While a doctoral candidate in psychology at Spalding, Steve Kniffley (’13) has volunteered in Senegal, founded the West Louisville Healthcare Association and received national recognition for his success while a graduate student in psychology. He also has established the Excellence in Psychology Scholarship, which will support racial ethnic minority students in the School of Professional Psychology. He talked with Spalding’s Cathi Biller, Manager of Alumni Relations, about his experience at Spalding and becoming a donor while still a student.

Spalding: What motivated you to found a scholarship at Spalding while you were still a student?

Steven Kniffley: One of the things that my grandmother, who has always played a significant role in my life, has taught me is that any place that you go, you always want to make it better than when you came.  My goal with the Excellence in Psychology scholarship is to promote excellence among minority psychology students.

I knew that there was some sort of opportunities that I wanted to leave for Spalding students.  I know that being at Spalding has been a great opportunity; I’ve learned a lot.  I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in a lot of different things that I never imagined would happen as a graduate student such as going to Africa or becoming Spalding’s first APA (American Psychological Association) Minority Fellowship recipient, and so, I felt all those things are attributed to the experiences and training that I got there. I felt obligated, or if you will, I felt like it was important for me to give back.  To make sure that there was an opportunity for other students coming in to hopefully have the same type of experience.

Spalding: Can you tell me a little bit about your experience at Spalding and where you are now?

Kniffley: The program prepares you to work out in the field and to work as a psychologist which is one of the things I’m doing now in my internship and so I feel that my training in that area is helping me to succeed with where I’m at now. It’s a very rigorous program; every year there are probably between 3,000 to 4,000 students that apply for internships and a little over half of those actually get matched .  In the doctoral program, = you have to finish an internship in order to receive your degree.  One of the good things about Spalding’s program is that we have a match rate (of students to available internships) that is higher than the national average and so whatever it is that we’re doing at the school is actually getting folks matched at internships despite how competitive the process is.

Spalding:  What is your future hope for this scholarship? 

Kniffley:  I would like to work hard to where it becomes endowed so that we reach the ($10,000) dollar mark to make that happen, and then that actually serves as a way to encourage more minority students to seek out advanced degrees in psychology.  Minority individuals are severely underrepresented in the field of psychology, especially at the graduate level. I wanted to continue to help more individuals know they can make that step in regards to getting into graduate school, which would not only do good things for Spalding, but will also do good things for the field of psychology because we would have more ethnic minority psychologists in the field.

SPALDING:  That’s wonderful.  If you could speak to other alums about this scholarship, what are some of things you would say to them?

The two key words for me are investment and opportunity.  So what I see this scholarship being, and hopefully anyone that would want to participate in contributing to the scholarship, is to know that they are investing in a quality project.  They are investing in a Spalding student that, I know and we all know, will go out and make a significant change in the community.  So any dollar that you give to this particular scholarship is going to go back to manifest in several dollars’ worth of time that will go back towards impactful change for the community.

By individuals giving to this scholarship they are giving another student an opportunity to achieve a dream. For me, getting my doctorate, that is a dream of mine.  I will be the first doctor in our family when I walk across the stage—that is—I wouldn’t have had that without having an education at Spalding.  And so, for me, this is achieving a dream and I know by having a scholarship and encouraging other people to contribute to it they are also helping another student achieve their dreams as well.

SPALDING: Did you have any really strong mentors during your time at Spalding?

SK:  Specifically at Spalding, my mentor in the Child and Adolescent and Family track at Spalding is Dr. DeDe Wohlfarth. She has been a consistent source of support since I entered the program and has continued to write letters of recommendation and has supported me throughout my entire graduate career.  I feel like I definitely owe her a lot for where I am now and for the type of professional I will be in the field.

SPALDING: Do you think you were given a chance to flourish in terms of what you were able to do because you were at a program like Spalding? 

SK:  What strikes me the most is Spalding’s commitment to a significant community impact.  So what I see our program, and the other programs on campus attempting to cultivate in their students, is this ideal of being “social change agents” so we’re not just receptacles of knowledge but we’re dispensers of it and that’s not just, “I tell you factual information,” but I’m also figuring out ways to apply it to make our communities better.

