By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A recent study by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education lauded the International Studies B.A. program in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences as a top program in preparing under-represented minority students for early career success. 

The report is titled “Analysis on Workforce Preparedness and Early Career Outcomes for Under-represented Minority and Low-Income Status Students in Kentucky.” The study’s authors identified the International Studies Program as “exemplary in preparing underrepresented minority students for early career success,” said Matthew K. Vetter, a senior research analyst with the council. 

“Our analysis indicates that under-

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nothing like a baby jaguar caught on camera to get college students screaming with glee.  

These college students – a group of eight – were deep in Central America’s nation of Belize learning how to assess wildlife populations using cameras. Led by Emily Croteau, lecturer in biology in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, the students hit pay dirt on their first foray into this wild ecosphere this summer. Just getting the cameras in place was an adventure. 

“It was actually really, really exciting, the first time that we went into the jungle to recover our camera traps,” said Quincy Ipsaro, a junior biology major from Cincinnati. “The first day we did probably a seven-to-10-mile hike into the

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has selected 23 undergraduates for the 2021-2022 Undergraduate Research Ambassador program.

The newly redesigned ambassador program’s mission is to increase awareness and create opportunities for students to actively engage in research and creative scholarship. Ambassadors must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership and be involved in mentored research or creative work. This year's ambassadors represent seven colleges, 15 disciplines and 19 research areas.

“Mentored research and creative work provide distinct opportunities for UK undergraduates to put to practice knowledge from the classroom and develop new skills,” says Chad Risko, director of the UK Office

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 8, 2021) — In California, the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly obvious. Turn on the news and you will hear about extreme heat waves, droughts and frequent wildfires plaguing the state.

"Climate change is one of the grand challenges facing society,” said Michael McGlue, associate professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. “California, our most populous state and one of the largest economies globally, faces major threats from hot, dry conditions. This is manifested in the four major fires burning, largely uncontained, in the state right now

By Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 31, 2021) — University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced biology and Lewis Honors College student Kayli Bolton is one of 2021’s 60 recipients to be awarded a scholarship of up to $15,000 from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). The ASF Scholarship is presented annually to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).

A nonprofit organization, ASF was established by the Mercury Astronauts in 1984. Its goal is to aid the U.S. in retaining its world

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- This fall, Emily Beaulieu Bacchus is helping the Political Science Department at the University of Kentucky select a graduate to honor with the first Outstanding Alumni Award.  

She welcomes the opportunity to connect with graduates just as she enjoys mentoring students as director of the College’s International Studies Program.  

"Engaging with alumni and students is something I already do for the international studies majors,” said Bacchus, who’s also associate professor of comparative politics and associate chair.  “Also, I, have been working with poli-sci students for years. But now is a chance for me to also start to engage more with political science

Sept. 5, 1950 – Aug. 15, 2021

Dr. Linda Kraus Worley, professor of German Studies and Folklore/Myth in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures and Classics, died after 13-month-long battle with a rare leukemia on Aug. 15, 2021. She died under UK hospice care and with loving friends at her bedside.

Linda was born in Cleveland to German immigrants Hans and Elizabeth Kraus, who modeled the importance of hard work and dedication to family and friends. Hans was employed at a heating and air conditioning company for nearly 50 years, and Betty worked in the Borromeo College library and as a homemaker. Linda's parents encouraged her to read at an early age and she easily came to love words and stories.

She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English literature at Miami

By C. Lynn Hiler

 The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence announces the 2021 class of Chellgren Student Fellows. Twenty fellows are from the College of Arts & Sciences.

The Chellgren Center Student Fellows Program aligns with the university’s goal of cultivating undergraduate excellence. By providing experiences that go beyond the classroom, students become prepared for the next phase of their career, whether it be graduate school, a position in their field, or a gap year dedicated to service. Created in 2005 with a gift from Paul Chellgren, a UK graduate, and his family, the Chellgren Center creates unique educational opportunities for outstanding undergraduate students and professors at the university. Chellgren’s commitment to undergraduate

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky.. – The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences has named its 2021-22 Student Ambassadors. Ambassadors have a wide range of responsibilities, including:  

Participating in such UK recruiting efforts at preview nights and open houses. 

Serving fellow students through programs including Merit Weekends, K-week and Admitted Student Day. 

Assisting with all College international initiatives. 

Representing the College during Homecoming and at other alumni meetings, receptions, Advisory Board activities and similar events. 

Creating content for the A&S Ambassador website. 

Coordinating a college-wide service project. 

The 2021-22 UK

By University Press of Kentucky and Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 19, 2021) — University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences associate professor and Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson’s latest title and first poetry collection, “Perfect Black,” is now available from the University Press of Kentucky.

