town guests, however, the Barnstable-Brown Gala shines a national spotlight on the importance of diabetes research.

Some celebrity performers fly in expressly to support the gala’s mission with their talents. Others use their various platforms to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Perennial guest Joey Fatone from the ’90s boyband ’N SYNC appeared on “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” in 2021, playing on behalf of the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center.

Similarly, doo-wop hip hop group Boyz II Men brought the center to national attention last year with an appearance on “Celebrity Family Feud,” donating their winnings to the center. Each year, Sambora auctions off autographed, Swarovski crystal-encrusted Kantor guitars he designed and performed with during the gala, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars to diabetes research in the process.

After decades of helming the highly anticipated extravaganza, logic suggests that Tricia would have become desensitized to the glitz and glamour. She is not — she fan-girls right along with the other revelers.

When asked if she has a particular favorite musical moment from the party, Tricia exuberantly replies, “Fleetwood Mac. On stage. In my home!”

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Photo by Stephen J. Cohen, Getty Images

The diabetes rate in the United States is staggering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 130 million adults in the U.S. are living with diabetes or prediabetes. In Kentucky, diabetes rates are disproportionally higher than in most other states. More than 12 percent of all adults in the Commonwealth have diabetes. Worse, rates are significantly higher in areas such as Eastern Kentucky, where the population tends to be less affluent and less educated. However, efforts to combat these dire statistics are underway thanks to the UK Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center.

“We’re improving the quality of care we provide people here in Lexington, and we’re continuing to expand our clinical footprint throughout Kentucky,” says Fisher, the newly appointed center director. “We have outreach clinics where we send providers to Eastern Kentucky, where parents may have difficulty accessing proper care for kids with diabetes. The pediatric group is going to clinics in rural Kentucky to build and improve their care.”

According to Fisher, the center has doubled the number of patients receiving treatment over a half-decade. Each year, clinicians manage and treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes and other diabetes- and obesity-related diseases of thousands of area patients.

“Many of the impoverished areas of Kentucky, in particular, are food deserts, health care deserts, diabetes education deserts, among other things, so the expansion of telehealth services and the increased collaboration with local facilities to ensure that the patients can get the care they need as close to home as possible has been a major goal,” Tannock adds.

“It’s lifesaving for many people,” Barbara says of the center dedicated to her brother-in-law. “We all just get to pass through this life once, and if you have the opportunity to do something meaningful for other people, then that’s what you hope to do and that’s what my mother hoped to do as well.”

Willie Barnstable died in October 2022, aged 94. And while the gala maintains momentum with the next generation of Barnstables assuming leadership roles — Christopher Barnstable-Brown, an esteemed New York attorney and the only child of David and Tricia, along with his wife, Sarah, now attends to many public relations, guest relations and corporate sponsorship functions — an integral part of the festivities is deeply missed.

“My mother and I were a good team,” Tricia says, her voice faltering for a split second and then recovering. “She taught us to always be real, legitimate, honest and caring — and that’s what we try to do.”

Barbara says her favorite party recollections revolve around her mother’s almost-encyclopedic knowledge of the guests.

“My fondest memories are always just enjoying the night with my mother.

She was just the queen bee, the queen of the crowd. We always sat in a certain spot. She knew the guests. She sold tickets to them. She developed friendships with them. She personally knew half of the people attending. She was just remarkable — there she was, 93 years old, just sitting there, and along comes Kid Rock to give her a big kiss. For me, the fun was watching her have a blast.”

The Kentucky Derby celebrates its sesquicentennial on May 4, 2024. The historic 150th run is certain to garner more attention than usual and bolster events associated with it. Inquiries regarding the 2024 Barnstable-Brown Derby Eve Gala — the event’s 35th year — arrived even before the champagne flutes from this year’s party were shelved.

“It started the night of the party!” Tricia laughs. “I’m already getting multiple emails a day. Interest is greater now than ever before.”

Tricia describes the fundraiser as a passion project and shows no signs of slowing down despite being at it for more than three decades. Her devotion to the cause and the attendees who support it mitigate any stress generated by trying to outdo the previous party.

“I get energy from the guests,” she says. “There are wonderful and generous people in the world and the party is really a credit to all those who show up year after year for such an important cause.” ■

DONALD T. FRAZIER

Science Outreach Center impacting the lives of K-12 kids for 30 years

By Dani Jaffe

D

on Frazier is so passionate about physiology that he has been spreading his love of science through education outreach for much of his life.

Like Kentucky’s very own “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Frazier’s fun personality and pure love of what he does captivates anyone who listens to him — regardless of age.

Frazier, an alumnus of the University of Kentucky and professor emeritus of the UK College of Medicine Department of Physiology, formally retired from his faculty positions in physiology and biomedical engineering in 2000.

He’s turning 88 years old this year, but age is no match for Frazier — he refuses to let anything slow him down.

Today, Frazier continues to do what he enjoys through a post-retirement appointment. He runs the UK Science Outreach Center, renamed the Donald T. Frazier Science Outreach Center in his honor back in 2015. The outreach center formally opened its doors at the University of Kentucky in 1993 and has been helping K-12 students learn about the scientific wonders of our world ever since.

24 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

“What we try to do here is inform kids of all ages about how wonderful the ‘human machine’ is,” Frazier said. “How DNA starts with two cells and multiplies trillions of times to create your incredible self. We’re always talking about how amazing the scientific wonder of life is here, in many ways.”

Through his outreach efforts, Frazier and his team have taught over 147,000 students across the state of Kentucky to hopefully inspire them to enter science-related career paths. But when COVID-19 struck in 2020, the outreach center was forced to halt its operations.

“We really need more kids excited about science — which is what we try to do here,” Frazier said. But, of course, because of the pandemic, we couldn’t travel to schools, and we couldn’t host them in our center on campus here either, which was really difficult.”

This year, Frazier is excited to announce that the outreach center is back in full swing.

“We’re so glad to have classes back in the outreach center this year,” Frazier said. “We welcome any and all middle

Photos by Mark Cornelison, UK Photo

Through his outreach efforts, Frazier and his team have taught over 147,000 students across the state of Kentucky to hopefully inspire them to enter science-related career paths.

and high school classes to come visit us here and learn about science. And for the elementary kids in Central Kentucky, we’re offering to travel and teach them right from the comfort of their own classroom.”

Frazier’s outreach lessons, whether in-house or out at schools, are curated specifically to each class that comes to see him, to first and foremost support their existing curriculum in a fun, interactive way.

“We’re not trying to do anything other than support the classroom teacher,” Frazier said. “Any teacher that wants their class to spend a day here corresponds with me beforehand to talk about what the kids are learning, so I can target the lesson specifically to fit their learning needs.”

Recently, the outreach center had health sciences students from Adair County High School come in for a lesson on physiology and DNA. The students had the opportunity to hold and interact with real-life scientific artifacts that Frazier has collected over the course of his career — like a human brain, spinal cord, lungs and heart. Afterward, they got to see how everything fits together in a real-life cadaver at the UK gross anatomy lab.

“For the higher-level students, we try to book them with the UK gross anatomy lab to visit after their lesson with me in the outreach center,” Frazier said. “This is only for the older, higher-level kids, but I believe it really rounds out the education we provide here.”

Jennifer Carter, ACHS health sciences teacher and registered nurse, and Rebecca Cravens, ACHS athletic trainer and sports medicine instructor, chose to bring their students in to expose them to something they wouldn’t have necessarily had from inside the walls of their own classroom.

“This was our first time bringing the students out to the outreach center,” Carter said.

“It was just absolutely amazing. It really helps enhance the concepts we learn in school when they get to see the specimens in person and have a real-life experience with them.

The students absolutely loved Dr. Frazier. He made them laugh and engaged both the students, and us, the instructors, like a breeze.”

Visiting the Donald T. Frazier Science Outreach Center gives students the opportunity to be exposed to something they wouldn’t necessarily have in their own classrooms, said Adair County High School instructors. w w w. u ka l umni . net

25

The experience was so great for the kids, that they hope to return again and again.

“The kids said it was one of the best field trips they’ve ever been on,” Carter said. “So, we truly hope to make this an annual trip. They loved seeing the connection between anatomy, physiology and to see, hands-on, how all these organs work together in our bodies.”

Another underlying goal of Frazier’s is to teach kids why it is so important to take care of their bodies.

“Once I can get the students interested in learning about how their bodies work, then I can motivate them to take care of this awesome ‘machine’ they’ve been given,” Frazier said.

“I want them to take responsibility for a healthy diet, enough exercise, sleep, and to avoid drugs and smoking. These are all important factors to live a healthy life, no matter what career path they choose. So, every student, whether they decide to enter science-related careers or not, can benefit from our lessons here.”

‘HE COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE’ Several students who have been impacted by Frazier’s teachings over the years continue to stay in close touch with him. One former student, Dr. Cara Childers Keller, works in Louisville as a practicing OB-GYN. She says if it weren’t for Frazier’s mentorship, she may never have entered medicine.

“I originally met Dr. Frazier my freshman year at UK when I was in the honors program,” Keller said. “This was 19 years ago now. Dr. Frazier has been more like a grandfather to me than anything. He’s completely changed my life, and I would do anything for him.”

When she was a student, Keller had opportunities to work and teach in the outreach center alongside Frazier, which she says was one of her favorite things to do.

“Other students and I would always be in there, and we had the chance to teach some of the K-12 students with Dr. Frazier,” Keller said. “It was so fun, we all really loved it. And it truly helped round out my education in medicine.”

Jacob Jones, who recently graduated from the UK College of Medicine, says Frazier has helped direct him into the exact medical path he wants to go.

“I met Dr. Frazier when I began school here at UK,” Jones said. “It was like the man had a center of gravity — everyone just gravitated toward him. So, I knew he’d be a great mentor.

He invited me to give lectures in the outreach center to the kids, and it really showed me some of the disparities that some of the more rural counties encounter here in Kentucky.”

Jones said this experience with Frazier and the Frazier Science Outreach Center has inspired him to return to his home county and give back to the community he once came from.

“I’m from Bell County, and I plan on returning there after residency to practice family medicine,” Jones said. “Frazier really inspired me to give back, and I’m so thankful for him.”

26 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

ELEMENTARY STUDENTS ARE THE FOCUS This year and moving forward, reaching elementary schoolers across the state is a primary focus of Frazier’s.

“It’s harder to get elementary schools to come out for a variety of reasons,” Frazier said. “So, we’ll travel to them. This is important to me because we recognize that in order to get kids excited about science, you must ‘sow the seeds’ early in their educational careers. The earlier, the better.”

In addition to onsite and offsite school visits, over its existence, the Frazier Science Outreach Center has been involved with several extramural awards at the state, federal and foundational levels. This exposed students to research experience and biomedical-related career opportunities. Currently, the center is involved with two federally funded programs.

“Prior to the outreach center opening its doors, I had been engaging in some humble outreach efforts with students for years,” Frazier said. “But this space has been such a blessing for outreach efforts over the past three decades — it has helped so many students learn to enjoy science, and I am so thankful.”

