By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 20, 2024) — When Mack Thompson arrived at the University of Kentucky, adjusting to campus life presented challenges. Like many first-year students, he faced the usual hurdles of navigating a new environment. And as a person living with multiple disabilities — including Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and suspected ADHD and autism — those challenges were even more complex. His health and limited mobility often created barriers to

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 19, 2024) — Mark Fillmore, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, is serving as the 2024-25 College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished Professor and will deliver the annual Distinguished Professor Lecture next spring.

This honor is bestowed on the basis of three criteria: outstanding research, unusually effective teaching and distinguished professional service.

“Being named an A&S Distinguished Professor is a special honor,” Fillmore said. “It’s a broad

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 18, 2024) — As part of its mission to inspire the next generation of scientists and scholars, faculty and students from the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry visit local schools to engage students with hands-on demonstrations and spark curiosity in the world around them.

This past spring, a team of four doctoral students, led by Anne-Frances Miller, Ph.D., visited an eighth-grade class at Lexington Christian Academy. Armed with such

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of history in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences, is chairing the panel selecting the 26th Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition gives the prize, which recognizes a book addressing the history of slavery, resistance and abolition. 

Taylor’s book “Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps” received the prize in 2019. 

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the Gilder Lehrman Center established the Frederick Douglass Book Prize in 1999 to stimulate scholarship in the field. The

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kate Ponto, professor of mathematics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has received a three-year, $313,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to explore questions involving topology in a project titled “Parameterized, Algebraic and Chromatic Traces.” 

The grant will fund Ponto’s continued research into algebraic ways of solving questions in topology.  

“I am an algebraic topologist, which means I like to turn my topology into algebra,” Ponto said. “When I’m trying to solve topological questions. I say, ‘Well, you know, algebra can make these things easier.’ I take the topology problem, and I turn it into an algebra question.”

A key term in Ponto’s

By Daniel Flener 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 11, 2024) — The International Center at the University of Kentucky has announced the 2024 UK Global Impact Award winners.

The awards recognize faculty, staff, alumni and community members who have  contributed to the university’s global engagement through education, research and service, as well those who have fostered a culturally diverse, welcoming environment.

“These individuals are making a wonderful and positive difference with their dedication to helping create a more global University of Kentucky,” said Sue Roberts, associate provost for internationalization. “We are excited to honor their contributions to global engagement at the University of Kentucky.”

Among them are

By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Meg Mills LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 11, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Army ROTC program, based in the College of Arts and Sciences, is dedicated to turning college students into military leaders through classroom instruction, physical fitness training and special events.

For those who complete the program, graduation brings more than just a diploma. It marks the moment they receive their commission as second lieutenants in the United States Army. But before that milestone, cadets undergo extensive

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2024) — This Wednesday will mark the 23-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. University of Kentucky Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC programs will remember those who lost their lives with a campus ceremony beginning at 8:30 a.m. 

Members of the UK Perishing Rifles program will set up approximately 8,000 flags on the front lawn of UK’s Main Building to honor lives lost

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Alan Fryar, professor of earth and environmental sciences in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the James B. Thompson Jr. Distinguished International Lecturer for 2024-2025 with the Geological Society of America. 

The lectureship funds a researcher who will present stimulating and cutting-edge geoscience research on world tours. Fryar will give his first lecture at the GSA annual meeting in Anaheim, California, on Sept. 24. He will travel to India in March 2025 and to Turkey and Kyrgyzstan in May and June 2025.  

His lecture topic is “Checking the pulse and taking the temperature: how do springs respond to environmental stresses?” His presentation provides an

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky has appointed Samuel G. Awuah, PhD, as the co-leader of the Translational Oncology Research Program. 

Awuah will assume a range of responsibilities in both the scientific and administrative leadership of the program alongside co-leader Dr. Susanne Arnold. As co-leader, he will be responsible for fostering collaborations within the Translational Oncology program and across other Markey research areas. He will participate in Markey committees to provide insight and feedback to senior leadership and clinical protocol and data management leaders, guide Markey’s broad research interests, mentor junior faculty and participate in the recruitment and approval of new Translational Oncology program

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 5, 2024) — Janice Fernheimer, Ph.D., professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has received a 2024 Women of Whiskey Award, presented by the Bourbon Women Foundation.

Fernheimer, a professor in Jewish Studies and the Department of Writing, Rhetoric

By Jennifer T. Allen

Megan Martin, a political science alum, stepped foot on the University of Kentucky campus in 2013 and knew it was the place for her. 

“I’m from Louisville and toured a few schools in the state,” she said. “I really liked Lexington and how the campus was walkable. I liked how it was easy to stay connected to campus life as a student.”

Martin was also drawn to the College of Arts and Sciences political science department.

“Political science gave me outlets for all my interests. I chose political science because it has elements of history, problem solving and current events,” she said. “It was applicable in ways that were happening currently and looked to the future. It’s an ever-evolving discipline, and I knew that I could take the

By Tom Musgrave 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 29, 2024) — University of Kentucky junior Carlee O’Neal, of West Liberty, Kentucky, has received an Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service.

Also called the Voyager Scholarship, this funding provides up to $50,000 in financial aid, including a “Summer Voyage” work-travel experience between recipients’ junior and senior years, with a $10,000 stipend and free housing. After graduation, recipients will receive a $2,

By Tom Musgrave 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 28, 2024) — Four University of Kentucky students were awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships for educational experiences abroad. Among them is Dylan Nguyen, a psychology junior from Union, Kentucky.

The scholarship supports students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to national security and economic prosperity. The Gilman Scholarship is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 23, 2024) – Just because classes are out for the summer at the University of Kentucky, does not mean students have put a pause on their educational pursuits. This summer, UK junior Beaux Hardin was immersed in research.  As an English and French double major in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, Lewis Honors College student and Chellgren Fellow, Hardin has pursed a passion for poetry.

By Erin Wickey 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 20, 2024) — Fourteen University of Kentucky students spent the summer expanding their research skills through the Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience Fellowship program, sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Established in 2022, the fellowship empowers undergraduates to

Harbored anger and grievance take a toll. Michelle Martel, chair of the Department of Psychology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, shares her insights during an interview with "Eastern Standard" host Tom Martin on WEKU in Richmond. 

"There is a very strong and salient connection between emotion, the body and health," she says. "We have a whole area within clinical psychology called health psychology that focuses on that connection. It doesn't have to be negative." 

By Mindy Thompson 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 16, 2024) — The Employee Engagement Committee of the University of Kentucky Staff Senate gave Michael "Mike” Adams the first Outstanding Staff Senator Award. Adams has served on the Staff Senate for 21 years, including leadership positions.

Adams is the space and facilities coordinator and safety officer for the College of Arts and Sciences.

In the nomination narratives, his senate colleagues say his dedication and passion for the Staff Senate were evident.

"I honestly believe no one is more passionate about the Staff Senate than this candidate, and nobody believes in its

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences is launching an undergraduate major and minor in fall 2024 — Law and Justice. 

The Law and Justice program will examine the relationships among law, politics and society in the United States and abroad in a program developed by UK’s Political Science Department, with insight from a wide variety of experts, including political science faculty, law school faculty and alumni.

In the program, students develop expertise in the topic of law and courts and acquire skills in analytics and logic, writing, composition and communication. They also learn to conduct original research. 

Law and Justice is aimed at undergraduate students who want to pursue law or obtain such law-adjacent positions as: legislators, lobbyists,

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 7, 2024) — Martha Yip, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is one of nine winners who received a 2024-25 Outstanding Teaching Award this past spring.

The awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the