On Aug. 12, 2021, The New York Times listed “Perfect Black” as one of the four

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A University of Kentucky professor has dug into the websites of universities in Australia and the United States and found some odd things lurking there. Programmers in charge of concerns that produce illicit papers for students are finding ways to redirect students from university help sites to their own “paper mills.” 

These illicit techniques insert software into vulnerable university websites so that students get redirected to sites that offer to help with papers. Instead, the sites end up selling papers to misled students, said Jim Ridolfo, director of composition and associate professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences.  

“A lot of what we're looking at is similar to what pharma hacks have

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center hosted a symposium last week featuring its first class of African American Research Training Scholars. The five scholars each gave a presentation on their research in neurotrauma.

“This scholarship program was established by support from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust to provide vital research opportunities for Black undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky,” said Joe Springer, professor and interim director of the research center. “This is part of the SCoBIRC’s continued efforts to promote diversity in neuroscience, a field in which Black and African American students and faculty are underrepresented nationwide. The goal is to provide

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 6, 2021) — Before you know it, summer will be coming to a close. But there’s still time to get lost in a good book.

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

In the descriptions below, faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences share the books they can’t put down. Pulling from the worlds of history and fiction — their picks explore timely themes while providing intriguing insights.

“A Time of Gifts” by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Recommended by Phil Harling, chair of the Department

The Physics and Astronomy Department has welcomed Bill Gannon as assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy in the fall of 2019 after postdoctoral fellowships at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, Texas A&M University and the University of British Columbia.

Gannon received his B.S. degree in physics from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He is originally from Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

Gannon’s primary research interests are in the synthesis of materials with interesting quantum magnetic properties, which he studies using neutron scattering. Interactions among electrons in a material can lead to a variety of magnetic properties that cannot be understood by considering each individual electron on its own. Of particular interest to Gannon are those whose

By Julie Wrinn

Experimental scientists at UK faced setbacks during the pandemic, and none more so than experimental physics, where the loss of hands-on time in laboratories is especially difficult to overcome. To protect the health and safety of students, faculty and staff involved in experimental research, the University established a four-phase plan for resumption of research, from the most restrictive (phase 1, March-June 2020) to the least restrictive (phase 4, begun in April 2021), when 70-100% of normal activities resumed. We visit the labs of Professors Gannon, Martin, Plaster and Seo to learn how they pressed forward to re-create the lab experience for their students while adhering to health and safety protocols.

Bill Gannon’s Lab

In March 2020, I was in my second semester as an assistant professor and had just hired a postdoc to assist

By Jenny Wells-Hosley, Steve Shaffer and Kody Kiser

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 28, 2021) — Six of the University of Kentucky’s passionate and accomplished educators were surprised earlier this spring by student nominators and the UK Alumni Association as 2021 Great Teacher Award recipients.

One of those recipients is Chad Risko, associate professor of chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences and faculty director of the office of undergraduate research. 

"Teaching for me is, in part, because I've been influenced by teachers. I'm

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Signs of summer are everywhere, particularly at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky. Plants, trees, birds and insects celebrate the hot months, and big and little things grow. 

But to help the public better understand and enjoy The Arboretum, a UK faculty member in the College of Arts & Sciences wants to put up some new signs to educate visitors – beyond the botanists and serious gardeners who know about the place -- about what is there.  

“The Arboretum is used by horticulturists  and other researchers at UK to research, for example, display gardens,” said Lauren Cagle, assistant professor in Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies, who led a

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 27, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center has honored eight students with its annual research awards. Three graduate students received the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, and four graduate students and one undergraduate student received the center's Eller and Billings Student Research Award.

“The Appalachian Center is again excited to support a wide range of student research,” said Kathryn Engle, director of the Appalachian Center. “From history to social science to health to the natural sciences, our students are doing groundbreaking work in the region.”

The James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia is given to honor

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21, 2021) — Each summer, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine hosts an intensive, graduate-level research program that sets undergraduates aspiring to become health care providers and scientists on a path to success. 

The Summer Training in Environmental Health and Pharmacological Sciences (STEPS) program was launched five years ago by UK faculty trustee and pharmacology and nutritional sciences Professor Hollie Swanson, Ph.D., as a way to further incorporate her passion for mentorship into her role at UK

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky, -- Three University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences professors are combining their research with outreach to the community in a quest to understand mental health and bring their findings to bear on treatment. 

Founded in the fall of 2019, the Clinic for Emotional Health, part of UK’s Department of Psychology, unites faculty members and graduate students to execute three goals: 1) to conduct research on the nature of emotional disorders and their treatment; 2) to provide the highest quality care to community members who participate in the studies; and 3) to train the next generation of therapists to provide science-backed care.  

The faculty members leading the effort, based in