by Sarah Geegan, Danielle Middleton

(June 24, 2014) — A group of 15 first-generation University of Kentucky students is seeing blue across the pond this summer. In a course designed specifically for students who are the first in their families to attend college, the group is exploring global communication and business in London, England, led by Director of First Generation Initiatives Matthew Deffendall.

Throughout three weeks, spanning the end of June and beginning of July, the students will visit several international businesses and corporations in London. Throughout their journey, UKNow will highlight some of their experiences by publishing their blogs.

The class began their series of business site visits with the British

By Zachary Dodson

The Department of Chemistry and Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) at the University of Kentucky are always looking to infuse their research environments with new energy—and recent hire Chad Risko will do just that when he comes to campus this fall.

Risko received his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he specialized in understanding structure-property relationships of organic-based materials. He went on to Northwestern University as a research fellow where he expanded his research interests to the study of hybrid interfaces. For the past five years, he worked as a Research Scientist at Georgia Tech.

“Dr. Risko comes from the world’s leading group in applying computation and theory to the design and analysis

by Carl Nathe

(June 16, 2014) — The University of Kentucky has received a $12.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue its work to better understand and minimize negative health and environmental impacts from hazardous waste sites.

The Nutrition and Superfund Chemical Toxicity grant funded through the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is administered through the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. It supports the efforts of more than 50 scientists and students from 15 departments within the colleges of Agriculture, Food and Environment; Arts and Sciences; Engineering

by Benjamin Kandt, photo by Kiran Lannagadda

(June 13, 2014) - The University of Kentucky is proud to host a Confucius Institute (UKCI), a center dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of Chinese culture throughout the University of Kentucky and the Lexington community. UKCI’s offerings include Chinese language classes and cultural outreach events. It also serves as a bridge for the University of Kentucky to make connections with institutions

by Whitney Hale

(June 10, 2014) — University of Kentucky juniors Matthew Fahrbach, of Louisville, Ky., and Samuel Saarinen, of Shelbyville, Ky., have been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship worth up to $7,500 per year. Fahrbach and Saarinen are among 283 students nationwide awarded the Goldwater Scholarship this year. This year's Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,166 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was authorized by Congress to honor the former Arizona U.S. senator who served the nation for 30 years. The scholarship program was designed to foster and encourage outstanding

by Darius Owens

(June 9, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Advising Network recently hosted its fifth annual Day of Service May 16th. Each year the network selects a local organization to give back to in the Lexington community.

This year, 48 members of the UK Advising Network volunteered to serve Bluegrass Greensource, a nonprofit organization that provides education and resources on how we affect our environment. Since 2001, the nonprofit has provided outreach to schools, community groups, businesses, local government and citizens throughout Central Kentucky. A&S Advisors Krista Abner, Jennifer Ellis, Jenn Garlin, Shaun Ketterman, and Alicia Seabrooks took part in the

by Amy Jones-Timoney

(June 5, 2014) —When you ask UK alum and former astronaut Story Musgrave about being the only person to have traveled to space in five different shuttles, he hesitates.

"I never come for a triumph, I come for tomorrow," said the 80-year-old in a recent interview. 

That attitude propelled Musgrave to a career that has led him to succeed in a wide range of fields – from serving in the Marines to scientific research to practicing medicine to teaching to space exploration, just to name a few. 

"It’s about what you do next," Musgrave said.  "You’re either a person who wants to keep developing, keep growing and looking for the next mountain to climb, or you let it go.  I don’t know any other world."

In the mid 1960s, The

by Gail Hairston

(June 4, 2014) — This year’s Ida Lee Willis Memorial Award for outstanding commitment to historic preservation is being presented to not one, but two of the most dedicated preservationists and archaeologists working in the Commonwealth, University of Kentucky Adjunct Assistant Professors A. Gwynn Henderson and David Pollack. No two people could better represent the mission and meaning of this award. Not coincidentally, they also happen to be married.

Henderson is the education coordinator for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, a joint partnership between the

 by Whitney Hale

(June 3, 2014) — The next director of the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has been named subject to approval by the Board of Trustees. If approved, historian and Distinguished Service Professor Phil Harling, who was selected from a national field of candidates, will take over the directorship and the position of John R. Gaines Endowed Chair in the Humanities on Aug. 15.

"It is a combination of recognized excellence in research and teaching, combined with his extensive service to UK and his knowledge of the administrative workings of our university that makes Dr. Harling an ideal director for the Gaines Center," said Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education 

by Whitney Hale

(June 4, 2014) — In an evening that organizers are calling “Brave New Words,” Tina Chang, poet laureate of Brooklyn, N.Y., will join Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith for a poetry reading and conversation at the keynote event of this year’s Kentucky Women Writers Conference. The noted poets will take the stage 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, at University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

The first woman named Poet Laureate of Brooklyn, Tina Chang was raised in New York City. She is the author of the poetry collections "Half-Lit

Interview with Carol Mason

by Cheyenne Hohman

The popular Netflix series “Orange is the New Black” tells the story of a woman in prison and her fellow inmates, at least one of whom gets pregnant. It’s also course material for Carol Mason’s new course, GWS 700/595: Pregnancy and Prisons in Literature and Law. The Fall 2014 course, also called “Knocked Up and Locked Up,” will examine the political, racial and social contexts that pregnant women in prison experience.

