UofL Student Affairs

Recent graduate  has her picture taken with the brick her parents bought her for graduation.

Next set of bricks to be installed this summer.

Click here to order a brick on the west plaza

Each May the Alumni Office, the Student Government Association, and the Division of Student Affairs invites graduating seniors to Graduate Day at the Downs.  The event serves as a celebration for seniors as well as an acknowledgement of their new role as UofL Alumni.  Graduates and their one guest received free admission to Churchill Downs and $5 to spend at the concession stand. Graduates could purchase additional admissions tickets for $5 each.

Other Student Affairs events for seniors included the graduation reception for student staff and a lunch time cookout during cap and gown pick up.

Congratulations to all May  graduates.

Don’t miss the great University news story on Gerome Stephens and his experience as a Kentucky Derby Festival Board member. Check out the full story

The event was the brainchild of the Medical School Class of 2016 that wanted to have an event for all the HSC Students.  Ahmed Farag the Vice President of the group was concerned because there are a lot of events campus wide for the Belknap Campus but not for the HSC.  He and his fellow Med School Freshman wanted to have a nice end of the semester event for all of the students from the 4 schools that make up the Health Sciences Campus.  They applied for funding from the SGA Special Projects fund and were able to have a nice cookout, a DJ, corn hole and Basketball mini tournaments and some inflatables.  The members of Kappa Sigma Fraternity cooked steadily for 3 hours to feed the masses.

Even some of the Professors and Deans took turns in the Dunk tank and others had a nice friendly game of Corn Hole with their students.  It was a Vibrant event for a usually quiet campus.  Kudos to the School of Medicine Class of 2016 for putting on such a great event.

Each year the Fryberger Sing brings together Greek organizations to  have fun and raise money for campus programs. Traditionally the Fryberger Sing proceeds benefited various non profits and programs at UofL as well as academic scholarships for Greek members.

For the last two years the Fryberger Sing committee has also decided to support the Student Affairs Greek Leadership Funds which were set up to support student leaders within the UofL Greek community.

The Greek Leadership Funds are comprised of 3 individual gift opportunities: IFC Greek Leadership Fund, NPHC Greek Leadership Fund, and the Panhellenic Leadership Fund.  The Greek Leadership Initiative recognizes the importance of the Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, and Panhellenic Council on the UofL Campus and the enriching experience they give students associated with each of the UofL Greek chapters that encompass these three councils.

Our goal is to raise enough funds to establish an endowment to support student leadership activities including campus programming and travel to conferences.  Involvement in Greek organizations provides students with unique opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Anything we can do to enhance those opportunities gives our students an advantage as they move into their chosen professional and get involved in their local community.

The Fryberger Sing committee has earmarked $9,000  for the Greek Leadership Initiative over the last two years ($3,000 to each fund: IFC Leadership Fund, NPHC Leadership Fund, & Panhellenic Leadership Fund). This speaks volumes about the Greek communities commitment student leadership and to future Greek leaders.

The Fryberger Sing was started in 1937 for Agnes Moore Fryberger, a music professor at UofL in the 1930s. Her students arranged the musical competition to honor her when she was forced to leave the university due to illness. It remained a university-wide event for decades until waning interest threatened its existence. The Greek community then adopted it as its own.

If you have never attended a Fryberger Sing check it out next year. Your attendance will support the performers as well as the  future student leaders.  To learn more about the Greek Leadership Initiative and possibly make a gift, visit http://louisville.edu/studentaffairs/giving/givingmain/giving/greekleadershipfunds.html

The Student Rec Center continues to take shape on the west side of campus including the addition of the Cardinal Bird logo. Still on track for an October opening.

This April three UofL Student Affairs professionals – Colleen Gettys (DRC), Michelle Pinckney (Counseling), and Terri White (Counseling) – were immersed for 72 hours in military culture and the deployment experience at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.  Co-sponsored by the Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health and the Kentucky National Guard, Colleen, Michelle and Terri experienced life as “boots on the ground” soldiers.

The experience was designed to help those folks who work with Veterans gain a better understanding of the military culture. Read more about their experience with obstacle courses, virtual simulators, weapons training, and humvee egress as well as their paintball combat mission in the next issue of Vibrations.

The Annual Student Awards celebrate excellence demonstrated by our students in their leadership, service and commitments. Join us in the joyous event to see some of the amazing work our students are doing outside the classroom helping other students, the university and the community. The event is Thursday, April 18 beginning at 7:00pm in the Student Activities Center Multipurpose Room.  Check out last years winners

Come celebrate a great U of L tradition at the 28th Annual Crawfish Boil. All you can eat crawfish just $5.00.  See old friends and make new friends. Join us in the George J. Howe Red Barn on Friday, April 19th from 5p-8p. Students, Family, Alumni, Staff, and Faculty are all invited!  Check out pictures from last years Crawfish boil

Spencer Scruggs, Monali Haldankar, Adam Knecht and Travone Taylor were part of University of Louisville’s first visit to the ACC Student Leadership Symposium along with Pam Curtis, Office of Civic Engagement, Leadership and Service, who served as advisor on the trip.  Though UofL attended ACCSLS prior to their actual participation in the ACC, we were welcomed with open arms and our students fit in right away.

The ACCSLS has only existed as a program for seven years.  Its mission is to develop a community of ACC undergraduate students who understand the relationship between global and local issues and work to create innovative initiatives that advance students’ capacity for global leadership.  Each year the host school selects a theme for the conference around the Social Change Model.  This year’s theme was civic engagement and last year it was water.  Schools take turns hosting and there is a schedule up to 2019 already created.

Our students made meaningful connections with students from several other ACC schools as they worked in teams over the weekend to design a response to a social issue they were passionate about.  Our own, Tra Taylor’s team won the competition with a great presentation about the issue of equity.  Though only slightly distracted by a basketball game on Saturday evening our students had an overall amazing experience and will help recruit attendees for next year’s symposium at University of Miami on February 21 – 23.