Tag: events

A crowd of about 1,000 college basketball fans and friends of Spalding University packed Cardinal Stadium’s Brown and Williamson Club Monday night to get the lowdown on March Madness while supporting the NCAA Division III Golden Eagles’ athletic department.

Spalding’s 11th annual Bracketology fundraiser featured a star-studded panel of basketball analysts –  former Louisville stars Luke Hancock and Milt Wagner, former Kentucky stars Mike Pratt and Dan Issel and former U of L assistant Jerry Jones – on stage to reflect on their playing and coaching days and to make their picks for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

For those who couldn’t make it out, we’ve got you covered. Here are the Final Four and national champion picks of the panelists.

Mike Pratt
East: Duke
West: Gonzaga
South: Tennessee
Midwest: Kentucky
Title game: Duke over Tennessee

Luke Hancock
East: Duke
West: Florida State
South: Virginia
Midwest: North Carolina
Title game: North Carolina over Florida State

Dan Issel
East: Duke
West: Michigan
South: Tennessee
Midwest: North Carolina
Title game: North Carolina over Duke

Milt Wagner
East: Duke
West: Florida State
South: Tennessee
Midwest: Kentucky
Title game: Duke over Kentucky

Jerry Jones
East: Duke
West: Buffalo
South: Virgina
Midwest: Houston
Title game: Duke over Houston

Bracketology is the largest annual fundraiser for Spalding’s athletic program. In addition to fans hearing from and taking with the celebrity bracketologists, the event also featured a buffet dinner, a bar, a silent auction with a trove of sports memorabilia and other cool items and a $20,000 cash raffle.

We hope to see you next year!

DONATE TO SPALDING’S PROPOSED ATHLETIC FIELDS COMPLEX ON NINTH STREET

A crowd of about 150 Jefferson County Public Schools faculty and staff and other members of the community gathered this week at Spalding University for the second annual Restorative Practices Summit to learn about the impact of restorative practices in schools.

A common theme emerged among all the speakers: This is important, meaningful work.

“I believe in high expectations for students, but we need to turn to high supports as well,” JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said. “That’s where we miss the boat so often is providing supports for kids and teaching kids the right way to do things. We have kids facing trauma at greater rates than (at any other time) in my career and coming to school with so many things that they experience outside of the school walls.

“We have two options. We can say, ‘We have high expectations, and if you don’t meet them, you’re out.’ Or, No. 2, we can say, ‘We’re going to do everything we can to teach you the right way, to support you, to help you, and most importantly, to restore.'”

This was the second year Spalding has hosted the Restorative Practices Summit in partnership with JCPS, highlighting the innovative, thoughtful use of restorative methods as an intervention strategy. Restorative practices focus on repairing harm and building and restoring relationships.

During Wednesday’s public session at the College Street Center, representatives from Western Middle School, Slaughter Elementary School and Shawnee High School, which have fully implemented restorative practices, explained how the methods have affected school climate and culture. There was also a panel, moderated by JCPS Chief Communications Officer Renee Murphy, that featured faculty and students from Engelhard Elementary and Waggener High School.

All the speakers said their schools have seen reductions in disciplinary referrals and suspensions – at Shawnee, for instance, suspensions went down from 673 in 2016-17 to 359 over the same period this school year – and there have been meaningful changes in teacher-to-student and student-to-student communication.

Western Middle School counselor Judith Wilson, whose school’s referrals are down 13 percent since implementing restorative practices, said that students who have built a relationship of trust with teachers often are willing to share deeply personal details about their emotions or challenges they’re facing.

“When you build a place of safety for them, you’re going to have amazing culture and climate in your building where students know that you love them,” she said.

Jeffrey Elliott, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports coach at Slaughter Elementary, said an important restorative technique is the use of “affective language” when speaking with children, creating a more personal, emotional engagement. He said one subtle example is to alter a standard greeting of, “Good morning,” to a question that asks the child about his or her day, because it shouldn’t be assumed that the child is having a good morning.

Amina McQueen, a student at Engelhard Elementary, said her class has a daily “temperature check” exercise in which all the students rank their mood on a numbered scale.

“If you’re not having a good day,” she said, “the other students will know and say, ‘Hey, are you OK?’ and the teachers will know at the same time.”

By the 2019-20 school year, JCPS will have 33 schools trained on the full implementation of restorative practices. A total of 156 schools will have a top level of academic and behavior interventions in place for student support and relationship-building.

Pollio said teachers and school leaders should view the restorative approach to students the same way they would their own children.

“When our children make a mistake at home, yes, we have to correct them, and many times we have to take action with them, but would we ever not have the other side of it?” he said. “Where we bring them back, tell them what they did wrong,  ask them how we’re going to change, give them a hug and tell them we still love them? Would any parent not do that? We have to do the same thing in this work.”

Spalding President Tori Murden McClure said the university has embraced restorative practices for years and recounted an instance in which the university used them to deal with a student who’d made a mistake that could have had serious criminal consequences. Through the restorative process, he went on to repair the harm he’d done and ended up graduating.

“Finding creative ways to the deal with mental health issues of our young people, to deal with the behavioral issues, we know those are tied together, and we need to be creative and approach them in ways that are full of heart,” she told the crowd. “I’m really grateful that you’re here and doing this important work.”

Katy DeFarrari, JCPS Assistant Superintendent for School Climate and Culture., said Spalding leaders are “great partners of ours” in advancing restorative practices.

“Spalding says they are a small community, but they are mighty,” she said.

Award recipients

Wednesday’s program concluded with Spalding presenting its inaugural Restorative Practices Awards to individuals and organizations that have used restorative practices effectively and advanced the understanding of them.

The recipients were: Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Angela Bisig (Community Advocate Award), Restorative Justice Louisville (Collaboration Award), JCPS Behavior Support Systems Coordinator Saundra Hensel (Impact Award), JCPS (Innovation Award) and former Kentucky State Police Commissioner and former Kentucky Justice Cabinet Secretary Ishmon Burks (Legacy Award).

“It’s not my award but the team’s award,” Hensel said “I have 10 resource teachers who spend every day in the buildings supporting teachers and schools doing this work, so this is really recognizing the work that they do.”

The conference continued Thursday with a closed day of training for JCPS faculty and staff that was led by Florida educator and student support expert Penelope Lowe.

“Spalding has been an incredible partner in providing us with resources and ideas and the people to do this (conference) in a way that we would not be able to do on our own,” Hensel said. “They believe in the work that we’re doing.”

View a Facebook gallery of pictures from Wednesday’s portion of the conference below or at this link.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156444683352762&type=1&l=5e23c963e0

Spalding University, in partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), will host the second annual Summit on Restorative Practices March 13-14, with the first day open to the public. The summit, to be held at Spalding’s College Street Center, 812 S. Second St., will showcase JCPS schools that have implemented restorative methods as an intervention strategy to manage student behavior and improve school safety, climate and culture.

Restorative practices, which are a social science designed to mediate conflict and ease tensions by repairing harm and restoring relationships, have contributed to a reduction in suspensions at many of the restorative practice-trained JCPS schools.

“Restorative practices have been a valuable tool in helping us improve the climate and culture inside our classrooms, which is one of the key pillars we’ve committed to for our district,” JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said.

Wednesday’s first day of the summit will be held 8:30-11 a.m. and is free and open to the public. Attendees are asked to register at www.spalding.edu/rjsummit.

The event kicks off with remarks by Dr. Pollio and Spalding President Tori Murden McClure, followed by the showcase of restorative practice schools.

JCPS Chief Communications and Community Relations Officer Renee Murphy will then moderate a panel discussion on the impact of restorative practices in schools, and the university will present its inaugural Spalding Restorative Practices Awards, honoring individuals and community organizations that have advanced and promoted the use and understanding of restorative practices.

The award categories and recipients are:

● Impact Award: Saundra Hensel, JCPS Behavior Support Systems Coordinator
● Community Advocate Award: Judge Angela Bisig, Jefferson County Circuit Court
● Collaboration Award: Restorative Justice Louisville
● Innovation Award: Jefferson County Public Schools
● Legacy Award: Ishmon Burks, former Kentucky State Police Commissioner, former Kentucky Justice Cabinet Secretary and former interim Louisville Metro Police Department Chief.

