Tag: faculty

Spalding University Chief Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer Dr. Steven Kniffley, a faculty member in the School of Professional Psychology and the leader of Spalding’s Collective Care Center behavioral health specialty clinic for racial trauma, was recently honored by Louisville Business First as a 2021 Health Care Hero.

Dr. Kniffley, a clinical psychologist, was honored in the category of Health Equity Champion following a year in which he helped Collective Care Center fill a key role as the only behavioral health clinic in Louisville to specialize in treating race-based trauma and stress. The Collective Care Center is a division of Spalding’s Center for Behavioral Health, which is a training clinic for clinical psychology doctoral (PsyD) students in the School of Professional Psychology.

Kniffley is a scholar and frequent public speaker on matters of race and racial trauma and has given dozens of presentations, interviews and seminars on those topics.

Dr. Kniffley, who is a graduate of the Spalding PsyD that he now teaches in, was also recognized last year as a member of Louisville Business First’s Forty Under 40 list of outstanding young professionals in Louisville and received a MediStar Award from the Medical News for his work in treating and raising awareness for racial trauma.

He was appointed to the role of Chief Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer in December. A member of President Tori Murden McClure’s senior leadership cabinet – known as the Operational Council – Kniffley plays a broad role in promoting diversity and inclusion in programs across campus. He is also the President-Elect of the Kentucky Psychological Association.

A list of all 2021 Louisville Business First Health Care Heroes can be found here (subscription link), and the honorees will profiled in the April 9 issue of the publication.

At a time when the country is focused intensely on social justice and potential police reform, Spalding University has hired Dr. Cicely J. Cottrell – a scholar on restorative justice, the school-to-prison pipeline and the use of force by law enforcement – as the new director of its undergraduate Criminal Justice Studies program.

Cottrell, who began at Spalding on July 1, 2020, most recently served from 2017-20 as Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Chowan University in North Carolina. The Harlan, Kentucky, native holds a doctorate in sociology and criminology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Now directed by Cottrell, the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Studies program at Spalding was launched in 2019 with a focus on restorative practices and criminal justice reform. While criminal justice programs are ubiquitous at colleges and universities, Spalding’s curriculum is believed to be one of the few in Kentucky, if not the nation, to emphasize restorative justice.

Cottrell has collaborated on multiple research articles relevant to issues of social justice and policing that are at the forefront of our national dialogue. The topics of her work include the use of deadly force by police, so-called stop-and-frisk policies, the wearing of body cameras by police, and the effects of school suspensions on delinquency.

OVERVIEW | BS in Criminal Justice Studies program

“With her experience and passion for criminal justice reform and restorative justice, Dr. Cicely Cottrell will be an outstanding leader of our innovative criminal justice studies program,” Spalding President Tori Murden McClure said. “Spalding is committed to the promotion of social justice and systemic change, and this academic program is an example of that commitment. Led by Dr. Cottrell, this program will give future professionals in law enforcement, the courts, corrections and government an understanding of racial biases in our justice system while teaching ways the system can be improved and made more equitable.”

While completing her doctorate, Cottrell spent 2016 in Washington working as a policy fellow for the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, advising members of Congress and staff on criminal justice and civil rights policy, and assisting on drafting legislation, supporting communications and research materials.

Cottrell, who has also served as an instructor at Montgomery College in Maryland and as a teaching assistant at Howard, has additional interest in research and policy related to drug addiction, with a focus on compassionate approaches to rehabilitation.

Her other professional experience includes working for the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Job Corps Center, helping students achieve academic and career goals; for the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, monitoring conditional release cases; and for the Kentucky Department of Corrections, serving as a correctional officer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Western Kentucky University and a master’s in administration of justice from the University of Louisville.

“What struck me about Spalding was reading about its mission and focus on compassion, peace and justice, and that aligns with my own values and what I teach my students,” Cottrell said. “Throughout my career, I’ve really learned that in our justice system there is a lot of focus on crime control and punishment, rather than on repairing harm and restoring relationships and providing resources toward rehabilitation. I’ve learned that a lot of compassion and forgiveness are needed when you are making decisions that impact someone’s freedom as well as their ability to provide for their basic needs to survive. Having the opportunity to work at an institution where these values are embedded, it’s not just me as a professor teaching these values to students; it’s the whole institution.”

