Louisville Businesswoman and Community Activist named UofL Alumni Fellow
Posted: October 8, 2020 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Art Library, Ekstrom Library, Kentucky, Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, Law Library, Louisville, Music Library, People, University Archives & Records Center, University of Louisville, University of Louisville Libraries | Tags: alumna, alumni, alumni awards, communications, community advocate, donor, Jewish Reading Room, Jewish studies, Libraries donor, Louisville, marketing, philanthropy, public relations, social justice Leave a commentThe University Libraries is pleased to celebrate long-time community activist and social justice advocate Jessica Loving as an Alumni Fellow for this year’s University of Louisville Alumni Awards.
Loving was named an Alumni Fellow from UofL’s schools and colleges as well as Libraries and Student Affairs along with 13 other graduates. This year is a virtual celebration featuring video interviews with the honorees as they discuss their time at UofL and the impact of their careers.
“I’m so happy that Jessica Loving is the 2020 recipient of the UofL Alumni Award on behalf of the University Libraries,” said Libraries Dean Bob Fox. “She has done so much for Louisville and for Kentucky through her work with community organizations and as a tireless advocate for social justice.”
“We are especially fortunate in the libraries that Jessica shares a vision of transforming one of our spaces in Ekstrom Library into a Jewish Studies Reading Room that would bring our Jewish studies collection into a space shared by scholars in quiet reflective study, as well as providing facilities to host noted lectures and speakers,” Fox added.
Loving is currently a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the Jewish Community Relations Council. She previously served on the boards of the Louisville Ballet, the National ACLU, and the Center for Women & Families. She is also a founding member of the Jewish Family & Career Service’s MOSAIC Award Committee.
Jessica Loving received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from the University of Louisville in 1968 and was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi and Woodcock honor societies. She has been president of Jessica Loving & Associates, a public relations and marketing consulting business in Louisville, for a number of years.
Loving formerly was vice president of corporate communications at PNC Bank, executive director of the KY Commission on Women, and executive director of the ACLU of KY. Loving’s public relations and marketing clients have included banks, law firms, nonprofit groups, real estate developers, bourbon distillers, unions and a meatpacking plant. She has also provided pro bono campaign planning and management for several local judges.
Loving was a member of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees from 1996 through 2008 and was Board chair from 2001 to 2003. She has also served on the University’s Board of Overseers, College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee, and Athletic Advisory Commission.
“I would urge my fellow graduates of the UofL to be mindful of how we can help the university be the sort of place that can nurture young 17- and 18-year olds freshman and give them the kind of education that most of us got and help them make this world a better place,” said Loving. “We have a lot of work to do and the University is the place that nurtures the people that can make a difference.”
Jessica and her husband, Sheryl G. Snyder, a Louisville attorney, have a blended family of five children and seven grandchildren.
“We are so grateful to Jessica for her support of the Libraries, for her support and commitment to UofL, and her passion for social justice,” said Dean Fox.
Donor Spotlight: Dr. Donald and Catherine Cathy Shoemaker
Posted: July 29, 2020 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Art Library, Ekstrom Library, Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, Law Library, Louisville, Music Library, People, University Archives & Records Center, University of Louisville Libraries | Tags: alum, alumna, alumni, alumnus, donor, donors, giving to the Libraries, uofl donor, uofl donors Leave a commentDuring last fall’s 50th Anniversary celebration for 1968-69 UofL graduates, Dr. Donald Shoemaker and Cathy Shoemaker visited the Belknap campus for the first time in almost as many years.
“It was amazing, completely different,” said Don. “We couldn’t believe how things have changed.”
Don admits that over the years he had been immersed in his medical practice as an anesthesiologist at Baptist Health in Louisville and hadn’t kept up with the growing campus. “I went to med school in 1968 and hadn’t seen it since and the whole time the campus was growing. My goodness. The way it expanded was amazing.”
Don and Cathy Shoemaker
UofL Archivist and Historian Tom Owen led the couple on a lengthy tour of the campus, fielding questions about buildings and settings both familiar and unfamiliar. Owen is well-known for leading Belknap History Walking Tours throughout the year where he plays raconteur and tour guide for groups of faculty, staff, students and Louisville residents.
“He took us out to the new music school, where it was all older houses when I was in school,” said Donald, referring to the building built in 1980 which now contains the School of Music, Comstock Hall and Music Library. “There are three old buildings nearby and I used to take Poli-Sci, English and other classes there.” Facing north, “there was a stone wall, a parking lot and a pizza place” that once lined the now long-gone Shipp Street.