The conference will continue Thursday, March 14, with a closed session of training for JCPS faculty and staff.

By the start of the 2019-20 school year, there will be 33 JCPS schools implementing restorative practices, and the district will be accepting applications this spring for schools to be trained in restorative practices in the summer of 2020.  Schools that become JCPS restorative practices schools go through two days of training, attended by all adults in the building – from nutrition workers to administration.  They then receive ongoing training and support from the district during their implementation.

Spalding uses restorative techniques and methods, including talking circles, on its campus in a range of settings to help facilitate difficult, educational conversations and to find solutions. From an academic standpoint, the university will launch a criminal justice studies program this fall, pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, that will include required introductory courses in restorative justice and criminal justice reform. The university also offers a minor in restorative justice studies.

“We look forward to hosting JCPS leaders on our campus to learn more about restorative practices, and we thank the award recipients for all they’ve done to support thoughtful, innovative methods of conflict mediation and relationship-building,” McClure said. “At Spalding, we’ve made restorative practices a priority and believe they are a powerful, compassionate tool.”

Spalding and JCPS Summit on Restorative Practices

When: March 13-14; open to public on first day, 8:30-11 a.m.
Where: Spalding’s College Street Center, 812 S. Second St.
Registration: Free at www.spalding.edu/rjsummit

The Spalding University School of Social Work will celebrate Social Work Month with two signature events held back-to-back on Thursday, March 7,  and the public is encouraged to attend.

A daylong conference called #OppressForgetRepeat – A Call to End the Cycle of Injustice and Oppression will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the College Street Center ballroom, 812 S. Second Street. It’s free for Spalding faculty and staff as well as students from any school, and it’s $25 for the public. For those seeking to acquire six continuing education units (CEUs), the cost is $35. Register online on the A Call to End the Cycle of Injustice & Oppression event page.

That will be followed at 5 p.m. for Spalding’s Celebration of Social Work reception at the Republic Bank Academic Center,981 S. Third St. That event is free and will feature distribution of the second annual Spalding Social Work Awards.

Here’s more detail on both events.

#OppressForgetRepeat conference

The #OppressForgetRepeat – A Call to End the Cycle of Injustice and Oppression conference is designed to explore the dynamics of systemic and structural oppression, while reviewing the history and long-range damage of oppressive practices.

Participants will engage with community and regional leaders in plenaries and participant-driven breakout sessions.

There will presentations by Rabbi Nadia Siritsky about antisemitism; Rashaad Abdur-Rahman, director for the city’s Department of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, about slavery; and Joshua Poe, urban planner, about the redlining of Louisville neighborhoods.

Learn more | Spalding University School of Social Work

Learn more | New School of Social Work Chair embraces role

Marta Miranda-Straub, the retired leader of the Center for Women and Families and a current Spalding social work adjunct professor, will also speak.

Breakout sessions will be held on anti-oppressive practice, trauma-informed practice, community organizing and more. There will also be an information fair of social justice organizations.

“It’s really a call to action,” said Miranda-Straub, who also helped organize the conference. “We’re setting the context (of examples of oppressive practices and systems), then giving the opportunities to engage with activists and advocacy and organizations that are doing social justice work. It’s kind of a shifting of a paradigm that we can’t keep doing this work without really learning from the past and moving it forward to find out what action we’re going to take.”

Celebration of Social Work reception

After the conference, at the Celebration of Social Work public reception, Spalding will present its annual social work awards to community leaders dedicated to the profession and the community. This year’s honorees are: Jennifer Hancock (Leader Award), Volunteers of America Mid-States; Edgardo Mansilla (Advocate Award), Americana Center; Miranda-Straub (Champion Award), Catapult Now; Adria Johnson (Collaborator Award), Metro United Way; and Quaniqua Carthan (Innovator), Cities United.

More Social Work Month coverage: Spalding School of Social Work Chair Dr. Shannon Cambron and professor Laneshia Conner each wrote an op-ed column for the Courier-Journal this past week explaining the profession of social work.

