LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 17, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Women’s Executive Leadership Development (WELD) program has announced its 2023 cohort of faculty and staff participants. The eight-month WELD program seeks to develop a new generation of leaders of higher education who can adeptly navigate our complex environment and successfully chart the future of the university through retreats, monthly meetings, conversations with upper-level administrators, and other group interactions. 

WELD is supported and organized through the Office of Faculty Advancement and is currently in its ninth year. Current Faculty Trustee Hollie Swanson was the initial director of the program, followed by Professor Chana Akins, who currently serves as the chair

The College of Arts and Sciences announced today that Carol Jordan, a nationally recognized women’s advocate will retire after a 40 years career of public policy, legislative advocacy, research and writing, and the development of programs addressing intimate partner violence, rape and stalking. Following graduate school, Jordan worked in a domestic violence shelter and served as the first director of a statewide sexual and domestic violence program in the state’s Department for Mental Health. She led expansion of Kentucky rape crisis centers from 4 to 13.

In 1996 she was recruited by then-Governor Paul E. Patton to serve as the founding executive director for the Governor’s Office of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Services. During her time in the Governor’s Office, she advanced increased funding for domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers by 42% and 129%,

By Lindsay Travis 

James Hower

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2023) — A researcher at the University of Kentucky is helping to solve the mystery of where the coal found on Blackbeard's shipwrecked Queen Anne’s Revenge came from. 

James Hower,a distinguished fellow and a research professor at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, is part of the research team. He took a closer look at samples of coal pulled from the site and came to some surprising conclusions.

About 300 years ago, a band of pirates captured a French slave ship. Among those pirates was Edward Thatch (also spelled

By Whitney Hale 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2023) — Two University of Kentucky seniors — Kayli Bolton and Kayla Horne — interviewed this year for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and Bolton was awarded one of only 23 Gates Cambridge Scholarships presented nationally to students hoping to pursue postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge in England.

Bolton, a University of Kentucky biology and Lewis Honors College senior, is the third Wildcat to receive the honor. She also received the Astronaut

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 3, 2023) — Next week, the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities and UK College of Arts and Sciences will host a workshop on narrative pedagogy, featuring Derek McCracken, a lecturer in Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University

“Telescope, Stethoscope, Kaleidoscope: The Multivalent Art of Pedagogy” will be held 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, on Zoom. Register here.

In this

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Sharique Khan, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy Graduate Research fellowship program at the Oak Ridge National Lab.

The program allows graduate students to pursue collaborative research projects working with experts at two of the Department of Energy’s neutron sources: the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the Spallation Neutron Source.

“This program allows me to deploy neutron scattering, a highly specialized technique that is only possible in a very few specially equipped facilities,” Khan said. “I feel fortunate to have this experience and excited to contribute at the forefront of the evolving field of flavin based electron bifurcation, a fundamental mechanism of energy conservation."

Sharique Khan’s adviser is Anne-

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A chance meeting in Poland brought two University of Kentucky alumni together to assist refugees from the war in Ukraine. 

Lauren Metelski

Lauren Metelski ‘06, a nurse living in Washington, D.C., and Joe Bradley  ‘01, who was working remotely for a company in Ukraine, have partnered to form Go Help Now, a nonprofit that provides cash assistance, housing and basic needs to displaced Ukrainians and maintains a volunteer directory. They both graduated from UK with degrees in Russian studies in the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures.  

“In February 2022, I began helping friends out and then friends of friends,” Bradley said. “I had lived in Kyiv for two and a half years. I was actually back in Kentucky for the holidays and stuck around, so

By Ryan Girves 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 30, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for Humanities has selected 12  undergraduates as scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.

The Gaines Fellowship is presented in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities. Founded in 1984 by a gift from John and Joan Gaines, the Gaines Center for the Humanities is designed to enrich the study of the humanities at UK and functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2023) —  Solomon Harrar, a professor in the Dr. Bing Zhang Department of Statistics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Ethiopia to work with Addis Ababa University on teaching, mentoring and research collaboration for doctoral training in statistics.

Harrar will be in Ethiopia from May 15 to July 14. He will work with his host, Eshetu Wencheko, in re-evaluating and revising the Ph.D. curriculum, offering workshops and seminars, initiating mentoring relationships with junior faculty members and

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2023) — One University of Kentucky researcher is studying what some scholars call a “Twilight Zone of History,” a moment between what’s passed down through family memory and what’s accessible through historical texts.

Pearl James is an associate dean in the Lewis Honors College and an associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focus is on war studies, war literature and war film with an emphasis on World War I.

“WWI is a well-documented, well-studied, huge cultural event,' she said. "One might ask, ‘What else can be said about it?’ It turns out, if you bring an interdisciplinary perspective to bear, asking questions about gender and

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Dorian Cleveland likes history — so much so he made it his major.  

“It's always been a passion of mine,” said Cleveland, a University of Kentucky senior from Lexington. “I’ve liked it since I was a little kid. A lot of my elders would tell us that history is one of those things that is always impacting the present, no matter how you interpret it. And I had really good history teachers in high school. I would say that's where my passion for it comes from.” 

But translating passion into a career can be daunting. Students often need internships and other experiences in their undergraduate careers to help focus their studies and give them a taste of what their interests can lead to. That’s why UK’s College of Arts & Sciences is starting the Workforce Ready Wildcats fund. It’s designed to help students pay expenses related to

By A Fish 

LEXINGTON; Ky. — Leni Ribeiro Leite is bringing to light South American works written in Latin, which brings together an ancient language modern nation-building. In the past, Latin had the power that English has today despite being a “dead language,” and many of these texts have not been translated due to their location and content. Ribeiro Leite, associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences' Department of  Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures.

