By Richard LeComte

Abigail Mortell

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- History can be as exciting as live drama, as Abigail Mortell has found. Mortell, a recent University of Kentucky history major and Lewis Honors College student, took her research into the history of indigenous peoples in Brazil and turned it into a play, which received first place for Humanities: Creative in the annual Oswald Research and Creativity Competition in UK’s Office of Undergraduate Research.

The play, “Surviving the Sertão: A Play in Two Acts,” originated as a creative assignment in a class taught by Erik Myrup, associate professor of history.

"I submitted a play in two acts, which has a historical basis, but it’s also fictional,” Mortell said.  "I intended to provide the historical perspective from the native side, which we don't actually have in real life. But it had to be rooted in the

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Faculty members of the University of Kentucky Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures in the College of Arts & Sciences recently have edited, written and published several books in their areas of expertise. Among them are: 

“Football Nation – The Playing Fields of German Culture, History and Society,” edited by  Rebeccah Dawson, UK associate professor, along with Bastian Heinsohn, Oliver Knabe and Alan McDougall. Over the past century, the impact of football on Germany has been manifold, influencing the arts, political debates, and even contributing to the construction of cultural memories and national narratives. “Football Nation” analyses the game’s role in shaping and reflecting German society. 

The following op-ed was written by Aria Halliday, an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, African American and Africana Studies and International Film Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

<em>Aria Halliday</em>

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 31, 2023) — Growing up, I was — what we called in the '90s — a “tomboy.” Other than the dreadful laffy taffy-colored taffeta dresses with ruffles and white lace-trimmed socks, which my mother forced us to wear on special occasions, I

By A Fish 

Jimmy Robinson

LEXINGTON; Ky. — University of Kentucky Sociology doctoral student Jimmy Robinson wants to know what happens when a rural Appalachian artist leaves Appalachia. UK’s Appalachian Center in the College of Arts & Sciences has provided him with a grant to begin his research project titled “Taking the Rural with you: Rural Artists in the City.”  

Part of his research involves exploring just what “rural” means. People who leave a rural area still may seem themselves as rural as part of their identity. 

“This project is taking a different look at rurality than what you normally see,” he said. “A lot of research regarding rurality treats it firstly as a spatial material concept, meaning only the people who live in rural areas are counted as rural under most metrics that people use. There is, however, another way to approach rurality,

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 12, 2023) — Are you looking to get lost in your next summer read but don’t know where to start?

We asked the University of Kentucky community to recommend books they feel would make good additions to anyone’s reading list.

In the descriptions below, faculty members across various colleges and disciplines share the novels they can’t put down. Pulling from the worlds of history and fiction — their picks explore timely themes while providing intriguing insights.

The recommendations below range from short stories to dystopian, historical and horror fiction.

“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver

Recommended by Diane Loeffler, senior lecturer in the College of Social

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

Ann Morris

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 7, 2023) — Ann Morris, a professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, is one of 16 University Research Professors for 2023-24.  

The University Research Professorships honor faculty members who have demonstrated excellence that addresses scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges in our region and around the world.  

College leadership develop criteria for excellence within their area of expertise and then nominate faculty who excelled at these criteria. Each University Research Professor receives a one-year award of $10,000.   

By A Fish 

Nora Sypkens

LEXINGTON; Ky. — The Jerry D. Claiborne Scholarship is presented by the University of Kentucky Nu Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa to students who show prowess in such areas as leadership and mentorship. It also takes into account their academic and athletic achievements.  

Nora Sypkens, a chemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences, was selected in the spring for the scholarship by her peers. Omicron Delta Kappa's Nu Circle has its home base at the Chellgren Center, and it’s one of the three major honors societies on UK’s campus. To apply for this scholarship, one must be part of the organization. 

“I was inducted into the group last September, and since then I have received a lot of e-mail blasts,” she said. “With the Claiborne Scholarship, my circle leader recommended that I check it

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2023) — Crystal Wilkinson, a professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, is one of 16 University Research Professors for 2023-24.  

The University Research Professorships honor faculty members who have demonstrated excellence that addresses scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges in our region and around the world.  

College leadership develop criteria for excellence within their area of expertise and then nominate faculty who excelled at these criteria. Each University Research Professor receives a one-year award of $10,000

By Dani Jaffe 

Lynda Sharrett-Field

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 15, 2023) – Lynda Sharrett-Field, associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Psychology, is one of 10 winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2022-23 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected through nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.

“I’m extremely honored to receive this award. I feel it recognizes not

Department of Biology Outreaching to the Community

June 15, 2023 

Within the last two weeks, elementary and middle schools involved with the UK STEM Camp run out of the College of Education sent approximately 200 students to engage in activities with the Department of Biology.  The STEM Camp (https://education.uky.edu/stem/camp/) has been running since 2010, and Biology professor Dr. Robin Cooper and his students have been involved with it for a number of years. 

This year allowed students to develop hands-on experience with laboratory investigation around the theme of bioelectricity.  Participants were able to record electrical activity from plants, their own bodies, and electrical circuits to understand how electricity is created, as well as to develop an understanding of how

By Meredith Daugherty 

Crystal Wilkinson

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 9, 2023) — University Press of Kentucky authors and UK English professors Crystal Wilkinson and Frank X Walker, along with illustrator Ronald W. Davis (upfromsumdirt), are featured in the new Hulu documentary and travel show, "Searching for Soul Food.”

The three can be seen in the show’s third episode, “Appalachia,” which “uncovers the heart and humanity behind the food of the people.” The episode features Wilkinson and Davis cooking and meeting in their home with host and chef Alisa Reynolds.

"

By Lindsey Piercy 

Elizabeth Williams

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 8, 2023) — Elizabeth Williams, an assistant professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 10 winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2022-23 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for

"Few people are working harder to make gaming and tech more equitable than Dr. Gray herself. Her deep study of issues around race and gender in gaming has led to the publication of several books including Race, Gender, and Deviance in Xbox Live and Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming."

"'Her writing and academic work in this space is invaluable, and as an intellectual, she can hang with the best of them.' Intersectional Tech, for instance, dense with stimulating ideas, begins with talk of “'

By A Fish 

Bethany Craig

LEXINGTON; Ky. — Scarred sea creatures and elementary geography usually don’t go together, they do in the mind — and the book — of University of Kentucky doctoral student Bethany Craig. She has taken her research about the connections between scars and geography and applied it to a children's book about three sea creatures to make her research accessible to people outside of academia and to comfort children who undergo surgery. 

“My research is all about how the body connects us to certain places and times, and I do that specifically through looking at scars,” she said. “I'm sure that when you look at your scars you remember exactly where you were, how old you were, what you were doing and all the events surrounding it. Scars kind of act as little like placeholders for times and places in our lives. 

“I decided to write a kid’s book

The Knights Templar Eye Foundation is dedicated to funding research into the prevention and treatment of sight threatening diseases in children. Each year, the foundation invites proposals for funding of research related to pediatric ocular disorders. Dr. Sumanth Manohar, a postdoctoral research scholar working in the lab of Dr. Ann Morris in UK’s Department of Biology, was one of 25 scientists selected to receive this funding in 2023-2024. 

Manohar will be investigating the function of the CHD7 gene during retinal development and how mutations in CHD7 cause the ocular complications associated with CHARGE syndrome. Manohar hopes to elucidate the mechanisms of action of CHD7 in the retina using the zebrafish model; the results of this work could eventually lead to better therapeutic approaches for the vision problems of individuals with CHARGE syndrome.

 “Dr. Manohar is

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Kentucky’s Air Force ROTC commissioned 15 Second Lieutenants on May 4. Capt. Nichole Nicholson, recruitment officer at UK’s Air Force ROTC and assistant professor of aerospace studies, has identified four cadets who have excelled in their training.  

“All four of these women have been great examples of innovation, hard work and dedication in helping to push our cadet wing forward,” Nicholson said. “I know they’ll each continue to do the same when they enter active duty.” 

These soon-to-be-commissioned officers have a variety of backgrounds and majors — everything from nursing to Arabic. They exemplify what’s wildly possible for students wishing to pursue military studies at UK.  

Julia Acevedo

Julia Acevedo, Hurricane, West Virginia; neuroscience major.  

“Acevedo is

By Brian Carrico 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 2, 2023) — The University of Kentucky recognized exceptional faculty and teaching assistants with the Outstanding Teaching Awards during the 2023 UK Faculty Awards Ceremony held Wednesday, April 26 in the J. David Rosenberg College of Law's Grand Courtroom.

The Outstanding Teaching Awards were established by the Provost to reward and encourage excellence in teaching. Selected via nomination, candidates were reviewed by a selection committee empaneled by the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching in the Office for Faculty Advancement.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant university, our teaching mission is critical to the success and well-being of the Commonwealth. And, given

By Susan Cantrell, Camille Harmon and Trey Conatser 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 30, 2023) — Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky, or TEK, challenges faculty and students to engage with complex, multidimensional and context-specific issues. Some have described these issues as “wicked problems” that exceed the capacity of any one framework, approach or perspective to provide an adequate or lasting solution. Moreover, TEK leverages these issues for students to develop essential employability skills, including the highly valued abilities to engage multiple points of view, reflect on growth, communicate ideas

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

&nbsp;Angela Hanson

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 25, 2023) — Angela Hanson, Ph.D., a former University of Kentucky teaching assistant and May 2023 graduate from the UK Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 10 winners of UK’s 2022-23 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

Muhammad Indra

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 25, 2023) — Five University of Kentucky students have been selected for the Sustainability Summer Research Fellowship program, a high-impact learning experience that contributes to the students’ academic growth as well as sustainability-focused research initiatives at UK and in the community.

As a learning institution, UK engages in sustainable practices by collaborating with faculty, staff and students across all colleges and departments. The Sustainability Research Fellowship is a collaborative program coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research and sponsored by the