The Outreach Center formally opened its doors at the University of Kentucky in 1993 and has been helping K-12 students learn about the scientific wonders of our world ever since.

In the future, he hopes to continue to get medical and undergraduate students involved in creating educational science videos that schools can access across the state, if anyone is unable to visit. The videos will be available on the Frazier Science Outreach Center website for use at any time. ■

2 24 UK Alumni Association Calendar

Photo Contest The 2024 calendar will showcase the photographic talent of our Wildcat family. You’re invited to submit your best pictures of campus, UK events or one of the many ways you show your Wildcat spirit far away from your Old Kentucky Home. Your photo could be one of 12 that appear in next year’s calendar.

Submission deadline: August 31, 2023.

Learn more and submit your photo at www.ukalumni.net/photocontest.

2025

Hall ofDistinguished ALUMNI

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN WWW.UKALUMNI.NET/HODA

28 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

WAY, DEEP DOWN IN THE UNDERWATER CLASSROOM Assistant Professor Lou Hirsch, who’s also a professional scuba instructor, created the course to put his students in an environment where they can fully engage with their research and clearly understand why it matters.

The course allows students hands-on experiences with ecological concepts and important natural resource issues in coral reef environments while earning six relevant scuba diving certifications. Hirsch covers coral reef conservation, fish identification and quantification, underwater surveying, turtle biology, ecologically sensitive diving techniques, ecotourism and the impact of globalization and climate change.

“How can we realistically say we’re training the next generation of citizens, especially in terms of the environment, if we’re not talking about the water and allowing our students to go underneath it and look at what happens under the surface?” Hirsch asked. w w w. u ka l umni . net

Photo by Lou Hirsch

The beautiful Mesoamerican Reef region of the Caribbean Sea became a classroom for students in an ecology course in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

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1.

FUTURE

By Lindsey Piercy

S

Stanley and Karen Pigman make history with a

$34.5 MILLION GIFT Photo by Will Page

Photo by Will Page

ENGINEERING THE

Photo by Mark Cornelison, UK Photo

2.

3.

1. Stanley and Karen Pigman at their home in North Carolina.

2. A display area in the Pigmans’ home features photographs, awards and various UK memorabilia.

3. Pigman scholars surprised the Pigmans with a visit after the UK Board of Trustees approved renaming the College of Engineering in their honor.

30 K ENTUCKY A LU MNI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

tanley Pigman understands the immense impact of higher education and financial support.

Born and raised in Eastern Kentucky, he is also passionate about engineering being an accessible career path for students from the region.

At 17, Pigman received a scholarship to study mining engineering at the University of Kentucky.

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering in 1981, Pigman made a commitment to create opportunities and transform the lives of students for generations to come.

Today, he and his wife, Karen, continue to live up to that mission.

In April, the UK Board of Trustees accepted a $34.5 million gift from the Pigmans — the single largest gift in the 158-year history of the university at that time. For their long-standing support, UK President Eli Capilouto recommended the college be renamed the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, making it the university’s fourth named college.

A formal dedication ceremony for the newly-named college is slated for Sept. 8, 2023.

“Stan and Karen Pigman have devoted their lives to giving back — to students, to the university and to the Commonwealth, whose future will be brighter because of their commitment and generosity,” Capilouto said.

“Because of their continued commitment, students now and for generations to come will fuel their passions, reach their potentials and discover what is possible because of the investments made in them by these remarkable people.”

The donation extends the Pigmans’ philanthropic vision for generations to come. With this gift, the Pigmans’ philanthropic impact to UK totals more than $55 million.

In December, the UK Board of Trustees approved renaming Woodland Glen III, the residence facility for students in the University of Kentucky College of Engineering’s Living Learning Program, Pigman Hall in recognition of their generous support of the college.

“It’s our dream to be a part of growing the program to produce more engineers and computer scientists, which will benefit the University of Kentucky and the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Stan Pigman said.

“Karen and I know that producing more engineers and computer scientists will change not just this generation, but generations of many families to come, and we’re specifically invested in helping students with unmet need, first-generation students and students from Appalachia become engineers and computer scientists.”

Photo by Derrick Meads

Karen and Stanley Pigman (center) posed with students who attended their scholarship luncheon in October 2022. Over the course of 20 years, the Pigmans have supported and mentored more than 200 students.

The Pigmans’ gifts are crucial to ensuring engineering students acquire the skills and traits needed to solve unique challenges and ultimately improve the lives of those in Kentucky and beyond.

“We fully realize that additional investments will be required in STEM students and teachers across the Commonwealth,” Stan explained. “Additionally, we’re investing in STEM programming in middle and high schools in Appalachia, which will provide a feeder program of students.”

Last year, the Pigmans also created a scholarship program in the Office for Student Success that expands their reach to first-generation students pursuing degrees outside of engineering. The L. Stanley Pigman First-Generation Scholarship provides scholarships to selected first-generation students graduating from high schools in 32 Eastern Kentucky counties.

In addition to their scholarship funds, the Pigmans

FORTIFYING GREATNESS The Pigmans’ generosity will further strengthen the academic excellence of the college by supporting renovation, expansion and need-based scholarships, including: Lessons@UK Program. Establishment of a new nonendowed mentoring scholarship fund to be named the “Lessons at UK Program.”

Scholarships. Scholarships. Additional support for the “L. Stanley Pigman Engineering Scholarship” fund.

College Initiatives. Establishment of a new non-endowed fund to be named the “Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering Initiatives Support Fund.”

Research, Graduate Education and Faculty Endowments. Establishment of an endowment to be named

established two endowed faculty positions in power engineering — the L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power and the L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellowship in Power.

They have also been strong supporters of the UK Solar Car, Formula One Team, SPARK electrical engineering laboratory and PEIK (Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky), among other numerous activities and projects within the college.

“The impact of Stan and Karen Pigman’s generosity on this college and university has been extraordinary. Through the scholarships, facilities and programming supported by gifts from the Pigmans, we’ve been able to open more doors for students who want to study engineering and provide them with more tools for success,” Rudy Buchheit, the Rebecca Burchett Liebert Dean of Engineering, said. “The Pigmans have a deep understanding of society’s growing demand for engineering talent, and they’re helping us to build the future engineers who will move us forward.” ■

the “Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment for Research and Graduate Education.” Also, additional funding for the “L. Stanley Pigman Distinguished Professorship in Power,” which supports faculty positions within the college.

Funkhouser Expansion and Modernization. A $10 million gift will support the renovation and expansion of the Funkhouser Building — adding 100,000 square feet of state-ofthe-art teaching and research spaces to the college. The project aims to support enrollment growth, additional faculty members and research goals.

The EduceLab Professor of Heritage Science Endowment. Supports leadership activities for EduceLab, including recruiting and retaining outstanding STEM+Heritage Science talent (students, faculty and staff) in the service of ongoing design, commissioning and operational capabilities.

w w w. u ka l umni . net

31

ALL IN THE FAMILY:

Photos Submitted

Pharmacy Alumni Share Love of Community Health

By Rosa Mejia-Cruz

Bill Borders graduated from College of Pharmacy in 1959. Generations of his family have followed in his footsteps. This photo was taken in 1962 when he worked at Begley’s in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

W

hile working the old-fashioned soda fountain at his local pharmacy, a teenage Bill Borders pondered how it would feel to be the professional behind the medication counter.

Borders admired the pharmacist’s ability to build relationships with each patient and their influence on keeping the community healthy. This curiosity resulted in a chain of events that would inspire six of his family members to pursue pharmacy at the University of Kentucky.

Borders graduated from the Univer-

sity of Kentucky College of Pharmacy with a bachelor of pharmacy degree in 1959 and achieved his dream of owning a pharmacy soon after.

His daughters, Mary Lee Snodgrass ’83, Cathy Hance ’89, and Anne Marie Megibben ’92, grew up in the pharmacy environment, watching their father become a community pillar through pharmacy practice. Borders purchased Smith-McKenney Drug Co., in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and owned it for 35 years, retiring in 1998.

“We grew up in our dad’s drugstore,” said Snodgrass, “and that’s all

32 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

I’ve ever known. I was only ever going to go to the University of Kentucky.

I didn’t even think about going anywhere else.”

Hance recalls spending her days working at the front of the pharmacy with her siblings.

“Our parents had seven children, so, at any given time, between two and five kids were working at the pharmacy simultaneously,” said Hance. “I started working when I was 5 years old, dusting shelves when I could barely reach. I worked there until I was nearly 30 years old.”

The family’s interest in pharmacy started more than 60 years ago. Left to right are Mary Lee Snodgrass, Anne Marie Megibben, Catie Hance, Bland Hance, Cathy Hance, Bill Borders and Raegan Borders.

She later became co-owner of a compounding pharmacy with her younger sister Anne Marie Megibben, whom she calls “pharma-sis.”

Hance’s daughter, Catie Hance, who received her Pharm.D. in 2021, recalls a similar experience working in her mother’s pharmacy as a 12-year-old and being equally inspired.

“I just knew that the UK College of Pharmacy was where I wanted to go and follow in my mother’s and brother Bland’s footsteps. I loved when I finally reached the point in school where I could converse about pharmacy with them. I knew more and could talk shop on a different level with them.”

Bland Hance, who received his Pharm.D. in 2016, felt similarly.

“As a kid growing up a diehard Kentucky basketball fan, you dream about playing for the school. I always wanted to attend UKCOP because I knew about its incredible history and reputation,” said Bland.

“It was an honor to be admitted to a top-ranked pharmacy school and the first time I wore my white coat, I felt like I was suiting up for Coach Calipari,” he joked.

Borders has attended the white coat ceremonies of three grandchildren: Bland Hance, Catie Hance, and current rising second-year pharmacy student Raegan Borders.

Snodgrass credits her father’s outstanding reputation as a primary influence in choosing the profession.

“Through owning that pharmacy, he was, and still is, so respected in our community,” she said. “He touched many lives, and that desire continued through my sisters and me.”

The biggest surprise for everyone has been comparing the evolution of pharmacy practice and the UKCOP curriculum. For Bill Borders, being a pharmacist primarily involved filling prescriptions and counseling patients, and he recognizes how much the role has expanded since his time at UKCOP. “I’m so proud of my family,” said Borders. “They practice pharmacy the way it should be practiced — at the top of their license. They are very dedicated, and this was so unexpected. You don’t realize as you’re going through your job every day how much you influence others. I am proud they thought so much of my profession to carry on this wonderful tradition.”

Mary Lee Snodgrass, Cathy Hance, and Anne Marie Megibben now work together through Snodgrass’s wellness practice at Sheldon’s Pharmacy in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their focus is one-on-one patient care through

wellness, preventative health, and bio-identical hormone therapy.

They share 1,100 patients and help each other provide quality care via telehealth.

“It’s lovely getting to work with your siblings and sharing this life experience with them,” said Snodgrass. “We often take over at family gatherings and love to talk pharmacy, even if the rest of our family roll their eyes a little bit.” ■

Bill Borders attended the white coat ceremony for his granddaughter Raegan Borders, a rising second-year pharmacy student. w w w. u ka l umni . net

33

ITS ALL ABOUT

CONNECTIONS A Big Blue thanks to all our new Life Members! We are pleased to recognize your commitment to the Wildcat family and intention to stay connected to the University of Kentucky for life.