Audience members of Saturday morning’s inaugural session of the Abramson Leadership Exchange heard from a panel of some of Louisville’s most accomplished communications leaders about best practices for crisis communication and management, and the panelists offered multiple examples of how their organizations responded to past crises.

About 100 people attended the session at the Egan Leadership Center’s Troutman Lectorium to hear from moderator Jerry Abramson, the former Louisville mayor who now serves as Spalding’s Executive in Residence, and panelists Chad Carlton, President of C2 Strategic Communications; Laura Douglas, retired Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Community Affairs for LG&E and KU Energy; Phil Lynch, retired Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications at Brown-Forman; and Thomas Noland, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for Humana.

Each panelist gave a presentation detailing a few real examples of crises they’ve encountered in their careers. Then there was a lengthy Q&A session with audience members.

“I’m really pleased with how our first Exchange session went, and our panelists provided so much wisdom and insight,” Abramson said. “I think the members of the audience were entertained and heard a lot of valuable information that they can apply to their own organizations should a crisis occur.”

The Abramson Leadership Exchange is presented by Spalding’s Ed.D.: Leadership program in partnership with the Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) and Ignite Louisville.

The panel discussions are designed to align with the kind of high-level dialogue and idea-sharing that takes place in the Ed.D: Leadership program.

READ MORE ABOUT THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN LEADERSHIP

All 2019 sessions of the Abramson Leadership Exchange will have topics related to media and communications. The next session is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 3 and will focus on finding authentic information in the era of social media and fake news. The final session of 2019 is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 9.

View more Abramson Leadership Exchange photos from the album on the Spalding University Facebook page.

The new Spalding University Visiting Artist Series, sponsored by the Spalding art department, will continue with its second installment, Wednesday, Feb. 27, with a trip to campus by sisters Colleen and Maggie Clines, who are the entrepreneurs, social activists and textile artists behind the Louisville-based Anchal Project, which sells fair-trade textiles created by women artisans from other countries who are facing exploitation. (See full bio below.)

The free, public lecture by Colleen and Maggie Clines will take place 5-6 p.m. at the Egan Leadership Center’s Troutman Lectorium, 901 S. Fourth St. Food will be provided.

“I think (the lecture) will probably be about where the (Anchal Project) came from,” said Spalding associate professor of painting and drawing Aaron Lubrick, who helped organize the Visiting Artist Series. “They really care a lot about the artisans who work for them, so they may do a good bit talking about the artisans as well and the design process they go through to make these amazing quilts and other awesome textile pieces.”

The art department began the Visiting Artist Series this spring after receiving a donation to support it.

The artists meet with students, offer critiques and give public presentations or lectures about their work. Graphic novel illustrator Danica Novgorodoff was the first visiting artist on Feb. 19.

READ MORE ABOUT SPALDING’S UNDERGRADUATE ART PROGRAM

Here is the schedule for the remainder of this spring’s Spalding Visiting Artist Series, along with bios on the artists:

Feb. 27: Anchal Project (textile artists)

With backgrounds in design, sisters Colleen and Maggie Clines lead the brand by placing design at the center of Anchal Project’s everyday practice. Colleen earned her Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2010. During Colleen’s time in graduate school, she was inspired to start Anchal with three classmates after traveling to India and learning about the extreme oppression women faced as commercial sex workers and the economic opportunity presented by the region’s rich textiles.

“We felt compelled to take the project beyond the classroom with the conviction that our design training in collaboration with local leadership could address seemingly intractable social and environmental systems. The women we met became our sisters, sisters we had to fight for.”  – Colleen Clines, Co-Founder & CEO

Shortly following the class trip to India, the co-founders raised $400 by selling handmade notebooks and note cards. These humble beginnings facilitated the purchase of a sewing machine, sewing instruction, materials, and a stipend for the artisans. During 2010, Anchal officially received 501(c)3 non-profit status in the United States and expanded the project by partnering with a second NGO, Vatsalya, in Ajmer, India.

In 2012 after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Kentucky, Maggie Clines joined her sister Colleen to co-lead Anchal as Creative Director. Together with our partners and artisans, Anchal creates innovative programs and eco-friendly textiles that facilitate impact.

