By Lindsey Piercy

From left to right: Regina Hamilton, Derrick White, Bertin Louis, Nikki Brown, Frances Henderson, Kamahra Ewing

In an effort to build institutional excellence, an inclusive curriculum and faculty diversity, the University of Kentucky is welcoming six new educators to the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cluster hiring — hiring multiple scholars into one or more departments based on shared research interest — is a way to advance the university's commitment to diversity and inclusion, while also fostering a learning environment dedicated to collaboration and engagement.

"Not only does hiring multiple faculty members signal our commitment to African American and Africana Studies within the college, but it also creates a sense of possibility

By Lindsey Piercy

Christia Spears Brown's professional roles as a researcher, teacher and advocate for public policy issues are integrated around her interests in issues of diversity and equality. Pete Comparoni | UK Photo.

When it comes to talking politics with your children, you may think they would rather be playing video games or texting their friends — but that's not exactly true.

With the 2020 U.S. presidential election fast approaching, should the youngest members of society be engaged in the political discussion? If so, how can parents and schools help navigate that conversation.

Findings of a new collaborative study — conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, University of Kansas, University of Texas at Austin, Whitman College and University of Texas at Tyler — aim to

By Ryan Girves

Rachel White is a senior international studies and political science major in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Two University of Kentucky students, Amani Shalash, early childhood education major, and Rachel Wright, international studies and political science major, were awarded the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) Study Abroad Grant. Shalash and Wright were two of 75 students nationwide to receive the $1,000 award. 

The study abroad grants are designed to help support undergraduates as they seek knowledge and experience in their academic fields by studying abroad. This award is open to any enrolled undergraduate student at UK because the university is home to an active chapter in good standing with the national office. To apply, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.75 or higher on a

By Jillian Gibney

The Visiting Writers Series (VWS), hosted by the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in the University of Kentucky Department of English, kicks off Sept. 17 with Whiting Award-winner Kayleb Rae Candrilli.

The VWS began in the spring of 2014 with a reading by poet Roger Reeves. Each year, the program continues to bring nationally renowned authors to the University of Kentucky campus. "This series is a source of inspiration and excitement for our students and continues to add to the overall vibrant literary culture of Lexington,” Crystal Wilkinson, associate professor of English, said.

You can find a full schedule of 2019 VWS events listed below

By LIndsey Piercy

UK Photo | Pete Comparoni

The Center for Equality and Social Justice(CESJ) at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences is launching a yearlong series of programs designed to foster conversations about race, justice and our food system.

Just Food, which is being funded through a UK Sustainability Challenge Grant, is designed to engage multidisciplinary teams from the university community in the creation and implementation of ideas that will promote sustainability by simultaneously advancing economic vitality, ecological integrity and social

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences is entering the ninth year of its Passport to the World initiative, a yearlong exploration of the culture and history of different areas of the world and interdisciplinary topics. 2019-20 will serve as the Year of Equity, which seeks to spark meaningful dialogue on issues across race, gender, ability, sexuality, class, ethnicity, citizenship status and religion at UK, in Kentucky and around the globe.

"In observation of the 70th anniversary of UK’s desegregation, we wanted to organize a series of programs to both commemorate the history and look at current issues of equity," said Anastasia Curwood, director of 

By Madison Dyment

When you picture Kentucky, you think “horse country.” The culture of these animals is deeply ingrained in the state; there’s the horse park, the Kentucky Derby and hundreds of idyllic horse farms dotted across the countryside. Domesticated horses are a norm for our society. What’s harder to see is the horse’s ancient history. Even harder, how linguistics has helped shed light on it. 

The NOVA documentary, “First Horse Warriors,” digs back roughly 5,500 years through history to uncover how the horse was domesticated and by whom. It seems only natural that a professor from the University of Kentucky was enlisted for the project, although his speciality may seem unexpected.

