By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's College of Arts & Sciences continues to expand its language offerings this year, as the UK Board of Trustees approved a Chinese studies major in early fall 2011 on the heels of Japan studies last year.

"We've gotten a lot of positive student response," said Matt Wells, professor of Chinese and director of Undergraduate Studies for the new major. "The program offers four years of Chinese language, study abroad opportunities and an interdisciplinary curriculum covering modern and pre-modern Chinese culture."

A major couldn't come too soon, as the number of students studying Chinese has experienced 20-30 annual growth, according to Wells. "We have more students in our 101 classes now than there

By Erin Holaday Ziegler, Arielle Parker

A University of Kentucky club is bringing anthropology to life and giving students hands-on experience with a prehistoric weapon whose popularity peaked 30,000 years ago.

Since its founding last year, the CATLATL Club at UK has introduced many students to the atlatl: a long-range, spear-throwing weapon that resembles a bow and arrow and ball thrower.

The atlatl, which employs basic physics to launch a dart at a designated target, is a spear-like device with three main parts: the handle (grip), the shaft and the peg. The dart is located at the rear of the atlatl and then launched by snapping the wrist. The atlatl launches a dart with more force and speed than when thrown by hand. And

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky will host 40 of the world's experts in early modern France at an interdisciplinary conference this week.

The 30th Annual Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies (SE17) will begin Thursday, Nov. 3, with scholarly papers and discussion. The meeting will be held in the Blue Grass Room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Lexington and is free and open to the public.

Jeffrey Peters, the director of UK's Division of French and Italian Studies, organized the three-day scholarly get-together.

"The nature of literary studies has

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

When University of Kentucky freshman Gareth Voss was a student at Lexington's Dunbar High School and was tasked with finding a UK professor to work with on a Math, Science, and Technology Center (MSTC) senior project, he never thought that a common email mix-up would have such a lasting effect on his scholarly trajectory.

At the time, Gareth Voss's dad, UK political science Professor Dennis Stephen Voss, happened to receive quite a few emails by mistake pertaining to the work of UK biology Professor Stephen Randal Voss. The unrelated email addresses are unavoidably similar.

When Gareth Voss

By Brad Duncan, Jenny Wells

 Using the Halloween holiday as a backdrop for their lessons, students in the University of Kentucky College of Education's Master's with Initial Certification (MIC) program worked with students from the UK Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) to help them prepare for their upcoming TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exams while they also learned how to work with ESL students.

MIC students were placed in groups and charged with developing curricula to teach English language principles using Halloween topics, from making masks to solving puzzles to learning the basics of trick-or-treating as done by children in the United States. Then each group

The University of Kentucky's Clinical Psychology program took the number one spot in a national study of productivity rankings, meaning that UK psychology graduate students and professors in the College of Arts & Sciences are generating a host of novel research that is effective and influential as well.

By Erin Holaday Ziegler, Andrew Jarrells

Lexington's Isaac Murphy Bicycle Club grew out of writer and avid cycler Frank X Walker's vision. The English professor and director of UK's African American and Africana Studies Program wanted to link inner city children to Lexington's Legacy Trail by providing them with bicycles and the equipment needed to enjoy a bike ride.

Furthermore, Walker wanted young participants to have access to mentors; mentors would provide training, education and diet guidance to Lexington's youth.

The bicycle club is named for Isaac Murphy, who grew up on the East End of Lexington, was a three-time Kentucky Derby

Close, intimate relationships are an essential part of human existence. And obviously, when a partner cheats, it isn't exactly going to brighten your day. New research by Nathan DeWall and colleagues explored the role of attachment style in cheating behavior and attitudes. Read the full article.

Allison Harnish is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology. Harnish recently received a Fulbright Grant to conduct research on the environmental and economic ramifications of displacement and resettlement in Southern Province, Zambia. Harnish was invited to participate on this project by Lisa Cliggett, her advisor. Many social and environmental scientists have been involved in this project for the last few decades.

https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/Documenting%20Displacement_%…

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Diwali is known as the "festival of lights" and is being celebrated with vibrant Indian dance, music and food. Diwali Dhoom is open to the campus community and the general public. The event will feature a talent show including performances from the University of Cincinnati, University of Louisville, Wright State University and other competitive teams. The event will be followed by a reception featuring a traditional Indian dinner menu.

Tickets are available at the Singletary Center center box-office or online. The prices are $17.95 for students and $19.95 for adults (subject to Singletary Ticketing fees); tickets do include the price of dinner. Dinner is being provided by Shalimar Indian Restaurant from Louisville.



For

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky is one of America's first universities to receive students from the southwest Asian state of Oman in a five-year scholarship agreement with the nation's Ministry of Higher Education.  UK welcomed 50 undergraduate students to campus last week.

Most Omani students will be registering for American engineering, computer science and business courses in January 2012, after an intensive English language program (IELP) at their respective university, but UK has the ability to enroll students now, due to its English as a Second Language Program's (ESL)'s mid-fall admit date.

