By Gail Hairston

Organizers of the University of Kentucky’s Constitution Day activities last week have announced the winners of the essay contest associated with the national holiday.

Political science freshman RyAnn Schoenbaechler won the 2017 Constitution Day Essay Contest with her article titled “Donald Trump: The Modern Day Killer of the First Amendment.”

Schoenbaechler won $500 for her essay, which was evaluated by a panel of judges chosen by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center. Their assessment was based on the following criteria: historical and legal accuracy of the content; the strength and logic of the argument; the original ideas presented; the organization of the argument, including the thesis; and the quality of the writing.

The second place winner Kelsey Mattingly, a

By Carol Lea Spence

Water, essential to health, to the economy and to the sustainability of the environment, can be impacted by any number of things, not the least is the climate. The University of Kentucky’s Water Week 2017, a week of films, panel discussions, invited speakers and service activities, will examine climate change impacts on water quality.

A Project WET certification workshop aimed at K-12 teachers, cooperative extension agents and students who are studying to become teachers will kick off the week on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Raven Run Nature Sanctuary in Lexington.

"Fostering Dialogue and Collaboration on Climate Change," a

By Amaya DeVicente and Gail Hairston

Nicole Funk, a junior from Lexington majoring in natural resources and environmental science with a Spanish minor, participated in an Education Abroad semester-long direct exchange program at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Quito, Ecuador. It was through a community internship that Funk received recognition for best of “Pasantía en la Comunidad” (PASEC) work at USFQ. All USFQ students must complete this program in order to graduate, and international students also have the opportunity to complete a PASEC program if they wish.

Nicole Funk (second from left) with Universidad San Francisco de Quito faculty and staff.

For Funk's PASEC service program, she completed a service-learning experience at Instituto Educativo Fiscomisional

By Jennifer Sciantarelli and Whitney Hale

This summer, a team of University of Kentucky archaeologists explored two previously unknown archaic Greek sites in Calabria, Italy’s southernmost region, one of which may be the largest Greek mountain fort yet uncovered in this area of the country. These findings deepen scholarly understanding of Greek territorial organization in the toe of Italy, and of the interstate conflicts that occurred across the region throughout the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.

George Crothers as geophysical survey was in progress in Calabria.

The team of researchers, directed by George Crothers, associate professor of anthropology and director of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology at UK’s 

By Jennifer T. Allen

The University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences announces the appointment of Associate Professor Kate Ponto to the Wimberly and Betty Royster Research Professorship and Professor Richard Ehrenborg to the Ralph E. and Norma L. Edwards Research Professorship.

The Royster and Edwards professorships serve to recognize the Department of Mathematics’ most active researchers and to support their research. Both positions are three-year terms and include a stipend to support salary or research expenses.

Recommendations for the professorships are made by the mathematics faculty.

“Ehrenborg and Ponto are outstanding scholars who enjoy working with students,” said Russell Brown,

By Kristen Smith

The Student Activities Board (SAB) along with University of Kentucky's Art Museum, Martin Luther King Center, Alternative Service Breaks and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies will be bringing the first ever Art Walk to campus. Join them 3-6 p.m. today (Friday), Sept. 22, starting at the UK Art Museum. Students will have the opportunity to journey through familiar parts of campus while interacting with various student organizations and art pieces, including an

By Bryant Welbourne and Kathy Johnson

Eight University of Kentucky faculty members are among more than 100 faculty members from all 14 Southeastern Conference universities taking part in the 2017-18 SEC Faculty Travel Program. Now in its sixth year, the program provides support for selected individuals to collaborate with colleagues at other SEC member institutions.

The UK faculty and their departments are: Babak Bazrgari, Biomedical Engineering; Kenneth Campbell, Physiology; Tom Clayton, English; Kenneth Graham, Chemistry; Ji Youn Kim, 

By Kristie Colon

The University of Kentucky’s Igniting Research Collaborations (IRC) grant program has awarded nearly $300,000 in pilot grants to support cross-college interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

IRC seeks to increase interdisciplinary scientific engagement and leverage the breadth of expertise across campus to tackle important health problems in the Commonwealth. UK is one of eight universities in the nation with the full range of undergraduate, graduate, professional, medical and agricultural programs on one campus, which creates distinct opportunities for collaborative research. 

"Programs like the IRC give us the opportunity to drive discovery and find creative solutions to complex problems in Kentucky," said Linda Dwoskin, associate dean of research at the UK College of Pharmacy. "Ultimately, we’re transforming patient-centered care by

By Gail Hairston

All educational institutions receiving federal funding are required to conduct educational programming about the U.S. Constitution in recognition of Constitution Day, which this year falls on Sept. 17. The University of Kentucky chose Monday, Sept. 18, for its all-day celebration.  

Under the direction of the university’s Office of the President and Office of the Provost, the Office of Academic Excellence led the university’s planning committee with significant contributions from the College of Arts and Sciences. Staff and faculty worked with student organizations and other units on campus to develop a campuswide approach to the celebration of the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens and to develop habits of citizenship in a

By Gail Hairston

Two University of Kentucky professors have been awarded funding to help elucidate the mechanism of nicotine addiction and to identify targets for nicotine cessation therapeutics.

The researchers — Assistant Professor Chris Richards in the Department of Chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences and Professor James Pauly in the UK College of Pharmacy — were awarded a $760,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health to pursue their research project titled "Single Molecule Determination of nAChR Structural Assembly for Therapeutic Targeting.”

