by Guy Spriggs

It is difficult to fully grasp the destruction caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in March of 2011.

Millions were left without electricity or water. Thousands were injured, and many more have been reported dead or missing. Estimates from the World Bank put damages from the event at $235 billion, making it nearly three times as destructive as Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In America, however, things continued without much pause. It is possible, after all, to feel completely disconnected from such catastrophes as long as we are not directly affected.

But even though this disaster took place on the other side of the planet, both students and professors from the College of Arts & Sciences experienced the event from inside Japan.

Doug Slaymaker, a professor in the Japan Studies Program specializing in 20th century

By Whitney Hale, Erin Holaday Ziegler

As an emerging regional and world power, China has caught the attention of the American public; questions of foreign policy, economics, domestic politics and environment tend to dominate the media.

This fall, the College of Arts & Sciences will launch a yearlong focus on China as a part of its Passport to the World program.

"The Year of China: Awaken the Past, Discover the Future" will include an entire year of lectures, activities and events related to China from throughout UK's campus designed to introduce the study of China.

"By inviting guest speakers, organizing educational events and promoting the study of China past and present, we aim to stimulate dialogue and curiosity," said A&S Dean 

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

Introductory chemistry, or CHE 105, strikes fear into the hearts of many University of Kentucky students.

As a gateway course to quite a few majors on campus, the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences provides a large service component to nonchemistry majors.

"Students change their majors because of chemistry; they do badly on the first exam and withdraw," said general chemistry director Stephen Testa. "As a chemistry professor, I feel bad about that. I don't want chemistry to be a dream crusher."

To help UK undergrads further grasp complex material, the department, following a national trend in chemistry higher education, is currently piloting a

By Erin Holaday Ziegler & Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky is celebrating a new chapter in its general education program with a campus and community celebration of citizenship on Sept. 6. 

The UK Core celebration will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, in the William T. Young Library on UK's campus.

The idea of preparing students with the critical thinking skills they need to succeed in a competitive global economy plays a central part in UK's new general education requirements, also known as UK Core.

UK Core, which is fully integrated into all undergraduate degree programs as of the fall 2011 semester, is a course of study that all students, regardless of major, must complete,

by Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's Clinical Psychology program took the number one spot in a national study of productivity rankings, meaning that UK psychology graduate students and professors in the College of Arts & Sciences are generating a host of novel research that is effective and influential as well.

In a recent published study "Leading North American Programs in Clinical Assessment Research: An Assessment of Productivity and Impact" by Texas A&M University psychology professor Leslie C. Morey, UK's Clinical Psychology program ranked No. 1 in h-index. 

"We were thrilled to be ranked first," said UK

The University of Kentucky Libraries invites the public to submit nominees for the 2012 UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement which recognizes Kentuckians who have attained high intellectual achievement. Nominations for the honor will be accepted through Sept. 28, 2011.

The UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement, one of UK's most prestigious awards, was created in 1990 to recognize an individual or a group who has made a contribution of lasting value to the Commonwealth. The award is also a means to promote education and creative thought. The recipient of the Medallion Laureate is determined by majority vote of the UK Libraries National Advisory Board.

Information about the 2011 recipient, Adalin Wichman can be found on the UK Libraries dean’s blog, 

After a successful showing last spring, University of Kentucky professors and staff members are invited to the university's second Teaching and Technology Fair from 2-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Lexmark Public Room, 209 Main Building.

The fair, sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences, Division of Undergraduate Education and theCenter for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), is meant to be a one stop showplace for a variety of contemporary technologies that can be successfully employed in the traditional classroom.

This second fair is a bigger and better version of last May’s event.  "This is a fine opportunity to learn of some innovative things that can be — and are being

by Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences has chosen the following professors as new department chairs: associate professor Deborah Crooks, Department of Anthropology; associate professor Jeff Clymer, Department of English (to begin spring 2012; associate professor of English Marion Rust will be interim chair of the Department of Anthropology for the fall 2011-2012 year); associate professor Karen Petrone, Department of History; professor David Leep, Department of Mathematics; professor 

by Erin Holady Ziegler

As one of the foremost experts on organic electronic materials and carbon solar cell design, University of Kentucky chemistry professor John Anthony enjoys creating materials in order to do things.

"What many people fail to remember is that everything in our lives, including ourselves, is made from chemicals," Anthony said. "My goal every day is to make my electronic materials stronger, lighter and more stable."

But sometimes Anthony, taking a pause from his work in the pragmatic and applied, likes to have a little fun.

