When my students ask me why I became a Latin teacher, I often tell them it was fate. This, obviously, is the short answer I give during class time when they have asked an off-topic question to avoid conjugating deponent verbs or learning about gerunds and gerundives. The truth of the matter is that I have grown to love the Latin language and couldn’t imagine my life without it. I was introduced to the wide world of Latin in college, continued my education until I was satisfied with my level of learning, and then  entered into the teaching profession at a college preparatory school.

The long and the short of it:

My first day on Western Washington’s campus for freshman orientation was bright and sunny. Naturally, I accessorized with short, hot-pink hair and old army fatigues I had found at the Army Navy supply for cheap. I walked over to my assigned classroom and sat

By Kathy Johnson

Nikky Finney, University of Kentucky English professor and winner of the National Book Award for poetry, was the guest on yesterday's "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Loyola game that was broadcast on radio.

"UK at the Half" airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by Carl Nathe of UK Public Relations and Marketing.

To hear the "UK at the Half" interview, click here. To view a transcript of the "UK at the Half" interview, click

By Whitney Hale

The LGBT community is quite diverse in Lexington. In hopes of representing and celebrating the population's various differences, University of Kentucky Gaines Fellow and knitter Catherine Brereton has launched the Diversity Project, which seeks to create a visual representation of the community through a large piece of yarn-art. One stitch at a time, Brereton hopes the Diversity Project will create unity.

To finish the final product, a blanket made of 144 squares, Brereton is asking the public to take part in the initiative. There are various ways to participate in the project including a knitting event this weekend beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, at Great Bagel, located at 396 Woodland Avenue in Lexington. For more information on this event, visit Facebook at 

Rebekah Tilley

Many of us have had to endure the constant barking of a neighbor’s dog for days or weeks on end. We know there is a clearly outlined noise violation law on the books for just this situation, yet we’re unwilling to take action against our neighbor despite our great annoyance.

Why is this?

“Often concepts of good neighborliness in the United States involve not suing over little things,” explained Dr. Srimati Basu, Associate Professor in the UK Department of Gender and Women's Studies. “Not because you are afraid of the law, but because you want to be seen as a certain sort of person.”

Basu takes a unique approach to feminist jurisprudence by examining the ways law exists in the real world rather than merely

By Colleen Glenn

After graduating from UK in the spring of 2011, James Chapman wasted no time in getting started on his career path. A dual Political Science and International Studies major at UK, Chapman continued doubling up on his studies in graduate school: he is now pursuing a joint law degree and Middle East policy master's degree at George Washington University.

“I would like to be involved with both law and policy in some manner, perhaps for the United Nations or the U.S. Department of State,” said Chapman. “I could also see myself working for a private law firm with an office in the region or a group that works in issues concerning the Middle East.”

Chapman got hands-on experience in learning about Middle East policy when he studied abroad in

RJ “Publius” Parsons came to the University of Kentucky after several years in which he taught high-school music and Latin in Miami, Florida, and Glendale, California. He has done extensive research into impressionistic music theory, medieval polyphony, and renaissance counterpoint most recently creating a musical score of sacred motets written by the sixteenth-century Flemish composer Noe Faignant. Throughout his musical tuition RJ has enjoyed employing texts that were written entirely in Latin, as for centuries it was the language of scholarship in all disciplines and especially music. He took so much pleasure in using the Latin skills he had obtained in school that he decided to teach it!

At the American Classical League convention’s spoken Latin seminar held at Loyola Marymount University, RJ first met Drs. Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg and although he

Jonathan Meyer studied classics and religion at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI) and Yale Divinity School before coming to the University of Kentucky. He has also participated in the summer Latin program directed by Reginald Foster (OCD). He has taught students in Latin and Greek at the high school and college levels and has assisted in graduate courses dealing with biblical studies, religious history, and ancient Greek history. At the University of Kentucky, he has taught courses in beginning and intermediate Latin and Greek. In 2011 he received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.