Dear Spalding Community,

We are excited for the start of the 2020-21 academic year and cannot wait to see our students again soon. The fall semester will continue Spalding’s rich tradition of innovative teaching and learning across multiple formats. While we are, of course, looking forward to the safe restart of in-person instruction on our campus, we are also continuing to grow and enhance our online course offerings. We are mindful of the important work our students, faculty and staff have been doing since March, when we transitioned to remote learning in a matter of 10 days.

Following last spring’s unprecedented movement of courses, information and people – including transitioning faculty, staff, and students to work from home – we wanted to review the important direction that Spalding University was moving, regarding teaching and learning, prior to the pandemic. We also want to discuss how those activities connect to the directions we are heading as we prepare for classes in fall 2020.

Several important educational outcomes have been realized at Spalding since early 2018 in the delivery of academic programs, courses and services. Here are some of the important developments that have taken place:

• Since February 2018, an intentional transition has been taking place to provide a broader ecosystem of course modalities and options for traditional and nontraditional learners at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  In 2018, a 14-person online taskforce of faculty and staff studied and recommended taking more programs online and providing more hybrid options as well. As a result, between Academic Year (AY) 2016-17 and AY 2019-20, undergraduate online and hybrid courses grew as a percentage of all courses from 16% to 24%, while master’s courses grew from 4% to 7%, and doctoral courses grew from 12% to 14%. Hence, online, hybrid, and remote learning options have been growing at Spalding and providing additional accessible platforms to complement face-to-face courses. More digital immersive options will be coming for Spalding students.

• In line with the vision of the 2018-19 Spalding online taskforce, the University has also linked its online courses and programs to an online program management organization, Symbiosis, that will build up to 20 new online courses for our faculty in AY 2020-21.  The University will utilize funds from the Higher Education Emergency Relief program (part of the CARES Act) in order to deliver new courses that will be connected to both hybrid and fully online programs. The Provost, Academic Deans and a number of faculty leaders are currently working with Symbiosis on identifying courses for development.

• All Spalding students have access to the internet, computers and technology aides, and Spalding’s staff in information technology and online learning have equipped our students with the tools they need to successfully complete their academic coursework. In August 2020, Chief Information Officer Ezra Krumhansl will unveil a new video conferencing platform for faculty and their students in classes: Office Suite HD Meeting. HD Meeting is a branded Zoom product that will allow both full-time and adjunct faculty access to video conferencing for both real-time instructional use in the classroom and one-on-one and group meetings with students. Additionally, HD Meeting has a classroom-style “breakout groups” feature that divides synchronous classes into breakout groups during the class session. CIO Krumhansl will announce HD Meeting training soon.

• The University has continued to invest in the latest tools and applications in regard to cutting- edge educational technology. This summer faculty and students got access to our new learning management system—Canvas. Not only is Canvas the higher education industry’s gold standard, but it provides a state-of-the-art mobile app for students that will allow them to access course content and communication quicker, easier and better.

• The University continues to invest in academic support services for undergraduate and graduate students with an excellent writing center and math lab and increased graduate assistant support for various faculty and staff units so both undergraduate and graduate students will be supported in their quest to become better students in their academic, personal, and leadership endeavors. Continuing to offer these services in a hyflex/hybrid online and in-person format in AY 2020-21 will be one of the goals of the student success area.

• Spalding continues to provide financial aid in the form of scholarships, grants and loans for both undergraduate and graduate students, and graduate assistantships provide $450,000 per year for approximately 75 graduate students. An increasing number of students will receive some form of financial aid in the coming year, making a high-quality Spalding degree affordable.

In March 2020, we were able to adapt not to a storm, but a climate shift in higher education due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  With our commitment to the best in face-to-face and remote learning, Spalding is making 21st century education accessible and attainable for our students.  Each student is important at Spalding.  Our commitment is to allow students to have a highly individualized experience that is cutting-edge and academically rigorous and yields the outcomes that will help each student not only find intellectual satisfaction but apply the Spalding mission of “meeting the needs of the times.”

We look forward to serving you in the coming academic year!

Sincerely,

Dr. John Burden, Provost
Dr. Tomarra Adams, Dean of Undergraduate Education
Dr. Kurt Jefferson, Dean of Graduate Education

With one of Kentucky’s premier certified hand therapists serving as a lead instructor, Spalding University’s Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy is offering a new graduate certificate and post-professional doctoral track in Upper Extremity Rehabilitation. Unique to this region, the programs will provide occupational therapists with advanced knowledge of the complex physiology and occupations of the hand and arm as well as training in how to evaluate and treat upper-limb injuries.

Spalding is now accepting applications for Fall 2020 for both the certificate and the post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) track. Assistant Professor Dr. Greg Pitts, a licensed OT and certified hand therapist who owns and operates Commonwealth Hand Therapy clinic in Lexington, will teach multiple courses.

The 15-credit-hour certificate program in Upper Extremity Rehabilitation consists of three five-hour courses presented in a hybrid format of online instruction and face-to-face skill development. Applicants must have a professional degree along with certification or licensing in occupational therapy or physical therapy.

The 30-hour post-professional OTD track, meanwhile, is designed for licensed occupational therapy practitioners who want to progress to the full doctoral degree. It involves five 13-week courses of online instruction blended once a trimester with in-person testing. It includes a three-hour course in upper-extremity wound care. A self-directed capstone is the final requirement.

CURRICULUM | Courses for the post-professional OTD
RELATED | All Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy programs

“These Upper Extremity Rehabilitation programs are really going fit a need – and not only in the Louisville area,” said Dr. Rob McAlister, Chair of the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy. “Because the classes are primarily online, we can also serve the rest of the country and even beyond the limits of our country if a person can come to Louisville once every three months for a weekend. Then that person can attain a credential that really makes them more marketable in their profession.”

In addition to teaching the scientific principles related to upper extremities and injuries, Spalding’s new programs will also place an emphasis on teaching management skills and business applications in an upper extremity rehab clinic.

“Our dream was to develop a program where a post-professional occupational therapist could come to Spalding and learn real-world applications for both basic and complex orthotics and develop skills that will help perpetuate their careers,” Pitts said. “Students will also develop an understanding of the value of mentorship and the value of science as they apply it to the treatment of patients. You can become a very valuable employee because you can learn to help manage therapists and help provide good functional outcomes. You can become a leader in upper extremity rehab.”

Pitts is well-established as a leader in the field. He is the past chair of the American Hand Therapy Foundation, and he is currently on the board of the Hand Therapy Certification Commission. For years, Pitts has served as Clinical Director for On-Site Rehabilitation for Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, and he is a past recipient of Kentucky’s Outstanding Occupational Therapist of the Year Award.

“Dr. Pitts is so passionate and so knowledgeable,” McAlister said. “He is a nationally recognized authority on upper-extremity care, and he is one of the foremost practitioners in the country. He owns his own business, so from a practitioner’s standpoint and from a business standpoint, he knows what it takes to succeed, and he can communicate that knowledge really well to students. The faculty teaching in these programs are world-class.”

Spalding Dean of Graduate Education Dr. Kurt Jefferson said the Upper Extremity Rehabilitation certificate and post-professional OTD track “continue the important tradition of Spalding’s occupational therapy program expanding its footprint both academically and clinically in Louisville and beyond.”

He continued: “The opportunity for healthcare professionals to gain continual knowledge and expertise in this area will benefit practitioners in important intellectual and professional ways.”

Visit spalding.edu/occupational-therapy for more information. Email [email protected] or call (502) 588-7196 with questions.

Spalding’s Board of Trustees has bestowed the rank of Professor Emeritus and the title of Emeritus Professor of Psychology on Kenneth Linfield, PhD, a long-serving faculty member in the School of Professional Psychology.

Professor Emeritus Linfield has left a lasting mark on the University by displaying an intense love of learning and teaching, a powerful dedication to their students and a strong loyalty to Spalding that will be remembered and appreciated for years to come.