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Dr. Michelle Reiss, Chair of the School of Business at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, was elected as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the IACBE.

About the IACBE – The International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) was founded in 1997 and is nationally-recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The IACBE is the leader in mission-driven and outcomes-based programmatic accreditation in business and management education for student-centered colleges and universities throughout the world.

The IACBE’s mission is to promote and recognize excellence in business education in institutions of higher education worldwide, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, through specialized accreditation of business programs. The IACBE has hundreds of member institutions and campuses and well over 900 accredited programs in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Central America, and South America.

The IACBE’s World Headquarters are located in Lenexa, Kansas, USA, with a representative office in Paris, France.

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Festival of Contemporary Writing events will be held at the Brown Hotel (335 W. Broadway) and at Spalding’s Egan Leadership Center Lectorium (901 S. Fourth St.), as noted. Plenty of free parking is available for the campus readings. Authors may or may not read from the work listed.

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18. (Brown Hotel, 16^th floor, Gallery)

• Larry Brenner (dramatic writing), Saving Throw Versus Love; Bethlehem

• Rachel Harper (fiction), Brass Ankle Blues

• Roy Hoffman (creative nonfiction), Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations

• Shane McCrae (poetry), Blood

• Kirby Gann (fiction), Ghosting

• Charlie Schulman (dramatic writing), The Fartiste; Frankenswine

5:15-6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19. Celebration of Recently Published Books by Faculty. (Brown Hotel, 16^th floor, Gallery)

• Eric Schmiedl (playwriting), The Kardiac Kid

• Elaine Orr (fiction), A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa

• Gabriel Dean (playwriting), The Transition of Doodle Pequeño

• David-Matthew Barnes (playwriting; writing for children & young adults), Relocations; Wonderland

Introductions by Sena Jeter Naslund. Book signing to follow. Books provided by Carmichael’s Bookstore.

6:15-7:15 p.m. Monday, May 20. (ELC Lectorium)

• Lesléa Newman (writing for children and young adults), A Sweet Passover

• Rebecca Walker (creative nonfiction), Black, White, and Jewish

• Robin Lippincott (fiction), In the Meantime

• Susan Campbell Bartoletti (writing for children & young adults), Down the Rabbit Hole: The Diary of Pringle Rose, 1871

• Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Peck and Pock: A Graphic Poem

7:00-8:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 22. (ELC Lectorium)

• Sam Zalutsky (screenwriting), You Belong to Me

• Mary Clyde (fiction), Survival Rates

• K.L. Cook (fiction), Love Songs for the Quarantined

• Greg Pape (poetry), Four Swans

• Sena Jeter Naslund (fiction), Adam & Eve

5:15-6:15 p.m. Thursday, May 23. (Brown Hotel, 16^th floor, Gallery)

• Leslie Daniels (fiction), Cleaning Nabokov’s House

• Pete Duval (fiction), Rear View: Stories

• Maureen Morehead (poetry), Late August Blues: The Daylily Poems

• John Pipkin (fiction), Woodsburner

• Helena Kriel (screenwriting), Skin

6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 23. (Brown Hotel, 16^th floor, Gallery)

Featured Author. The Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence: Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried. Welcome and introduction by Sena Jeter Naslund. Book signing to follow. Books provided by Carmichael’s Bookstore.

4:45-6:00 p.m. Friday, May 24. Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni. (Brown Hotel, 1^st floor, Citation)

• Chris Mattingly (’10), Scuffletown

• Sandi Hutcheson (’12), Looks Great Naked (published as Grace Adams)

• Charlotte Rains Dixon (’03), Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior

• David Harrity (’07), Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand

• Brittany K Fonte (’07), Fighting Gravity

• Ann Eskridge (’08), The Raven

• Loreen Niewenhuis (’09), A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk

3:00-4:00 p.m. Saturday, May 25. MFA Alumni Reading. Alumni read from works in progress. (ELC Lectorium)

• Barry George (’09), Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku

• Marjetta Geerling (’11), Fancy White Trash

• Dan Nowak (’07), Of a Bed Frame

• Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (’09), The Porcupine of Mind

• Terry Price (’06), Alumni Association Director

• Ellyn Lichvar (’07), MFA staff

• Gayle Hanratty (’06), MFA staff

The reading schedule may change without notice. Check the website for updated information: . For more information, call 502-873-4400 or 800-896-8941, ext. 4400, or send us an email.

