by Keith Hautala

(Jan. 7, 2014) — The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will repatriate 30 memorial statues to Kenya, thanks in part to the work of Monica L. Udvardy, a University of Kentucky associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

A New York Times story from Jan. 3 cites Udvardy as an expert on Kenyan culture. She has studied and tracked the wooden statues, called vigango, for more than three decades. Udvardy says the vigango are consecrated artifacts believed by Kenyans to be endowed with divine powers, and that they should never have been removed.  

Udvardy first consulted with the museum in 2008. The full article may be read online at here.

By Brian Connors Manke

(January 3, 2014) - Many of us have had big holiday meals over the last few weeks, often times bringing a dish to share to the host’s house, but if you are ever invited to Sydney Dobson’s table you should probably arrive empty-handed.

“Since I was around 14 I’ve cooked Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I don’t want anyone else to cook – if I’m hosting dinner, you’re getting my food,” the Hodgenville native and UK junior said.

And when people do ask what they can bring, her response is about as frank as you can get.

“You don’t cook as well as I do. Maybe you can bring the broccoli casserole, because I don’t like it.”

So, how did she become the master of the kitchen at such a young age?



“I was tired of having scrambled burgers and peas,” she began to explain.

“My mother was a nurse and worked in

by Gail Hairston

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 24, 2013) — It was more than four decades ago that the University of Kentucky first sponsored a celebration honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement he inspired.

“Each year the MLK events remind us to treasure our civil rights and the diversity that makes us stronger, makes us more competitive and enriches our culture,” said Lexington Mayor Jim Gray.

It was a modest affair back then, with most activities taking place on campus and most of the attendees affiliated with the university. The scope quickly grew beyond the campus boundaries, however, with downtown events and

by Jake Most

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 24, 2013) — Seven Kentucky Wildcats – Khristina Blajkevitch, Caitlin Ciokajlo, Ashley Frazier, Jonathan Keltner, Shelby Kennard, Megan Moir and Chelsea Oswald – have been recognized with the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives organization’s Academic Excellence Awards.

Individuals had to maintain a minimum 3.8 cumulative GPA and have competed for at least two years of intercollegiate athletics in a sport sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1A) conference to qualify for the awards.

Joe Fink, UK’s Faculty Athletics Representative and Professor of Pharmacy, noted that this national recognition is significant for several reasons.

“In addition to recognizing academic excellence as indicated by achieving an outstanding GPA, the award emphasizes the skill these outstanding

by Kathy Johnson

(Dec. 17, 2013) ― The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today accepted nearly $6.5 million in gifts and pledges to UK.

The pledges include:

   Gifts include:

by Whitney Hale

(Dec. 18, 2013) — The University of Kentucky invites nominations and applications for the job position of director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities and John R. Gaines Endowed Chair in the Humanities.

Founded in 1984 by a generous gift from John and Joan Gaines, the Gaines Center for the Humanities functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on UK's campus. Devoted to cultivating an appreciation of the humanities in its students and faculty, the center embraces varied paths of knowledge, and particularly strives to integrate creative work with traditional academic learning.

The center is also designed to provide a link, intellectual as well as

by Keith Hautala

(Dec. 17, 2013) — An essay by Lisa Zunshine, a University of Kentucky professor of English, appears in the Dec. 13 edition of The Chronicle Review, published by the Chronicle of Higher Education.  

The essay, titled "Why Fiction Does it Better," argues that works of fiction — which operate on varying levels of sociocognitive complexity — help to drive the development of both a rich vocabulary and "theory of mind," and are essential reading for preparing young minds for college. 

A scholar of 18th-century British literature, Zunshine is Bush-Holbrook Professor of English at UK, where she teaches courses in Restoration and 18th century British literature and culture. She is the author or editor of 11 books, including, most recently, "Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us about Popular Culture,"

by Whitney Hale

(Dec. 16, 2013) — Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky, has received a 2013 Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award. The honor recognizes UK's director as one of the top 15 leaders of 430 Confucius Institutes worldwide.

Maske received the international award at the opening ceremony of the eighth Confucius Institute Conference 

by Keith Hautala

(Dec. 16, 2013) — Katharine Ott, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics, has been chosen by the Association for Women in Mathematics to receive its annual service award for 2013.

The award was created in 2012 to honor volunteers who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to the organization. Recipients are chosen based on contributions made over the past seven years. Ott was one of two recipients to be honored this year.

Ott was selected because of her service to the association as a principal investigator on the successful Sonia Kovalevsky Day grant from the National Science Foundation. Sonia Kovalevsky Days, named for a pioneering Russian woman mathematician of the 19th century, consist of a program of workshops, talks, and problem-solving competitions for female high school and

by Jenny Wells

(Dec. 16, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has honored 18 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards.  Representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Research, along with director  Diane Snow, presented the winners with certificates at a reception on campus Dec. 5.

Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement.

Categories include Biological

by Jenny Wells, Derrick Meads

(Dec. 12, 2013) — The University of Kentucky has more students participating in Education Abroad (EA) programs than any other higher education institution in Kentucky, according to recently released data by the Institute of International Education. The 2013 Open Doors Report revealed that UK sent 845 students abroad in the 2011-12 academic year.

The report also showed that UK enrolls more international students (nearly 1,900 in 2011-12) than any other institution in the state, a lead the university has maintained for many years.

“A UK education creates a hunger in its students to learn more," said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for international programs. "By pursuing educational opportunities abroad they refine their skills of discovery and equip

by Ceci Amador

When December arrives, it brings new—and stronger—waves of Christmas-themed everything. Yet, there are some that have a harder time getting in that wonderful Christmas spirit: I am talking about myself. Don´t get me wrong, I love Christmas, but having grown up in another country (Guatemala), my Christmas preparations and traditions have been pretty different since I came to the University of Kentucky. I have realized I don´t get into the Christmas spirit until I finally make it back home. This isn´t a bad thing, I knew what I was getting into when I applied for college in the US, and it’s not like holiday activities are lacking here. On the contrary, there are several, they´re just different from what I am used to.

In a college town, by the time December rolls in, everyone wants to be done with school, go home, have a nice winter break, and enjoy

By Guy Spriggs

Experimental work on quasicrystal tilings by UK physics and astronomy professor Lance De Long’s group was recently featured on the cover of “Physical Review Letters.”

De Long says the artificial ferromagnetic quasicrystals at the center of his work were celebrated because such intricate patterns had never been fabricated before.

“It’s all about topology,” he explained. “The fact it’s nickel-iron doesn’t matter in any details. We can do what we want with [the design] within reason. The basic properties of it are determined just by its pattern.”

The artificial quasicrystals De Long’s group produced are composed of a network of sub-micron-scale thin-film segments, taking the shape

by Mallory Powell

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 5, 2013) – David Gross watched his mother care for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease.  He also saw the toll the disease took, not just on his grandmother, but on his mother who served as her caregiver. This inspired him to initiate a project in Morehead to support an assessment of Alzheimer Disease caregivers in rural Kentucky.

The project, which received a Seed Grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), is just one example of how the CCTS is achieving its commitment to community-engaged research through a community mini-grant program for health outreach programs in Appalachia.  

The Seed Grant program, now in its second year, supports projects that contribute to the reduction of health disparities in rural and Appalachian communities by

Maureen Meyers, who received her PhD. in anthropology from UK in 2011, was awarded the 2013 C. B. Moore Award by the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC). Meyers accepted the prestigious award at the organization’s annual meeting held in early November in Tampa, Florida. The C. B. Moore Award, given annually by SEAC in recognition of “Excellence in Southeastern Archaeology or associated studies by a distinguished younger “scholar”, was established by the members of the Lower Mississippi Survey in 1990. Scholars who are conducting archaeological research in the Southeast U.S. and completed their PhD. with the past ten years are eligible for the award. Nominees are selected by a committee consisting of all past C.B. Moore Award

by Ann Blackford

(Dec. 4, 2013) — A state Senate candidate forum will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Cats Den at the University of Kentucky Student Center.

A special election to replace Kathy Stein in the 13th state Senate District, which includes UK and downtown Lexington, will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10.

"If you enjoyed Constitution Day at UK, you'll love this forum," said Buck Ryan, director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of UK's Scripps Howard First Amendment Center in the College of Communication and Information and whose Honors Program class, "Citizen Kentucky: Journalism and Democracy," is organizing the event. "Come for two minutes or two hours, and be sure to pick up the voters guide."

The students held a mock

by Allison Perry

(Dec. 2, 2013) — A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers suggests that a diet low in vitamin D causes damage to the brain.

In addition to being essential for maintaining bone health, newer evidence shows that vitamin D serves important roles in other organs and tissue, including the brain. Published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, the UK study showed that middle-aged rats that were fed a diet low in vitamin D for several months developed free radical damage to the brain, and many different brain proteins were damaged as identified by redox proteomics. These rats also showed a significant decrease in cognitive performance on tests of learning and memory.  

"Given that vitamin D deficiency is especially widespread among the elderly

by Allison Elliott-Shannon

(Nov. 26, 2013) — From humans to sparrows, individuals within a species display distinct "personalities" when it comes to their behaviors. Taking an innovative approach to understanding how various factors impact behavioral patterns, David Westneat is working with a local population of house sparrows to understand how variables including local ecology, stress and hormones come together to affect the parenting behaviors of birds and other creatures.

Westneat, professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology, has been awarded a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for $670,000. As a behavioral ecologist with expertise on reproductive and social behavior, Westneat will use the grant to study variation in parenting patterns.