The Louisville Cardinal
The independent weekly student newspaper at the University of Louisville since 19 26
SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
WHAT'S INSIDE
NEWS
Students start first
annual summit
Students, faculty and staff discuss
community and campus issues and first
annual Black U of L Summit.
See pageA2
SPORTS
Soccer gets set for
upcom1• ng season
After leaving its match with UK
· unsettled - 1-1 in overtime- U of L:'s
men's soccer team prepares for the rest
of its season.
SeepageB1
FEATURES
Drink up?
Headache? Upset stomach? Flip
to Features this week for a look at
that morning-after monster - the
hangover.
See Page B4
Visit us online for exclusive content:
www.louisvillecardinal.com
INDEX
Classified A7
Editorial A4
Ent ertainment 84
Features AS
Opinion A4
Sports Bl
Weather A2
Web link A2
www.louisvillecardinal.com
University celebrates
completion of goals
Signs announcing the completion of 11 goals set by the "Challenge for Excellence"
plan can be seen hanging from light posts and university buildings. Several events,
including a picnic later this month, are planned to mark the achievement.
Higher admissions standards
included among 11 goals
By Chris Brown
The Louisville Cardinal
The University of Louisville
is celebrating the attainment of
11 goals it set for itself almost a
decade ago. "Challenge for Ex­cellence"
congratulations can be
seen on signs all over campus, and
even have worked their way into
almost every official event at the
university.
Receiving designation as a can­cer
research center, maintaining
75 endowed faculty chairs and in­creasing
federal research funding
are all milestones the university
has met, but earn ing a national
reputation for quality undergrad­uate
programs may be the goal
that affects students most.
The university has been work­ing
since the Challenge began in
1998 to boost the quality of stu­dents
coming into the university
each semester.
"We've had to get away from
open enrollment and move to­ward
selective admissions," said
University of Louisville President
Dr. James R. Ramsey: He said that
as U of L becomes increasingly
more competitive, "we should ex-peer
more from the students."
And that is just what the:
school has been doing. According;
to U of L Director of Admissions
Jenny Sawyer, the university had
an open admissions policy from
1970-when it became a public
institution- until 1986. "If you.
had a Kentucky high school di­ploma
or G.E.O., you had access
to the University of Louisville,"
she said.
Sawyer said U of L began al-·
cering its admissions policies in.
1986, but it was not until 2000
that things really changed. "We
significantly raised admissions
standards, and created a coopera··
rive arrangement with Uefferson
Community and Technical Col­lege
System] to teach develop­mental
classes," she said. "We
could really recommend students
start at the community college if
we felt that they weren't ready for
college-level classes."
Mter upping admissions stan··
dards two more times since 2000,
Sawyer said U of L now receives
enough applications each year to
be able to be more selective with
admitting students. "We have a
policy that allows a certain num-·
State education
bill sparks school
to raise standards
By Crystal Gross
The Louisville Cardinal
Signs and banners decorate buildings
and light poles at the University of Lou­isville,
signifying the early completion of a
ten-year strategic business plan adopted by
the school in 1998.
The "Challenge for Excellence," as it is
called, was adopted by the university Board
ofTrustees eight years ago, and outlined 11
goals for the school to meet by the year
2008.
"The Challenge for Excellence was basi­cally
a plan to respond to two public initia­tives,
one local and one state," said U of L
President Or. James R. Ramsey.
That local initiative was a report released
in 1996 by Greater Louisville, Inc. It called
for the school to become a top research
university, and for the City of Louisville to
"unleash the potential of economic growth
in all sectors of its economy."
Kentucky House Bill One, a separate
state mandate enacted in 1997, also chal­lenged
U of L. The bill, known as the
"Kentucky Post Secondary Education im­provement
Act," called for U of L to be­come
"a preeminenr nationally recognized
metropolitan research university."
"For the university, rhe Challenge for
Excellence responded to both of these ini­tiatives,
in particular the state mandate,"
Ramsey said.
According to Ramsey, the university has
been on a steady track to meet all 11 of the
challenges outlined in the plan, 10 of which
have been officially completed to date.
Ramsey explained the final goal, desig­nation
as a National Institutes of Health
Cancer Center, is being held up by little
more than official paper work. "Designa­tion
is just a good housekeeping seal of ap­proval,"
he said. "Reality is it's all the things
that allow you to get the designation [that
make designation important]."
Ramsey said U of L already has in place
the research programs and faculty positions
that make up a cancer research center. "We
were ready to file the application in Febru­ary,
but we were advised by the National
Cancer Institu te to wait because of fund­ing."
Ramsey said if NIH and NCI lacked
funding to support a new center, U of I..:s
application could be denied.
The application for the designation is
expected to be submitted in October.
