By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, KY. (Nov. 17, 2020) — Did you know, federal agencies have identified Russian as a priority language of national need?

A new course at the University of Kentucky aims to meet that need by preparing students for careers as global language professionals.

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MCLLC) in the College of Arts and Sciences strives to teach students how to read, speak and write in various languages on matters ranging from poetry to politics. Now, with support from an Alternative Textbook Grant from UK Libraries, RUS 410G

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

When it comes to portable electronic devices, such as cell phones, laptops, tablets or smart watches, how often do we feel frustrated because the battery is about to die, or because it doesn’t last as long as it did a few months ago?

Chad Risko, an associate professor of chemistry and affiliated faculty researcher at the Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky, says this simple context shows the value in creating better batteries. But it is not just small portable electronics that need more robust, and differentiated, energy storage.

“Electric and hybrid vehicles are becoming more omnipresent, and here we need batteries that are lighter in weight, safer and can store ever more energy,” Risko said. “Further, as our nation’s

Dr. Richard Milich, Emeritus Professor and Provost’s Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Kentucky

Richard (Rich) Milich, 71, died on November 7, 2020, at home in Lexington, KY. He was born, along with his twin brother Henry, on June 26, 1949, to Helen and Lester Milich in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. He is survived by his brother Henry and proceeded in death by his brother Robert. His sister-in-law Katherine, nephews Stephen and Matthew, and grand-nephew William and grand-niece Sophia also survive.

Rich received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1971. He went on to Washington University in St. Louis for graduate training, where he earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1976. After a one-year clinical internship in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, he moved to the

Aria S. Halliday, assistant Professor in the department of gender and women’s studies and in African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky,  participated recently in "The future of America, according to 7 teachers," a feature on the NBC "Today" show.

"The future of America is a diverse, people-centered and people-led democracy that actively works to end white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and its effects (racism, colorism, fatphobia, xenophobia, etc.) in policies and cultural landscapes," Halliday said on the NBC website. 

You can take a look at more of what she has to say here. 

By Richard LeComte

Last year, the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky started bringing together a group of people from several walks of life to learn about diversity.

The broadness of the new program – an online Graduate Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion --  goes a long way to practice what it preaches.

“I think that's really one of the ideas behind the certificate: to bring people together from different backgrounds and in different careers and studies and professions,” said M. Cristina Alcalde, associate dean of Inclusion and Internationalization, who founded the program. “Given what's happening at the University right now and nationally, I think this is a particularly relevant certificate to have.”

The program, now in its

By Emily Sallee

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 4, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that foreign language and international economics/Chinese and international studies major and Chellgren Fellow Michael Di Girolamo has been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Chinese. The Critical Language Scholarship is an intensive language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities.

By Jay Blanton and Kody Kiser

Tuesday will mark one of the most important — and certainly unusual — elections in decades.

Local, state and federal elections are being contested in the midst of a pandemic and in the wake of unrest across the country around issues of racism. The country is deeply polarized. Recovery from a deep recession is uneven and unsure. Congress is in a stalemate over whether to provide more stimulus as part of relief from COVID-19.

Tuesday night — and the days afterward — will determine who controls both the House and the Senate as well as the presidency. In Kentucky, major races for the U.S. Senate, Congress and local legislative offices have captured national attention and drawn tens of millions of dollars in contributions

By Lindsey Piercy

A public health crisis, movements against social injustice and the rampant spread of misinformation — 2020 has brought unprecedented challenges. Amid this uncertainty, Americans are casting their ballots in a pivotal presidential election.

In recent weeks, polls have shown President Donald Trump trailing behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Does Trump still have a visible path to a second term? Will we receive the highly anticipated results on election night? And could the outcome be contested?

Experts at the University of Kentucky are working to answer those pressing questions.

Stephen Voss, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences,

By Richard LeComte

The University of Kentucky has named 15 students as recipients of funding to the Lunsford Scholars Program in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

The Lunsford Scholars Program provides Arts & Sciences students the chance to pursue out-of-the-classroom educational opportunities including education abroad, internships, service-based learning and undergraduate research both locally and outside of Kentucky. Aside from student scholarships, the donation also supports a symposium and speaker series to be held each year.

“The program supports students who seek high-impact educational experiences,” said Clayton Thyne,  chair of the Political Science Department and director of the program. “It’s about civic engagement broadly defined.”

W. Bruce Lunsford, a UK alumnus, lawyer and businessman, recently

MCLLC Faculty Members and Alum Receive Awards from Kentucky World Language Association

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, KY – Members of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences have earned honors from the Kentucky World Language Association.

The association supports, promotes and advocates for the teaching of languages and cultures in the Commonwealth and offers a clearinghouse for data as well as professional development for instructors.