Following a career as a Methodist pastor, Dr. Linfield has served 21 years at Spalding. He is said to have always viewed his work as an extension of his ministry.

Dr. Linfield has spent the past 13 years as the Director of Graduate Training, taking on the major responsibilities of student advisement, admissions, tracking, and policy execution. He is an expert in quantitative methods, statistics, program evaluation and design and research ethics. His interests also include various elements of religious faith and spirituality, and the relation of religion and spirituality to a broad range of mental health issues, including positive elements such as well-being.

He is an associate editor of the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. He wrote a graduate textbook on Program Evaluation, and he has coauthored a wide range of articles and chapters.

Dr. Linfield is said to have “left an indelible mark of quality on all of his professional activities, both within the School of Professional Psychology and across the broader Spalding community. He has embodied the concept of compassion across all his professional endeavors.”

In our woundedness, we can become a source of life for others, (Nouwen, 1972 i)

We are wounded healers:  we enter into the lives of our patients often, alone with them, as they die from the coronavirus;

We are wounded healers: we accompany our colleagues in their care of the dying as well as their own deaths;

We are wounded healers: we bear the stigma of immeasurable pain of human suffering and dying as we stand before our patients, their families and our colleagues, filled with compassion, weeping, but with hands empty;

We are wounded healers: we experience a deep sense of abandonment, loneliness and failure because we are unable to rescue our patients and our colleagues from a disease not of their own making;

We are wounded healers: we find ourselves morally wounded because we are unable to stop the terrible decisions that must be made for patient care in the midst of this terrible disease;

We are wounded healers: each day we say good bye to our patients and colleagues, terrified to return home to our families knowing that we may carry illness and death to them –  fearful about returning to our centers of care – guilt of abandoning the sick when caring moments are desperately needed;

We are wounded healers with hope. We are calling for urgent help to be relieved of these terrible burdens so that our ineradicable covenant to care for the sick and one another with compassion, the very soul of our call to be healers, will be re-affirmed and reclaim human dignity and bring peace, healing, and hope to one another and to our world, especially the abandoned, unloved and the unwanted in our midst.

• In the midst of these convulsive experiences and in solidarity with one another and our colleagues, we call on schools of the health professions, organizations, associations and Church groups to collaborate to:
• Form listening sessions in order to share the wounds, the pain, multiples losses and anger we are experiencing and to reaffirm and implement the power of the trilogy of health care (human dignity, freedom and flourishing) among individuals and communities;
• Provide comprehensive professional resources (psychological, emotional, physical, pastoral, ethical, social work) for our colleagues to help them journey through their experiences of grieving, anxiety, depression, those who have lost hope and self-confidence, death and reclaim confidence as instruments of healing and hope;
• Implement strategies that will reach out especially to those have become isolated, withdrawn, feel abandoned, and have little reason to hope;
• Establish local and regional interdisciplinary networks that provide long-term counseling, other services, and resources as we reclaim human dignity, freedom and promote human flourishing among all persons;
• Collaborate with local and regional health care systems, our colleagues in the health professions, and civic leaders to construct a long term plan for continuing care and rehabilitation;

As wounded healers with hope, we bring to our world an elaborate and exhaustive array of experiences, competencies, and a legion of unparalleled experiences and expertise in education, administration, research across all domains of service to humanity. The profound virtuous act of the nurse as healer, the act that unites each of us as Fellows is embedded in the “promise of nursing,” the proclamation we all voiced when we dared to enter the world of nursing. This promise says:

Regardless of who you are, your gender, race, ethnicity, or religious persuasion, regardless of your illness or your life experiences; I am promising you my commitment that I will care with you; I will try to heal your pain, to ameliorate your suffering, to help you accept the limitations posed by the ravages of your illness.  I promise that I will accept your invitation to be with you when you are afraid, alone or dying; and to never abandon you along this journey. 

As wounded healers with hope, the largest segment of our nation’s health care workforce, amid the threats of the coronavirus, we must never allow our promise be compromised.  This is our vowed commitment to one another, to our colleagues, to the sick entrusted to our care, and to our nation and beyond.  Let us reclaim the power of the promise of nursing; let us help one another to be healed of this terrible threat to human dignity, freedom and human flourishing. In this journey together we will be freed to bring the promise of nursing to each other and to every person entrusted to our care.