The Clines sisters’ designs explore the synthesis of vernacular imagery, heritage artwork and a maker’s journey to empowerment. The contemporary geometric designs are defined by sophisticated patchwork and aggregated stitch patterns, revolutionizing traditional kantha quilting techniques.

March 6-7, 1 p.m., ELC: Aubrey Levinthal (figurative painter)

Philadelphia-based painter Aubrey Levinthal transforms the often mundane and routine into the revered. Using the content of her refrigerator as inspiration, she creates still lifes from her leftovers, milk jugs, and fruit salad. As a student of art history she incorporates an appreciation for traditional composition while altering the surface by scraping, sanding, stroking, and glazing. These techniques inject motion and temporality into her pieces. Working with such a relatable subject matter, her paintings conflate the human experience and fine art.

March 21: Archie Borders (filmmaker)

Archie Borders is a director, producer, and screenwriter working out of Louisville, Kentucky. He has built a niche as a regional filmmaker with work that has been distributed nationally and that usually has showcased his home State of Kentucky. In addition to his role as a director and screenwriter, Archie has also produced works for other filmmakers from around the country. HIs work has been featured at the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance, South by Southwest, San Francisco Film Festival and many others.

April 1: Julie Leidner (gallery owner/artist)

Drawing from mythologies found in the Appalachian landscape, Julie Leidner is a Louisville-based  artist who creates paintings and drawings that are part fantasy and part history. The character of the artist-cavewoman recurs in her work as an archetypal adolescent who moves through environments while learning to be human, and making/desiring things. Using paint as a primary medium, along with collage, performance, and publishing projects, Leidner’s practice digs into the layers of shared human impulses, and posits an alternate reality where time and distance can be collapsed.

Julie Leidner has participated in group exhibitions at KMAC Museum (2015) and Zephyr Gallery (2015) in Louisville, ACNY Spattered Columns in Brooklyn (2013), Samson Projects in Boston (2011), and UnSmoke Projects in Pittsburgh (2010). In 2013 she had a digital solo exhibition in 57Cell, curated by Gregory Kalliche, sponsored by Blonde Art Books, in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently a long-term Artist-in-Residence at St. Francis High School in downtown Louisville, and runs an experimental exhibition space in Old Louisville called Sheherazade. In addition to being awarded a grant from the Great Meadows Foundation to fund her participation at Residency Unlimited in 2018, Julie was recipient of a Mary Hadley Prize in 2015 and a Kentucky Foundation for Women Grant in 2014 and 2011.

April 8-9: Ben Santiago (graphic designer)

Benjamin Santiago is a multi-disciplinary performance artist. He recently graduated from the Cranbrook Academy of Art,from the 2D Design program under Elliott Earls.

He is currently exploring a body of work involving Spaundou, a language of his own creation. Spaundou is expressed in performance, music, and video, most recently troh-seht whah-zhej ee-woon-doo-zha-mah ah-yoo-ohb, a 30 minute performance at the Cranbrook Art Museum.

For this performance he received the Mercedes-Benz Emerging Financial Services Emerging Artist Award, for which he will be in Berlin for two months at Künstlerhaus Bethanien.

April 24: Rebecca Norton (Painter/sculptor and Spalding art adjunct professor)

Rebecca Norton, born 1981, received her BFA from the University of Louisville in 2004 and her MFA from Art Center College of Design in 2010. Norton’s studio practice encompasses 2D and 3D design, collaboration, digital modeling and animation. Her work explores theories of synthesis and connectivity as they relate to the activity of reconstructing reality in vision and thought. She takes a special interest in the formal mapping of mathematical and generative forms, color theory, the study of perspective in art and architecture, and theories of attraction. Norton has exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at California State University, Long Beach, CA, The Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN, and Schneiderel.Home.Studio.Gallery, Vienna, Austria. She has been a contributing writer for The Brooklyn Rail, Arts in Bushwick and Abstract Critical. Rebecca Norton currently lives and works in Louisville, KY.

