Thanks to work by a group of geographers at the University of Kentucky, to ask “Where are you drinking?” may be just as telling as “What are you drinking?”

To examine the most popular beer in any given area of the United States, Associate Professor Matt Zook of the Department of Geography and others delved into the raw data offered by Twitter. What’s the story with Kentucky? The Commonwealth seems to have a clear preference for beer, specifically Bud Light and regional brands like Hudepohl.

Read the full story in Pacific Standard Magazine. 

by Whitney Hale, Andrea Richard

(April 10, 2014) — The Kentucky Women Writers Conference will feature bestselling Southern author Jill McCorkle at the 2014 conference scheduled for Sept. 12-13. Making her first appearance at the Women Writers Conference, McCorkle will lead a fiction workshop and perform a reading.

>>UPDATE: View the photo album of Jill McCorkle's reading and reception at the Art Museum in UK's Singletary Center for the Arts.

Jill McCorkle has written 10 works of fiction including the novels “Life After Life,” “Going Away Shoes,” “Creatures of Habit,” “Carolina Moon” and “Ferris Beach.” Her books

by Gail Hairston

(April 10, 2014) ― International Ladino recording star and song writer Sarah Aroeste will speak at the University of Kentucky today and perform in Lexington tonight. Ladino is the Judeo-Spanish dialect spoken by Jews of Spanish descent.

Aroeste will speak on "Ladino Music Transformed From Yesterday to Today" at 5 p.m. in the Niles Gallery of the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library.  Through a multi-media presentation including sound clips, video and live music, she will share stories from her family history to illustrate why she has become a leader in the

by Whitney Harder, Whitney Hale

(April 9, 2014) — University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections will host a reception to open an exhibit highlighting four undergraduates' Learning Lab internship projects from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the Great Hall of the Margaret I. King Building. The free public exhibit, showcasing items from their processed collections, will feature presentations from the four Learning Lab interns, including commentary on their scholarly projects.

The Learning Lab internship, now in its second year, is an experiential learning program that introduces undergraduate

by Whitney Hale

(April 9, 2014) — University of Kentucky Libraries will bestow two prestigious awards at its annual dinner this weekend. Noted cultural geographer and a former Provost's Distinguished Service Professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Geography Karl Raitz will receive the 2014 UK Libraries Award for Intellectual Achievement. UK Libraries will also recognize its Paul A. Willis Outstanding Faculty Award winner, Tari Keller. Both awards will be presented at the dinner scheduled for April 11, at Griffin Gate

by Thomas Janoski

(April 9, 2014) — In an effort to train University of Kentucky graduate students and help researchers, the Quantitative Initiative for Policy and Social Research (QIPSR) is bringing four of the most sophisticated methodologists in America for a mini-conference April 10-11 and a workshop May 15-18 on structural equation models (SEM). This method goes far beyond the typical single equation explanation of social science voting, health, participation, protesting or learning. It encompasses the combination of up to hundreds of variables into a complex system of meaningful behavior.

by Keith Hautala

(April 8, 2014) — When people think of psychologists, many envision a clinical setting, where the focus is on helping individuals with personal problems and relationships. But what about our problems and relationships with technology? For that, you need an engineering psychologist.

"That’s something that puzzles a lot of people: How do you put psychology together with engineering?" says Melody Carswell, a University of Kentucky professor of psychology and associate director of the UK Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments (Vis Center). "I think probably the most obvious way is

by Keith Hautala, Shane Tedder

(April 8, 2014) — The University of Kentucky this month is hosting the ninth annual Earth Days in the Bluegrass (EDBG), a month-long series of events promoting sustainability.  

The Office of Sustainability coordinates EDBG and partners with other campus and community organizations to provide a full calendar of workshops, presentations, films screenings and more. This year the schedule of events includes several unique sustainability-focused volunteer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 8, 2014) — A "¡Viva México!" event at the University of Kentucky will celebrate Latin American residents of Appalachia on Saturday evening, with a concert by the Latin-Appalachian roots band Appalatin, followed by the debut of a community-based theatrical performance titled "Las Voces de los Apalaches."

The concert starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12, in the Worsham Theater at the UK Student Center. The staged reading of "Las Voces de los Apalaches" starts at 8:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by UK's Appalachian Center and College of Arts and Sciences.
Appalatin plays roots music bridging Latin American and Appalachian folk traditions. The six-member band uses all-acoustic instrumentation, featuring

by Whitney Hale

(April 8, 2014) — "Reel to Real: Special Collections at the Movies," the University of Kentucky Special Collections Library's film series, will close this year with a screening of "Our Day," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, at Worsham Theater in the UK Student Center. The film series explores celebrated movies through a historically accurate perspective based on primary source materials found in Special Collections. The screening is free and open to the public.

“Our Day” is a short 1938 documentary about the Kelly family of Lebanon, Ky. Filmed by Wallace Kelly, the home movie looks at a day in the life of the family.