His research interests include the epic tradition, ancient religion, and neo-Latin literature; his translations of selections from Homer’s Odyssey and the Legenda Aurea have been published and will appear in the forthcoming The Gospel of Judas

Hailing from Carmel, CA, William Little completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University in 2010 and subsequently earned a Master’s Degree in Medieval Studies at Fordham University, where he wrote a thesis exploring the practice and use of Biblical exegesis at the eleventh-century court of Matilda, Countess of Tuscany.  His interests lie in the intellectual and literary history of the Latin Middle Ages, in particular Biblical exegesis and the reception of classical texts (especially poetry).  Seeing as such areas of inquiry demand a deep familiarity with the Latinity of many different times, places, and genres, the program in Classics at the University of Kentucky immediately appealed to him on account of its openness toward the entirety of the Latin patrimony, approaching texts from classical antiquity and those of the Middle Ages and beyond with the same level of

Donald Handshoe, a senior and a double major in Classics and Anthropology, divides his time between his studies and his work, both of which as it turns out have to do with archaeology, his passion.  His recent studies have included Latin, Greek, and Italian, but also courses in ancient geography, the history of the Roman Empire, and masterpieces of classical literature.  All of this is impressive enough, but what is especially noteworthy is his contribution to the excavations directed by UK professor Paolo Visonà at Monte Palazzi in southern Italy.

Because only 10% of the site had been excavated, Professor Visonà contacted the University of Kentucky's Archaeological Research Facility to inquire about geophysical testing, and in the summer of 2010 Donald traveled to the site to conduct electrical resistance and fluxgate gradiometry testing.  The

Marcello Lippiello earned his MA in Classics and the Graduate Certificate in Latin Studies at the University of Kentucky, both in 2005.  Highlights included the opportunity to prepare an original Latin translation of Plato's Lysis (under the excellent guidance of Professor Minkova) as part of his MA exams, as well as a number of experiences teaching introductory level Latin and leading group discussions for Professor Rabel's Ancient Stories and Modern Film course.  Marcello's experiences in the Institute for Latin Studies and in teaching during this time helped him to discern a calling to a career as a teacher of the Classics.

More opportunities to teach would follow at Duke University, where Marcello enrolled as a doctoral student in Classical Studies in 2005.  While at  Duke, he taught Introductory Latin, Intermediate Latin (

Antoine Haaker was born in Boulogne-sur-mer (France) and did his undergraduate studies in Classics at the University of Lille. During the summer, he once travelled to Rome in order to attend the Latin course of Father Reginald Foster. Father Foster is a Carmelite who used to work in the Vatican at the Latin letters office where official documents of the Church are written in or translated into Latin. For Father Foster Latin is still a living language, and this is how he teaches it. He speaks it in front of his students and proposes to read passages from the whole range of Latin literature, from antiquity down to the twentieth century.

“My professors in France hardly read aloud the texts we were translating in class, let alone speak Latin. Besides, they only dealt with strictly ancient Roman literature. So, going to Rome and meeting Reginald Foster was an eye-opener.”

A&S linguists are working to save a language on the verge of extinction.

By Jennifer T. Allen

photos by Tim Collins

In the Pamir Mountains of eastern Tajikistan, a language is spoken – not written, not taught in schools – simply spoken. With merely 60,000 speakers in Tajikistan and Afganistan, the Shughni language is at risk of extinction. Linguistics professors in the College of Arts & Sciences are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“Language is part of our culture and if you lose the language, you lose part of yourself. You lose your identity,” said GulnoroMirzovafoeva, who teaches English grammar, lexicology and discourse analysis at Khorog State University in Tajikistan.

Mirzovafoeva and two other Shughni scholars traveled to Lexington to collaborate with UK professors in hopes of creating a

By Stephanie Lang

“Globalize yourself” has taken on a whole new meaning in UK’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“Because of increasingly sophisticated technology, the impacts of economic, ecological, political, or health processes in one part of the world can rapidly impact other parts of the world,” said Monica Udvardy, associate professor of anthropology and director of the International Studies Program. “In other words, the issues and problems and topics of traditional disciplines are increasingly global in scope.”

Implemented in the fall semester of 2007, the International Studies Program allows students to transcend a variety of borders.

