  We report on the measurement of $^{11}$B and $^{40}$Ca levels between
excitation energies of 8 and 9 MeV using nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF).
The experiment was carried out with nearly-monoenergetic and linearly polarized
photon beams provided by the High-Intensity $\gamma$-ray Source (HI$\gamma$S)
facility at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). States in
$^{11}$B are important for calibrations of NRF measurements, while the
properties of $^{40}$Ca levels impact potassium nucleosynthesis in globular
clusters. For $^{40}$Ca, we report on improved excitation energies and an
unambiguous $2^-$ assignment for the state at 8425 keV. For $^{11}$B, we
obtained improved values for $\gamma$-ray multipolarity mixing ratios and
branching ratios of the 8920 keV level.