Finally, we ask our Creator to protect us in our journey of healing and hope:

To bring strength, confidence and an enduring hope to each of us and to our colleagues;

• To take time to care for ourselves and to listen to the voices in our own hearts;
• To endow us with courage to remain faithful to the promise of nursing;
• To care for our patients, their families, and our colleagues with compassion;
• To bring healing to the sick, peace and comfort to the dying and their families;
• To bring wisdom, compassion and confidence to our leaders;
• To grant eternal rest to the dead; and
• To comfort the mourners. Amen.

As ambassadors of hope, how successful we are in bringing healing to each of us as wounded healers, will determine how successful we are in living the promise of nursing in bringing healing and hope to all persons entrusted to our care, and to a suffering nation.

– (Nouwen, H.J.M. (1972).  The Wounded Healer.  New York: Image Books, Doubleday.)
– Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

With Spalding University quickly shifting all classes online for Session 5 in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the staff of the Spalding Library has provided crucial support to faculty members who are making the transition.

Instruction and Learning Services Librarian Leah Cover said faculty members have reached out to library staff with a positive attitude, willing to learn ways to adapt their courses to an online format and recognizing how important it is to go online to ensure physical distancing and public safety.

They’ve encountered librarians who are eager to help.

“I think overall people across Spalding have been really flexible and adaptable and positive,” Cover said. “Something that I’ve been saying to people and to myself is that most people know this is a different situation than if someone was planning an online course (under conventional circumstances) and had lots of time to prep. It’s probably healthy for people to have that outlook – that it doesn’t have to be perfect.”

During the week of March 16, the library hosted a Faculty Online Assistance Center with in-person consultations (at a safe physical distance) and virtual support to full-time and adjunct instructors. Since Session 5 began on March 23, the librarians have continued offering a range of virtual services to the campus community.

“Don’t hesitate to reach out,” Cover said. “We’re here.”

In the Faculty Online Assistance Center sessions, Senior Manager of Library and Online Services Mimi O’Malley, Access Services Librarian Brandi Duggins and Cover helped faculty with learning management system issues, electronic resources for courses and access to important web-based technology such as GoToMeeting. O’Malley and her team worked closely with Chief Information Officer Ezra Krumhansl and his information technology team to rapidly ramp up the quick transition.

Dean of Graduate Education Dr. Kurt Jefferson said the library and IT staffs had put forth “heroic efforts” to get Spalding fully online for Session 5.

“Mimi, Ezra and their teams have responded to the unprecedented transition of nearly 75 percent of our in-seat classes to online delivery in ways that would have been unimaginable two weeks earlier,” Jefferson said.

SPALDING LIBRARY WEBSITE | Overview of resources, hours and programs
UNIVERSITY’S Healthy Together COVID-19 PAGE | Information, updates and resources
RELATED | 5 tips for faculty moving courses online

Cover said she and her colleagues provided several faculty members with instructions for putting their lectures into a video format over Spalding’s learning management systems Moodle and Canvas. Some needed help recording a PowerPoint presentation with a voice-over. Others wanted a PowerPoint that displayed their faces via a webcam.

“Unless you’re familiar with some of these software programs, a lot of it can be overwhelming because there are a lot of options,” Cover said. “The biggest thing has just been talking to people about where they are and what they need and pointing them to what makes the most sense for them.”

Cover said a key part has been to direct faculty to the robust tutorials that are already provided by programs such as Canvas and GoToMeeting.

“We can kind of just point them to those things once they understand the basics, and they’re like, ‘Oh, great, it’s all here. Cool, I’ll figure it out,'” Cover said.

Cover said she thinks the library was prepared for the challenge of helping the campus move online because the staff had plenty of experience working on virtual platforms and helping faculty create online courses. Cover wrote tutorials on the subject several months ago.

She said the Center for Teaching and Learning and Quality Enhancement Plan staff have already been engaging faculty for months on developing and learning methods for delivering curriculum online because it is the “direction higher ed is going anyway.”

