New University of Kentucky faculty trustee Joe Peek lightens up the board with heavy doses of humor
Lexington Herald-Leader
September 7, 2010
It's unclear whether Joe Peek, the new faculty trustee on the University of Kentucky board, is a funny smart guy or a smart funny guy.
Either way, for a university where board meetings can be remarkably sedate, Peek promises to be like a can of kerosene held next to a lit match.
The humor of the UK Gatton Chair in International Banking and Finance, an expert on financial institutions and bank regulation, betrays an academic heft that can be daunting.
But would a research associate at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University and a former fellow of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Center for Financial Research send out an e-mail message like this after his May election?
"Now that you have foolishly elected me as your faculty trustee, I have lost all respect for you, thereby fully qualifying me to be a UK trustee. Therefore, it is time for me to tone down the campaign rhetoric, take on a more statesperson-like role, and stop making cheap jokes at the expense of the UK administration. ... Yeah, right."