Out of the Big Blue

The UK Alumni Association is offering two more ways that you can get “social” with us on social media.

First, we have taken the plunge and joined the popular Pinterest craze. Check out our Pinterest boards for a mix of fun and informative pins. If you already have a Pinterest page, be sure to follow us. It is easy to use (and quite addictive)!

Check out our Pinterest page here: www.pinterest.com/kentuckyalumni

Secondly, we now have an Instagram account for all of you Instagram-ers out there! Follow us @kentucky_alumni to check out our selection of UK photos. Don’t forget to tag your UK-themed photos with #kentuckyalumni so we can see and share your photos!  

Of course, if you are not already interacting with us on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube pages, be sure to check out these other outlets, as well.

We hope that our social media offerings will help you stay connected to the UK Alumni Association and to the University of Kentucky. After all, that’s what we’re all about!

Dr. John Mink has taught every single UK College of Dentistry student that has graduated in the history of the college — all 3,227 of them! That is an accomplishment not many educators can claim. This month, Dr. Mink will retire from the UK College of Dentistry. It will be bittersweet for all of the students, alumni and faculty and staff that he has impacted over his 50 years of service.

Perhaps one of Mink’s most notable achievements during his tenure at the UK College of Dentistry is the establishment of the mobile dental program. In the 1990s, he would drive a 40-foot van, fondly nicknamed by his colleagues “the Mink mobile.” The dental clinic on wheels traveled to remote locations in Eastern Kentucky, providing oral health care to disadvantaged children. The program has since expanded to treat children in Western Kentucky as well.  Today, the Mobile Dental Van program provides dental screening, treatment and prevention services to about 11,000 Kentucky children a year.

Mink smiles and laughs as he reminisces about his experiences and the people he has met, particularly the children he has treated, over the past half-century at the College of Dentistry. Patients who have heard about his retirement have made special trips in to the clinic just to give him a hug and to say goodbye.

“I’m going to miss it,” he said. “Sometimes it is them that have tears in their eyes and sometimes it is me but if I were starting over today, I’d do the same thing.”

Mink was scheduled to retire in June but he decided to put off retirement one month to make one last trip to Eastern Kentucky with the mobile dental van.

“I started the mobile dental program and I want that to be the last thing I do for the college.”

To read more about Dr. Mink’s long and fruitful tenure at the UK College of Dentistry, click here.

*Compiled from material written by Ann Blackford, UK Public Relations and Marketing.

Dr. Mink chats with a student.

Getting ready to cut the ribbon on the new mobile dental clinic in 1990. Dr. Mink is second from left.

Over the last few days, the UK Alumni Career Services team has been playing host to alumni career services professionals from across the country for the 7th annual Alumni Career Services Network Conference. The conference focuses on “Alumni Pacesetters: Harnessing the Challenges Facing Alumni Career Service Professionals.”

“We are looking forward to welcoming alumni career services professionals from across the nation to this event,” said Caroline Francis, UK alumni career counselor. “We have some excellent speakers and events lined up for our attendees who are sure to feel a warm Kentucky welcome. This will be a great opportunity for us to explore exciting ideas on how we can further assist our alumni with their career goals.”

At the conference, attendees have been hearing from a variety of industry leaders including representatives from LinkedIn, Life After Graduation LLC, Kentucky Education & Workforce Development Cabinet and more.

Our alumni career counselors can help you navigate your career path. As a benefit to members, our alumni career counselors can assist in all phases of an alum’s career, including: administering career assessments and exploring career fields, identifying marketable skills, updating a resume, customizing a job search campaign, researching employers or preparing for an interview. For more information about University of Kentucky Alumni Career Services, visit www.ukalumni.net/career.

Alumni career services professionals from across the country gather on the front steps of the King Alumni House. Photo by Jeff Hounshell.

Did you know that UK alumni are admitted to the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky free of charge? The Art Museum features a wonderful permanent collection but also regularly features special traveling exhibitions that are always a treat.

Currently the museum is featuring a dazzling array of Native American weavings and jewelry on loan from the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University. The exhibition features 40 beautiful Navajo weavings and 60 ornate pieces of Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo and Zuni jewelry. This collection is a must see for those interested in textiles, jewelry or Native American culture.

If you happen to be on campus, be sure to stop by the Art Museum before Aug. 26 to weave your way through this interesting collection.

Navajo weaving. Photo courtesy of the Art Museum at UK.

Coral squash blossom necklace. Photo courtesy of the Art Museum at UK.

With the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games just 10 days away, all eyes are on London as athletes, coaches and fans from around the world converge on the historic city.

One of the individuals making his way to London is alumnus James Johnson ’81 SW. The former UK wrestling great has the amazing opportunity to serve as a coach for the Team USA Greco-Roman wrestling team.

Greco-Roman wrestling is considered one of the oldest sports in the world, according to the official 2012 Olympics website. It is an intricate sport where athletes use just their upper bodies and arms to compete.

