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Governor Ernie Fletcher's energy plan boosts UK's incentive to seek federal
research funds. He has put a group together, and there is a state energy effort now
that recommends a $2 million dollar fund which will help UK leverage federal
contracts. This is a step in the right direction for the state and for UK's
researchers as well.

UK admissions publications has won national awards for the third straight year.
President Todd congratulated Don Witt and his team for their good publications.
He said their energy level is good, and their imagination is even better. The first
Merit Weekend will be held this weekend for the next academic year, and another
record crowd is expected.

There were 48 UK student-athletes named to the 2004-05 Southeastern
Conference fall academic honor roll.

The UK Kernel student newspaper won an overall excellence award. The Kernel
staffers won 28 of 44 writing awards, 9 of 15 photo awards, and 8 of 20 design
awards.

The Lexington Herald-Leader has donated a large photo collection to UK. The
"John C. Wyatt/Lexington Herald-Leader Collection" has been given to UK's
Audio-Visual Archives Department. It is valued at more than $4 million. This
brings new things to UK, especially the William T. Young Library that serves the
state of Kentucky very well.

There was an article in the paper recently about Calvert McCann. Mr. McCann
rode around on a bicycle with a camera and many pictures of life in Lexington
during the racially troubled times of the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. McCann has
numerous remarkable photos which he stored in his house, including photos of
Martin Luther King and the marches that took place. UK is going to make sure
that these photos are exposed to students and everybody in Lexington.

A diversity task force has been created to develop a statewide plan. One of the
university's strategic goals is diversity. The task force had a one-day outing
recently and virtually every dean was there. This was under the leadership of Dr.
Deneese Jones, who will be leaving UK to become the dean of the College of
Education at Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia. She had a one-year
fellowship with the American Council on Education. She returned to UK for a
year and took back the leadership of the Diversity Task Force for the
Commission. President Todd said he was very proud of Dr. Jones and her
achievements.

UK's debate team tied for third among 130 teams at a national invitational debate
tournament. Constantine "Deno" Curris, who started on UK's debate team, will
be the Commencement speaker this year. UK's debate team has been a career