By Kara Augustine
What’s Happening at U of L? University of Louisville’s Office of Communications and Marketing has started a weekly media update by that name to keep everyone informed. The first briefing was held on Sept. 25 and updates were given involving the investigations surrounding former College of Education and Human Development Dean Robert Felner.
There are six areas of the investigation and each one was updated and explained.
The first of the six areas is the investigation regarding internal audit of the college’s finances. The first phase is complete in the audit, and it will continue into other areas within CEHD, according to David Barker, Director of Audit Services. The review is expected to persist for at least six more weeks.
John Drees, Associate Vice President of Communications and Marketing, announced, “audit services are being diligent, and Dr. Ramsey has encouraged them to continue to be thorough in this review. “
The second area of investigation is the external audit of U of L’s grant management and contract practices. The company heading this up, Cotton & Allen, has started their review, but they are still in the initial stages.
The Faculty Senate is reviewing the faculty grievance procedure as part of the third investigation. They held their second meeting on Sept. 26 and are already reviewing the internal documents and policies. The projected date of completion is the end of November. At that time, they will report their findings to President Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willihnganz.
The fourth investigation’s committee is just being formed and is said to have their first meeting within the next week or so. They will be reviewing, requested by faculty, staff and student senates, the decision-making and administrative practices.
Reviewing the conflict of interest policy is the duty of the fifth investigative committee.
Drees said, “The Provost is asking them to investigate three things: the adequacy of policies regarding compliance, how informed our faculty are regarding the policies and to what degree our compliance policies are being followed.”
The sixth and final investigation is reviewing the P.h.D. of John Deasy, who received his degree while Felner was dean, and allegedly only studied at the university for nine credit hours. This committee was appointed by Ramsey and is continuing their efforts under confidential circumstances. Ramsey requested that their work be done “quickly, but also thoroughly.”
“So as you can see, we are attacking these issues from several directions, but we have one goal, to prevent incidences like these, reported in the College of Education, from happening again,” Drees said.
“What’s Happening at U of L” will be released on Tuesday afternoons, with video of the briefing available at http://louisville.edu/