“So we should be on that boat and ahead of that curve,” she said. “I’ve been really impressed with the excitement that a lot of people have shown that there can be some really inventive and creative and robust ways to teach online and that it’s not a lesser version of teaching. It just requires a different set of skills and some thinking outside the box – or outside the classroom.

“We have some people at Spalding who are thinking really creatively and doing really great work teaching online. We can rely on that expertise within our own institution.”

That library staff is doing its part to share its expertise.

Cover and her library colleagues have taken satisfaction in knowing they are helping faculty and students navigate the move online.

“I think I can speak for all of us when I say one of my favorite parts of working in the library is getting to work individually to help them trouble-shoot and problem-solve,” she said. “I enjoy being in a position where we can help people figure out ways that work for them.”

Library access: The Spalding Library remains open for in-person visits on a very limited basis, in order to accommodate only the students who have no other access to a computer or the Internet. Students, who must swipe their Spalding ID to enter the building, should not come to the library for any reason other than to use the computers for the time they need to complete their classwork.

The library staff is available for virtual support from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

Kathleen Driskell, Chair of the Spalding University School of Creative and Professional Writing and an award-winning poet, was recently elected as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), the nation’s foremost advocacy and professional organization for college and university writing programs and individual creative writers.

Driskell is believed to be the first representative from a Kentucky college or university to hold the position of Board Chair for AWP, whose membership includes more than 500 college and university writing programs, 130 writers’ conferences and centers and nearly 50,000 individual writers.

AWP’s mission is to foster literary achievement, advance the art of writing as essential to good education and serve the makers, teachers, students and readers of contemporary writing. AWP hosts ones of the nation’s largest annual literary conferences and is the publisher of the Writer’s Chronicle magazine, a leading source of articles, news and information for writers, editors, students and teachers.

Driskell, who also serves as AWP’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Council Chair, was elected to the top position on the national board of directors during AWP’s national conference last month in Kansas City.

“When one of our new AWP board members made the observation that many of us seem to have grown up with AWP, I couldn’t help remembering that I have attended nearly every annual conference since 1999 in Albany, New York,” Driskell said. “Each morning as I boarded a big yellow school bus that had come to pick us up at a Ramada Inn, tucked under a noisy highway overpass, I thought the whole thing was a marvel. I still do, and I’m honored to serve as chair for 2019-20. I promise to do my best to build on the significant legacy of AWP.”

• OVERVIEW OF THE SCHOOL OF CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING AND ITS PROGRAMS
• BIOS OF THE DISTINGUISHED FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF WRITING
• INFO ON THE SCHOOL OF WRITING’S 2020 SUMMER RESIDENCY IN PARIS

Driskell is a longtime Spalding faculty member who has been teaching at the university since 1994. She was promoted to director of Spalding’s nationally ranked low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in January 2018 after previously serving as associate director from 2003 through 2017. During 2018, Driskell led the development of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing – Kentucky’s first school of writing – then was named its first chair once it was established in the spring of 2019. In that role, Driskell oversees the MFA program as well as two new programs – a Master of Arts in Writing and a Graduate Certificate in Writing.

Driskell is the author of the poetry collections Blue Etiquette: Poems, a finalist for the Weatherford Award; Next Door to the Dead, a Kentucky Voices selection by the University Press of Kentucky and winner of the 2018 Judy Gaines Young Book Award; Seed Across Snow, a Poetry Foundation national bestseller; Laughing Sickness and Peck and Pock: A Graphic Poem. Individual poems have appeared in The Southern Review, Shenandoah, North American Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Greensboro Review, Rattle and Mid-American Review, among others, and have been featured in anthologies and online at Poetry Daily, Verse Daily and American Life in Poetry.

Driskell, a Louisville native who received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is a recipient of the Spalding Board of Trustees’ Outstanding Faculty Award. She has also served as the faculty representative on the Board of the Trustees.

Read a recent profile of Kathleen Driskell from StyeBluePrint.
Get more information on graduate writing programs at Spalding on the School of Writing blog.