May 15: Douglass Miller (Illustrator/printmaker and Spalding art adjunct professor)

Douglas Miller is a professional artist whose drawings are exhibited regionally and in galleries across the United States. Additionally, Douglas does freelance illustrations as well as private and corporate commissions. His artwork is in the collection of the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, the University of Louisville, the Speed School of Engineering, and numerous private collections. Douglas lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky.

Spalding University’s Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Program, in partnership with Ignite Louisville and Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL), welcomes the public to the launch of the Abramson Leadership Exchange – a series of executive panel discussions moderated by former Mayor Jerry Abramson and featuring leaders from public-sector, corporate and nonprofit organizations.

The first Abramson Leadership Exchange discussion will be held 9-11 a.m., Saturday, March 2 at Spalding’s Egan Leadership Center. The topic will be crisis management and communication, and the panelists will include Chad Carlton, President of C2 Strategic Communications; Laura Douglas, retired Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Community Affairs for LG&E and KU Energy; Phil Lynch, retired Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications at Brown-Forman; and Thomas Noland, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for Humana.

Audience members will have an opportunity to ask question to the panelists and Abramson, who now serves as Spalding’s Executive in Residence.

The event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, but because space is limited, attendees must register online on the Abramson Leadership Exchange: Crisis Management event page or at spalding.edu/edd under the EVENTS label. Coffee, donuts and free parking next to the building will be provided.

REGISTER FOR THE ABRAMSON LEADERSHIP EXCHANGE ON MARCH 2

“We want to give folks some real-life insight into why and how leaders in a variety of fields make the kind of decisions that they do for their organizations,” Abramson said. “Our panelists have high-level experience participating in the process of decision-making that required them to take into account budgetary considerations, safety concerns, politics and public relations, as well as the interests of a wide range of stakeholders.”

Future sessions of the Abramson Leadership Exchange are scheduled for Aug. 3 and Nov. 9. Topics for the other 2019 sessions will also be related to media and communication.

“The thoughtful conversations that will take place through the Abramson Leadership Exchange align with the kind of dialogue and sharing of ideas that are a key component of Spalding’s Ed.D.: Leadership Program,” said Dr. Linda LaPinta, director of the doctoral program. “Mayor Abramson is one of the most experienced and respected leaders in our state, and this is a fantastic opportunity for current and aspiring leaders from all sorts of organizations to engage with him and these distinguished panelists.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT SPALDING’S DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN LEADERSHIP

Abramson has been in his role at Spalding since last spring. He serves as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate courses, helps develop programs such as a continuing-education certificate for city and county managers, and represents the university in the community.

Nicknamed “Mayor for Life” for having served five total terms as the leader of Louisville’s city government before and after its merger with Jefferson County, Abramson has also served as Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor and as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

About Spalding’s Ed.D.: Leadership Program: Spalding’s doctoral degree in Leadership is a terminal degree designed for senior or mid-management organizational leaders. The program prepares students with the knowledge, skill and evidence-based practice to impact policies and advance for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and educational organizations. The program has numerous community and global partners. The Ed.D. in Leadership is well-suited for individuals with careers in business, health care, social services, the arts, education and more. Additional information is available at spalding.edu/edd

About Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL): YPAL provides leadership development, educational opportunities and philanthropic support to Louisville’s Young Professionals for the benefit of the local community. The mission of YPAL is to connect, engage and develop metro Louisville’s young professionals through community, professional and social opportunities. Additional information is available at ypal.org

About Ignite Louisville: Ignite Louisville, a program of the Leadership Louisville Center, prepares high-potential professionals, typically between 25-45 years old, for expanded opportunities in career and community leadership. Offered twice a year, Ignite Louisville is a six-month life-changing personal and professional development experience that produces the skills, confidence, problem-solving abilities and connections essential to realizing leadership potential. Participants gain hands-on experience in civic leadership and working effectively as a team through the Ignite Louisville Challenge. They also gain heightened visibility within the community. Additional information is available at www.leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville

Spalding’s annual spring chance has nearly arrived for students and alumni to network with employers, gain experience in the interview process and possibly land a job or internship.

About 30 employers (see list below) from around the region will be on campus on 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 20 for Spalding’s Spring Career Expo to meet and greet students and alumni, accept their resumes and explain openings they may have for full-time and part-time employment or internships.