“Whether those boundaries are geographical, political, cultural, personal, or language-based doesn’t matter. Intercultural competency and awareness of the interconnectedness of the global environment are invaluable in

By Stephanie Lang

“Globalize yourself” has taken on a whole new meaning in UK’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“Because of increasingly sophisticated technology, the impacts of economic, ecological, political, or health processes in one part of the world can rapidly impact other parts of the world,” said Monica Udvardy, associate professor of anthropology and director of the International Studies Program. “In other words, the issues and problems and topics of traditional disciplines are increasingly global in scope.”

Implemented in the fall semester of 2007, the International Studies Program allows students to transcend a variety of borders.

“Whether those boundaries are geographical, political, cultural, personal, or language-based doesn’t matter. Intercultural competency and awareness of the interconnectedness of the global environment are invaluable in

Bringing new technologies into history classrooms

by Stephanie Lang

photos by Tim Collins

Kathi Kern found a little humor in the “pencils only” sign positioned prominently on the research tables in King Library. Seems slightly different than the new approach to teaching and researching history, she thought. Not many people immediately connect teaching history with new technologies.

But for Kern, these new technologies proved irresistible. Whether it is her pricy camera providing a fascinating glimpse into topics of interest, the iPhone that is constantly by her side, or any number of multi-purpose gadgets – Kern has combined lightening fast computer speeds with the tried and true process of research and writing to reveal to her students and herself, a new way of

The Internet has grown so useful and powerful in such a short period of time that people sometimes never question the endless information it unfurls to its captivate audience. As a professor at a university, Jeremy Popkin is already all too aware of that issue, but he never imagined that the issue would abruptly come crashing through his door.

“We were all stunned,” Popkin began, as he explained his initial response to the accusations that the University of Kentucky had dropped its Holocaust course.

The false e-mail messages began in April of 2007. The Daily Telegraph in London had published an article online about a national commission recommending the best ways to teach difficult subject matter like the Holocaust. Another article in the Telegraph said a school in Birmingham, England, had dropped the Holocaust class out of fear that it would incite anti-

by Megan Neff

photos by Mark Cornelison

Zach Shultz’s work as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky has gone far beyond the typical goal of just making it out in four years. In the time it takes many students to decide upon a tentative career plan, Shultz has called into question and redefined the boundaries of academia twice over.

For one, the sociology and Spanish double major was the first to make use of the Undergraduate Honors Thesis Program. And by extension, the focus of his thesis critically examined existing boundaries in academia as well as notions of identity in a globalized world.

But Shultz did not start his freshman year at UK in 2005 with these ambitious goals. He began as an English major

by Michelle Ku

photo by Richie Wireman

In the Department of Hispanic Studies at UK, linguistics will no longer be playing second fiddle.

With a graduate program renowned for its literature studies, the linguistics side of Spanish is once again ready to rosin up its bow.

In the last three years, the number of linguists on the department’s faculty has tripled to three professors and the regularly offered graduate-level linguistics classes have grown from two to nine.

Most importantly, Hispanic Studies unveiled an Allied Field in Hispanic Linguistics, a concentration area intended to supplement the literature course work of a doctoral candidate.

“For students in all fields of Hispanic Studies, the study of linguistics, the scientific study of language, can inform

by Jessica Fisher

photos by Mark Cornelison

For the past 62 years, the University of Kentucky has hosted the internationally recognized Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC). Following two horrific world wars, its inception in 1948, was in line with national trends that “marked a resurgence of foreign language study as a way of furthering intercultural comprehension, what we now call global competence, and a desire to increase understanding that would avoid future wars,” according to Executive Director of the KFLC and Latin American Studies professor, Susan Carvalho. 

“The same thing happened with

by Ana Rueda

"Film," for Professor Susan Larson, "is one of the twentieth-century’s major contributions to the ways that societies tell stories about themselves and others." With the belief that students need to be trained to interpret the visual images produced by and of the Spanish-speaking world in an informed and critical way in order to come to a greater understanding of its many cultures, the Department of Hispanic Studies has been laying the groundwork for this new emphasis in film and visual studies for several years. Complementing the long-established mission of the department to teach language, literature and other forms of written and oral culture with the hire last year of Film and Visual Studies Professor Juana Suárez, the department has taken a