Mayor Greg Fischer and the Louisville Metro Police Department have called upon the community-building expertise of staff and faculty members at Spalding University to assist in a key initiative to improve relations between the police and residents in Louisville.

Chandra Irvin, Spalding’s Executive Director of Peace and Spiritual Renewal; Janelle Rae, Director of Inclusive Engagement; and Dr. Steven Kniffley, Assistant Professor in the School of Professional Psychology and the Associate Director of the Center for Behavioral Health; are members of the project management team of the city’s Synergy Project, a year-long program designed to bring police and residents together to discuss ways to strengthen their relationship. The Synergy Project is part of the city’s Lean Into Louisville initiative.

The public is invited to Spalding’s campus on Tuesday, Dec. 17 to learn about the Synergy Project and join the discussion. Spalding will host a public action session – a guided conversation in which residents can communicate and share ideas directly with police officers – from 6-7:30 p.m. at the College Street Ballroom, 812 S. Second St. It’s one of several action sessions that will take place around town in the coming year.

“When people talk about an issue that’s going on, they’ll say, ‘What can I do?’ (Participating in Tuesday’s action session) is definitely something you can do,” Irvin said.

Synergy Project Public Action Session
When: 6-7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 17
Where: College Street Ballroom, 812 S. Second Street

In the News | Courier Journal feature on the Synergy Project

The Synergy Project is intended to explore the tensions that exist between the significant societal values of public safety and individual rights and determine how to create and maintain a balance between the two, according to the city. Synergy will explore these tensions in order to mobilize actions for city-wide systemic change so every person in every part of the community can thrive.

The Synergy Project is modeled after The Illumination Project, an initiative undertaken in Charleston, South Carolina, after the 2015 hate crimes at Emanuel AME Church.

Irvin helped develop the Illumination Project, which also was a year-long program in which dozens of facilitated community conversations were held to discuss tensions between police and residents. At the end of the year, a strategic plan was unveiled, which continues to be revised and implemented today.

“There are lessons that we learned in Charleston that helped to inform how I am viewing and receiving feedback here,” Irvin said. “What I know is important is that we lean into the tension rather than leaning away from it. Really, that’s the only way that we’re going to connect in very genuine ways because clearly we don’t all have the same experiences and we don’t all think the same way.”

Irvin has helped the Synergy Project use a “polarity” framework that recognizes and values people’s different points of view.  It’s an approach that Irvin, Rae and others at Spalding have used to foster meaningful conversations on campus about a range of issues.

“We want to bring people together  despite differences – and actually invite differences – so that we can learn from one another and learn how to move to greater places with one another,” Irvin said.

The Synergy Project is bringing together individuals from all parts of the community – residents, academia, business, youth, faith-based organizations, law enforcement, and political leaders – in hopes of creating an opportunity for police and community to work together in a safe, open and respectful environment. The project hopes to identify root causes of distrust and find actionable solutions to move the city forward.

Irvin and Rae are helping to devise and carry out the programming and guided discussions of the Synergy Project. Kniffley, meanwhile, is researching and collecting data, along with Spalding Doctor of Clinical Psychology students Carson Haynes and Heather Dombrowsky.

“This is a great example of a way to change the world,” Rae said of Spalding’s involvement. “Doing this work with the community and on behalf of community is in line with our Spalding mission. It’s our mission to embrace diverse people, and it’s our mission to create peace and promote social justice and to be of service in our communities. A big piece of this is learning from one another, learning about each other’s experiences so that we can actually be a connected community.

“I think it makes sense with our mission to train more and more people to engage productively with each other.”

Kniffley said that as a citizen of Louisville, he felt it was important to be a part of the Synergy Project.

“But then specifically as an African-American male,” he said, “just recognizing that there has always been tension between communities of color, specifically black communities, and law enforcement, to be a part of the effort that’s going to create a more meaningful relationship between the groups, I’m happy to be a part of that. Our goal is to use meaningful conversations that lead to actionable, tangible recommendations that the steering committee will then vote on and formulate into our final report.”

He added: “I think Spalding’s affiliation with the Synergy Project is consistent with our values of being a compassionate university, with being committed to issues of social justice and being at the forefront of change in the Louisville community.”