Brandon Adams Barbara Argo George Argo Jami Arrowsmith Tim Arrowsmith Barbara Bailey Joey Bailey Mary Ballard William Barham Elisabeth Bascom Katy Bennett Frances Bergstrom Gary Bergstrom Katherine Bingham Susan Bishop Janet Boylan Kevin Boylan Mary Breeck Oren Breeck Christian Britsch Daimen Britsch Gary Brothers Rebecca Brothers Charles Bryant Joseph Burgess Mary Burgess Amelia Burnett Ellen Chapin Greg Chase Nancy Chase Ajaybindu Chebrolu Himachandra Chebrolu Vicki Collins Kelly Colliver Chasity Conley Paul Conley Jane Conroy

David Corbin Joyce Corbin Leigh Crume Sarah Curtis Matt Deering Jeff Drury Mark Eldridge Elizabeth Ellis L. Ellis Alison Emmons Dale Emmons Joshua Epperson Gregory Finnell Debra Garrett Gordon Garrett John Gover Mary Grace Eva Green Jim Green Jannifer Gresham Jeffrey Guidry Jennifer Guidry Hugh Guynes Pam Guynes Joy Gwin Bryan Hall Marlene Hall Nancy Hanna Ashley Harrington Jason Harrington Bradley Harville Mary Harville Joseph Haskins Lilia Hawkins Paula Hazle Terry Hazle Gregory Herbek

YOU CAN MAKE A

DIFFERENCE 34

K E N TUCKY A LU MN I MAG A ZIN E Fall 2022

Keith Herbold Loren Hildebrandt Leslie Hyland Christina Isbell Clifford Jaggie Gary Jennings Suzette Jennings Lametta Johnson Jerry Johnston Toby Knott Samantha Koehler Laura Land Allison Lemons Xin Li Nancy Logan Terry Looney Shantae Lucas Milton Lynch Jay Manire Misty Manire LeRoy Marshall David Marx Susan Marx James Mason Patricia Mason Susan McClure William McClure Robert Mefford Sayra Meyerhoff Cynthia Miller Ronald Miller Wayne Miller Lori Milner Stephen Milner Jason Mingus Marie Mingus Eric Mobley

April Mohr David Mohr Bettie Monroe Anna Moore Joe Nallia Stephanie Nallia Gary Newton David Niehaus Elizabeth Oldham Jeffrey Oldham Christopher Pearce Travis Price Laura Reid Brad Richey Christina Richey Brian Riggs Edward Rishel John Roach Scott Robey Deborah Rood Andrea Russell William Russell Phillip Sandman Rachel Sandwith Kenneth Schatz Kevin Schatz Timothy Scholten Alison Serey J. Serey Gary Sharpe Sharon Sharpe Brenna Shortridge-Pearce Emily Smith Peggy Stevens William Stevens Amy Straney Emily Studeny

Scott Studeny Charlene Tackett Laddie Tackett Anna Taul Wesley Taul D. Taylor Margaret Taylor Bryan Thomas Peter Turlo Elizabeth Turner Erwin Turner Brandon Vaught-Hall Christopher Vaught-Hall Catherine Wade Charles Wade Angela Wadsworth Tom Waldrop Katherine Walston Douglas Warriner Sharon Warriner Donald Wathen Lynn Weak Lee Weinberg Meagan Wells Jonathan Westerman Libby Westerman James Wheatley Nimmi Wiggins Kay Wilson Robert Wolfson Molly Yancey Julie Yokum Deborah York *New paid in full Life Members February 3, 2023- May 21, 2023

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!

www.ukalumni.net/membership or call 800-269-ALUM (2586)

Legacy

Join the UK Alumni Association and bring your future Wildcat to campus for a weekend full of activities including:

Family Weekend Sept. 22 -24, 2023

•

Campus Traditions Tour

•

Wildcat Family Huddle

•

Your New Kentucky Home: Meet with an admissions counselor, tour campus and gain insight into the admissions process.

•

Movie night at Alumni Commons

These events are in conjunction with Parent and Family Weekend. Come visit and see what it is like as a current student at the University of Kentucky!

Visit www.ukalumni.net/legacy for more information.

UK FOOTBALL Road Trip OCT. 6 – 8, 2023 VS.

Travel with us this fall to Athens, Georgia for an Eastern Division showdown between the Wildcats and the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium.

A limited number of game tickets are available along with a block of rooms at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast.

In addition, the UK Alumni Association is offering roundtrip motorcoach transportation from Atlanta on game day and hosting a pre-game tailgate party in Athens.

More information is available at www.ukalumni.net/gafootballtrip.

WATCH FOR DETAILS AT WWW.UKHOMECOMING.COM

with the help of

students

For more than 40 years, student involvement has made a difference

By Sally Scherer

S

ince its beginning in 1889, the UK Alumni Association has served alumni, students, parents and friends.

Though it might seem like a contradiction, student involvement has been an important part of the association’s focus.

The Alumni Association was having an impact on students in the 1930s. An archival photo that appeared in a “History of the UK Alumni Association” special section in 2014 tells the story.

In the picture, Robert Stilz, 1938 class president, presents Marcus R. Redwine, UKAA president, a check representing 100% membership of the class in the organization during the annual senior breakfast at Maxwell Place.

The group’s name has changed over the years. Today it’s the Student Alumni Association but in 2004 it was Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow.

In 2012-2013, 1,800 students were active in Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow and Team Wildcat, a partnering group through athletics.

The goal of the student group has remained steady — to enhance a student’s UK experience, find a connection point on campus, participate in UK traditions, make life-long friends, building a student’s professional network and, most of all, show your Wildcat spirit.

Throughout the years, student alumni groups have created homecoming parade floats, held food drives, casino nights, delivered holiday cards to local nursing homes, attended Keeneland on scholarship day, hosted welcome back cookouts and more.

Alumnus Tracy Harrison Thompson ’85 BE reached out recently about his involvement with the Student Alumni Council which he helped manage 40 years ago. His story is a good one and so we’re sharing it, and others, to highlight examples of the importance of student involvement.

PUT ALUMNI AND STUDENTS TOGETHER

It was natural curiosity that brought Tracy Harrison Thompson ’85 BE to the UK Alumni Association when he was a student and it was his determination and will to survive that changed the organization.

Thompson needed a job. He was newly married and needed a way to pay for his college education. He had made his late mother a promise that he’d graduate from college.

While riding his bike to campus for classes — he had sold his car to finance his first two semesters at UK — he wondered what was going on inside the pretty brick building at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Rose Street.

“I’d never seen any students around the building. One day I just decided to go in.

As I entered, I remember thinking it was the most beautiful building I’d ever seen,” he said.

In addition to the building’s charm, he spotted at the front desk a Life membership brochure geared toward graduating seniors and their parents. It gave him an idea.

With the skills he’d learned in his persuasive writing class, Thompson checked out a typewriter from the college library and put his plan on paper. Then, without an appointment he showed up at the Alumni Association office on a Friday afternoon hoping to present his idea.

“I wanted to start a student organization on campus that would assist the alumni association in signing up lifetime members,” Thompson explained recently. “The students who joined my group would be able to meet different alumni through association gatherings and these alumni might be able to help students get jobs when we graduated. My idea was to put our great alumni together with our student alumni club.”

Long before the idea of networking was

36 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

cool, Thompson’s vision helped increase student involvement in the Alumni Association. With the help of UK Alumni Association Assistant Director Bob Whitaker, Thompson promoted an active Student Alumni Council that engaged students with alumni through activities, programs and lectures.

‘NEVER FELT MORE AT HOME’

He served from 1983-1985, as president.

“I met with every association on campus and that’s how we built our organization,” said Thompson. “Then, we’d invite alumni who had a specialty, say pharmacy, to campus and we’d invite all the pharmacy students to come, too.

“We gave the students a place to come and meet alumni. We hung out in the library in the building and had our meetings there. We had events monthly and we provided snacks. We found out that if you feed them, they will come,” he said with a laugh.

The council helped put all students – but perhaps seniors getting ready to graduate were best served — together with alumni who were already working.

“I worked with the placement center on campus and other leadership groups of student organizations. Once students came and saw the potential they got involved. Bob Whitaker helped us organize events at Spindletop, too.”

And they had fun, he said.

“I grew up in West Virginia, but I never felt more at home than at the University of Kentucky,” said Thompson.

There’s no way of knowing how many students the council benefitted at the time, but Thompson remembers the difference it made in his life.

First, there was his relationship with Whitaker.

“He told me things like the importance of owning a blue blazer and a pair of khakis,”

From 1986 Kentuckian yearbook: “The Student Alumni Council assists the UK National Alumni Association in generating support for the educational programs of the university. Each year, the National Alumni Association, along with the Students Activities Council sponsors and outstanding teacher award and conducts a phone-a-thon to raise funds for student scholarships. SAC is active during homecoming by sponsoring a Big Top tent where students and alumni can join in the festivities.” Russell Mumper is standing in the center of the photo.

he remembered. “He took me to Malones to celebrate my graduation. He believed in me, the alumni board paid for my education and the strategy I formulated on that old bike paid off for me and hundreds of other students.”

Then, at a fall UK Alumni Association meeting before homecoming, he met Robert McCowan, the executive vice chair of Ashland, Inc., and a member of the UK Board of Trustees from 1981-1988.

Thompson introduced himself to McCowan and told him he wanted to work for Ashland. McCowan handed Thompson three business cards and said, “I have been watching you for three years, kid. Give me a call on Monday.”

Thompson has worked in the petroleum industry for 38 years for Ashland, Shell, Citgo, Honeywell and now, Cenovus Energy.

HOMECOMING WAS THE KEY

Russ Mumper ’88 AS, ’92 PHA remembers the “big initiative” the student alumni group participated in when he was a UK student in the mid-1980s.

Mumper said he and Thompson worked together in the Student Alumni Council, but he credits Thompson with planting the seed for it.

“I give him most of the credit. He was probably four or five years older than me and was married. He wanted to engage student leaders and I was drawn to his vision. A lot of that vision is what still drives student alumni activities today,” he said, adding he was a sophomore when he joined, but was president of the group as a senior.

The vision of connecting students with future opportunities through alumni was great for students and kept alumni engaged, he said.

“We worked with the staff and administration at the alumni association and substantially increased membership, started a speaker series and socialized in order to share the vision and the importance of it,” Mumper said.

As one of the initiatives designed to increase membership, the group decided to have T-shirts printed that featured a large paw on the front and information about the student alumni group on the back. The hope was that the attractive T-shirts would be worn by students who were involved with the group, people around campus would see one, would want one and would receive one when they joined the Student Alumni Council. The effort was a tremendous success, Mumper said, with hundreds of people wearing the shirts around campus.

But then, “I don’t remember all the details,” said Mumper, “but Clemson reached out and claimed copyright infringement.”