“On the south side of the campus I remember the Purina silos that they tore down. They moved the observatory and other buildings, just pushed them back.”
Cathy, who earned a master’s degree in social work, said that back in the day, “Kent School was in a large yellow brick house near the old Confederate statue. I took a statistics course in the garage.”
The couple were also impressed with the Foucault pendulum clock installed on the ground floor of Grawemeyer Hall in 1978. “The ground level, where you now see the pendulum, was the finance office where we would drop off our tuition checks.”
Don remembers the main library in Schneider Hall – now the site of Fine Arts and the Bridwell Art Library – to study between classes and before fraternity events. He remembers the long fountain on the building’s east side was occasionally visited by soap bubbles as pranking students poured in laundry detergent.
“As a science major, I had all my classes in one building, the natural sciences building by Eastern Parkway. Now all the sciences have their own buildings. I’d just wait in the Natural Sciences library before classes.
“I’d be walking my legs off now, but probably I’d be in better shape.”
Since graduating from UofL, the couple has been busy with careers and raising a family of three daughters. Their eldest daughter also has strong UofL ties: Amy Shoemaker is the Associate Athletic Director for Administration and Deputy University Counsel. Lisa Borden, their middle daughter is a UofL medical school graduate and pediatrician in Middletown, and youngest Kristin Shoemaker is a commercial airline pilot, living in Charlotte North Carolina.
Cathy and Don were born and raised in Louisville and graduated in 1964 from local high schools, Cathy from Presentation Academy and Don from Seneca High School. Don’s fellow Seneca High School alum was Wes Unseld, the former UofL Cardinal basketball star who played for the Baltimore Bullets and was named NBA Most Valuable Player among other accolades. Unseld passed away on June 2, 2020.
“He helped our team win the Kentucky HS championship in our junior and senior years. We both went on to UofL; I went into med school and he went to Baltimore and had an NBA hall of fame basketball career.”
“He was a good, good guy. It was just a shock that he passed away. I saw him six years ago at the 50th HS reunion. We weren’t close personal friends, but we all rooted for him and I was proud of his talent.”
Cathy earned a master of science in social work from the Kent school. “First I went to Spaulding University and then I was a student at Kent School but I owed the state two years of work because they paid for my tuition,” she said. “I worked in Frankfort, teaching social workers how to lead therapy groups for families with dependent children.” She then worked as a clinical social worker for River Region (later Centerstone), and then after starting her family, she worked part-time for Seven County Services.
After Don earned a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Sciences, he entered the UofL Medical School and completed his residency at UofL Hospital. He served in the Air Force for two years in Omaha, Nebraska and then moved back to Louisville.
Cathy tells the story of how the couple met in 1970 at the old Louisville General Hospital – in the Psych ward, she says, laughing – while both were on rotation there. Cathy was working on her social work degree and Don was a medical student on rotation.
After they married, Cathy began working for the state of Kentucky, traveling all over the state to conduct trainings. At the same time, Don’s residency meant he worked overnight every third day.
“We used to joke that our marriage will last much longer than anyone else’s because we just hadn’t seen each other as much,” said Cathy.
In his long career – he retired in 2013 – Don has seen many changes in healthcare and in the world of anesthesia.
“Back in 1977, it was mostly MDs providing anesthesia, but now we need CRNAs, nurse anesthetists to staff all the areas where anesthesia is needed. Back in 1977, we had six ORs. Now there are close to 30, and they need anesthesia services in the endoscopy suites and delivery rooms, radiology, etc. Even in outpatient centers.”
“But during this COVID 19 crisis, I think people have changed the way they view anesthesiologists,” he continued. “They are heroes. They have to put people on ventilators, intubate them and keep them alive, keep their airways open as they battle the virus.”
Change has not only struck the healthcare profession, but also higher education and in particular, the University over the past 14 years of daughter Amy’s tenure. But though UofL had experienced some challenging times, Cathy and Don both expressed their enthusiasm for President Neeli Bendapudi and Athletic Director Vince Tyra.
“We have been very impressed with Neeli as a leader,” said Cathy. “She has been a stabilizing force and done a great job of turning things around.”
“We can’t say enough about her leadership. She’s personable, smart, and so energetic.”