Spalding’s four-semester, brief-residency MFA in Writing combines superb instruction with unparalleled flexibility. The Program offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting, and playwriting. Students begin the semester in the spring, summer, or fall with a 10-day residency in Louisville or abroad, then return home for an independent study with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies. See spalding.edu/mfa for more information.

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Originally published in 1990, The Things They Carried is a collection of linked stories that follows a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. The title story and others in the collection have been widely anthologized and taught at the high school and college level. In 2005, The Things They Carried was named by the New York Times as one of the twenty best books of the last quarter century. It was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and received one of France’s highest literary awards, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. The title story received the National Magazine Award and was selected by John Updike for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century.

O’Brien received the National Book Award in Fiction in 1979 for his novel Going After Cacciato. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic, Esquire, Playboy, Harper’s, and numerous editions of The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Short Stories. His novels have sold more than three million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages.

The Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence fund was established in 2011 through a gift from Raab, a 2003 alumna of the Spalding MFA in Writing program. An award-winning memoirist, essayist, and poet, Raab is the author of eight books.

O’Brien’s appearance is the headline event for Spalding’s Festival of Contemporary Writing, May 18-24. The festival is Kentucky’s largest and most prestigious spring-fall reading series. Past guest authors include Ernest J. Gaines, Yusef Komunyakaa, Pico Iyer, Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), Naomi Shihab Nye, Bobby Moresco, Heather Raffo, and many others.

The Festival of Contemporary Writing is part of Spalding’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program. The creative writing program offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, playwriting, and screenwriting. Fall and spring semesters begin in Louisville in November and May, respectively, while a summer semester with residency abroad begins in June or July and is designed to fit teachers’ schedules.

Click here for more information,

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The public is welcome and encouraged to check out this creative and engaging collection of works. April 29 – May 31.

The works were inspired by the book sculptures of British artist, Su Blackwell. Drawing inspiration from fictional stories, memories or personal themes, current Kentucky School of Art  three-dimensional design students created their own personal narratives through paper.

Students repurposed books to serve as stage and material; each work captures an individualized handling of material and sensitivity to space and object. These miniature worlds are full of small and hidden details, which beckon the viewer to engage in close exploration

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Spalding University broke three conference records and claimed Coach, Player and Newcomer of the Year honors as they captured their first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Men’s Golf Championship.

Anthony Irwin posted rounds of 69-71-71–211 to claim the individual crown and earn not only Player of the Year honors, but also Newcomer of the Year. His three-round total (211) is a new Conference record, and he posted low scores in the first two rounds.
Keith Thompson also placed within the top 10 for the Golden Eagles with a three-round total of 226 (72-75-79). He tied for ninth place out of the 34 golfers competing.The Golden Eagles boasted the top four finishers, marking the first time since 1998 that a team has done so. Andrew Pleasant finished just one stroke behind Irwin, shooting rounds of 70-72-70–212. His 70 in round three was also the low score for the day. Cody Sheeley, who tied Irwin after the first round with a low score of 69, finished the final two rounds with a 73 in each for a total of 215. Austin Root rounded out Spalding’s top four with scores of 70-76-71–217.

As a team, Spalding posted a 54-round SLIAC record score of 854. Their first round score of 278 was also a Conference record, and they are only the second team to record three, sub-300 rounds. The Golden Eagles had rounds of 278-291-285–854 to finish 14 over par.

Spalding’s Irwin, Pleasant, Sheeley, and Root were all named First Team All-SLIAC, while Thompson earned Second Team All-Conference honors. In addition to All-SLIAC honors and the Player and Newcomer of the Year, Spalding’s Cory Kaufman was named the SLIAC Coach of the Year. SU’s Andrew Pleasant was named to the SLIAC All-Sportsmanship team.