Today, the Student Alumni Association (SAA) encourages students to become Active Members for a gift of $25 or more to any UK fund. SAA hosts a variety of events throughout the year, volunteers in service projects and often receives preference when scholarships are awarded. SAA leadership is comprised of the Alumni Ambassadors, a group of students who help promote university and alumni association events and assist with strengthening students’ roles at the university. ■

Photo by Bryan Baylor

Photo by Lexington Herald-Leader

Susan Van Buren Mustian ’84 BE was involved during that time, too. She participated in the Student Activities Board serving as the homecoming chair, then president of SAB. In those roles she met E. Jay Brumfield, who was the director of the UK Alumni Association at the time.

In the fall of 1984, Brumfield approached Mustian about collaborating with the Alumni Association, she said. Brumfield provided Mustian with a desk in the King Alumni House and encouraged student involvement. He wanted a Student Alumni Council and asked her to lead the effort, she said.

Mustian remembers going to Birmingham, Alabama, in December 1984 for the Hall of Fame Classic which pitted UK against Wisconsin. The Alumni Association sponsored a pre-game event and Mustian remembers Brumfield getting several students tickets so they could help organize the event and attend the game.

“My involvement with UK runs deep,” Mustian said. “I received so much education outside the classroom with the homecoming committee and SAB that the Alumni Association became significant in my life.”

Mustian remembers Thompson’s involvement, too, but the two only worked together briefly.

PAW T-SHIRTS DREW ATTENTION

Scott Mustian, Student Activities Board vice president; Susan Van Buren, student intern in charge of the Student-Alumni Council and Tracy Harrison Thompson, Student-Alumni Council adviser, stood outside a tent set up for the alumni reception. The mixer was held in hopes of students meeting UK alumni. (From the 1985 Kentuckian yearbook)

Robert Stilz, president of the 1938 graduating class of the University of Kentucky, is shown presenting to Marcus C. Redwine (left), president of the University Alumni Association, a check representing 100% membership of the class in the organization.

At Stilz’s left are Rankin Terry, vice-president of the class; Mary Lou Stark, class secretary, and Leon McCrosky, class treasurer. The location is Maxwell Place, the home of University President Frank L. McVey, where he and his wife were hosts to several hundred graduates, faculty and friends of the University at their annual senior breakfast. w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Club News

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5 38 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

1. The Central Florida UK Alumni Club and friends enjoy their annual chili cook-off during the men’s Feb. 11 basketball game.

2. The Greater Birmingham UK Alumni Club enjoy the Run for the Roses at their Derby party.

3. The Northeast Ohio UK Alumni Club celebrate the first Saturday in May with a Derby party.

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7

4. Members of the Twin Cities UK Alumni Club and friends gather for a Kentucky Derby party at the Stillwater Country Club in Stillwater, Minnesota.

5. The Las Vegas UK Alumni Club has been busy. In February club members participated in a Serving the Kids service project. Pete Arriola and Mary Jane Ridley are pictured. In March, the club celebrated the Cats and St. Patrick’s Day. Pictured left to right are Dwyte Brooks, Nick and Charlene Springston, Chuck Dewees, Nelson Martin and Tracey Lou Mason. The club’s Derby party was held at PKWY Flamingo in Las Vegas.

6. The Chicagoland UK Alumni Club enjoy getting together on a beautiful Derby Day in the windy city.

8

7. The LGBTQ* UK Alumni Group celebrated #PrideWeek in April at the Lavender Graduation ceremony held in the UK Singletary Center for the Arts. Lavender Graduation is held each year for graduating seniors. The PrideCats honored Tuesday Meadows ’77 BE, with this year’s Bourke-DeLeon Distinguished LGBTQ* Alumni Award. Meadows is a founding member of the UK PrideCats and currently serves as immediate past president of the group.

8. The Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club donated $90,000 toward their scholarship endowment as part of One Day for UK on April 19.

9

9. The Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati UK Alumni Club enjoy an evening with Women’s Head Basketball Coach Kyra Elzy and her staff. Conversation focused on Name, Image and Likeness deals for athletes and the benefits of them for business owners, alumni and fans of the university. Left to right are Assistant Coach Jen Hoover, Larry Luebbers, Head Coach Kyra Elzy, Chris Deel, Lynn Amend, Nancy Teegarden, Gwen Brautigan, Donna Brautigan, Dan Gipson and Associate Head Coach Niya Butts. w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Sports Charles “Cotton” Nash ’64 AS, a three-time All-America forward at Kentucky who played in the NBA, ABA and Major League Baseball, has died. He was 80.

Nicknamed “Cotton” as a child in reference to his bright blond hair, the versatile Nash averaged 22.7 points and 12.3 rebounds over 78 games from 1962-1964. His 1,770 points ranked first in school history at the end of his collegiate career and currently stand ninth. His 962 rebounds rank fifth.

Nash went on to become one of just 13 players to appear in the NBA and the majors. Drafted 14th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1964, he played there and for the San Francisco Warriors during the ‘64-’65 NBA season. Nash later played for the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels in 1967-1968.

Nash played nine seasons of professional baseball, including 13 games in the majors between 1967 and 1970 with the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins as a first baseman and outfielder. He signed his first pro deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Nash was a threetime All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection in basketball and runner-up as national player of the year as a senior. He helped the Wildcats win two SEC championships on the court and earned all-SEC Eastern Division honors in baseball.

He also threw the discus in track and field.

Nash’s No. 44 basketball jersey hangs in the rafters at Rupp Arena and he is a member of the UK Athletics and Kentucky Sports halls of fame.

“His accomplishments in basketball and baseball made him a rarity in American sports history,” Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement. ■

Photos courtesy of ExploreUK

BASKETBALL HALL OF FAMER COTTON NASH DIES

Kentucky softball players Kayla Kowalik and Erin Coffel were named to the 2023 National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association All-Southeast Region Team. Kowalik was named the catcher for the first team with Coffel named shortstop for the second team.

Kowalik and Coffel are now finalists for the NFCA All-American teams, which were announced at the 2023 Women’s College World Series in June. Coffel was named an NFCA All-American in 2022 with Kowalik earning a spot in 2021.

This season, Kowalik became the Kentucky Softball all-time hits leader and now owns the school records for runs scored, batting average and triples.

The players also were both voted First Team All-Southeastern Conference by the SEC’s head coaches.

The team advanced to the NCAA Tournament Regional Event in Evanston, Illinois, for the 14th straight year but were ousted from the four-team double-elimination event with losses to to Miami University (Ohio) and Northwestern. They ended the season with an overall record of 31 wins, 22 losses and one tie. ■ 40 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Photo by Eddie Justice

SOFTBALL PLAYERS EARN ACCOLADES

Photo by Elliot Hess

Graphic courtesy of UK Athletics

ATHLETICS BOASTS LARGEST GRADUATING CLASS IN UK HISTORY A total of 126 current and former UK student-athletes were on track to complete academic requirements for the spring 2023 semester, which is the largest graduating class in school history.

Adding the 41 student-athletes who graduated in December 2022, UK Athletics is expected to have 167 graduates during the 2022-2023 academic year. Included in this figure are 19 Wildcats who are completing their master’s degrees.

“Graduation is a pinnacle of the collegiate experience and we are excited about the record number of graduates,” said Mitch Barnhart, UK director of athletics. “It takes tremendous dedication to balance the demands of academics and athletics. We are proud of our Wildcats for succeeding in the classrooms and the arenas of competition, giving them the foundation for moving forward in the next phase of their lives.”

Additionally, all UK sports teams have surpassed the NCAA cut score in its Academic Progress Rate with 20 teams exceeding or tying the national average. ■

WILDCATS WIN REGIONAL IN FRONT OF RECORD CROWD

FROM UK TO THE NFL

The Wildcats (40-19) emerged as the Lexington Regional champion after winning three games in 36 hours, capping it off with a 4-2 victory over Indiana on June 5 at Kentucky Proud Park in front of a crowd of 6,796 fans, the largest to ever attend a UK home baseball game.

Sophomore Mason Moore pitched the final five innings, part of his 10 scoreless innings in the regional while catcher Devin Burkes scored the game-winning run on his way to earning Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

The games gave Kentucky its second-ever trip to a Super Regional, both in the last six seasons under Coach Nick Mingione. Kentucky won the regional the hard way. After losing to Indiana on Saturday, the Wildcats came out of the losers bracket to defeat West Virginia and Indiana on Sunday, then beat the Hoosiers again Monday.

With the game tied at 2-2, UK catcher Devin Burkes opened the bottom of the sixth inning with a double down the left field line. One out later, Gilliam also doubled down the left field line to break the tie. After a pitching change, leftfielder Ryan Waldschmidt doubled to right center, scoring Gilliam to notch what became the final score of the game.

Meanwhile, Moore entered in the fifth inning and blanked the Hoosiers the rest of the way. He allowed four singles, struck out five and walked one, earning the victory to improve to 4-1 on the season. Moore turned in an incredible performance in the regional, as he also threw five shutout innings in relief to win the Friday opener against Ball State. ■

Three Kentucky players were chosen in the 2023 National Football League Draft in April with six more players offered opportunities to try out for NFL teams.

Quarterback Will Levis was the 33rd overall pick by the Tennessee Titans. Running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. was chosen by the Washington Commanders in the sixth round. Defensive back Carrington Valentine was chosen in the seventh round by the Green Bay Packers.

This marks the fifth straight year UK has had at least one player taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft. Additionally, Head Coach Mark Stoops’ program is in the top half of the SEC with total NFL Draft picks over the past five years.

Other players offered free agent contracts include linebacker Deandre Square to the Los Angeles Rams, offensive lineman Tashawn Manning to the Baltimore Ravens and defensive back Keidron Smith to the Miami Dolphins.

Linebacker Jacquez Jones, outside linebacker Jordan Wright and punter Colin Goodfellow were invited to participate in NFL Mini Camp this summer. ■ w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Queen

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of Kentucky

Hospitality’

Photos by Smiley Pete Publishing

Her love for the commonwealth has shaped her life, career

42 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

By Patti Nickell

T

he best way to describe Ann Evans is as a Renaissance woman — caterer, event planner, fundraiser, marketing guru, business administrator and community outreach specialist.

These skills and abilities, along with specialized training in etiquette and protocol at the highest level, have stood her in good stead as the only person to serve as executive director of the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion under father and son governors.

“I am a lifelong Kentuckian (a Louisville native) and passionate in my love for the commonwealth,” says Evans. “Except for a year-and-a-half spent in Paris, Kentucky, I’ve never lived more than a few miles from the University of Kentucky campus.”

Evans graduated from UK in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, serving as president of her pledge class and first vice-president of the sorority. In her senior year, she was named Ideal Kappa Sister, an honor she still considers the highest tribute to her character and commitment.

Evans was also nominated for Outstanding Greek Woman in 1974, and the dinner honoring the nominees turned out to be an evening she would never forget.

It wasn’t because she won — she didn’t — but as she explains, “It was April 3rd, the same night the super tornado spawned dozens of tornadoes across Kentucky.”

During her college years, when Evans wasn’t playing left guard on the Kappa flag football team, she was involved in campus political campaigns, and learning major life lessons.