The consumption of tobacco products is connected to several severe health risks. Smokers have a higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, respiratory

By Kathy Johnson

What is the proper way to dispose of an American flag? You can find out this week as University of Kentucky Air Force ROTC cadets conduct a flag retirement ceremony at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, in front of UK's Main Building.

A special uniformed Honor Guard detail will execute the official disposal of two worn flags — one that flew outside the UK's Main Building and another that was given to the ROTC for retirement.

"A flag retirement ceremony is steeped in honor, decorum and tradition," said ROTC Cadet Dawson Godby, commander of the ceremony.

The ceremony will include cutting and burning the flag in a specific, methodical manner that will be explained by an announcer. Each flag will be disposed of separately.

Per the U.S. Code as it pertains to the flag: "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no

By Kathy Johnson

On this 16th anniversary of 9/11, the University of Kentucky Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC programs are remembering those who died in the tragic terrorist attacks that rocked the nation. 

Master Sgt. Christopher Mcluckie says UK ROTC cadets in dress uniform are placing small flags in memory of each of the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 on the front lawn of UK's Main Building facing South Limestone.  From a podium, cadets will also read the name of each victim throughout the day.

A large flag has also been erected, and a cadet is continually marching in front of the flag carrying a replica rifle until all names have been read.

An annual event, the vigil began at the exact time that the attacks began, 8:

By Gail Hairston

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, Eugenie C. Scott, a nationally recognized physical anthropologist and an expert on evolution and creationism, will deliver the preliminary address for the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ series “Year of Civics and Citizenship in the 21st Century: Keys to our Common Future.”

The title of her lecture is “Evolution and Creationism in Kentucky.”

Scott is a former UK professor of physical anthropology and an educator who has been active in opposing the teaching of young earth creationism and intelligent design in schools. She also taught at University of Colorado and California State University system.

Scott’s lecture is scheduled for 7-8 p.m., Sept. 13, with extended discussion planned 8-9 p.m., in Room 121 of the Don & 

By Amy Jones-Timoney and Kody Kiser

From Florida to California, from Alabama to Maine, monuments to the Confederacy have been under increased scrutiny and the subject of efforts to either preserve them or remove them from the grounds they occupy.

In an effort to get more perspective on the swirling controversy around the future of these statues, this week’s episode of "Behind the Blue" features Amy Murrell Taylor, from the Department of History in the UK College of Arts and Sciences. A 2016 winner of the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award, Taylor’s research focuses on the social and cultural history of the U.S. South in the era of the Civil War and Emancipation.

Taylor’s first book, 

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky's SSTOP Hunger: Sustainable Solutions to Overcome Poverty organization will host the university’s first screening of the documentary “Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry.”  The screening, to be followed by a panel discussion, will begin 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Kincaid Auditorium at Gatton College of Business and Economics.

“Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry” is a cinematic account of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture, as seen through the mind’s eye of writer, farmer and activist Wendell Berry, an alumnus and former faculty member of the UK Department of English

By Gail Hairston

The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA), a national nonprofit organization headed by Eric Thomas Weber of the University of Kentucky’s philosophy department, has been awarded the 2017 Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs. The American Philosophical Association (APA) and the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) jointly sponsor the award.

This prize for excellence recognizes philosophy departments, research centers, institutes, societies, publishers and other organizations that risk undertaking new initiatives in philosophy, and do so with excellence and success.

“(The prize) honors the success of these programs so they may inspire and influence others to follow their lead,” said Amy Ferrer, executive director of APA. “(SOPHIA) is truly indicative of the innovation, excellence and inspiration that we seek in

By Gail Hairston

Akiko Takenaka, associate professor of history and associate chair of the University of Kentucky Department of History, has been awarded a 2017-18 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to research and write her second book, to be titled “Mothers Against War: Gender, Motherhood, and Grassroots Peace Activism in Postwar Japan, 1945-1970.” She will spend the year in Tokyo with affiliations with Sophia University and Waseda University.

In her research to write the book, Takenaka said, “I look at grassroots peace activism that was initiated by women (of Japan). I’m trying to better understand the ways that Japanese women have gendered their social and political participation.

“In the book, I examine the shifts in ways that the concepts of womanhood and motherhood have been imagined and promoted, and the complex processes through which Japanese women have

By Megan Foltz

Mark P. Whitaker, a professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology, was awarded multiple grants to assist in funding an ethnographic workshop on innovative religiosity in postwar Sri Lanka that took place this summer. Whitaker received grants from both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation in support of his work. The workshop brought together 17 anthropologists and religious studies scholars at the campus of the Open University of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Whitaker’s Workshop on Innovative Religiosity posed the question: “Why have innovative religious practices and institutions in Sri Lanka and its diaspora achieved a new prominence since the end of its inter-ethnic civil war in 2009?”

“This gathering of scholars of Sri Lanka’s many politically and sociologically significant religions —

By Abby Schroering and Sara Shehata

As a land grant university, the University of Kentucky is committed to the advancement of knowledge through research. Even undergraduate students contribute significantly to that mission.

Students of any major, background and skill level have the opportunity to work with professors from all over UK, whether in labs, on faculty projects or even on independent projects that they design themselves.

“For those undergraduates who are interested in building faculty mentorships, gaining critical thinking and presentation skills and deepening their understanding of the subjects that interest them, the UK Office of Undergraduate Research (UGR) is there to help them along the way,” said Evie Russell, assistant director of the UK Office of Undergraduate Research

By Whitney Hale

 The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced five of the university's undergraduate students pursued research in their fields of study this summer with funding from the National Science Foundation-Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) program.

The NSF funds many research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of approximately 10 undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with faculty and other researchers. Throughout the NSF-REU program, students are granted stipends and, in many cases,