Fun for Anthony involves acenes, a class of organic compounds that play a pivotal role in the development of the organic electronic materials that the College of Arts

By Whitney Hale

The Gypsy Poetry Slam, now in its sixth year as part of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, to showcase the works of not only local poets, but also those from across the nation. As part of the event, headlined by noted poet Krista Franklin, the conference will also feature a new award. The Faith A. Smith Poetry Prize, established by Kentucky poet Frank X Walker, will be awarded to the winner of this year's slam to be held 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, at the Downtown Arts Center. The slam is free and open to the public.

Frank X Walker, co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets and

The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its fifth class of 30 Chellgren Fellows at a reception on campus last night. Benefactor Paul Chellgren and his wife Deborah, in addition to Chellgren Endowed Chair Philipp Kraemer, UK President Eli Capilouto, UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy, and Associate Provost Mike Mullen, all recognized and congratulated the students on being named Fellows.

The Chellgren Fellows Program is for students with exceptional academic potential and aspirations, who are eager to participate in a special learning community designed to cultivate extraordinary achievement. Outstanding faculty members from across campus serve as individual mentors for

by Erin Holaday Ziegler

A renowned Kentucky writer and University of Kentucky English professor was recently honored in a southern writing magazine for his creativity in the classroom.

The Oxford American: The Southern Magazine of Good Writing named associate professor of English in the College of Arts & Sciences Frank X Walker to its list of "The Most Creative Teachers in the South" for the fall issue.

"People have a monolithic stereotype of Appalachia that is more of a caricature," Walker said in his interview with Oxford American. "They think of Boss Hogg or 'The

Randal Voss and Jeramiah Smith are the recipients of a new research grant from the Department of Defense, Army Research Office. The grant, entitled "Genome Sequencing to Enable a Model Salamander for Tissue Regeneration Research", will provide approximately $375,000 over three years to sequence and assemble a whole axolotl chromosome, which is equivalent to sequencing and assembling a whole human genome without a reference. More cutting edge A&S research making a difference – congrats!

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

In honor of her years as the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences writer-in-residence and her new book, "The Girl in the Blue Beret," A&S Dean Mark Lawrence Kornbluh is hosting a reading and reception for Bobbie Ann Mason from 3:30-5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the The Art Museum in the Singletary Center for the Arts.

Mason will begin the reading at 4 p.m., with a Q&A to follow.

“Bobbie Ann Mason is a true Kentucky treasure.  She represents the best of the Commonwealth and stands tall as an exceptional role model for all our students," Kornbluh said.  "Her most recent work, 'The Girl in the Blue

By Erin Holaday, Kody Kiser, Amy Jones

University of Kentucky sophomore Brittany Courtney went into a freshman writing class last fall with the same thought that many of her accounting major peers do each semester.

"I'm not a writer, but I've always done well in my English classes," said the Frankfort native, who found herself wholly unprepared for lecturer Beth Connors Manke of the College of Arts and Sciences Division of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media. "Halfway through the first semester, Dr. Beth sat me down, and we went through my writing, line by line."

By the spring, Courtney successfully completed the pilot class, Composition and

With more than 7,000 students,17 departments and 14 programs, the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences would be one of the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Yet its size and diversity is increasingly an advantage when it comes to creative and innovative ways to teach and conduct research, President Eli Capilouto believes.

"I was energized by my meeting with the College of Arts & Sciences," Capilouto said after meeting this week for more than three hours with Dean Mark Lawrence Kornbluh and leading faculty in the college. "They have an idea a minute, and Dean Kornbluh is doing an incredible job empowering our academic entrepreneurs."

By Keith Hautala, Amy Jones, Kody Kiser

By Erin Holaday, Colleen Glenn

It’s almost time for class and you’re still in your dorm room. But you’re not going to be late. There’s plenty of time to walk downstairs.

Imagine what residence halls will be like in 2020. That’s what the College of Arts & Sciences did when they created a new living and learning community at Keeneland Hall.

Debuting this fall, A&S Wired houses almost 200 freshmen in a unique interactive space that combines education and residence life.

“As we envisioned what education would be like for students starting college in 2020, we knew advanced technology would be a critical component,” said Adrienne McMahan, assistant dean of

History professor Karen Petrone's new book unearths a wealth of buried stories from the Soviet state about the memory of World War I.

https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/WWI%20and%20Soviet%20Memory%…

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By Erin Holaday Ziegler

A University of Kentucky statistics professor's summer teaching trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was the final component in forming an international partnership between UK and a newly merged higher education institution at the source of the Blue Nile.

College of Arts and Sciences statistics Professor Arne Bathke oversaw the signing of the partnership agreement between UK and Bahir Dar University during a scholarly visit to Africa in May, The agreement establishes international faculty, student, study abroad and research collaboration for years to come.

"I didn't expect the partnership to happen so quickly," said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for