By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Starting Nov. 7, linguists will have an online atlas to track how people in Paraguay and adjacent countries mix and mingle such European Romance tongues as Spanish and Portuguese with Guaraní, a living language native to South Americans.   

Haralambos Symeonidis, professor of Spanish Linguistics in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, is instrumental in developing the Atlas Lingüístico Guaraní-Románico, which features maps of where and how Spanish, Portuguese and Guarani are used based on research among more than 400 people native to Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and other areas. Now that research will be available to scholars online. Symeonidis used research funds from the John Keller Endowed Professorship to start the project. 

 "We already had

By Erin Wickey 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 2, 2023) — The UNited In True Equity Research Priority Area (UNITE RPA) welcomed this year’s cohort of 21 graduate students to the UNITE Predoctoral Research Enhancement Program.

UNITE is led by Danelle Stevens-Watkins, Ph.D., an associate vice president for research, diversity and inclusion and acting dean of the University of Kentucky College of Education. She created the predoctoral program in 2022, with support from the Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of Institutional Diversity and The Graduate School, to engage scholars who enhance equity and inclusion in Ph.D. programs at UK and support them as they become academic leaders in their field.

“The UNITE Predoctoral Research Enhancement

By Avery Schanbacher

Internships can be a powerful way to interact with new career opportunities. Thanks to the availability of career counseling and organizations for leadership development in specific fields, University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences students have the opportunity to connect with a wide variety of roles that can help prepare them for their careers.

This summer, senior psychology and sociology major Kadija Conteh participated in an internship at the Converse World Headquarters in Boston, combining her passions for fashion and design in a marketing role. At UK, Kadija is a stylist for KRNL Lifestyle and Fashion magazine, and hopes to pursue a career in fashion and merchandising roles. We spoke with Kadija about her experiences working in the fashion industry, how she came across her position at Converse, and how that internship impacted her

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Gurneyfest, a two-day celebration of Gurney Norman, the acclaimed Appalachian writer and professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky, will be Nov. 17 and 18 on the UK campus. 

Events will include a musical performance, a master class, panel discussions and readings of Gurney’s work. Events are free, but registration is required; attendees can go to this website to register. 

Among the events are: 

A screening of a new documentary by Sean Anderson at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 17 at the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music, in the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library.  

A musical performance by.

By Tatum Armstrong and Lindsey Piercy 

If you’re a big fan of spooky season, you’ve probably planned plenty of Halloween activities — like visiting the pumpkin patch and putting together a costume.

But even if you’re a Halloween enthusiast, there’s still a lot you may not know about the holiday.

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, a professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, knows the spellbinding history of Oct. 31.

As a folklorist, Rouhier-Willoughby

The Department of Political Science in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Centennial Celebration brought together alumni, friends, and faculty for to honor and celebrate its first 100 years on September 22, 2023. The Centennial Celebration featured a full day of campus activities and engagement opportunities.

"The founding of the Political Science Department at UK has its roots in international relations," said Emily Bacchus, acting chair and professor. "Amery Vandenbosch, the first prominent member of the faculty, was part of the U.S. delegation that drafted the U.N. Charter. Since then, we've gone on to enjoy a reputation for strength in judicial politics, state politics, international relations and comparative politics. Political science at UK is developing public servants and problem solvers." 

"I've been able to develop

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After years of military rule and devastating war, women in Japan led the effort in promoting peace. During the Cold War, peace activism was considered a communist activity, but the women’s identities as mothers enabled them to avoid the label. The struggle of these women fascinates Akiko Takenaka so much that she wrote a book about it. 

“They said, ‘We are mothers, we produce lives, and therefore we are the protectors of lives. We care about children the most, and we must protect our children,’” said Takenaka, associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky and inaugural director of the Global Asias Program.  

Takenaka’s book, “Mothers Against War: Gender, Motherhood, and Peace Activism in Postwar Japan,” is due out in 2024 from the University of Hawai’i Press.

By Jennifer T. Allen

Deb Pena always thought she would study abroad for college. She specifically wanted to have a rich student life during her college studies. That’s how she landed at the University of Kentucky, 4,789 miles away from her hometown of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Currently a sophomore majoring in psychology with a minor in philosophy and a certificate in business, Pena found the community she was looking for and so much more.

“When I visited UK, the reception was incredible,” Pena said. “I knew that if anything happened while I was away from home, I would have a strong support network that I could rely on. I also wanted a place where I could easily get involved, a place where there's always something going on around campus. I wanted a place that I could have the opportunity to stand out and speak up.”

And Pena has definitely found her voice at UK. As

By A Fish  

LEXINGTON, Ky –  University of  Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ Ambassador Halle Harned is majoring in biology on the pre-med track with the goal of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. Her mother went to UK, and she has several family members here who “bleed Blue.” Her background, her family’s health, and her high school experiences led her to pursue her goal.  

“I've always wanted to do medicine,” Harned said. “I was adopted from China, and I had a lot of health concerns as a child, which led me to go into medicine. The cardiothoracic aspect emerged when I took biomedical classes during my high school career. I also took anatomy and physiology, and I gravitated toward medicine.  

“Then it really hit home because my dad's side of the family has many heart concerns, and one of his older

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

LEXINGTON Ky. (Oct. 25, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has announced the fifth annual 5-Minute Fast Track student research competition finalists. These undergraduates competed in the competition’s preliminary round and were selected as Top 10 finalists. They presented their research Oct. 26 on campus. 