Article courtesy of the SLIAC sports information director.

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“Tori is an awe-inspiring, intelligent woman and leader. I am thrilled that she will speak at the 2013 Celebration of Hope,” said Mrs. Beshear. “I am also excited that for the second year in a row, the event will be held at the world-renowned Kentucky Horse Park during the week before Derby. Holding the event in the Alltech Arena at the Horse Park allows more women to participate. On May 1, I look forward to celebrating Kentucky’s breast cancer survivors and honoring those who continue to fight.”

Tori Murden McClure is best known as the first woman and first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was also the first woman and first American to travel over land to the geographic South Pole, skiing 750 miles from the ice shelf to the pole. An avid mountaineer, Tori has climbed on several continents. She was the first woman to climb Lewis Nunatuck summit in Antarctica.

McClure has appeared on several national television shows including The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, the Oprah Winfrey Show and many features on both the Travel and Discovery Channels. Currently, McClure serves as president of Spalding University in Louisville. She will speak at the Celebration about her life experiences, women’s empowerment and the benefits of perseverance and determination in life.

As in previous years, participants at the Celebration of Hope will enjoy a delicious brunch featuring Kentucky Proud products and can shop for jewelry, clothes, books and more from an array of local vendors. Following the festivities, the Kentucky Horse Park will offer free trolley tours of their world-class grounds and facilities.

Former First Lady Judi Patton started the Celebration of Hope to celebrate breast cancer survivors and to help educate Kentuckians about the risks of the disease. This event brings together survivors, advocates, and their friends and families. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women – both nationally and in Kentucky.

Click here to learn more about the Celebration of Hope or to request an invitation.

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“Young children today tell me that they want to be surgeons, architects and math specialists. It’s amazing,” says Dr. H.A. Hasan, associate professor in education. “At a very early age we are seeing students looking on to their future, so that’s amazing.”

Before arriving on campus, the fifth graders researched subjects and career choices and were prepared to ask questions and to learn more information from professors, who teach subjects of their interest. This preparation and on-site interaction allows students to be “college and career focused” prior to continuing their education through middle and high school.

While on campus students talked with professors about the differences in scheduling from elementary school to college, including class time and how students can chose electives based upon their interests; participated in mock-medical treatment in the simulation lab; walked the campus; and had a pizza lunch with professors.

“Following their past three visits, the fifth graders told the Maupin faculty and staff that visiting Spalding University’s campus was the best field trip they had ever taken,” says Spalding Dean of Education Beverly Keepers. “Our outcome for this experience is to introduce and nurture a college-going culture prior to this year’s fifth graders being promoted to middle school in the fall. This would not have been such a memorable experience if it had not been for the Spalding faculty and staff who contributed their time and shared valuable information with these students.”

This year marked the fourth college day experience hosted at Spalding—a tradition educators at Spalding and Maupin would like to see continue for generations to come.

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The welfare rights movement emerged out of the struggle against punitive welfare policies that enforced dehumanizing requirements and provided minimal subsistence. Despite battling economic deprivation, personal shame, and public hostility, welfare recipients, many of whom were women of color, organized to secure an adequate standard of living for their families. Even with some success, activists faced a repressive welfare state and stigmatization in society and a shift in the organizing framework developed. The evolution of welfare rights to human rights assisted some organizations in gaining more legitimacy within society. This lecture will trace that strand of history.

The semi-annual colloquia highlight the forward-looking research performed by a faculty member and encourages interaction among the academic community.  A reception for colleagues to socialize will follow the event.

Please RSVP to Helen Nelson by April 18.

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Although the celebration started with just a handful of faculty sharing posters representing scholarship completed that academic year, it now represents the yearly accomplishments of faculty, students and staff from all corners of the campus. This year, over 50 posters will be displayed, and will center on the University’s mission with special focus its key ideas of: diversity; meeting the needs of the times; liberal and professional studies; spiritual values; service; and peace and justice.

This event is free and open to the public.

View the slide show from last year’s celebration.

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