The employers represented will include health care and hospital systems, social services organizations and other nonprofits, an accounting firm and the major corporations UPS and Amazon.

The university strongly encourages students to attend the Career Expo, which is sponsored by Spalding’s Career Development Center, and take advantage of this valuable opportunity.

“It’s just a really great chance to start networking and making connections with Louisville employers,” Spalding Career Development Coordinator Kimberly Palmore said. “A lot of these representatives will be in their current positions for a long time or could move to different places, and because Louisville is a small place, you never know who you are going to see again down the line. It’s a good chance to practice those networking skills, ask questions about employers in the community and see what kinds of jobs they hire.”

Palmore said students should engage all the employers – regardless of what their primary service or product may be – to see what kind of positions they have. Restaurants, for example, still need accountants, she said, and hospitals still need graphic designers and social media managers.

“It’s just looking into where you can fit into these businesses with your major,” Palmore said.

Palmore said several students have landed job interviews after connecting with employers at Career Development events like the Career Expo.

“It is useful,” Palmore said. “Students do get jobs from these (interactions).”

Palmore said students and alumni who attend the Career Expo should dress in business casual or business professional. (Information on proper business attire is available at the Career Development Center’s Pinterest page.)

Students and alumni should also bring copies of their resume to the Career Expo. Even if some of the employers prefer not collect paper resumes and instead direct students to go online to apply for position, it can still be helpful to have a resume on hand.

(Speaking of resumes, the Career Expo will also offer resume reviews and critiques from hiring professionals – a valuable service to help students understand what their resumes should include and how they should look.)

Palmore encourages students to have a elevator pitch about themselves prepared for when they meet employers, giving basic information such as their name, major, skills and interests and work goals. It’s also important to have a plan in mind of the kind of information you want to gain about an employer so that you can ask questions and start a nice conversation.

“Introduce yourself, shake hands – a nice, firm handshake is always good – take business cards when you can,” Palmore said.

Palmore said students should value the business cards they collect and follow up with the representatives with whom they had extensive conversations to thank them and ask if they have additional questions. It’s also smart to ask the employer reps if they have a LinkedIn account to follow.

Palmore has been at Spalding for about a year after previously working in academic advising at the University of Louisville and Jefferson Community and Technical College, and she said she’s always been interested in setting students on the right course to launch their careers.

The Career Development Center, which is located in the Egan Leadership Center, Suite 200, offers services and programs throughout the year.

Palmore said she wants to be a resource for students to become the best job candidates they can be upon the completion of their degrees – advising them on their resumes and cover letters, honing their interview skills and informing them of the types of places they should look for work as well as what kind of graduate programs they should be researching to meet their career goals. She also gives advice on the appropriate use of social media, with regard to how employers may view it.

The Career Development Center recently held its annual etiquette dinner, in which outstanding students nominated by faculty were invited to participate in what amounts to a formal business dinner and social setting. The students practiced navigating a menu and the etiquette for ordering and socializing when they’re the guest of a potential employer.

Employers participating in Spalding’s Spring 2019 Career Expo

Adecco
Amazon
Baptist Health Louisville
Bluegrass.org
Centerstone of Kentucky
Chick-fil-A of Glenmary
DMLO CPAs
ElderCare 4 Families
Enterprise Holdings
Episcopal Church Home
Frazier History Museum
Home Instead Senior Care Louisville
Homewatch Caregivers
Jefferson Memorial Forest
KentuckyOne Health
Maryhurst
Mike’s Carwash
National Processing Center, U.S. Census Bureau
Nazareth Home of Clifton
Owensboro Health
PhysAssist Scribes Inc.
ScribeAmerica
Semper Blue Professional Services Inc.
Speedway
SpringHill Camps
UPS

The Spalding University art department welcomes the entire Spalding community to an afternoon at the Speed Art Museum today, Friday, Feb. 8 for the first Winter Social at the Speed, with multiple activities organized by the Spalding art faculty and the Frazier History Museum.

The Winter Social will be held from 1-4 p.m. Like always, general admission to the Speed is free with a Spalding ID for all Spalding students and benefit-eligible faculty and staff through the university and museum’s educational institution partnership.

Spalding art history professor Dr. Flint Collins, who is in his first year as a full-time SU faculty member and who organized the Winter Social, said that the Winter Social serves as an invitation to students, faculty and staff from programs across the university to meet students and faculty of the art department while also enjoying the rich resources and art of the Speed, 2035 S. Third St.

“I would invite anybody to come out and just hang out, even if they don’t participate in some of the activities,” Collins said. “We invite anybody to come down and join us. We hope it’ll give folks a little break to get off campus and come hang out and interact with the art department. Community building is one of the goals of it.”

READ MORE: Information on Spalding’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts program

Activities planned included sketching, guided tours, an open-mic poetry reading and a screening at the Speed Cinema of Oscar-nominated animated shorts (extra paid admission required, though some free tickets are available for students, first-come, first-served). At 1:15, there will be an opportunity to sketch a live model, restaging a portrait from the collection, sponsored by the Frazier History Museum.

Collins hopes the Winter Social will raise awareness to the Spalding community of the benefit of its free access to the Speed. He said he takes students there all the time, hopping on the free TARC LouLift bus (stop on South Third Street near the Spalding Library) and making the short ride south to the museum.

“It’s a really great resource to have,” Collins said. “A part of this Winter Social is to help people understand that.”

Collins came to Spalding this fall after serving as an adjunct professor at multiple universities. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Louisville and also has worked at the Speed.

He has a background in museum education, “so I’m a big advocate for getting students in the museum and looking at actual artwork, as opposed to just slides,” Collins said.

Collins said he’s enjoyed his time so far at Spalding working under new art program director Deborah Whistler and teaching Spalding students. Collins is also working with art seniors on their senior theses and preparing for that year-ending show before commencement.

“It’s been great,” Collins said. “The students are real curious and responsive. We’ve dived right in.”

Here’s the full schedule of Spalding’s Winter Social at the Speed:

1-4 p.m. : Sketching in the galleries; gallery games; information table with “Slow Down at the Speed” mindfulness podcast; internship, membership and programming information.

1:15-2:15: Sketch a live model

2-3: “Secrets and Stories” guided docent tours

2:30-3:30: Open-mic poetry readings at the atrium.

3:30-4:30: Cinema screening of Oscar-nominated animated shorts (extra paid admission required, though some complimentary students are available first-come, first-served.)

Spalding is having a huge Spirit Week starting Monday, Feb. 4 and leading up to Homecoming on Saturday, Feb. 9! It’s a great time to let loose and have fun with everyone, and to cheer on our Golden Eagles’ men’s and women’s basketball teams during their Homecoming doubleheader against MacMurray.

The basketball games on Saturday will be at 1 p.m. (women) and 3 p.m. (men) at Columbia Gym, and that night, from 9 p.m.-1 a.m., we’ll have a Gatsby-themed Homecoming dance at the College Street Ballroom. Everyone should expect lots of awesome music, dancing, an amazing backdrop for pictures, endless snacks to keep your energy up, and, of course, we will find out who our kings and queens are!

This is a time for everyone to forget about school for a couple of hours and just hang out with all of your friends. At last year’s Homecoming dance, about 120 student attended. We want to double that number this weekend. The more people, the more alive the party can be.

Each day of Spirit Week has a theme:

Monday: PJ Day

Tuesday: Jersey Day

Wednesday: Duo Day

Thursday: Throwback Thursday

Saturday (Game Day): Blue and Gold

Saturday night (Dance Night): Wear whatever you feel comfortable dancing in, but with the Gatsby theme, it wouldn’t hurt to sport your best 1920s costume!

If you’re a Spalding student, here is the link to vote for kings and queens. (You must sign into your Spalding account to access the Google link.)

Homecoming and Spirit Week are organized by Spalding’s Campus Activities Board  (CAB), which seeks to make students’ campus-event ideas come to life. We try to provide students with things to do on a down week, and we want to build up school spirit. If you want to join CAB, contact me at [email protected].

I hope everyone gets into the spirit for Spirit Week and can make it to the games to support our Eagles on Saturday!