Abigail Knoy, a senior Lewis Honors College member and neuroscience major in UK's College of Arts and Sciences, won first place. Knoy's mentor is Myunghee Kim, Ph.D., Pigman College of Engineering

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 26, 2023) — Growing up in Winder, Georgia, a historic suburb northeast of Atlanta, Norina Samuels discovered that the quality time she spent with her family differed from that of her peers. While others reveled in exhilarating amusement parks and lavish beach getaways, Samuels' single mother, Karen, defied convention as she loaded Samuels and her brother into the family car and visited cemeteries.

“All my classmates asked, ‘Where did you go for Spring Break?’” Samuels said. “They all went to Myrtle Beach, and I answered, ‘I was looking up dead people.’ That’s what my mom enjoyed — she was really interested in genealogy. We spent a lot of our off-school time just traipsing along to the graveyards, so I got into looking at the headstones and all that stuff.”

By visiting cemeteries scattered

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Big Blue Nation is getting a foothold in Japan for University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy students and others.  

Through an initiative led by Christopher Crawford, professor of physics in UK’s College of Arts and Sciences, the National Science Foundation has approved a grant of nearly $300,000 to arrange for three cohorts of six U.S. undergraduates and one U.S. graduate student to go Nagoya University in Japan for research and development. They will work in a program titled “Neutron Optics Parity and Time Reversal Experiment” (NOPTREX). 

“The goal of these experiments is to investigate the physical mechanism responsible for the conversion of antimatter into matter in the early universe,” Crawford said. “This is one of the outstanding questions in particle

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

The 42nd annual Kentucky Book Festival will return to Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 21.

More than 150 authors — including many University of Kentucky faculty, staff and alumni — will be in attendance, meeting readers and signing books. Patrons can enjoy a full slate of main stage events alongside educational workshops and craft talks, as well as a children’s schedule of events.

This year’s program will include special appearances by New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward, nonfiction writer Stephen Bright (a UK alumnus), as well as a highlight of the book “A is for Affrilichia,” where UK Professor Frank X Walker and illustrator upfromsundirt

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2023) — How important is word of mouth when understanding climate change?

A new project, led by the Kentucky Climate Consortium research team at the University of Kentucky, is proving that oral histories can provide an intimate view of our shifting world.

The consoritium acts as a catalyst for climate research and education across the Commonwealth by providing networking opportunities for Kentucky-based climate scholars.

Through her work with the consortium, Lauren Cagle, associate professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 6, 2023) — The University of Kentucky will be home to a new research center focused on tobacco regulations in the Commonwealth named the Appalachian Tobacco Regulatory Science Team. Ann Kingsolver, professor of anthropology in the College of Arts & Sciences and director of the Appalachian Studies Program, is a member of the team. 

AppalTRuST is funded over five years with a $19 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse  under

By Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 4, 2023) — Isha Chauhan, a biology major in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences and Lewis Honors College student from La Grange, Kentucky, will receive one of 68 Astronaut Scholarships this year and has and completed a DAAD RISE research internship in Germany.

“These awards have given me the opportunity to connect with diverse groups of people and develop cross-cultural relationships,” Chauhan said. “I am so thankful to have received the chance to explore my future career through these unique experiences.”

As an Astronaut Scholar, Chauhan will receive up to $15,000 from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.. The scholarship is presented annually to outstanding college students majoring

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The portmanteau “DiaspoRicans” describes a demographic to which Karrieann Soto Vega belongs: people who come from or who trace their roots to Puerto Rico and don’t reside there. As part of her scholarship at the University of Kentucky, Soto Vega explores what it means to be part of Puerto Rico, especially in how artists and activists express their views on their relationship to the rest of the United States. 

 "I'm interested in part in popular culture and how activist rhetoric seeps into the work of reggaetón artists like Bad Bunny,” said Soto Vega, assistant professor of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies in UK’s

By Tatum Armstrong Monday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 2, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Martin Luther King (MLK) Center, Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Lewis Honors College, College of Arts and Sciences, and Department of Hispanic Studies are hosting “Cafecito con Chavez: An Evening with Eduardo Chavez.” 

The event will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5., in the Gatton Student Center’s Harris Ballroom. 

Chavez, the grandson of activist Cesar Chavez, is notable for his work as a

By Dave Melanson 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A multi-institutional collaboration led by University of Kentucky researchers Chad Risko and John Anthony was one of 37 teams to receive National Science Foundation funding as part of that organization’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future  program.

The program is a $72.5 million investment from NSF to drive the design, discovery and development of advanced materials needed to address major societal challenges. The program brings together a wide range of disciplines, including materials research, engineering, mathematics, computer science, chemistry and physics, to achieve outcomes not

By Meredith Weber 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 27, 2023) — Nearly 40 University of Kentucky alumni and students will be honored during the 32nd annual Lyman T. Johnson Awards Luncheon 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 13, in the Gatton Student Center Grand Ballroom on UK’s campus.   

UK’s academic colleges and units select at least one Black alumnus whose faith, hard work and determination has positively affected the lives of people on the UK campus, the city, state or nation. These individuals receive the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence award. At least one Black student who displays outstanding academic achievement and the ability to impact the lives of others is