“The first was broadening my horizons through meeting students from different parts of Kentucky, the United States and the world,” she says. “I realized that I gained energy from people and that whatever I did when I left UK would involve service to others.”

But the most important thing she learned was the value of friendship.

“I have been so blessed with lifelong friendships that started on campus — friendships that have helped shape my life and career,” she says.

She also left with a souvenir — a front page Heald-Leader photo of her in cap and gown, with a sandwich board sign on her back proclaiming that she had finally made it and thanking her mom.

“After the ceremony, Dr. Singletary (then President Otis Singletary) came up to me and said, ‘young lady, did you wear that during graduation.’”

As executive director of the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort, Ann Evans is the only person who has served under father and son governors.

Fearing he was upset, she responded, “’Yes, sir.’ He smiled and patted me on the back, saying, ‘congratulations to both you and your mother.’”

Upon graduation, Evans was hired by Kentucky Educational Television where she served as the PBS affiliate’s community services coordinator. She was responsible for developing and implementing KET’s outreach programs, as well as developing a speaker’s bureau and recruiting and training a statewide network of volunteers.

After nearly a decade at KET, she left to follow a dream — opening her own catering and event planning company, based on the skills she had acquired from her mother Marydeane, who had owned her own company.

“Everything I know about cooking and being a hostess, I learned from my mother,” she says proudly.

After she accepted a full-time position as director of volunteers, and later regional director of the American Lung Association of Kentucky, she continued to run her catering company. When she wasn’t recruiting and training volunteers, establishing the first Teen Board in the U.S. to promote lung health, and coordinating special programs such as camps for those suffering from asthma, she was catering everything from weddings to horse sales events.

Evans was reluctant to give up the catering company for several reasons”’Yes, sir.’not just her skill in the kitchen, but more importantly, the love for her clients, whom she describes as being like family.

“I still have people come up to me and say, ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but you catered my wedding.’ And you know what? I do remember them,” she says.

In 2007, Evans’ career arc took an entirely different trajectory when she became executive director of the Governor’s Mansion during Gov. Steve Beshear’s two terms in office.

She planned, budgeted and executed hundreds of events for the governor and first lady, from breakfasts, lunches, dinners, banquets and receptions to eight Kentucky Derby galas.

In 2014, she helped coordinate the Governor’s Mansion Centennial, celebrating 100 years of the mansion.

If her catering skills were key to the 2014 project, her fundraising abilities were invaluable in 2009 when she helped coordinate the restoration of the Old Governor’s Mansion — the country’s oldest executive residence. Her efforts helped raise more than $1.5 million in in-kind contributions, ensuring that zero tax dollars would be spent on the project.

Additionally, she co-produced a documentary, “The Kentucky Governor’s Mansion — a Century of Reflection,” narrated by Louisville native Diane Sawyer, which aired on KET. After Beshear left office, Evans accepted a position as interim executive director at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass. She oversaw fundraising and donor engagement, but her interaction with the people served by the Ronald McDonald House always came first.

Debbie Pinkston, a house manager during Evans’ time as director, describes her as “a ray of sunshine.”

Ann Evans wanted to offer special thanks to her mother at graduation. President Otis Singletary congratulated them both.

“She came in every day with a big smile on her face,” says Pinkston. “She made the guests feel at home during a very trying time in their lives. She was loved by families and volunteers alike.”

Volunteerism has always been a cornerstone of Evans’ life, whether it was as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army or as a hostess during the Rolex Three-Day Equestrian Event.

Her volunteer efforts have included working with the Future Farmers of America to champion Kentucky agriculture, and with Ball Homes to build a laundromat for the people of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.

It wasn’t long before the siren song of politics once again lured her back to Frankfort — this time as executive advisor in the office of then Attorney General Andy Beshear. The position proved to be short-lived as upon Beshear’s election to the governorship in 2019, Evans once again found herself back in the executive mansion.

However, the governor’s — and Evans’ — agenda would be vastly different from her earlier tenure at the mansion.

Whereas, she had been the face of the commonwealth’s hospitality during the elder Beshear’s time in office, even earning the title “Queen of Kentucky Hospitality,” this time around she had to shift from party planning mode to crisis management mode.

With Andy Beshear beginning his young administration with the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then having to face twin natural disasters in Eastern Kentucky floods and Western Kentucky tornadoes, there wasn’t time for socializing at the mansion.

What hasn’t changed is her role as “caretaker of the people’s house,” one that “is both a great privilege and a great responsibility.”

She feels privileged in other ways as well.

“I have met famous people from every walk of life,” she says, “but none with a better or more interesting story than the people I have met throughout the Commonwealth.”

“And finally, it is a privilege to serve the governor, first lady and their children.”

With all her life experiences, Evans still cherishes her years at UK. “I often find myself driving through campus, and seeing the students always puts a smile on my face,” she says. “I just hope they are having as good a time as I had.” ■ w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Class Notes 1950s

1970s

The Honorable Paul E. Patton ‘59 EN and his wife, former First Lady Judy Patton, were presented the Flame of Excellence Award

by Leadership Kentucky.

The award honors outstanding Kentuckians who bravely light the way for others. The former governor spent 20 years building a successful coal business before turning to public service.

Lois Hill ’71 AFE, ‘00 HS received the National Kidney Foundation 2023 Joel D. Kopple Award for her significant contributions to the field of renal nutrition.

Hill is a registered dietitian nutritionist, licensed dietitian and a licensed diabetes educator in Kentucky. She is in private practice in Lexington.

Connie Hauser ’74 HS received the University of the Cumberlands’ 2023 Excellence in Leadership Award at the university’s annual Excellence in Leadership Series event. The university is naming its new doctor of physical therapy program for her. Hauser is CEO of PT Pros. The newly named program is located at Cumberlands’ Williamsburg campus.

Darlys Rowland Warren ’72 AS was inducted into the Pineville Schools Hall of Fame. Warren taught English in Pineville and at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College. She worked for 18 years as the coordinator of one of the first Youth Services Centers in Kentucky before serving as the Laurel County School District public relations coordinator.

Marcia Kuegel Carpenter ’77 AS, ‘79 ED was named the 2023 ATHENA Award recipient at a luncheon hosted by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce and Girls Inc. A retired educator from Daviess County public schools, Carpenter was selected for her “deep sense of purpose and an unflagging commitment to community engagement and education.”

Mike Knuckles ’81 BE will lead the new Hancock Whitney companywide asset-based lending division serving 12 southern states. Knuckles joined Hancock Whitney as the asset-based lending division manager last year after serving as executive vice president for another southeast based commercial bank.

Paul P. Bollinger ’78 AS has helped establish the newly opened Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center, an idea he proposed while president and CEO of Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating. The Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center provides therapeutic sailing to people with disabilities.

Dr. Doug P. Stevens ‘82 EN, ’87 MED has joined the physiatry department at Kaiser Permanente Wailuku Medical Office. A veteran, Stevens served as a captain and physician for the Kentucky Army Reserve National Guard, 475th MASH Unit.

He recently was medical director at the Robley Rex Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

1960s

Photos courtesy of Explore UK

Elaine Adams Wilson ’68 ‘23 SW director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Somerset Community College, was the oldest graduate in the University of Kentucky’s May 2023 graduating class to receive a doctorate degree.

Construction of the W.T. Young Library began in the fall of 1996.

It opened in April 1998.

44 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Bill Stackman ’79 ED is the new dean of students at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Stackman was the University of Missouri vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. Stackman has worked in higher education for more than 40 years.

1980s Jim Gerrish ’81 AFE was the practitioner in residence at Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska, where he taught a grazing management short course. An independent grazing lands consultant, Gerrish provides service to ranchers on private and public lands across the U.S. and internationally.

James Boone ’84 BE has been hired as the men’s basketball coach at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. Boone, the coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith for the past four seasons, brings 600 career victories with

him and has coached 37 years at various stops. He played collegiately at West Virginia State College.

Eric Blackhurst ’86 LAW gave the keynote address at Alma College’s commencement ceremony. Blackhurst graduated from Alma College in Alma, Michigan, in 1983 and is a member of the college’s board of trustees. He is an attorney for the Dow Chemical Company. Also, he received an honorary doctorate in humane letters.

Dr. Sandra McHenry ’87 AS, ’91 MED is the new leader of the Healthy Highlands Program in Low Moor, Virginia. The program includes promoting vaccinations, reducing health risks and reclaiming health for residents of the Alleghany Highlands. She is an associate professor at Mountain Gateway Community College.

Russell J. Mumper ’88 AS, ’92 PHA will assume duties July 1 as the vice president for research at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Mumper had been vice president for research and economic development at the University of Alabama since 2019.

Dr. Kimberly Crawford ’89 NUR has joined IMAP Medical Clinic of Plano and Frisco, Texas. A board-certified internist, Crawford has been practicing since 1997.

She has been in private practice and has served as

a hospitalist in the Dallas/ Fort Worth, Texas, area.

Florence Estes ’89 ED has released her debut album, “Jolly on the Inside.” Estes taught labor law and history to miners and factory workers. She credits those experiences with providing her with song ideas.

Carol Gallagher ’89 PHA has been appointed to the PMV Pharmaceuticals Inc., board of directors. She brings more than 30 years of biotech leadership and expertise to drug development and commercialization. She is a director at Atara Biotherapeutics and Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corp. and until recently, Turning Point Therapeutics, which was a acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Kevin S. Harrod ‘89 AS, ‘95 PHA has been appointed the vice chair of research and the director of the Division of Molecular and Translational Biomedicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He is currently the Benjamin Monroe Carraway Endowed Chair and professor in the department.

1990s Renita Perry Crouch ’90 HS recently joined the CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group – Cardiology team in Mount

Sterling, Kentucky. Crouch has worked in cardiology throughout her more than three decades in health care.

Rebecca Burchett Liebert ’90 EN has been named CEO of Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. She was most recently vice president to PPG Industries, a global leader in paints, coatings and specialty materials. She has also served as president and CEO of Honeywell UOP and president of Reynolds Food Packaging.

K.C. Crosbie ’92 CI has been elected to serve as treasurer of the Republican National Committee. The former Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member has a long history of Republican activism and public service.

Beth Greene Costner ’93 ‘97 ED has been named dean of the Ricard W. Riley College of Education at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Brian Leen ’92 BE is the new CEO of Vivify Specialty Ingredients, a leading provider of specialty colorants, additives and ingredients for the food and beverage, personal care and cosmetic industry. Most recently, Leen was president and CEO for Gopher Resource, an environmental service provider for the battery industry.

David T. Susman ‘89 ’92 AS has been named executive advisor for clinical services in the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabili-

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 Pigman College of 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 w w w. u ka l umni . net

45

Class Notes ties, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

He is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former President of the Kentucky Psychological Association.

He serves on the American Psychological Association Board of Directors and is the 2023 chair of the APA Council of Representatives Leadership Team.

C. B. Akins ’93 SW was the 2023 Kentucky State University baccalaureate speaker. Akins was recently appointed to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education Board by Gov. Andy Beshear. Akins retired from the ministry in 2020 after serving for 40 years in Paducah and Lexington.