A week before Thanksgiving Day, the Spalding University School of Social Work on Thursday earned its own exciting, memorable spot on the 2019 calendar.

Mayor Greg Fischer recognized the School of Social Work’s contributions to the community by proclaiming Nov. 21, 2019 as Spalding University School of Social Day in Louisville.

Joshua Watkins, Executive Administrator for the city’s Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, announced the proclamation and presented a certificate (see bottom of story) to School of Social Work Chair Dr. Shannon Cambron during a reception to honor Master of Social Work alumni.

The city-wide proclamation came on the day that the School of Social Work was celebrating the 20th anniversary of its first MSW graduating class, of which Cambron was also a member.

“It’s a little overwhelming, and looking at the proclamation, it’s kind of a weighty feeling to have a whole day that’s devoted to what we are doing here,” said Cambron, who oversees a Spalding social work school that began in the 1960s. “We are so grateful for the Office for Safe and Health Neighborhoods and to be able to support the incredible work that they do and that all of our partners do. To be recognized for the work that we support, it makes the 20th anniversary of the MSW even more special. People are acknowledging that for many years we have been out there working hard and doing good things, and now we have our own day.”

Learn More |  Master of Social Work Program

Spalding’s MSW has produced 508 graduates since 1999, with alumni moving on to work in a range of social work settings, including schools, nonprofit organizations, hospitals and government offices that impact individuals, communities and policy at large. At least seven Spalding MSW alumni, Cambron, currently serve as either a dean or chair of a university social work program.

The MSW is a growing program. Cambron said Spalding will have had a record 71 students admitted to the master’s program this year, including, for the first time, a January cohort set to start in 2020.

Additionally, from a community service perspective, the Spalding School of Social Work has been a sponsor since 2017 of the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods’ One Love Louisville Ambassador program, a civic engagement initiative aimed at preventing violence and building community. The Ambassador program’s training sessions are held in the School of Social Work’s building.

Related | Social work course on compassion helps student connect with hospital patients

Members of the social work faculty have also made valuable civic contributions.

* Dr. Cynthia Conley, who serves as the School of Social Work’s Coordinator of Graduate Studies, recently developed a survey for the Louisville Metro Police Department to gather data on how residents who identify as LGBTQ perceive the police.

* Cambron, a 2018 Bingham Fellow, and Assistant Professor Dr. Laneshia Conner are working with Jefferson County Public Schools to develop cultural humility training for teachers.

*Assistant Professor Glynita Bell is crafting new diagnostic codes around racial trauma, Cambron said.

*Associate Professor and former Chair Dr. Kevin Borders is helping perform evaluations for nonprofit organizations, Cambron said.

Spalding Graduate Dean Dr. Kurt Jefferson said the School of Social Work aligns strongly with the mission of the university and the legacy of education, service and social justice left by Mother Catherine Spalding.

“The world needs more social workers,” Jefferson said. “There’s no question about that when you look at where we are as a culture and society. What you’re doing is important not only in academic sense of research and academics – which are hugely important – but there is a moral element to the work you are doing.”

Cambron said she had been feeling pride all day Thursday as she reflected on the accomplishments of the School of Social Work and the MSW program over the past two decades. She said she is thankful for the contributions and foresight of the late former Chair Jillian Johnson, who led the school at the time the MSW was introduced. ‘

“I think that if Jill could see the work that is going on and that this faculty group is doing, I think we would get a big thumbs up,” Cambron said.

“When you think about what would be the thumbprint of the Spalding University School of Social Work not only in this community but regionally with many of our graduates, it’s our brand of teaching social justice. It’s humbling, and it’s awe-inspiring. And I think this is just the start.”

**Two members of the original MSW faculty –  Patricia Cummings and Dr. Helen Deines – were honored Thursday by Cambron and the current faculty with Legacy Awards.

By proclamation of @louisvillemayor, today is officially Spalding University School of Social Work Day in Louisville. Great and well-deserved recognition for our social work program on all of its contributions to our community. pic.twitter.com/uFz7sJWBJJ

— Spalding University (@SpaldingU) November 21, 2019