By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 20, 2022) — Patricia Ehrkamp, professor and chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky, is serving as the 2021-22 College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished Professor and will deliver the annual Distinguished Professor Lecture on Thursday, April 21.

Throughout her time at UK, Ehrkamp has established herself as a renowned educator, mentor and researcher.

“Receiving this distinguished professorship is a huge honor, and deeply humbling. I am grateful to my talented and dedicated colleagues in the College of Arts &

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 20, 2022) — More than two years into the University of Kentucky’s $87 million HEALing Communities Study (HCS) to address the opioid epidemic in Kentucky, it is possible to see the life-changing impacts it has already made in the eight counties of the study’s first wave.

Launched in 2019, the ambitious four-year study includes a multidisciplinary team of more than 25 researchers spanning seven colleges across UK, and leverages existing resources and initiatives in partnership with communities to implement various strategies to reduce opioid deaths across Kentucky. 

Evidence-based practices implemented by the HCS team in partnership with behavioral-health and criminal justice agencies

By Alicia Gregory

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 19, 2022) — It’s the signature on a bourbon barrel. It's the ancient footprints in Mammoth Cave. Heritage science is all around us and has deep roots in the Commonwealth. Kentucky’s story begins in prehistoric times, when mammoths roamed the Ohio River Valley at Big Bone Lick.

In November 2021, the University of Kentucky announced a new $14 million mid-scale infrastructure grant from the National Science Foundation, that will allow UK to tell

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 19, 2022) — Two undergraduates have been selected as the first recipients of the University of Kentucky’s new Beckman Scholars Program, Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship (SUCCESS).

Elaf Ghoneim, a neuroscience major in the College of Arts & Sciences and the Lewis Honors College, and Parker Sornberger, a mathematics and chemistry major in the College of Arts & Sciences will begin their independent, laboratory research this summer.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation’s 

By Ryan Girves

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 13, 2022) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected undergraduate students as new scholars for the Gaines Fellowship Program. 

Fellowships are awarded in recognition of outstanding academic performance, a 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 functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on UK’s campus. 

UK’s 12 new Gaines Fellows are:

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2022) — The University of Kentucky will welcome Samara Davis, founder of the Black Bourbon Society, to campus for a conversation about her work in digital media and how she has helped to reshape Kentucky’s bourbon industry.

“Breaking Barriers in Bourbon: Digital Media, Diversity, and the Black Bourbon Society” will take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in the Singletary Center Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Davis will discuss her success as a social media influencer and culture creator by explaining how she leveraged her work in digital media to found the Black Bourbon Society and the nonprofit organization, Diversity Distilled. Her work in

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 11, 2022) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that UK sophomore Isha Chauhan, from LaGrange, Kentucky, has been awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.

The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its kind in the fields of natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Chauhan is among 417 students nationwide selected to receive the honor, from an estimated pool of over 5,000 students.

Chauhan is majoring in biology on an ecology and evolutionary biology track in the 

University of Kentucky African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) and The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies (CIBS) will host the 27th annual Black Women’s Conference from 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Friday, April 15. The conference will be on Zoom.

This theme this year is “Appalachian Mountains, Digital Valleys, and Everything in Between: Black Feminist Subjectivities.” Anastasia C. Curwood, director of AAAS and CIBS, will begin the conference by welcoming audiences and introducing the four topics that will be covered during the event.

“The

By Kate Maddox

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2022) — The University of Kentucky is celebrating two book winners of the Weatherford Awards, which were announced at the 45th annual Appalachian Studies Association conference March 17-20 at West Virginia University.

“The Girl Singer” by Marianne Worthington was published by the University Press of Kentucky and won in the poetry category. "The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Lives in Appalachian Coal Towns" (WVU Press), written by UK alumnus and College of Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame member William H. Turner, won in the nonfiction category.

Crystal Wilkinson, UK associate professor of English, was a runner

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2022) — The ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The persistent problem of inflation. The efforts to continue reducing the spread of COVID-19.

2022 has already brought an element of uncertainty into our daily lives. The “new normal” still doesn’t feel quite normal, and it’s not necessarily “new.” But we are all trying to find ways to survive and thrive during unprecedented times.

What can you do when uncertainty comes knocking, threatening to disrupt your mental health and wellness?

Matt Southward, a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences 

By Dee Dlugonski

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2022) — The University of Kentucky Women’s Forum held a virtual awards ceremony Wednesday, March 30, to honor four awardees who reflect the accomplishments and legacy of Sarah Bennett Holmes. The 2022 Sarah Bennett Holmes award winners are: Carrie Oser (faculty), Mehrana Mohtasebi (graduate student), Clarissa Cheatwood (staff) and the UK Neurology Department’s Wellness and Resiliency Committee (team).