Andrew Byrd is an associate professor in linguistics at UK in the College of Arts & Sciences, specializing in the

By Madison Dyment

Congratulations to DaMaris Hill, associate professor of creative writing and English literature in the College of Arts & Sciences, on the success of her book of poetry, “A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing.” The book recently reached the #1 Best Seller spot on the Amazon African American Poetry list, also gracing the overall Amazon Best Seller list. 

The poetry serves as Hill’s response to the complex nature of our cultural times while also drawing inspiration from past generations. 

“As smart as I was, I don’t think I really had all the knowledge and stamina to really endure this cultural situation without becoming extremely depressed, but I knew that the people who lived before me lived through similar situations, so those are the people that I looked to for clarification and inspiration,” Hill said. 

With personal

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

One man. One courageous step. Seventy years of a journey that is still unfolding and evolving.

In 1949, Lyman T. Johnson became the first African American to enroll at the University of Kentucky, resulting in the first racially integrated class. It was, by all accounts, a wrenching path.

But 30 years later, Johnson was awarded an honorary doctorate from UK.

“It’s remarkable,” Johnson wrote, “that so much has changed in the space of thirty years — from the time I forced my way into the university on a court order to the day the university gave me an honorary degree.”

Today, awards, ceremonies, programs and a residence hall proudly bear Johnson's name on the UK campus. And now, this seven-decade journey — from court-ordered integration to a university that strives to be a community of belonging for everyone —

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness I announce the passing of beloved anthropology professor William Y. Adams on Aug. 22, 2019. Dr. Adams had a long and distinguished career, joining the UK Department of Anthropology in 1966. The College of Arts & Sciences recognized Dr. Adams' passion for teaching by inducting him as the first faculty member in the College's Hall of Fame in 2009. Dr. Adams' research interests took him across the United States and around the world and, in 1972, he instituted a long partnership between the University of Kentucky and the Egypt Exploration Society (London). In recognition of his many contributions to the history of the Nubian region in Africa, the Sudanese government awarded Dr. Adams its highest civilian honor, the Order of the Two Niles. Dr. Adams never stopped traveling and taught in Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, and never

By Lindsey Piercy

Today we reflect on a grim chapter in our nation's history — the beginning of a 400-year story filled with tragedy, inequality, resilience and survival.

On Aug. 20, 1619, a ship carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, changing the course of American history. These men and women were among more than 12 million other captives to be sold to colonists in what would become the United States.

The transatlantic slave trade — which reduced Africans to commodities — would endure for centuries and ultimately shape our country and the state of Kentucky.

To this day, one of the darkest periods of our nation's past continues to cast a shadow. 

How does the legacy of slavery still resonate with Kentuckians, and how do we — as a state — heal from history? We asked 

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 13, 2019) — University of Kentucky Chemistry Professor Marcelo Guzman has received a prestigious three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research, education and outreach efforts in the field of environmental and atmospheric chemistry.

The $461,000 project, titled "Heterogeneous Aging Mechanisms of Combustion and Biomass Burning Emissions," will focus on how gases, such as ozone, react with pollutants emitted from power plants and forest fires.

"My work with environmental chemistry focuses on the interaction of gases with organic compounds present in low water activity environments such as the atmospheric aerosol, clouds and fog," Guzman said. "Both types of

Dear Friends,

It is with much sadness that I announce philosophy professor emeritus Ronald Bruzina passed away this May. Dr. Bruzina was an esteemed faculty member in the Department of Philosophy from 1970 until his retirement in 2016. During his distinguished 46-year career in the College of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Bruzina chaired the department from 1978 - 1982 and oversaw numerous dissertations. He was a world-renowned scholar of Husserl and the phenomenological tradition, and an important expert on Edumund Husserl's philosophy. Dr. Bruzina was a dedicated and beloved teacher and will be greatly missed. 

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Dr. Ronald Bruzina, 1936-2019

In May of 2019, Professor Ronald Bruzina passed away in Lexington, KY. Born on July 9, 1936, he received both an M.A. (1961) and

By Lindsey PIercy

United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

An alumna and strong supporter of the University of Kentucky has been nominated and confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Kelly Knight Craft, a longtime Republican Party activist from Glasgow, Kentucky, is currently the U.S. ambassador to Canada. In 2017, she became the first woman to hold that post.