But before the celebration surrounding
the completion of the 11. goals, Ramsey
said a lot of hard work went into meeting
them. "The Challenge called for us to do
a number of things differently than we've
11 FOR 11
GOALS SET BY'CHALLENGE'
·Achieve classification as a Carnegie Research
I university
·Have a national reputation for qual ity under­graduate
programs
· Have at least 20 nationally recognized re·
search and graduate/professional programs.
U of L now has at least 22.
·Attain designation as a National Institutes of
Health Caner Center. The application is set to
be filed in October.
·Have 75 endowed chairs and professorships
in keye fields .. u of L has 121.
·Graduate at least 140 doctoral students per
year. Last year, 144 graduataed.
• Increase federal research funding to more
than $40 million annually and incrase total
sponsored funding to $80 million per year.
Those figures were $74.5 million and S 178
million, respectively, last year.
·Increase endowment from $255 million to
$500 million. It is now at $67.5 million.
·Increase significantly the number of busi­ness
start-ups that develop from university
research activity. There have been at least 15.
· lncrase the number of patents and licenses
based upon un iversity research. There are
now46.
·Be recognized as a national leader for linking
its resources to the needs of its community.
Source: University of Louisville publications
Editorial 502.852.0663 . Advertising 502.852.0701
VOLUME 80, ISSUE 3 • 14 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS
New dean
appointed at
med school
Duke profe'ssor set
to start in new post
by end of semester
By Kyle Winslow
The Louisville Cardinal
On Aug. 18, the University of Louis­ville's
School of Medicine named Duke
University administrator, Doctor Edward
Halperin, its new dean.
This announcement ended a nearly
year-long hum to fill the position left by
former dean Laura Schweitzer.
Halperin
comes to U of L
after serving as
an adminisrrator
at the Duke Uni­versity
School of
Medicine. That
distinction is what
makes Halperin so
important tO U of
L, said Associate
Vice President for Halperin
Communications
and Marketing John Drees.
Or. Larry Cook, executive vice president
for health affairs, headed the search com­mittee,
which was composed of numerous
individuals from the university and the
community. 1he committee was respon­sible
for formatting d1e job description and
advertising it in national publications and
through professional search firms.
In some cases though, there were tal­ented
people who may not be presently
searching for a new job. This was one way
that U of L benefits from its large faculty.
"We also utilize individual faculty members
and persons at the university who through
their professional career have met individu­als
who they think would be ideal [for the
position]," said Ramsey.
"The process is very much like Coach
[Rick] Pitino recruiting top basketball play­ers,"
Ramsey said. "We want to identify the
very best players, or in this case, the very
best dean candidates, and encourage them
to apply for our position where otherwise
they might not apply to an ad."
After the applications were reviewed,
and interviews were conducted, the search
for the dean was narrowed down to four
finalists. "Dr. Halperin emerged as the
lead ing candidate," said Ramsey. "He im­pressed
everyone on the search commit­tee
and those he met on campus with his
strong academic credentials, strong clinical
record, strong administrative record, strong
research record, and his ability to help us
continue building our research excellence
and expertise. And his ability to fit in to
our campus community and culture," con­tinued
Ramsey.
Dr. Halperin is definitely qualifled with
a Bachelor of Science degree from the Uni­versity
of Pennsylvania's Wharton School,
a Master of Arts degree from Duke Univer­sity,
and a doctor of medicine degree from
Yale University. Ellen Degraffenreid, direc­tor
of communication and marketing for
Health Sciences, said Halperin's experiences
are, "very balanced across teaching research
and clinical care. He has great expertise on
what curriculum should be taught to stu­dents
in order for them to pass rhe board
and succeed in their careers."
According to the press report on U of
L.s website, Halperin also performed an
internship in internal medicine at Stan­ford
University, and a residency in radia­tion
medicine at Massachusetts General
Hospital in Boston. At Duke, he oversaw
graduate programs in medicine, physical
therapy, and health sciences. Or. Halperin
also had an impact in improving Duke's re­search
ranking by the National l nstitute of
Health.
U of L already has an outstanding re­search
program, and the addition of Hal­perin
will only make it better. According to
Degraffenreid, "the University of Louisville
School of Medicine is one of rhe fastest
growing in the country, as far as Nation­al
Institute of Health funding, receiving
$41.5 million in grants in the 2004-2005
calendar year." Degraffenreid also noted
that, "Dr. Halperin is a practicing physi­cian
in pediatric radiation oncology, and
that he will continue to practice at U of Ls
James Graham Brown Cancer Center."
Or. Halperin has yet to be approved by
the Board ofTrustees, but he is expected to
begin his post at U of Ls School of Medi­cine
on Nov. 1.
©2006 THE LOUISVILLE CARDINAL, INC.