These awards recognize individuals and teams who promote the growth and well-being of women at the university and across Kentucky. Faculty, staff and graduate student recipients receive a monetary award and a plaque. The team and its members receive a framed certificate for their achievement. All winners are named on plaques in the Main

By Richard LeComte and Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 5, 2022) — This week, the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry will host the inaugural Susan A. Odom Lecture, featuring Jodie Lutkenhaus, professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Lutkenhaus’ talk, "Redox-active Macromolecular Radicals for Metal-Free, Degradable Batteries," will take place 4 p.m., Friday, April 8, in the William T. Young Library auditorium. 

The lecture series was created to commemorate the life and legacy of Professor Susan Odom, a faculty member in the UK

By Richard LeComte

Summer fun in Appalachia: hiking, climbing, camping, swimming—and holding somebody’s removed femur in a hospital.

UK student Logan Turner got to participate in that last activity while working a summer observation internship in Pikeville Medical Center in 2021. He participated in AppalachiaCorps, a new program run by the College’s Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program and funded with help from UK’s Women in Philanthropy.

AppalachiaCorps helped fund Turner’s work with the Eastern Kentucky hospital as a run-up to his applying to medical school. His goal is to be an ophthalmologist.

“I was doing physician shadowing, so a

By Richard LeComte

Lily Vossekuil, Elizabeth Lorch and children working to improve their comprehension came together in the summer of 2021 to show how undergraduates and faculty can collaborate on research that benefits the Kentucky community. 

Vossekuil, a psychology major, did her research under the direction of Lorch, associate dean for research and professor of psychology, and her colleague Angela Hayden. They worked together in a first-year program organized by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the College of Arts & Sciences, funded by the University’s Office of the Vice President for Research and by donors to provide intense research experiences in the summer and throughout the academic year for

By Richard LeComte  

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- With the war in Ukraine raging, human rights, international law and the courts that seek justice for the victims are hot topics. That is where Jillienne Haglund’s scholarly interests lie: The associate professor of political science in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences has found a passion for studying human rights, and her interest has led to a book that examines international courts of justice.   

“When I was an undergrad, I took a class with a professor that really piqued my interest in human rights and led me to my studies in graduate school,” said Haglund, who earned a doctorate at Florida State University and joined the UK faculty in 2015. "So, I applied to the graduate program, and I got to work directly with that

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 30, 2022) — Throughout March for Women’s History Month, the University of Kentucky is spotlighting Women Making History. These women are leading their fields of research, crossing traditional academic boundaries and impacting Kentucky’s most pressing challenges, including opioid use disorder treatment, aging and Alzheimer’s, water and air filtration, environmental impacts on health and suicide prevention.  

They are mentoring the next generation of women scientists and scholars, curating stories and creating artworks illuminating who we are. Their work and voice shape the university.

On this “Wildcat Wednesday,” UK celebrates Abelline Fionah, a graduate student who is pursuing a Ph.D. in

Tiffany D. Barnes, professor of political science in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts & Sciences, and UK postdoctoral scholar Bomi K. Lee have written an essay for the Washington Post titled  "Even after Albright, foreign policy leaders are still mostly men." Their coauthor is Diana Z. O’Brien of Rice University. 

"Trailblazing diplomat Madeleine Albright died last week. Albright is well known as the first woman to serve as the U.S. secretary of state. She shattered that glass ceiling in 1997, and in the past 25 years, many more countries have appointed women to serve in

By Danielle Donham

UK Libraries’ exploreUK is home to more than 530,000 digitized collections, prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts and streaming video. Here are a few titles by local and faculty authors on subjects ranging from Black History Month, Women’s History Month and current events as well as local people and places. The books are from the University Press of Kentucky:

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 23, 2022) — Everything can change in a moment.

It sounds like a cliché. But experiences, good and bad, have the power to fundamentally alter us — challenge our beliefs and influence our behaviors.

Can you pinpoint a “life-defining moment” — an experience that changed your life trajectory?

For Marissa Massey, recalling that moment is easy. But 12 years later, reliving that experience remains emotionally painful.

“I replay it in my head often,” she said.

It was February 2010, and Massey's brother — a seemingly healthy 16-year-old — woke up unable to move. After being rushed to the hospital, he received an incomprehensible diagnosis.

“Kevin went from a three-sport athlete to dying from a rare, inoperable brain cancer — specifically

By Richard LeComte 

On April 8 at 4 p.m., the Department of Chemistry will hold the first Susan A. Odom Lecture in the W.T. Young Auditorium. The guest speaker will be Jodie Lutkenhaus, professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University. Among her honors, she received the 2020 Outstanding Early Career Paper Award in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering. Learn more about Lutkenhaus and the event here.  

The lecture will mark the start of the Professor Susan A. Odom Chemistry Endowment Fund. Gifts to the fund will support:  

• A faculty position in Odom's name.  

• An annual named lecture in the area of organic or materials chemistry.   

• A named award for an undergraduate chemistry