Researching Alumni
Posted: March 12, 2013 Filed under: Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, People | Tags: alumni, Kathie Johnson, UofL history 16 Commentsby Kathie Johnson, Associate Professor
Kathie Johnson is an Associate Professor and the Curator of History Collections for Kornhauser Health Sciences Library.
As curator of the History Collections at Kornhauser Health Sciences Library I have a variety of duties, one of which is assisting researchers doing family history. Most of the research questions that I receive are genealogical in nature. Patrons want to verify that an ancestor attended and/or graduated from medical school in Louisville; or they have that information and want a copy of a diploma, a photograph, or information about medical education during that student’s time here.
Catalog of the Louisville Medical College, 1884-85.
Although the University of Louisville traces its roots to 1798, in reality it became an active and on-going educational institution in 1837, with the founding of the Louisville Medical Institute (LMI), which in 1846 became the Medical Department of the newly formed University of Louisville. By the end of the 19th century, Louisville had become a center of medical education with seven medical schools, but by the early 1900s, in response to pressure to improve medical education, four of the schools had been absorbed by the UofL Medical Department. Their alumni were officially listed as alumni of ULMD, and any records that still remained from the schools went to the combined ULMD and Jefferson County Medical Society Library, which is now the Kornhauser Health Sciences Library. The other two schools were closed by 1912.
One of the tools I have available to track alumni is a database that includes most of the medical students who attended LMI/UofL or the schools that were absorbed by UofL from 1837-1908. This database is also available on-line from the Kornhauser Health Sciences Library web page. While it is a simple matter to search this list for an individual name, there can be some challenges involved. Many of these names were transcribed from hand-written ledger books, some with almost illegible handwriting, and the spelling of names sometimes varies. Many of the students are listed with initials only, so common sir names may prove to be troublesome. Second, this list is massive, containing over 30,000 names, so as with any project this magnitude, a few names got omitted. An entry in the database only indicates attendance, not graduation, so follow-up in school records is needed.
All inquiries are written up on an “Information Request Form.” When the work is done, one copy is saved for tallying statistics, while a second is filed alphabetically by the name of the subject of the inquiry. If the research has already been done for a particular individual, that sheet may answer the entire question, thus this is the next step in my search. We also maintain extensive biographical reference files as part of the History Collections and a quick check there for a name is part of the process. These files may contain photographs, articles by or about a person, obituaries, CVs, and lists of publications among other things.
My search in not over after checking the above sources. Some very helpful tools are the various kinds of medical directories we have on hand. For doctors who could have died before 1929, I check the Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929, which contains short biographical entries on most 19th century doctors. Next I go to the national medical directories, which in our collections date from 1878, and were published regularly from 1886 to the present. Entries may include location of practice, school and year of graduation, specialty, and occasionally additional details. Having over a century’s run of directories helps in tracking these individuals. If the database listing or any directory entries indicates that the person in question graduated from one of the Louisville medical schools, I can then check the school’s catalog.
Faculty and graduating class 1895.
Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, the catalogs listed not only the history of the school, the curriculum, the faculty, and the fees; it included the listing of the previous year’s students and graduates. The earliest ones also list the name of the students’ preceptor (or sponsor), their thesis titles, and their home state, or some combination of those three items. We hold a fairly complete run of catalogs for UofL and the schools absorbed by UofL along with some official alumni lists compiled periodically.
Many people also want to know about the courses offered in medical school, the length of the program, and other such information, which can easily be provided. The 19th and some of the 20th century catalogs are digitized and available in our Digital Collections, http://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/kornhauser/ . There one can learn that well into the 20th century a college degree was not required for admission to medical school, or that for most of the 19th century, medical training only consisted of two four-month sessions.
We also house a collection of ledger books from the various schools, dating to 1880 for some, and beginning in 1908 for UofL. These may provide very little information or may include home addresses, names of preceptors, previous education, and even grades. It is a thrill to find a person’s name in a ledger, in 19th century script, especially if detailed information is also included.
If the person in question practiced in Kentucky prior to 1940 another source is the WPA files. One project of the Works Progress Administration during The New Deal in the late 1930s was the employment of writers to document the history of certain aspects of life and then produce a published work with this research. One of the Kentucky projects was to document the history of medicine. Writers traveled the state transcribing newspaper articles, obituaries and other written documents. This was all combined and indexed for easy searching.
Each time I receive an inquiry, it is a puzzle, a scavenger hunt, and a lot of fun. On top of that, I get paid to do this, making it even better. As mentioned in an earlier blog – I love my job!!!
University of Louisville Libraries News 