By Jenny Wells

(May 8, 2015) — On Saturday, May 9, thousands will fill Rupp Arena to celebrate the University of Kentucky Class of 2015.

The May 2015 Commencement Ceremonies will recognize the accomplishments of undergraduate, graduate and professional students who will have completed their degrees by the end of the spring 2015 semester. Graduate and professional degrees will be conferred at 9 a.m.; and undergraduate degrees will be conferred at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.  All ceremonies will be streamed live on UKNow. 

Saturday's ceremonies include: 

By Whitney Hale

(April 30, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that three of the university's students have been selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. The fellowships award more than $100,000 to use toward research-based master's or doctoral degrees. In addition, four other UK students received honorable mention recognition from the NSF.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the U.S. and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology,

By Clark Bellar

(April 23, 2015) — University of Kentucky doctoral student Nate Millington recently received the U.S. Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship and will travel to São Paulo, Brazil, this June  to study flooding and its effects on the city's urban design and its people. Millington will study at the University of São Paulo (USP) and

By Gail Hairston

(April 17, 2015) ‒ Mark Kornbluh, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, announced today that Sue Roberts, professor of geography, has accepted the positions of associate dean for international affairs and director of the international studies program for the college. Roberts’ term begins July 1, 2015.

“The new associate dean position will enable the college to enhance its internationalization efforts and to consolidate oversight of and initiatives regarding international activities,” Kornbluh wrote in a message to his college faculty and staff.

Roberts will provide vision and coordination for all international programs, travel, exchanges, and more for the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, students and staff.

With the support of the college’s

By Gail Hairston

(April 8, 2015) ‒ Anna Secor, professor of geography, social theory, and gender and women’s studies at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the university’s first Hajja Razia Sharif Sheikh Islamic Studies Professor.

The endowed professorship was created by Dr. Hamid Hussain Sheikh Sr. (a Lexington obstetrics and gynecology specialist) and his wife Amy Lee Sheikh, in memory of his mother Hajja Razia Sharif Sheikh. A native of Lahore, Pakistan, Hajja Sheikh was active in her community and a leader in her faith. Although she did not receive a formal

By Yan Wang

(Feb. 23, 2015) — A panel discussion about Cuba and U.S. relations will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the UK Athletics Association Auditorium in Young Library.

“We have such an incredible variety of perspectives and areas of expertise across the UK community, and the shift in US-Cuba relations is an ideal opportunity to let faculty, staff and students benefit from that expertise,” said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for internationalization, interim associate provost and dean of the graduate school and moderator of the panel discussion. “I know that the discussion will be enlightening for all of us, as we re-examine our own views, as well as broaden our understanding of alternative viewpoints.”

The panel discussion

by: Gail Haiston

(Jan. 28, 2015) — Today, a unique group of University of Kentucky professors and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Joel Pett are leading a discussion of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

The public forum, organized by faculty members of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Program of French and Francophone Studies, is slated at 3-4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the east end of the Student Center, Room 211.

The discussion will focus on the recent deadly attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Parisian kosher market, as well as provide context for the social and political debates that continue to emerge in the wake of the attacks.

Pett, political cartoonist for the

Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing

by Sibel Solagan

(Nov. 19, 2014) — As UK celebrates its sesquicentennial this year, one faculty member in particular has plenty to remember about his history with the university.

 Out of 150 years, I’ve experienced 58 years of UK’s history. Technically, I’m in my 116th semester,” said Pradyumna (Paul) Karan, who is originally from India.    

In August of 1956, Martin M. White, dean of the UK College of Arts and Sciences, hired Karan to teach geography – making Karan one of the first international faculty members in UK's history.

“[Dr. White] couldn’t say my name – that’s when he asked if he could just call me

By Guy Spriggs

For many high school students, summer is little more than a break from school, offering the chance to relax, travel, or maybe even work at a summer job.

For the talented participants in the Whitney M. Young Scholars Program, the summer of 2014 offered the opportunity to spend two weeks gaining invaluable college experience on UK’s campus as part of a special collaboration between the UK’s Office of Institutional Diversity and the Lincoln Foundation, a Louisville-based institution dedicated to educational enrichment.