In her new role, Craft will serve as the country's chief representative at the U.N. General Assembly, as well as on the U.N. Security Council. On Aug. 3, she was confirmed 56-34, ending a more than seven-month vacancy in the key diplomatic position.

Craft is no stranger to the U.N. In 2007, she was appointed by President George W. Bush as a U.S. alternate delegate to the United Nations. She

By Victor Allison

Education is often described as a journey. Those who decide to pursue higher education often find themselves experts on subjects dramatically different from where they began, and, in the case of Jacob Neely, thousands of miles away.

Neely grew up in Las Vegas, Nev. “We used to call the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the university of never leaving Vegas. So I chose to go to the University of Nevada (in Reno).” There, he studied political science and Spanish as an undergraduate and also received his master’s degree in foreign language and literature. Neely made the journey to the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2014 to begin his doctorate.

“I came here because I needed to do a Ph.D. to be successful in my field and I stayed because the professors kept my interest and guided me toward my passion,” Neely said. “Our Hispanic Studies

By Madison Dyment

Our world is rich in cultural differences, but the one connecting factor between all is language. Yet, as powerful as it can be to connect cultures, it can also work to promote discrimination between them. This distinct power is the largest draw of interest for Rusty Barrett, linguistics professor in the College of Arts & Sciences. 

Barrett received his bachelor’s degree in Russian Language and Literature at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. After receiving a Master’s in Russian and East European Studies at Yale, Barret worked as a translator and technical writer for the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. There, he developed an immense appreciation for the subject of linguistics. 

“I did work as a technical translator for NASA,” Barrett said. “I was hired to translate Russian, but I was also asked to

By Madison Dyment

Sometimes it’s the path we least expect that brings us the most reward. This is certainly the case for University of Kentucky Biology Professor Pete Mirabito, who was recently honored for his long-time involvement with the Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching.

Originally, Mirabito was just a kid like many others with dreams of being a professional football player. Although talented, school was more of a necessity than a passion.

“I had math and science skills in high school, but I wasn’t really paying attention to any of them,” Mirabito said. “When I stopped growing, it ruled out my pro football plans, so I had to figure out what else I could do.”

After some advice from peers, Mirabito found himself going to college at the University of Florida with a major in food science, as a first-generation college student. Even still, nothing

By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Lindsey Piercy

University of Kentucky alumnus and successful Kentucky businessman Bruce Lunsford has pledged $1 million to establish the W. Bruce Lunsford Scholars Program in Citizenship and Public Service at UK. The program will support dynamic learning opportunities for students that emphasize citizenship, democracy, public service and government affairs.

The Lunsford Scholarships will allow students from the UK College of Arts and Sciences to take advantage of high-impact learning opportunities including internships, education abroad, undergraduate research and service-based learning in the Commonwealth and beyond. The gift will also fund an annual symposium and speaker series.

“I am grateful and delighted that Bruce Lunsford has established this innovative program to support the

By Lindsey Piercy

For more than a decade, Rachel Farr has studied various aspects of family life. More specifically, she's zeroed in on a highly debated topic — adoption among same-sex couples.

As more and more gay and lesbian adults adopt children, their parenting skills are being called into question. As an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, Farr has spent her academic career evaluating and answering these questions with research.

"LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) parenting and adoption are both topics that I care deeply about from personal and professional vantage points," she said. "I think it is vitally important that

By Jenny Wells

Students and faculty affiliated with the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate Appalachian Research Community (GARC) are partnering with the Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) to host its 43rd annual conference March 12-15, 2020, on the UK campus.

The conference, titled “Appalachian Understories: Growing Hope and Resilience from Commonwealth to Global Commons,” will engage in conversations about Appalachian forests, black Appalachians, women, gender and sexuality, health and healing, and hope spots. Oral history, film-