Dennis Bonifer ‘93 FA was awarded two Double-Golds and one Gold at the John Barleycorn Awards in the advertising and marketing category for his work for Powers Irish Whiskey. After over 20 years as an art director and creative director for a Louisville-based advertising agency, Dennis launched BONIFOTO Advertising Photography in 2020.

Franco Chin ’93 EN owns Uncle Chin’s Kitchen in Katy, Texas. The restaurant serves authentic Malaysian food. Using concepts gleaned from his years in information technology, he reverse-engineered recipes based on how he remembered the taste.

Ronya Corey ’93 AS was named the number one-woman wealth advisor in the District of Columbia

by Forbes Magazine. Previously recognized by Forbes, Barron’s, and Wealth Management Magazine, Corey has been with Merrill since 1993, and is the founding partner of The Corey Group.

Ricardo N. Nazario-Colon ’93 AS was chosen to participate in Appalachian State University’s Boone campus Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series. A poet, Nazario-Colon is the inaugural chief diversity officer and inclusive executive at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Cindy Meyers Foley ’94 FA has been appointed the director and CDO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum Board of Trustees. She comes to GRAM after a 17year tenure at the Columbus Museum of Art where she served since 2015 as the Scantland Family executive deputy director for Learning, Experience and Engagement.

Chengliang Jiang ’94 ‘97 ‘98 EN has been appointed as an independent director to the board of directors at Majestic Gold Corp. He has more than 25 years of experience involved in chemical and mining engineering and is the director of technical applications with Enzymatic Deinking Technologies as

46 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

a leader in its commercializing of new technologies and products.

John Phillips ’94 EN has been elected to serve on the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Phillips is president and CEO of AE Electrical Solutions, headquartered in Frankfort, Kentucky. He will serve on a 70-member board which represents a cross section of key business and industry leaders across Kentucky. AE Electrical Solutions has provided industrial, commercial and residential services for more than 50 years.

Joseph L. Allen ’95 AS has been named Concord University’s 2022 Professor of the Year. Allen is Concord University’s first Distinguished Professor of Geology. He joined the faculty in 1998 and has chaired the university’s Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences and the Division of Science, Mathematics and Health.

Dennis Gilbar ’96 FA has returned to his position as the director of Energy City Voices, the show choir at Gillette Community College in Gillette, Wyoming. Gilbar held the role from 20142020. He has been serving in Natrona County Schools in Casper, Wyoming.

Mary Grace Rutland ’98 AFE has joined PetVivo Holdings as its new business development manager for the mid-Atlantic region

of the United States. She brings 24 years of animal health sales and management experience having held positions such as senior equine territory for Fort Dodge Animal Health and veterinary field sales manager for Neogen Corporation.

Abraham J. Salazar ’98 EN has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. Salazar has more than four decades of expertise in the field of mechanical engineering.

He specializes in automotive computational fluid dynamics. He is a senior manager of research and development at Griffin Inc., a company that provides automotive equipment to automakers.

Nick Uhren ’98 ‘99 EN has been appointed as the Pasco County, Florida, director of engineering services. He has been a registered professional engineer in Florida for 20 years. He previously served as executive director of the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency and as senior engineer for Palm Beach County.

Alan Bearman ’99 AS was named vice president for strategic enrollment management and dean of student success and libraries at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Bearman began his career at Washburn as a lecturer in the history department in 2003.

He became dean of the university libraries in 2010.

teach in Amman, Jordan. A professor of Appalachian studies at Appalachian State University, Ledford is teaching two of her App State courses to students at Al-Ahliyya Amman University.

University of Kentucky President Charles Wethington watches construction of the William T. Young Library in 1996.

DeWayne P. Frazier ’99 GS has been appointed president/vice chancellor of the American University of Nigeria. Frazier has 25 years of experience in higher education and has been the university provost at Iowa Wesleyan University. He will be the sixth president of the university since its founding in 2003.

Aaron Keatley ’99 GS has been selected as the acting director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Keatley served as chief deputy director at EGLE prior to taking the role as acting director.

Dr. Gopi Shankar ’99 MED has been appointed chief development officer for Larimar Therapeutics

Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience leading the development of novel biologics, most recently as vice president and global head, biologics development sciences at Janssen Research and development, a pharmaceutical company for Johnson & Johnson.

Dr. Beth A. Shelton ’99 ‘03 MED has been selected to serve as medical director of ClearSky Rehabilitation Hospital of Elwood-Saint Joseph, located in Elwood, Kansas. Shelton is a fellow of the Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

2000s Adam J. Miller ’01 FA is a new partner in TT Partners, a Broadway and touring general management and

producing office. The company’s Broadway credits include the upcoming “Merrily We Roll Along,” the Broadway and worldwide productions of “The Book of Mormon” and the first national tour of “Mean Girls.” Miller has been with TT Partners since 2008 and has been in Broadway management for nearly 22 years.

Dr. Shelley Bundy Stanko ’01 MED has been named chief medical officer at Saint Joseph, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Stanko has practiced medicine for 18 years.

She served as the chief medical officer for St. Joseph, London for nine years and Saint Joseph, Berea for four years.

Katherine Ledford ’02 AS was awarded a Fulbright to

Catherine McCabe ’02 BE has been named the first dean of the School of Business and Computer Science at Curry College, Milton, Massachusetts. She was recently dean of the Welch College of Business & Technology at Sacred Heart University and served previously as the associate dean of the Sawyer Business School and dean of undergraduate programs at Suffolk University.

Charles Richard Noplis II ’02 AS has established the Charles Noplis Scholarship for Medical Students. The scholarship is a one-time award of $1,000 given to a deserving student based on an essay competition.

He is CEO and president of Noplis Psychiatry.

Fred Fitch ’03 CI has received the Presidential Excellence Award for Teaching from Kean University, Union, New Jersey. Among his accomplishments, he is the basic course director for COMM 1402 Communication as Critical Citizenship, the only communication class that every student at Kean has to take.

Gerad Parker ’03 BE, ‘05 ED has been named the John and Bobbie Arlotta w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Career Corner

Class Notes

s

Franci

by Caroline

EIGHT BEST PRACTICES TO BUILD YOUR NETWORK A robust network is the best insurance policy one can have in life. This was especially evident during the Great Recession from 2009–2012. Successful people know how to build, nurture and maintain mutually beneficial relationships that help each other accomplish their goals.

Although some professionals cringe at the thought of attending a networking event, when viewing it more in terms of potentially helping others, it seems a lot less stressful.

In addition to increasing job opportunities, other benefits of networking include meeting prospective mentors, partners, clients and new friends. It also means having a larger group of contacts for support, career advice and exchange of best practices, raising your professional profile or growing your personal brand and generating referrals and leads.

As you meet new people, some networking 101 tips include: 1. Smile, have good eye contact and shake hands.

2. Remember their name and repeat it during the conversation.

3. Find something in common.

4. Develop some conversation starters.

5. Ask people about themselves.

6. Introduce people in your network to each other.

7 .Follow up within a few days with a LinkedIn connection request or a note.

8. Invite them to coffee or a future business or social event.

What is the magic networking formula? Strive to participate in at least one monthly networking activity in three areas: your profession/industry, community and a hobby or personal interest. Each can be equally beneficial.

It is always interesting to hear how clients found their most recent job. At least 80 percent of the time they found a job through their network.

According to Arthur Hughes ’87 EN, executive client partner Heller Deland Group and teaching faculty, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, “The power of networking allowed me to make several pivots in my first career - from engineering to sales and then to purchasing and now to executive recruitment and teaching in my second career.

“Networking allowed me to take paths I never knew existed until I spoke to people who could open doors for me to see. But it is not about asking them to open the door for you; it is about them wanting to open the door for you. To gain that generosity, I had to learn to be generous myself.”

Consider how to best build, nurture and maintain your network. Share an article, invite someone you respect, but do not know well, to coffee or an event. Send a note of congratulations, nominate a colleague for an award, organize a gathering and have each person bring a friend.

Volunteer in your community. Attend UK Alumni Association Club and networking events. As business author Harvey MacKay often professed, it is important to build your well before you are thirsty. Remember to give of yourself and your knowledge generously and it will come back to reward you in life.

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.

48 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

family offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at the University of Notre Dame.

He most recently served as the Fighting Irish tight ends coach for the 2022 season.

He arrived at Notre Dame after serving as the offensive coordinator at West Virginia in 2020 and 2021.

Jonathan Beatty ’05 ‘07 BE known as Chief Bookman on TikTok, delivered books to middle school students in Perry County, Kentucky, on Read Across America Day, March 2. Beatty hopes to emulate his love of books by making sure all young people have access to books.

Kyle Calton ’05 EN took command of the Los Angeles-class fast-attack sub, USS Cheyenne. Calton became the boat’s new skipper in a traditional U.S. Navy change of command Ceremony on March 24 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

James Cousins ’05 AS, ‘11 ED was recently awarded the Robert L. Platzman Memorial Fellowship by the University of Chicago Library.

Cousins is the provost at Kentucky Wesleyan College.

The fellowship will allow him to complete his next book, a history of the American college presidency.

Donna Hancock Hoskins ’05 AFE, ’08 ED has received the Ben and Janice Wade Outstanding Teaching Award from Bridgewater College, Bridgewater,

Virginia. Hoskins, chair and associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Sciences, joined the Bridgewater faculty in 2012. Her research focuses on the effects of parenting on child outcomes.

Michael Fly ’06 ED has been hired by Jacksonville University as associate head coach for men’s basketball. Last season, Fly was the director of scouting and analytics at Missouri.

He was an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University for seven years before getting his turn at the head job.

Jennifer Hatcher ’06 NUR, ’12 PH has been appointed as associate director of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility for the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Hatcher oversees Community Outreach and Engagement for the Cancer Center and she will serve in that capacity until her replacement is found.

She joined the Arizona Cancer Center in 2018.

Eric Miller ’06 GS has been named director of the Indiana Department of Child Services. Before joining DCS, Miller was chief of staff at the Indiana Department of Health.

Jennifer Vann ’06 AFE has been appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists.

Vann is owner and director

of services at Cornerstone Family services in Roswell, Georgia. Her specialties include working with those going through transitions such as divorce, loss and launching.

Jonathan Collins ’07 AS has been named assistant vice president of legal affairs and deputy general counsel for the multi-hospital Appalachian Regional Healthcare system. Collins began his career with ARH in 2015. Before that he was an associate attorney with the law firm of Hollon & Collins in Hazard.

Daniel A. Carpenter ’08 AFE is the extension agent for agriculture and natural resources education at the Hardin County Cooperative Extension Service, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He has worked at City Farm Service in Cecilia and at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. Also, he worked as an agent at the LaRue County Cooperative Extension Service.

Louis Johnson ’08 AFE has been selected as the executive vice president of Gresham Smith’s land planning market. Gresham Smith is a national architecture and engineering firm with more than $290 million in annual gross revenue.

Johnson is an award-winning landscape architect.

He served as the president of the Kentucky chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Greg Mills ’08 BE has been promoted to chief financial officer at Farmers National Bank in Lebanon, Kentucky.