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, professor of Russian studies, folklore and linguistics, was elected president of the association. In addition, Brenna Byrd, assistant professor of German studies, has been selected by the Kentucky University Chairs group to be the next post-secondary

By Alicia Landon and Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Two University of Kentucky research projects have been selected to receive funding from the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women (CRVAW).

The minigrant program, “Advancing Research Regarding Violence Against Women,” is designed to stimulate innovative research with the potential to improve the lives of those affected by violence against women, or to prevent such violence.

One project is “Firearm Regulations and Gun Violence against Women in the U.S.,” led by Janet Stamatel, associate professor in the UK Department of Sociology in the 

By Jenny Wells

Sumit R. Das, the Jack and Linda Gill Professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy, is serving as the 2019-20 UK College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished Professor and will deliver the annual Distinguished Professor Lecture next week.

The lecture, titled “Deconstructing Space-Time,” will be held 7-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, on Zoom.

Developments in theoretical physics over the past couple of decades have led to a set of ideas that "space" is not a fundamental notion, but arises as an emergent concept from more abstract entities. This view has led

By Richard LeComte

The University of Kentucky’s Air Force ROTC 290 Detachment will honor distinguished alumnus  and retired Air Force Gen.  Jack I. Gregory during a virtual Zoom ceremony at 3 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 12. The event will be streamed from Buell Armory on the UK campus.

To attend the event, go to https://youtu.be/L6p9HxbmJx4; no registration is requited.

Gregory was born in Somerset, Kentucky, in 1931, and he graduated from Somerset High School in 1949. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UK in 1953, where he also was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force through UK’s Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 290, the “Flying Wildcats.”

Over the course of the next 35 years, Gregory served in multiple command positions across the United States,

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 13, 2020) — Two University of Kentucky students have been named to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program.

Jared Brewington and Michelle Gervais, both doctoral students in the UK College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy, are two of 52 total students selected to join the program. They will conduct part of their doctoral thesis research at host laboratories in collaboration with a Departent of Energy scientist.

Brewington will study magnetic field design for the Los Alamos National Laboratory neutron electric dipole moment experiment, or LANL-nEDM, for short. He will begin his yearlong project at LANL in New Mexico this November

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2020) — A new study led by a University of Kentucky professor is sounding the alarm on the impact climate change could have on one of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Michael McGlue, Pioneer Natural Resources Professor of Stratigraphy in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, and his team conducted the study at Lake Tanganyika — a major African fishery. The results, which published today in Science Advances, show how certain changes in climate may place the fishery at risk, potentially diminishing food resources for millions of people in this area of eastern Africa.

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2020) — Allan Butterfield, a professor of biological chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has been named among the world’s leading Alzheimer’s disease experts by Expertscape, an online base of biomedical expertise.

Butterfield is among the top 0.007% of scholars worldwide based on authorship of Alzheimer’s-related publications indexed in the PubMed database for the past 10 years. He ranks tenth out of nearly 150,000 scholars worldwide and sixth in the U.S.

The Expertscape rankings use an algorithm to identify the most knowledgeable and experienced physicians, clinicians and researchers across more than 29,000 specific topics. The ranking considers

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 8, 2020) — Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has opened gateways — allowing for people to continue learning and remain connected. But it’s also allowed for the steady flow of disinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories.

From Facebook to Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat — social media is always at our fingertips. Slanted views can spread like wildfire on those platforms, despite efforts to stop it.

Jenny Rice, an associate professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is an expert on conspiracy theories. In her book

LEXINGTON, KY – Nineteen University of Kentucky undergraduates are serving as College of Arts & Sciences Ambassadors for the 2020-21 academic year.  

This highly selective group of A&S students promotes pride in a liberal arts education. They develop leadership and communication skills while representing the College to visitors, alumni and prospective and current students. For more information about the A&S Ambassador Program, please contact asrecruiting@uky.edu. 

The 2020-21 A&S Ambassadors are: 

Cesar Avila (coordinator): Cesar is a senior double majoring in international studies and foreign language & international economics. Originally

The UK Department of Chemistry and the UK Office for Institutional Diversity have arranged to make the film, Picture a Scientist, available for anyone in the University of Kentucky community to view.

“PICTURE A SCIENTIST chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.”

Licensed viewers will be

By Hayden Gooding

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 1, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities will present celebrated poet and Wallace Stevens Award-winner Nikky Finney as the 2020 Bale Boone Symposium goes virtual this fall. The reading by Finney is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, on Zoom.

"The Gaines Center is focused this year on the theme of citizenship. This theme coincides with a national conversation on the value of Black life and social justice issues that have arisen in the face of incidents in the killing of unarmed Black people," Gaines Center Director Melynda Price said. "