“It is a great honor and blessing to be chosen to coach the USA Greco-Roman wrestling team on the world’s largest stage for sports in the Olympic Games,” he says. “My goal personally as a coach, which I have shared with each of our Olympians, is to embrace this moment for you, and your family and make history. I believe that this group of athletes is capable, willing and able to win medals at the Olympic Games.”

Johnson, who now resides in Phoenix, Ariz., is no stranger to winning medals himself. After excelling at UK, he went on to win the national championship in Greco-Roman wrestling three times and was a four-time World Cup medalist. He was also a runner-up in the 1992 Olympic trials.

Good luck to Coach Johnson and the USA Greco-Roman team as they wrestle for gold!

James Johnson ’81 SW

We all know that first impressions are a big deal. Over the past several weeks we have been seeing some new faces around campus during Summer Advising 2012. At these advising sessions, incoming students learn the ins and outs of life at the University of Kentucky.

To ensure their first impressions of life at UK are successful, these sessions introduce incoming students to several key groups at UK — including the UK Alumni Association’s Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow (STAT) group! We’re looking forward to welcoming all of these students in August.

We’re wondering.  Whether it was five years ago or 50 years ago, what do you remember about your first impressions of the University of Kentucky?

Students and parents listen to a speaker during Summer Advising 2012.

Incoming students sign up to join STAT at the UK Alumni Association booth.

Photos courtesy Meg Phillips and Kelly Hinkel.

Coming from a small town and a small school, D.C. Storm ’04 BE was sure he didn’t want to attend a big college like the University of Kentucky … that is, until he made a campus visit.

When he arrived, Storm says he saw a “plethora of opportunities to get involved on campus. There is a niche for everyone. You just have to go find it.”

Storm did, joining a fraternity, Student Government and the Student Development Council, which focuses on fund-raising, and other organizations. The diversity of opportunities and people he met convinced him that he could conquer bigger worlds and embrace different experiences.

Today, Storm is a vice president of financial planning at NBC Universal in New York City. The exciting position follows a position with GE Healthcare in financial management, where he traveled abroad for the first time to places like Greece, London, Paris and Spain.

Click here to read more of this great story by UK Public Relations and Marketing.

D.C. Storm ’04 BE

Last month several engineering students from the UK Paducah campus had the experience of a lifetime traveling to Bangang, Cameroon. Jeffrey Seay, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering at the UK Paducah campus, led the group on this journey across the world.

During their 10-day stint in the rural African village, the group worked with the African Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology with the goal of producing cost effective, environmentally friendly biodiesel for the villagers.

Using old oil drums, car parts and scrap metal, the group created a processor that used wood or charcoal as heat. To read more about their journey, read this story that was published in the Paducah Sun.

Bravo to these students and the College of Engineering for their work!

Engineering students in Cameroon. Photo courtesy of UK College of Engineering.

Today’s guest post comes from CareerCat, the official blog of UK Alumni Career Services. CareerCat periodically spotlights UK alumni who are doing something unusual or out-of-the-ordinary with their major in a special blog series titled: “You’re Doing What With Your Major?” Be sure to check CareerCat often for great career tips and features!

Major: Bachelor of Architecture, Minor in Art History

Nicolle Fedor Griffin

Current Career: Owner’s Representative, Senior Project and Construction Manager, Licensed Architect.  I am the only licensed female architect in the rural areas between San Diego, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz., a 300 mile stretch!

Description of Career Path: Some people have a career strategy. I had a series of fortunate events kind of like in a chain reaction or a kinetic sculpture that worked well. You could say my career path is like a Mythbusters experiment that shouldn’t have worked but did anyway. I went from a small architectural firm in Oldham County in 1994 to a firm owned by another UK grad in Phoenix, Ariz. From there I moved to the small border town of Yuma, Ariz., in 1995 where my USMC fiancé was stationed. I ran the architectural division of a medium sized civil engineering firm that had architectural, civil, environmental, geotechnical and surveying services in-house.

My boss was elderly and in poor health so he told me he would do all of the design work and “you can do everything else.” “Everything else” turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened to me because it literally meant everything from marketing, fee preparation, design management and coordination, client meetings, to construction contract administration. In 2006 I became a licensed architect but then decided to make a complete career change.  A construction management firm from Phoenix was awarded the contract to manage design and construction for six new libraries in Yuma. I knew nobody from Phoenix wanted to move to Yuma so I sent the firm my resume and the rest is history.

From 2006-09, I managed a $58 million library bond program and helped select and hire all of the architects and contractors, negotiating all of their contracts and managing all six projects. From 2009-11, thanks to the recession, I commuted from Yuma to Irvine, Calif. (230 miles one way).  I put 1,000 miles a week on my car but worked on projects for Southern California Edison and John Wayne Airport Expansion and loved every second of it. But, I hated being away from my family. So, in 2011 I left that job to return home and was hired by a competitor to be the Senior Construction Manager for the John M. Roll US Federal Courthouse project where I am currently.  After we finish this project in 2013 who knows who I’ll be working for, or where, or on what project. But following my career so far I know it will be exciting!

To read the complete interview, click here.