Started in 1990 – since becoming the hallmark of the Lincoln Foundation’s educational efforts – the Whitney M. Young Scholars

by Gail Hairston

(Oct. 6, 2014) — University of Kentucky geography Professor Jonathan Phillips was recently awarded one of the leading recognitions in his field of study, the David Linton Award, from the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG).

The 2014 Linton Award recognizes Phillips’ “lifetime of distinguished and influential contributions to fluvial geomorphology spanning a broad array of topics in over 180 papers, including 10 in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.”

The BSG announcement added that Phillips’ “career has included a combination of thought-provoking methodological and philosophical contributions to geomorphic system understanding and landscape evolution, and empirical contributions across several branches of geomorphology."

The David Linton Award is given to a geomorphologist who has made a leading contribution to the

By Guy Spriggs

With sea levels rising, will coastal land along the northern Gulf of Mexico naturally build itself up enough to combat the loss of its coastline? As the coastline continues to disappear, where will the rate of loss be worst?

When did pollution in Maine’s Penobscot River begin? Is the polluted material being introduced into our food chain? Are new laws helping reduce the pollution level?

If we wanted to answer these important questions, where would we turn?

These questions – and many more – can be solved by the unique equipment and skilled researchers working in Kevin Yeager’s Sedimentary, Environmental and Radiochemical Research Laboratory (SER2L) at the University of Kentucky.

by Gail Hairston 

(Sept. 30, 2014) — More than an “s” has been added since the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Science was created in 1908 with only seven faculty members. In fact there was a College of Arts and Science even before the institution was named the University of Kentucky; the institution was called the State University, Lexington, Kentucky (previously Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky and State College) until 1916.

In those 106 years, several of today’s largest colleges were birthed from the original College of Arts and Science’s former programs, including today’s College of Education, College of Communication and Information, College of Social Work and College of Fine Arts.

The college grew quickly under the inspiration and commitment of President James Patterson, whose statue now graces the plaza next to the

by Rachel Knuth

(July 1, 2014) — Former University of Kentucky student Amanda Fickey is back at her alma mater this summer, teaching Appalachian history and culture to 60 high school students from Eastern Kentucky who are part of UK’s Robinson Scholars Honors Program.

Fickey, a native of Letcher County, served as the arts and cultural outreach coordinator for The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky, prior to her time at UK. Fickey, who recently completed her doctoral degree in economic geography at UK, also holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Kentucky and a master’s degree

by Rachel Knuth

(June 24, 2014) — Three University of Kentucky graduate students have received the fellowship award from the Association of Emeriti Faculty. Each award includes a stipend of $2,000.

Since 1996, the UK Association of Emeriti Faculty has awarded 53 fellowships to full-time graduate students who demonstrate a commitment to teaching at a university or college. Thanks to generous gifts from UK faculty retirees to the fellowship program and UKAEF’s Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund, these gifts constitute a $77,000 donation of ongoing support of graduate students.

4Winners for the 2013-14 school year were Brad Fox, Ashley Bourgeois and Michelle Bolduc.

Bolduc is in her fourth year as a doctoral candidate in 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 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 evolved. They

by Whitney Hale, Allison Elliott-Shannon 

(April 28, 2014) — The 2014 issue of disClosure, an annual thematic publication dedicated to investigating and stimulating interest in new directions in contemporary social theory, is now available online through a collaboration between the University of Kentucky Committee on Social Theory (CST) and UK Libraries.

First published in 1992, the journal includes a variety of media including scholarly essays, poetry and visual art from a variety of disciplinary, geographical, and theoretical perspectives and genres. The journal aims to encourage work that employs innovative writing styles as well as formal scholarly work, and is edited by

The University of Kentucky has been presenting the Sullivan Award to students, faculty, and staff since 1927. This award recognizes individuals who evince a sense of love and helpfulness for other communities, at home and abroad.  

This year’s UK recipient is graduating senior Andrew Ritzel. A Biology and Spanish major, Ritzel is being recognized for his involvement and leadership with UK’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Program and for creating a formal partnership between UK and Shoulder-to-Shoulder Global.

Ritzel’s involvement started when he was a first-year student here at UK. “Coming into college, the Alternative Spring Break Program was something I had heard about at other universities. I was really interested in the program, so I went to one of the information sessions at the beginning of the school year. I learned that UK’s ASB program was launching a brand new