Mills previously held the role of controller. He has been with the company since 2010. He is a participate in the Kentucky Bankers Association Emerging Leaders Program.

2010s Kathryn Anthony ’10 ‘14 CI, interim executive dean of the University of Southern Mississippi Graduate School and an associate professor in the USM School of Media and Communications, is among Signature magazine’s Top 20 under 40 in the Pinebelt.

She joined USM as an assistant professor in 2014.

Amy Carrington Stout ’11 AFE received the Leadership Achievement Award from Commerce Lexington at the Downtown Lexington Partnership’s annual meeting. For 11 years Stout has led Commerce Lexington’s leadership development programs.

Melissa Cantor ’12 ‘21 AFE has joined the Penn State Department of Animal Science faculty as assistant professor in precision dairy science. She will work with Pennsylvania dairy producers as part of the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. She taught classes at the University of Kentucky and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked for Agsource Dairy as a regional milk technician, managing dairy herd improvement testing for 36 herds.

Trisha Clement-Montgomery ’12 ‘19 ED is participating in the fifth cadre of the Council on Postsecondary Education’s Academic Leadership Development Institute program which aims to prepare minority

Photo by Mark Cornelison, UK Photo

Matthew Clarke ’08 DES participated in the AIA New York/Center for Architecture lecture, “Beyond Whyte and Jacobs: Public Space and Social Justice.”

Clarke is the executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space where he advocates for the power of public space to build vibrant, equitable communities. He is an architect, planner and writer.

Students study in the W.T. Young Library in 2022. w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Class Notes faculty and staff members for leadership roles in Kentucky higher education.

Clement-Montgomery is the dean of students at UK. Shannon Ruhl ’13 DES has been promoted to senior project architect at Michael Hsur Office of Architecture.

She has worked on a variety of projects since joining the firm in 2018 including several restaurants located across the country as well as hospitality and retail.

She is based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Clayton Coleman ’14 CI has been named vice president for marketing at Passco Companies, a com-

mercial real estate agency.

He joined Passco from RK Properties where he played a pivotal role in the marketing and promotion of the company’s various real estate investment opportunities.

Alexandra Hart ’14 AFE has been appointed to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board in California. Hart has been a senior appraiser with LandVest Real Estate since 2022.

Samantha Smith ’14 AFE is the new director of marketing and communications for the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. She has previous experience with a variety of

equine associations, including Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation and the Horse Racing Women’s Summit.

Buddy Combs ’15 BE has been named interim vice president and chief financial officer for the Kentucky Community and Technical College Systems. Prior to his interim appointment, Combs served as assistant vice president of financial support services and has 27 years of service and experience with KCTCS. Catherine Johnson ’15 EN was named Missouri University of Science and

Technology’s 2023 Woman of the Year. The award is given annually to a faculty member who serves as a role model for S&T students. Johnson joined S&T in 2015 as an assistant professor or mining and explosives engineering.

Brianna Harfmann ’16 MED was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor at Alma College, Alma, Michigan.

Harfmann teaches integrative physiology and health science. She has expertise in circadian rhythms and skeletal muscle glucose metabolism.

Nicholas Wren ’17 PHA has been appointed CEO/ president of Isaiah House, a faith-based nonprofit with eight residential treatment centers across five counties in Central Kentucky that helps those with the disease of addiction. Wren joined Isaiah House in 2021 as vice president of strategic initiatives.

Elizabeth Carr ’18 NUR has joined the staff at Maria Parham Health, a part of Duke LifePoint Healthcare.

She will be offering OB/ GYN services to patients in northeastern North Carolina. Carr is a certified nurse midwife.

Elizabeth Underwood works in the university archives in the Margaret I. King Library when card catalogs helped keep information organized.

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Gentry C. Collins ‘15 BE, ’18 LAW has been elected to the board of directors of Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass.

The nonprofit organization is committed to redesign the

trauma experienced by child victims of sexual abuse. Collins is an attorney with Stites & Harbison, based in its Lexington, Kentucky, office. She is a member of the trusts and estates service group.

Jacob Thomson ’18 BE claimed a victory in the 2023 USATF Half Marathon Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. Thomson won the men’s race in 1:02:38 by out-kicking 2022 champion Leonard Korir in a sprint finish.

Waqas Ahmed ’19 BE has been named deputy executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Ahmed joined the commission in 2019 as an analyst and was appointed director of pari-mutuel wagering and compliance in 2020.

Stephanie Anderson ’19 ED has been named the superintendent of the Riverside Community School District in Carson, Iowa.

Most recently she has held the position of director of elementary education and student services in Fort Dodge, Iowa, while earning her superintendent certification from the University of Northern Iowa.

Jayla Burgess ’19 BE has joined Riney Hancock CPAs PSC as a staff accountant in the audit and assurances services division. Prior to joining Riney Hancock, she worked for a healthcare accounting firm in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Tristan Yeomans ’19 BE has been hired as offensive control coach for the Army football team at West Point, New York. Yoemans comes to West Point after serving as special teams assistant at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte in 2022. He spent the 2021 season as a graduate assistant coach/ wide receivers/special teams coach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

2020s Scarlett Mikesell-Pierce ’20 NUR has joined Clark Primary Care in Jeffersonville, Indiana. She began her career in nursing at Norton Healthcare in 2000.

Jason Ball ’21 EN was awarded the 2022 Lt. Orville Munson Award at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Ball, a platoon leader with the 2061st Multi-Role Bridge Company, was enlisted in aviation before attending the Reserve Officer Training Corps with the University of Kentucky.

Bradley Charles ’21 CI was named director of sports communications at Union College, Barbourville, Kentucky. Previously, Charles was the sports information director at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was a writer for Bluegrass Sports Nation, a podcast producer for The Field of 68 Media Network and a play-by-play broadcaster for WCBJ-FM in West Liberty, Kentucky.

In 1950, Winifred Lewellen types the last page of the alphabetical list of WWII Kentucky War Dead in an office on the fifth floor of Margaret I. King Library.

Andrew Perry ’21 EN has been named head coach of Millikin University’s triathlon program and assistant coach for the swimming program. Perry was an integral part of Millikin’s triathlon third place team finish at the 2022 National Triathlon Championships in Tempe, Arizona. Perry came to Millikin in Decatur, Illinois, after serving as assistant triathlon coach at Transylvania University.

Jerrica Flynn ’22 AFE was recently sworn in as the new Burnside, Kentucky, City Clerk. Flynn has been serving as Burnside’s assistant tourism director and assistant city clerk.

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CLASS NOTES! Want to see your name on these pages?

Share your news with us!

Email us at ukalumni@uky.edu or submit online at www.ukalumni.net/class

w w w. u ka l umni . net

51

In Memoriam Roy H. Hunt ‘43 AFE Louisville, Ky. Life Member Wilma M. Moore ‘45 AS Glasgow, Ky. William L. Roche ‘49 BE Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lewis Biggerstaff ‘50 EN New Bern, N.C. Life Member, Fellow Bryan W. Blount III ‘50 BE Elkton, Ky. Fellow Carl C. Hamilton ‘50 AFE Gilbertsville, Ky. Carey T. Vinson Jr. ‘50 AS Pittsburgh, Pa. Joel C. Gordon ‘51 BE Nashville, Tenn.

Life Member, Fellow Joseph E. Mainous Sr. ‘51 BE Naples, Fla. Life Member Ann C. Asbury ‘52 CI Lexington, Ky. Life Member, Fellow Joe S. Grimes Jr. ‘52 AFE Milton, Ky. Life Member McFarland W. Wood Jr. ‘52 EN Charlotte, N.C. Clara E. Warren ‘53 SW Pittsford, N.Y. Wilma H. Klein ‘53 ‘60 ED New Albany, Ind. Life Member, Fellow

Amelia P. Vidrick ‘54 AFE Mechanicsville, Va.

Landon T. King ‘59 EN Stuart, Fla.

Herman F. Patterson ‘54 ED Memphis, Tenn.

Herman H. Rieke III ‘59 AS Morgantown, W.V.

Dr. Clifton L. Taylor ‘54 ‘67 AFE Alachua, Fla. Fellow

Jimmy K. Edwards ‘60 AS Louisville, Ky.

Dr. Harry H. Carter Jr. ‘55 FA Castro Valley, Calif.

Hettie L. Finn ‘56 ED North Little Rock, Ark.

H. Wayne Riddle ‘60 BE, ‘62 LAW Lexington, Ky. Leon R. Wood Jr. ‘60 EN Fort Mill, S.C.

Dr. Martha F. Greenwood ‘64 AS, ‘68 ‘71 MED Lexington, Ky. Fellow Carole A. Browning ‘65 ED Swannanoa, N.C. George Finley Insko Jr. ‘66 BE Lexington, Ky. Fellow Robert L. Lynch ‘66 EN Corbin, Ky.

Phyllis H. Blanchard ‘56 AS Takoma Park, Md.

William L. Montague ‘61 AS, ‘64 LAW Lexington, Ky.

Dr. John W. Poundstone ‘66 MED Lexington, Ky. Life Member

Eurma J. Huempfner ‘56 AFE Columbus, Ind.

Shirley W. Monge ‘61 AS Sunset Beach, Calif.

Gary A. Cleveland ‘67 BE Greenwood, Ind.

Lloyd Massey ’56 EN Roswell, Ga. Life Member

Lyen C. Crews ‘62 BE Mount Juliet, Tenn.

Fellow

Beverly Jane Komara ‘67 HS Lancaster, Ky.

Carroll D. Godby ‘57 AFE Eaton, Colo.

Life Member, Fellow

Harry Tom Davis ‘62 EN Kooskia, Idaho

Jo A. Williams ‘58 ED Sioux Falls, S.D. Life Member William D. Moseley ‘58 CI Cocoa, Fla. Raymond P. Sims ‘58 AFE Nashville, Tenn.

Ronald G. Atkins ‘59 PH Saint Charles, Ill. Life Member

Nancy L. Rhody ‘62 AFE Frankfort, Ky. Ann Carolyn Tomkies ‘62 ED North Richland Hills, Texas Lewis N. Melton ’63 EN Middlesboro, Ky. Life Member William M. Nulton III ‘63 ED Farragut, Tenn.

Capt. John M. Broome ‘59 BE Springfield, Va.

Dr. William N. Offutt IV ‘63 BE, ‘68 ‘73 MED Georgetown, Ky. Life Member, Fellow

William G. Holmes ‘59 BE Fort Thomas, Ky.

Glenn R. Wilson ‘63 AFE Elizabethtown, Ky.

52 K EN TUCKY A LU MNI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Linda A. Hays ‘67 SW Morristown, N.J. David L. Arnold ‘68 DES Atlanta, Ga. W. Stokes Harris Jr. ‘68 AS, ‘71 LAW Lexington, Ky. Life Member, Fellow Margaret L. Hinesley ‘68 AS, ‘70 AFE Southern Pines, N.C. Life Member Ronnie G. Dunnigan ‘68 ED, ‘71 LAW Lexington, Ky. Kenneth D. Griffith ‘69 BE Berea, Ky. James W. Gresham ’69 ‘70 ED Georgetown, Ind.