Movie

by Shane Burton

(April 4, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center is sponsoring a panel and book signing marking the 75th anniversary of the Frontier Nursing University, as part of year-long attention to the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty. 

The panel will be from 3:30-5 p.m. on Friday, April 11, in the Worsham Theater in the UK Student Center.

The panel will discuss service learning by young people volunteering in Appalachia as couriers with the Frontier Nursing Service. Anne Z. Cockerham, professor of history and associate dean for midwifery and women’

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 4, 2014) — Alex Brooks, a book conservator and faculty member at theGaines Center for the Humanities at the University of Kentucky, has been selected as an NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Summer Scholar from a national applicant pool to attend one of 30 seminars and institutes supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The NEH is a federal agency that, each summer, supports enrichment opportunities at colleges, universities and cultural institutions, so that faculty can work in collaboration and study with experts in humanities disciplines.

Brooks is one of 16 educators who will

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 4, 2014) — April showers bring bicycles for many University of Kentucky students and employees. Next week, UK — a Bicycle Friendly University — will celebrate two wheels as a form of transportation and educate the campus community about navigating campus by bike. As part of the popular annual Earth Days in the Bluegrass event, Parking and Transportation Services and the Bicycle Advisory Committee are presenting the second annual Bike Week, to be held April 6-11. All events are free.

The week is designed to acquaint the UK community with the variety of resources available to those choosing to bike on campus and to offer opportunities for students and employees to become engaged in Lexington bicycle culture.

Bike

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 4, 2014) — Today marks the second day of the 2014 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) taking place on the UK campus.  Nearly 4,000 students and mentors from across the country are here to present their research and creative endeavors.  The UK community is encouraged to attend the many poster, oral, performing and visual arts presentations, as well as other events happening as part of NCUR. 

Tonight, a concert by Lexington-based country band Sundy Best will take place at 9 p.m. at the Grand Reserve. A limited number of tickets are available to the UK community and may be purchased at the NCUR Registration Center in the Small Ballroom of the UK Student Center.  Tickets are $10 per person with a valid UK ID. 

Here is today's (Friday, April 4) schedule-at-a-glance:

•   8 – 11:30

By A&S Staff

Ana Liberato, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology has been awarded a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, and she will be a visiting fellow at the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies at the University of Neuchâtel (SFM) this summer.

“The Forum is a great fit given its commitment to support multidisciplinary migration research and research that examines the cultural, political and economic outcomes of migration and globalization,” Liberato said.

Liberato is working on a book project about the settlement and incorporation of Dominican immigrants in Switzerland.

Video By Chanel Friday, UK Public Relations and Marketing Intern. 

by Kody Kiser, Amy Jones-Timoney, Chanel Friday

(April 3, 2014) — A popular on–campus resource for students is celebrating a major birthday. 

UK’s Writing Center, located in The Hub @ WT’s, turned 30 years old during the 2013-14 academic year.  Over the last three decades, graduate and undergraduate peer consultants have assisted thousands of students, faculty and staff in creating essays, reports, slide show presentations and videos at no charge. 

UK marked the milestone with a special reception Wednesday, March 5, 2014. The program began with speakers who shared the Writing Center’s history and

by Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick

(April 2, 2014) — University Press of Kentucky (UPK) author T.R.C. Hutton has been named the recipient of the 2013 Weatherford Award for nonfiction for his book "Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South." The Weatherford Award is presented by Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association annually to

by Gail Hairston

(April 2, 2014) - The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees greatly enhanced the education of its liberal arts students yesterday with two programs that will greatly impact their communication skills – a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing curriculum within the Department of English and a new Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies.

With realistic aspirations to be among the nation’s best programs by 2020, the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of English will offer its students a full-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing this fall. Modeled after some of the finest graduate-level creative writing programs in the nation, UK’s curriculum will be taught by a faculty of prominent award-

Connor Shafren, a UK freshman triple-majoring in music education, music performance and German, demonstrates his "tank drum," a percussional instrument he created himself in his garage. While not a traditional form of research, the project involved creativity, hypothesizing, and coming up with a result at the end of several processes.  He submitted an abstract and was accepted to present his instrument at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) taking place this week at UK.  Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. If using a mobile device, click the "thought bubble" icon in the same area

by Ashley McIntyre, Tara Wilkins

(April 1, 2014) — Many central Kentucky residents are at risk of hunger, living in veritable food deserts, defined as areas with low access to fresh, healthy foods. Since March 15 and running through April 30, the Center for Community Outreach and local non-profit Seedleaf is working together to connect Lexington’s youth with healthy, fresh food, launching the Seedleaf Highlights Campaign with classroom visits, informational sessions, and a fundraising campaign with the crowdsourcing website, Indiegogo.com.

“The CCO provides volunteer opportunities to UK students that reach into both our local and global communities,” states Laura Greenfield, CCO’s director of promotions.  “