“I'm a classicist by formation I did my whole formation in Brazil,” she said. “I wasn't exactly the normal classicist in the sense that I double majored in classics, but also, in modern languages. I majored in Portuguese, and while I was doing my M.A. and my doctorate, I taught modern languages, and I think that gave me a

By Allison Rogers

The perfect storm brought on by the influx of illicit fentanyl combined with the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020 resulted in a 49% spike in the number of drug overdose deaths in Kentucky compared to the same period in 2019. Kentucky’s spike in overdose deaths is one of the greatest increases nationwide.

To understand how this happened and help prepare should similar conditions happen again, University of Kentucky researchers are studying the changes in the illicit fentanyl market that occurred around the time of the COVID shutdown in Eastern Kentucky by going to the source: collecting data from and interviewing law enforcement, harm reduction specialists, and people who sell and/or use illicit drugs. 

Principal investigator Rachel Vickers-Smith, assistant professor in the College of

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

Kaitlyn Brock, left, a neuroscience and psychology major, and Hena Kachroo, a chemistry major, are the recipients of UK's Beckman Scholars Program.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 23, 2023) — Two undergraduates have been selected as recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Beckman Scholars Program, titled Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship.

The Beckman Scholars — Kaitlyn Brock, a neuroscience and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Lewis Honors College, and Hena Kachroo, a chemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Lewis Honors College — will begin their

By A Fish 

LEXINGTON; Ky. — When one hears about archaeology, one thinks of Indiana Jones, Egypt, anything — but rarely does one hear about archaeological sites in the rolling hills of Kentucky. Elena Sesma has started two research projects at the University of Kentucky so that anthropology students can get hands-on experience while in undergraduate and graduate programs. 

The first project is a reanalysis of a site in Nicholas County, Kentucky, that was excavated in the mid ’90s by the Kentucky Archaeology Survey. 

“The site today is on the property of the North Central 4H camp” said Sesma, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky. “It was a home site for an African American family in the last 20 years of the 19th century, and what I have been doing in this research is reanalyzing the artifact assemblage to get a better understanding of the family's

By A Fish 

Kristin Monroe

LEXINGTON; Ky. — Internet is available nearly everywhere in the United States, but people in other countries often go to great lengths to obtain this modern necessity. Solar panels are often needed to help people power their phones and connect to the Internet.  

Kristin Monroe, an associate professor in anthropology and director of graduate studies, has been traveling to Lebanon regularly since the early 2000s in the pursuit of her research, but due to global events, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, she had not been able to go to Lebanon for a couple of years. She returned last summer and published an article on sapiens.org about the recent solar panel boom that rich and poor alike have embraced so they can have WiFi, lights, working refrigerators and so on. The article, titled “In Lebanon, Solar Power Is Booming, Why?,” is in the January

By A Fish  

LEXINGTON; Ky. — Moiré electronics are hot topics for theoretical physics. Ganpathy Murthy, professor of physics and astronomy in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, spoke about the upcoming van Winter Lecture and about guest lecturer Ashvin Vishwanath, a theoretical physicist specializing in the study of condensed matter at Harvard University. 

Vishwanath is a condensed matter theorist who studies collective phenomena in quantum systems. His previous research has explored the central role of "hedgehog" defects in phase transitions, the occurrence of distinctive surface states in Weyl semimetals, Dirac fermion dualities and the notion of surface topological order.  

His attention is focused on unraveling the mysteries of moiré materials and exploring ways to create

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Claire Dzan took full advantage of her stint at the University of Kentucky: She double-majored in neuroscience and Spanish; she was elected homecoming queen and sorority president; and she revitalized a key source for students who need clothing for job interviews. 

And she did all that as a first-generation college student. During her time at UK, she received multiple scholarships from the College of Arts & Sciences and other financial support. Now she hopes UK donors will contribute to a fund that will help students who follow in her footsteps. 

“With all the financial support I received, I was able to get involved,” Dzan said. “I’m passionate about leadership and mentorship, and if I didn't have that scholarship, who knows? I may have never really got involved at UK and been able to focus on growing UK.” 

On

By Elizabeth Chapin

The University of Kentucky is hosting its fifth annual Substance Use Research Event (SURE) April 24 in the UK Gatton Student Center. This free event showcases translational research conducted at UK focusing on substance use and substance use disorder.

Cannabis research is a focus of this year’s event, which will include an update on the new UK Cannabis Center, a breakout session on emerging cannabis research, and a keynote from a national cannabis expert.

“This annual event was created five years ago to highlight the depth and breadth of substance use and related research happening all over campus, and it provides an opportunity to bring together experts from many different backgrounds to build networks and continue to spur future collaborations,” said William Stoops, Ph.D., 

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – As a nontraditional student, Meghan Turner took six years to complete an undergraduate journey, first at Somerset Community College and then as a neuroscience major at the University of Kentucky. The journey paid off: She went on to earn a master’s at UK and is now a doctoral student in biomedical sciences in the College of Medicine. But she needed some help to get across that bachelor’s finish line.  

“I was out of Pell Grant money,” Turner said. “My scholarships had expired. I had transfer scholarships, and I ended up taking out quite a bit of loans to finish up after that.” 

Students like Turner will benefit from the new Finish Line Fund, which will help College of Arts & Sciences students get the funds they need to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Donors can give to this fund during the