Dr. Marilyn Duncan Elected to Serve on University Senate Council

Marilyn Duncan, PhD, a driven researcher and well-regarded professor in the department of neuroscience, has been elected to serve on the University Senate Council, the executive body of the University Senate. 

Dr. Duncan is serving a third term on the University Senate. During her tenure she has been part of the Advisory Committee for Prior Service, the Academic Programs Committee, the Academic Area Committee for Promotion and Tenure in the Biological Sciences, and the Library Committee. 

Her term on the Senate Council will run from Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2023.

Through her work on the Senate Council, Dr. Duncan will collaborate with eight other Senate members to work toward solutions for important issues pertinent to the University community such as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism. She said she is strongly committed to enhancing the role of the faculty in responding to these challenges.

“As we interact with our students and colleagues every day, we are critically shaping the educational and research environment at UK,” she said. “As a member of the Senate Council, I will work to ensure that faculty can participate in decisions about resources and policies affecting the University mission and environment.”

Dr. Duncan also strives to bridge and strengthen connections between faculty in the UK College of Medicine and faculty in other colleges. She embodies this mission through her own research projects. Of note, she conducts an extramurally-funded research program investigating sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in Alzheimer’s disease, an interdisciplinary collaboration involving faculty in three colleges.

Dr. Duncan has been a faculty member at UK since 1991, with teaching activities in the colleges of medicine, dentistry, health sciences, arts and sciences, and UK honors programs. She remains actively involved in the Bluegrass Society for Neuroscience and was a long-time member of the UK Forum for Reproductive Sciences and Women’s Health. She has been a member of grant review panels for the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Research, the National Institutes of Health, the National Sciences Foundation, and other local and national organizations. 

“I feel that these experiences have helped me to understand a range of issues that faculty confront and to appreciate a variety of perspectives,” she said.

Dr. Duncan was elected to the Senate Council along with Robert Grossman, PhD, of the UK College of Arts and Sciences and Shannon Oltmann, PhD, of the UK College of Communication and Information. The other six members of the Senate Council are Susan Cantrell, EdD, of the College of Education; Richard Charnigo, PhD, of the College of Public Health; DeShana Collett, PhD, of the College of Health Sciences; Aaron Cramer, PhD, of the College of Engineering; Gregory Hall of the graduate school; and Leslie Vincent, PhD, of the Gatton College of Business and Economics.