“What I like about this class is that it reflects a relatively new way of looking at such issues, casting the net wide to include concerns that are not usually thought about as ‘reproductive rights,’”

by Keith Hautala

(June 3, 2014) — The University of Kentucky has been awarded a $1.9 million grant to improve retention of students in the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering and mathematics, through a collection of initiatives dubbed "STEMCats."

UK is one of 37 research institutions selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to receive an award, from among 170 institutions competing for a share of $60 million in total funding. The five-year awards, ranging from $1.2 to $2.4 million, are intended to enable schools to focus on "significant and sustained improvement in retaining students" in the STEM disciplines.

Although the need for STEM graduates is growing nationally, fewer than half of all students who enter college with the intention of

by Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick

(June 2, 2014) — For more than a century, Kentucky women have fought for the right to vote, to own property, to earn and control their wages, and to be safe at home and in the workplace. Tragically, many of them have been silenced by abuse and violence.

In "Violence Against Women in Kentucky: A History of U.S. and State Legislative Reform," Carol E. Jordan, executive director of University of Kentucky's Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, gives Kentucky women — specifically victims of rape, domestic violence and stalking — a voice. Their stories punctuate her account of the struggles of advocates and legislators to bring legal protections to these Kentuckians. Written for those engaged in the

This story originally ran in the Herald-Leader on Saturday, May 31, and appears courtesy of Linda Blackford and the Lexington Herald-Leader.

by Linda Blackford

In 1976, Geoffrey Manley dropped out of Lafayette High School. He was only a sophomore, but money was tight and he felt like he needed to help support his mom and brother. He'd always enjoyed working with his hands, so he got a job as an auto mechanic at a Texaco station in Gardenside.

"No one in my family had gone to college, so growing up in Lexington, I don't think there was an expectation for me to go to college," Manley, now 53, said recently. "My mom was a single mom and there was a lot of financial burden on our family. I felt a need to go out there and make some money."

He began to

by Jenny Wells and Whitney Hale

(May 30, 2014) — Before embarking on a two-week tour of China, the University of Kentucky’s Jazz Ensemble will take a Bluegrass stage to present a preview concert of music they plan to perform on tour. The free public concert will begin 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 2, at the Singletary Center for the Arts.

The concert, featuring everything from big band swing music to more contemporary jazz performed by the UK Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Miles Osland, is designed to showcase the tremendous breadth of the American art form for Chinese audiences, who have become major fans of the genre but rarely get to hear live American performances. 

by Gail Hairston

(May 28, 2014) — Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker was recently honored by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) as the recipient of the 2014 Honor Book for Poetry for his “Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers: Poems.” The 2014 BCALA Literary Awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African-American authors published in 2013.

“This honor is extra special to me because of the reverence I have for libraries and librarians,” Walker said. “When I was a kid I wanted to grow up and drive the bookmobile. Recently, the Boyle County Public Library made my dream come true.

by Derrick Meads

(May 27, 2014) — Fifteen UK faculty members will teach students at Shanghai University (SHU) in China for a week this summer through the UK Confucius Institute’s (UKCI) “UK Faculty China Short-Term Teaching Program,” during the week of June 16-20.

The program fosters global literacy throughout UK’s multiple disciplines by embedding UK faculty members in SHU’s departments where they teach students for one week, meet professional colleagues, identify shared research interests and gain key insights into China that they can then share with their students in Kentucky.

"Students need to know how knowledge is created, disseminated and used in a commercial and global environment of commerce," said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for

by Whitney Hale

(May 27, 2014) — University of Kentucky Office of External Scholarships has announced that four UK students have been selected as recipients of Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships. The UK recipients are among approximately 1,800 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2014-2015 academic year through the prestigious program.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S.

by Kathy Johnson

(May 23, 2014) — WUKY's "UK Perspectives" focuses on the people and programs of the University of Kentucky and is hosted by WUKY General Manager Tom Godell.  Today's program features Diane Follingstad, new director of UK’s Center for Research on Violence Against Women.

To listen to the podcast interview from which "UK Perspectives" is produced, click here.

"UK Perspectives" airs at 8:35 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. each Friday on WUKY 91.3, UK's NPR station.

by Gail Hairston

(May 21, 2014) -- Today’s maps aren’t the finite, two-dimensional, frustrating-to-fold piece of paper you or (if you are younger than 30) your parents tucked behind the sun visor of the family car. Today, a map of virtually anywhere on the planet can be accessed by one’s smart phone or even the computer installed in your car’s console.

Today’s geographers and their research are just as different as their predecessors’ paper maps. Their work is conducted totally in cyberspace and it has provided insightful snapshots of our world. 

One young University of Kentucky research team led by geography professor Matthew Zook spent more than two years collecting and analyzing 6.5 billion globally geotagged tweets (messages with a location specified by the sender or by GPS), and remarkable pictures of our world, its people and cultures