Darold Keller II ‘69 AS Murray, Ky. Life Member

Stuart J. Hubbard ‘72 ED Huntington Beach, Calif.

Life Member

Philip L. Mulholland ‘69 LAW Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Anthony S. Marshall Jr. ‘73 ‘92 BE Danville, Ky.

Harold G. Tanner ‘69 AS Denver, N.C. Sharon C. Denny ‘69 AFE Libertyville, Ill.

Dr. William J. Hall ‘73 AS Morehead City, N.C.

James A. Tutt Jr. ‘82 ‘91 BE Louisville, Ky.

Dr. Carolyn S. Wells ‘97 ED Lancaster, Ky.

Dr. M. Esther Bower ‘81 SW Bowling Green, Ky.

Dr. Dwight V. Denison ‘97 GS Lexington, Ky.

Mary E. Stumbo ‘82 AFE, ‘82 ED Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Kolan T. Morelock ‘99 ED Lexington, Ky. Dr. Anne S. Dent ‘01 AS Atlanta, Ga.

David E. Callahan ‘73 AS Williamsburg, Va.

Virginia M. Bell ‘82 SW Lexington, Ky. Fellow

Anne M. Gowin ‘73 FA Naples, Fla.

Paula Lenox ’83 DE Hamilton, Ohio

Joseph E. Jarboe ‘70 AS, ‘72 EN Brandenburg, Ky.

J. Richard Kremer ‘73 DES Louisville, Ky.

Joseph L. Markham ‘83 AS Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Jeffrey Alan Hertz ‘02 MED Hollywood, Fla.

Glenn H. Hubbuch ‘71 DES Louisville, Ky.

Dr. Judy M. McMahon ‘73 ED Glen Allen, Va.

Charlotte K. Oldfield ‘86 BE Mize, Ky.

Joseph Childs ‘14 MED Tupelo, Miss.

Wade A. Maguire ‘71 BE Lexington, Ky.

Dr. Katherine Detherage ‘75 NUR Rochester, N.Y.

Cedric C. Jenkins ‘88 BE Newnan, Ga.

Emma Rose Bridges ‘15 ‘17 HS Louisville, Ky.

James S. Morris ‘70 EN Frankfort, Ky.

Marvin Graham ‘71 EN Danville, Ky.

Dr. David B. Jenks ‘75 ‘82 ED Winchester, Ky.

Sara L. Holroyd ‘88 CC, ‘18 HON Lexington, Ky. Fellow

James E. Toombs ‘71 EN, ‘82 LAW St. Pete Beach, Fla.

Frank P. Lemaster ‘75 ED Birchrunville, Pa.

Lois Ann Denny ‘71 ED Lawrenceburg, Ky.

Stephen R. Huey ‘78 BE Fort Collins, Colo.

Charlene Nelson Norris ‘89 FA Rockwall, Texas Life Member

Dr. Carl D. Coffee ‘71 ‘83 BE Shelbyville, Ky.

Ruth F. Goldstein ‘78 AS Louisville, Ky.

Marilyn J. Nutter ‘89 CC St. Thomas, V.I.

Florence Shelby W. Tabeling ‘71, ‘78 SW Nashville, Tenn.

Life Member

Bebe W. Tonks ‘79 NUR Imperial, Pa.

Charles A. Canada ‘91 PHA Louisville, Ky.

Sandra C. Young ‘80 CI Lexington, Ky.

Angela R. Caldwell ‘93 ED Nicholasville, Ky.

Thomas K. Elliott ‘81 ED Louisville, Ky. Life Member

Timothy P. Mills ‘94 AS Cincinnati, Ohio

David A. Brewster ‘71 BE Fort Wright, Ky. Christine P. Gancarz ‘72 ‘73 ED Dallas, Texas

Gordon B. Stacy ‘81 EN, ‘84 EN Lexington, Ky.

Deborah Jae Alexander ‘96 FA Winchester, Ky.

Andrew Paul Reichenbach ‘03 BE, ‘03 EN Sugar Land, Texas

Dr. Brian Kirby Rittel ‘19 PHA West Des Moines, Iowa Roger Paul DiSilvestro ‘20 FA Fort Myers, Fla.

Correction: Due to a data error, Hazel W. Chappell ‘81 NUR was listed incorrectly on the In Memoriam pages of the Winter 2022 Kentucky Alumni magazine.

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ADVERTISEMENT

Alumni Feature DISTINGUISHED COLLEGE OF PHARMACY ALUMNI RECOGNIZED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

By Rosa Mejia-Cruz

T

His expertise spans R&D management, global drug development, medical affairs, commercial management, commercial and R&D activities integration, and commercial development and licensing.

He has played a crucial role in clinical R&D, including designing unique study protocols and analyzing data to assess drug safety and efficacy. Brazzell’s efforts have resulted in the approval of seven new drug applications (NDAs), an exceptional achievement given the high attrition rate of research drugs.

wo accomplished University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy (UKCOP) alums will become the latest inductees to the College’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni. The College recognized their professional achievements at the Hall of Distinguished Alumni & Preceptors awards ceremony Friday, April 21, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. EDT. The 2022 inductees for the Lifetime Achievement Award are R. Kim Brazzell (BS ’75, Ph.D. ‘79) and Henry J. Mann (BS ’76, PharmD ’80, R89). Their peers selected the new inductees for their notable contributions to their respective fields.

In addition to his pharmaceutical expertise, Brazzell has also led executive management teams in strategic oversight, mergers, and budgeting. His business acumen has significantly impacted increasing revenue, drug product development, licensing decisions, and regulatory approvals for the companies he has worked with.

Dr. R. Kim Brazzell, Ph.D., one of two 2022 Lifetime Achievement inductees to the College of Pharmacy Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

“Drs. Brazzell and Mann have set the standard for excellence in the profession with their outstanding achievements in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice,” said R. Kip Guy, dean of the College. “They embody the values and spirit of the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and have dedicated their lives to improving patient health and scientific progress. We are proud to recognize and honor their lifetime of contributions with induction into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni.”

Part one of this series highlights Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award recipient Dr. R. Kim Brazzell, Ph.D.

Dr. R. Kim Brazzell is a highly accomplished senior ophthalmic pharmaceutical executive with a proven track record of success in research and development, commercial management, and business development. He received his B.S. in Pharmacy (1975) and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1980) under Dr. Harry Kostenbauder.

Brazzell has made remarkable contributions to the field of ophthalmology drug therapy over several decades, leading the development of innovative drug delivery approaches and enabling the treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases. He currently serves as Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer for Kala Pharmaceuticals.

Brazzell’s career highlights include executive management of global R&D departments in large and small ophthalmic pharmaceutical companies, leading the development and approval of several commercially successful ophthalmic pharmaceutical products in multiple disease areas, and successfully managing the Inspire Ophthalmology Business Unit, achieving $90+ million in revenue. He has also played a key role in successful mergers and acquisitions, including representing Inspire in its $430 million acquisition by Merck. Brazzell has served as a sponsor, moderator, and presenter at a successful FDA Advisory Committee Meeting, demonstrating his expertise in medical affairs.

His contributions to ophthalmology have been recognized nationally, and he is highly sought after for his evaluation of new drugs and clinical trial design. His reputation as an expert in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical industry has made him an outstanding consultant for clinicians and researchers. His success and dedication to the field make him an excellent role model for the next generation of pharmacists and scientists.

Creative Juices Michael M. Gunter Jr. ‘98 ‘01 AS has written “Climate Travels: How Ecotourism Changes Mindsets and Motivates Action.” Gunter takes readers around the United States to bear witness to the many faces of the climate crisis. He argues that conscientious travel broadens understanding of climate changes and makes its dangers concrete and immediate. Drawing on interviews with government officials, industry leaders and alternative energy activists, the book emphasizes direct personal experience and the centrality of environmental justice. The book offers readers a hopeful message about how to take action on the local level themselves.

K.D. Harryman ’92 ED has written a collection of contemporary poetry, “Girls’ Book of Knots.” The book is a metaphoric instruction manual that critiques and warns of the patriarchal systems that keep women and men bound to harmful roles related to power and oppression. Her first book, “Auto Mechanic’s Daughter,” was selected by Chris Abani for the Black Goat Poetry Series Imprint at Akashic Books in Brooklyn.

Sarah L. Hall ‘08 ‘12 AFE has written “Sown in the Stars” which includes interviews with nearly two dozen contemporary Kentuckians who follow the signs of the moon and stars to guide planting, harvesting, canning and food preservation, butchering and general farm work. The book brings together the collective knowledge of farmers in Central and Eastern Kentucky about the custom of planting by the signs.

Adna Karamehic-Oates ’01 ‘04 AS, ’04 GS has edited “Bosnian Studies: Perspectives from an Emerging Field.” This 310-page collection of thoughtful and deeply researched essays includes works by historians and political scientists seeking to explain the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors are either writing from their new home bases or they have returned to Bosnia after a period of migration.

Alfred J. Lipshultz ’74 AS has published “Willed Dreams: Making the Pursuit of Happiness, Security and Success a Reality,” a collection of self-improvement readings.

Lipshultz writes that many self-help books don’t work because they don’t address the readers controllable weaknesses in their core foundation, including unknown weaknesses. His book is a diary journal of Living Tenets for developing personal happiness, growth and success. Lipshultz is the president, CEO and co-founder at Aquathin Corp., the manufacturer of water purification, softening and filtration systems.

Celeste Warren ’85 CI has written “How to Be a Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador: Everyone’s Role in Helping All Feel Accepted, Engaged and Valued.” The vice president of the global diversity and inclusion center of excellence at Merck, Warren uses a three-part framework to show anyone—from CEOs to frontline employees—can play a pivotal role in creating a diverse and welcoming workplace.

Tom Williams ’90 GS has written “Letters to a G.I.: An Intimate Journey from Friendship to Love” which tells the true story of a three-year courtship and love story by mail between a switchboard operator and a soldier in 1971.

Williams’ other books include “President You” and “My Life in Lists.”

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.

w w w. u ka l umni . net

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Quick Take

In honor of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association’s celebration of 135 Years of UK Women, the alumni representatives on the UK Board of Trustees and Jill Smith, associate vice president for alumni engagement and executive director of the UK Alumni Association, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the April 23 UK women’s softball game. The Cats beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-1. Left to right are Jill Holloway Smith ’05 BE, 11 AFE; Brenda Baker Gosney ’70 HS, ’75 ED; Rachel Watts Webb ’05 CI and Paula Leach Pope ‘73 ‘75 ED.

56 K ENTU CKY A LUM NI MAGAZ I NE Summer 2023

Photo by Stacey Gish

CELEBRATING 135 YEARS OF UK WOMEN

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$1.45M

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UNIQUE DONORS

RAISED IN 24 HOURS

GIFTS MADE ON ONE DAY

THANK YOU! ONEDAYFORUK.UKY.EDU

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A CANCER-FREE FUTURE BELIEVE IN MARKEY See why at ukhealthcare.com/believe