"Our Center for English as a Second Language has increasingly become an integral part of the academic program at UK, as we seek to provide academic advising even before the

Russian studies, 2008

During my four years at the University of Kentucky, I discovered my passion in life. My freshman year, I signed up for a Russian language class, and just fell in love with the language, the culture, and the literature of the Russian people. I had the incredible opportunity to take language classes from full professors, one of whom is the head of the department! I have since learned that a professor teaching an introductory language course is a rarity, as they are generally taught at universities by lecturers or graduate students, as well as an incredible treat. My first year teacher could answer any possible question I had in a completely logical way, and her enthusiasm for the subject was absolutely contagious. I am now teaching my own first year Russian class at Indiana University in Bloomington, and one of my goals is to impart the very clear

Date:

Friday, OCtober 28, 2011 - 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Location:

228 Student Center

"Re-thinking Difference"

According to Heidegger, the difference between being and beings is the most essential difference of all. Not surprisingly it is a constant in his thinking from beginning to end. Yet in the course of his work, he re-thinks this difference fundamentally, recognizing its at times ambivalent sense and even insisting on the need to abandon various versions of it, particularly as he foregoes his early project of fundamental ontology. His re-thinking of the difference plays a crucial role in his attempt to differentiate the leading question (Leitfrage) of metaphysics from the basic question (Grundfrage) of his thinking, especially in his work from the mid-1930s on. Consideration of Heidegger’s re-thinking of the difference between being and beings

Professor Brandon Look has been invited to be the Hans Kohn Member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey for academic year 2011-12.

The Institute for Advanced Study is a private, independent research center, founded in 1930, whose goal is to foster and support theoretical research and intellectual inquiry in the sciences and humanities.  It is divided into four Schools -- Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences  -- and has a permanent faculty of 28 distinguished thinkers.  Each year the Institute invites approximately 190 scientists and scholars from around the world to be members and to work and study within its community.

Past faculty have included Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel,

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

Four individuals will join the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame during a ceremony this evening at the Keene Barn and Entertainment Center. 

The school's Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding alumni, faculty and students whose foundation for success can be found in the Arts and Sciences.

"We are tremendously pleased about inducting these outstanding Arts and Sciences graduates and faculty into our Hall of Fame," said Mark Lawrence Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "As our students prepare for their own journeys, the achievements of our award-winning alumni and faculty serve as an inspiration, bringing honor to the entire university and improving

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's College of Arts & Sciences welcomes an internationally renowned filmmaker to campus next week to discuss the history and memory of China's Cultural Revolution.

Sociology professor Keiko Tanaka will show scholar and filmmaker Carma Hinton's award-winning documentary, "Morning Sun," to UK's "Passport to China: Global Issues & Local Understanding," class at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Room 118 Classroom Building.

Hinton will join Tanaka's class at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 for a discussion of the film. Both the film viewing and the discussion are open to the public.

"We are fortunate to have such a wonderful opportunity to hear a renowned director and great public speaker discuss her film in person," said assistant professor of Chinese

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

Grateful people aren't just kinder people, according to UK College of Arts & Sciences psychology Professor Nathan DeWall. They are also less aggressive.

DeWall proves his point with five studies on gratitude as a trait and as a fleeting mood, discovering that giving thanks lowers daily aggression, hurt feelings and overall sensitivity.

"If you count your blessings, you're more likely to empathize with other people," said the researcher who is more well-known for studying factors that increased aggression. "More empathic people are less aggressive."

Gratitude motivates people to express sensitivity and concern for others and stimulates pro-social behavior, according to DeWall. Although gratitude

The University of Kentucky Confucius Institute one-year anniversary celebration will culminate with a concert by world-renowned guest violin soloist Sha at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Memorial Hall.

Sha is one of China’s leading violinists on the world stage today. Her singing style and dynamic stage presence have mesmerized audiences from East to West. Born in Shanghai, China, Sha started the violin at age 6, and as a child prodigy, appeared often on radio and television.

"We are so lucky to have Sha return to celebrate with us," said Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at UK. Sha participated in the UK Confucius Institute Inaugural Ceremony and Concert on Nov. 6, 2010.

"The Confucius Institute has achieved so much this year,"

By Guy Spriggs

University of Kentucky's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES), in partnership with UK alumnus Tom Spalding (’80, ’82), accepted a $600,000 gift from Pioneer Natural Resources Company today.

Spalding is vice president of Pioneer, a large independent oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, with operations in Texas, Colorado, Alaska and South Africa.

“Pioneer really went to bat for us,” said David Moecher, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies of EES in the 

Jeremy Popkin is the T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. professor of History for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the director of the Jewish Studies Program, an interdisciplinary minor.

He has been named one of six finalists for the 2011 Cundill Prize in History, the world‘s largest nonfiction history book award, for his recent publication of "You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery."

The Jewish Studies Program will have its open-house event on Wednesday, October 19th, from 12 - 1:30 p.m. at the Bingham-Davis House (213 E. Maxwell Street).

https://https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/Jeremy%20Popkin.mp3

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