By Kathy Johnson

The University of Kentucky Center for Equality and Social Justice (CESJ) has released two policy briefs dealing with subjects of heightened interest nationally and in Kentucky — immigration reform and LGBTQ legal protections.

Created last year, the CESJ is an interdisciplinary research center that promotes equality and social justice through collaborative scholarship and education. It also advocates for social justice in public policies and laws. Faculty members from a broad range of disciplines at UK serve as affiliates of the CESJ, and Christia Spears Brown, professor in the Department of Psychology, serves as its director.

The position paper titled "Immigrants Benefit the Community and Economy" was written by Jenny Minier, professor in the 

By Gail Hairston and Alicia Gregory

Jane Calvert, associate professor of history in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is committed to showing the human side of one of America’s Founding Fathers, John Dickinson, through the John Dickinson Writings Project.

As the Dickinson project’s founding director and chief editor, Calvert is collecting, transcribing, editing and publishing the complete writings of Dickinson, who wrote more for the American cause than any other Founding Father.

As a young history professor, disillusioned by American politics and culture of the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Calvert had a lot of questions about her homeland. And being a passionate historian, she naturally turned to history for answers.

In the midst of her dissertation on the history of Quaker society in America, she noticed that the

By Bryant Welbourne and Kathy Johnson

Four University of Kentucky faculty members have been named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program (SEC ALDP) during the 2017-18 academic year, which also marks the program's 10-year anniversary.

The SEC ALDP seeks to identify, prepare and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond. It has three components: a university-level development program designed by each institution for its own participants (i.e., fellows); two SEC-wide workshops held on specified campuses for all program participants; and a competitive fellowship designed to provide administrative growth opportunities for former fellows.

This year’s first SEC-wide workshop is under way through Thursday at Louisiana State University and the second will be held Feb. 21-23, 2018, at Auburn University. 

By Jenny Wells

In celebration of the American Chemical Society's National Chemistry Week, the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry will host a demonstration show for school-aged children and their families this week. The "Reaction Attraction" will begin 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, in Room 121 of the Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building (JSB).

This public event serves as the department's primary outreach activity during National Chemistry Week..

"Young and not-so-young scientists will enjoy the colors, sounds, smoke and fire at a show guaranteed to entertain and even educate," said Steven Yates, professor of chemistry and Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor. "UK Professor Jack Seleque, a master showman who looks

By Christine Woodward, Zach Griffith, Sophonie Bazile, and Adrian Ho

The editorial collective of disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory is pleased to announce the call for papers for its 27th volume to be published in the summer of 2018. The volume will explore “archives” and the editors seek submissions that look at a range of archives, including national, personal and community archives, to investigate the ways in which documents, images, objects and places serve various purposes and occupy different types of cultural, intellectual and physical spaces. 

The volume will include interviews from four diverse scholars: Karen Till, Kimberly Christen, Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and Michelle Caswell. Each scholar

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

Poet Jane Gentry was a beloved and influential University of Kentucky educator, mentor to generations of young writers, former poet laureate for the Commonwealth, and a unique Kentucky voice. A retrospective of the celebrated poet’s work, “The New and Collected Poems of Jane Gentry,” edited by UK Professor of English Julia Johnson and published by University Press of Kentucky (UPK), was named this year's Thomas D. Clark Medallion recipient and will be recognized at an award ceremony Oct. 26, at the Filson Historical

By Nate Harling

This year, the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences offers an undergraduate certificate in international film studies.

Directed by French and Francophone Studies Professor Jeffrey N. Peters, the program gives students the opportunity to formalize their film coursework. Requiring 16 total hours of coursework over five classes chosen from the wide array of film classes offered at UK, the program culminates in a capstone project in which students write an additional research paper. The paper synthesizes the analytical skills and historical and formal insights gained over the course of the international film studies curriculum.

Emma Friedman-Buchanan, one of the first students to participate in the new undergraduate certificate in international film studies, is a Lexington native and

By Whitney Hale

Viet Thanh Nguyen. Photo by Matt Meindl.

The University of Kentucky’s Gaines Center for the Humanities and Department of English’s MFA in Creative Writing will welcome to campus 2017 MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. “An Evening with Viet Thanh Nguyen,” this year’s Bale Boone Symposium in the Humanities, will begin 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. This program is free and open to the public.  

By Whitney Hale

Two weeks from today, a new play by Raegan Payne will have its world premiere in Lexington with four performances running Nov. 2-4, at the Farish Theater at Lexington Public Library's central location in downtown Lexington. “Timeless” is a dark sci-fi comedy in which four scientists have discovered the fountain of youth in a new stem cell procedure. In one night they question history, women’s place in science and the value of time as they wrestle with the fate of an overcrowded Earth.

“Timeless” won the biennial Prize for Women Playwrights from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, chosen by internationally renowned playwright Martyna Majok. Independently produced

By Nate Harling

University of Kentucky linguistics professors Rusty Barrett and Andrew Hippisley have been recognized as Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA).

The LSA is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to the advancement of linguistics, the scientific study of language. Since 2006, it has named a new class of fellows every year to recognize, in their words, “distinguished contributions to the discipline.”

Barrett and Hippisley find themselves in a select group, as they make up part of a class of only eight fellows, and in elite company with fellows from previous years, including Steven Pinker and Noam Chomsky, both extremely influential figures within the linguistics community and well-respected intellectuals across a number of academic fields.

