By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kevin Alejandrez, who recently earned his doctorate in sociology from the University in Kentucky, is one of 18 American Council of Learned Societies Leading Edge Fellows for 2023. 

This community-engaged humanities initiative demonstrates the capacity of humanistic knowledge and methods to help advance justice and equity in society. The program is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. 

The council’s Leading Edge Fellowship Program supports outstanding early career Ph.D.’s in the humanities and interpretive social sciences as they work with social justice organizations in the United States.  

Alejandrez will fill a two-year position with the Center for Cultural Power as a Learning and Impact Manager to co-create and implement culturally responsive

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Ellen Riggle, professor of political science and gender and women's studies in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, has received the Harriett A. Rose Legacies prize from the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington. 

The prize goes to writers 55 and older who submit poems, stories, essays or memoirs drawn from the writer’s personal history.   

Readings by contest winners will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, at the Carnegie Center, 251 W Secod St.  

Riggle received first place for a series of five poems. They are titled: “The LADIES Room,” “The Ladies ROOM,” “Law: …sex as assigned on a person’s birth certificate," “Queer” and “Hyper-Vigilance.”    

“The poems

By Richard LeComte 

A recent initiative in the University of Kentucky Department of Linguistics delves into the many ways language is spoken and heard on a diverse college campus — “This is What a Wildcat Sounds Like.” The video creates a mosaic of what UK community members sound like when communicating and how that enriches the experience for all stakeholders on campus.  

"The project began as an attempt to raise awareness of dialect diversity on this campus," said Allison Burkette, chair of the Linguistics Department in the UK College of Arts and Sciences. “I have seen a couple of other videos from other schools, and I thought it was important because there's been at least one dissertation and several articles written about it.” 

Leon Sachs, associate professor of French and Francophone Studies in The University of Kentucky's College of Arts & Sciences, has written an opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed titled "What If the Campus Speech Crisis Is a Hoax …and we create a better university for nothing? Leon Sachs argues there’s no harm — and much benefit — in taking concerns about the campus speech climate seriously."

"We should think about campus speech debates the way my hometown political cartoonist, Joel Pett, suggested we think about climate change. Some years ago, Pett published a political cartoon satirizing climate change denial: A speaker onstage at a climate summit is explaining the many benefits of greener environmental policies. In the crowd, a

By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Tracy Marc 

A group of faculty, postdoctoral scholars and students from the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are part of an international collaboration of scientists exploring uncharted territory in search of new physics.

The team has contributed to

By A Fish 

LEXINGTON; Ky. — Gaming and esports have grown in popularity over the past few years, but gaming also is being used as an educational tool. Kishonna L. Gray, a professor of Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital Studies at the University of Kentucky, has been working with under-resourced students to teach them team building, communication structures, peer mediation, conflict resolution and other skills through the art of game development. 

“What Camp Kiki Academy does is it provides a curriculum.” she said, “The class is a gaming class, but they learn different skills inside those gaming classes. We wanted them to build the capacities that may have gotten a lot of them in trouble before. The decision-making part, confidence, self-esteem, so we've integrated a lot of the things that the

By Richard LeComte

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

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

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.

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

By A Fish 

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

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 

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

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

By A Fish 

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

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.

By Dani Jaffe 

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

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

By Meredith Daugherty 

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

By Lindsey Piercy 

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

"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

By A Fish 

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