In 2006, Rusty Barrett, an associate professor in the linguistics department, joined

Associate Prof. of Chemistry Beth Guiton has been appointed to the  Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry for a two year term, beginning January 2018. Guiton's research interests focus on inorganic nanomaterials and in-situ transmission electron microscopy. The Guiton Research Group investigates chemistry at the nanometer length scale, working at the intersection between solid state chemistry and advanced characterization, in particular using in situ microscopy techniques.

For more information about the Guiton Research Group please visit the Guiton Group website.

Guiton received her bachelor's degree from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and her master's from Harvard University, followed by a

By Jenny Wells

This weekend, the University of Kentucky Department of Biology will host the second annual BioBonanza, a one-day open house festival, from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building (680 Rose St.).

This free public event will showcase interactive displays on research taking place in biology at UK. Attendees will enjoy around 30 hands-on activities carried out by more than 80 volunteers.

Free parking is available in the parking garage on Hilltop Avenue, next to the Jacobs Science Building.

The event is sponsored by Nikon, the UK Graduate School, the Biology Graduate Student Assocation (BGSA) and the UK Office of Community Engagement.

Visit the BioBonanza Facebook page for more information: 

By Gail Hairston

(Left to right) Dan Reedy, Karl Raitz, Dean Mark Kornbluh, Martha Rolingson, Charles Grizzle and Tom Spalding.

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences celebrated its Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Friday, Oct. 6, at the Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building.

This year's Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Reception honored alumni Charlie Grizzle, Martha Rolingson and Tom Spalding, and College of Arts and Sciences faculty members Karl B. Raitz and Daniel R. Reedy. For more about each honoree, see their brief biographies below.

Alumni Inductees

Charlie Grizzle, English, bachelor’s degree, 1973 

Charles "Charlie" L. Grizzle, a native of Argillite, Kentucky, in Greenup County, earned his bachelor

By Tiffany Molina and Gail Hairston

On Oct. 26, the University of Kentucky International Center will welcome Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and well-known columnist with The New York Times. Kristof’s talk, “A Path Appears: How Students Can Change the World,” is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Gatton College of Business and Economics, and the School of Journalism and Media.

Kristof’s talk will touch on themes that animate the book he co-authored with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn: “A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunities.” Kristof and WuDunn say that the purpose of the book is to “provide a unique and essential narrative about making a difference in the world … and a roadmap to becoming a conscientious global citizen.” Kristof will discuss how global problems can seem overwhelming, but there

By Michael Lynch

Young visitors to the 2016 open house enjoy a virtual sandbox, provided by the UK Department of Mining Engineering.

Earth Science Week will be observed nationwide Oct. 8-14, and the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) at the University of Kentucky will again promote the appreciation of earth sciences with an open house.

Students, parents, teachers and others are invited to demonstrations and displays on a variety of natural science topics at the KGS open house. This year’s free public event is set for 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the Mining and Mineral Resources Building, located at 504 Rose St. on the UK campus.

KGS scientists set up displays

By Chris Crumrine

The University of Kentucky is expanding and enhancing its Washington, D.C. internship program, allowing students to participate during the academic year, utilize their financial aid and remain full-time students enrolled in credit-bearing courses. The new program will launch during the spring 2018 semester. 

The new program is a partnership between the Department of Political Science, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the President, with the shared goal of providing an affordable opportunity for students to intern in the nation’s capital without delaying their time to degree. The UK Student Government Association is a key partner in the new program, which is open to students from

By Dave Melanson

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) received yet another federal grant to broaden its burgeoning rare earth element (REE) research and development portfolio.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the $1.5 million project is titled “Rare-Earth Elements in US Coal-Based Resources: Sampling, Characterizations, and Round-Robin Inter-laboratory Study.” The grant represents a collaborative effort between the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC), UK CAER and the Kentucky Geological Survey.

As part of the project, UK CAER will collect samples from four regions across Appalachia to determine the concentration of rare earth elements in those coalfields. The sites include: Pennsylvania anthracite; Castleman Basin, Maryland

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center recently organized, inventoried and made available the records of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass. The project was funded through the Southern Jewish Historical Society’s Scott and Donna Langston Archival Grant, which encourages the preservation of archival materials related to Southern Jewish history.

The Langston Archival Grant provided funds to hire Erin Weber, a graduate student in the UK’s School of Information Science, to organize the records. The semester-long project resulted in 6.7 cubic feet

By Susan Odom

This fall the Chemistry Department welcomed its new graduate class of 22 students. Now in their second month at UK, students are settling into new roles as teaching assistants in laboratory courses and in general chemistry recitations while taking a variety of courses in analytical, biological, inorganic, materials, organic, and/or physical chemistry.

Some students were particularly excited to have the opportunity to take a new course offered by Prof. Chad Risko called Organic Materials: Electronic and Photonic Properties. Risko reports, "The students are quite engaged in the lectures, especially since we are able to bring together diverse concepts that are taught in other chemistry courses to build the knowledge required to understand these intriguing materials.”

In addition to their coursework and teaching responsibilities, one of the major goals

By Gail Hairston and Allison Perry

Of the 14 million cancer survivors in the United States, a significant number experience a serious side effect called chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI). While easily recognized, little is known about the etiology of this condition, also known informally as “chemo brain.” CICI can significantly reduce patients’ quality of life with serious, even devastating, symptoms such as memory lapses, difficulty concentrating, negative impacts on multitasking, confusion and fatigue.

Three University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researchers are tackling this problem head-on, serving as principal investigators on a new $2.3 million grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health: