By Daily Bates

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 2, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected 12 undergraduate students for its fellowship program. 

The Gaines Fellowship Program began in 1984 thanks to a gift from John and Joan Gaines. The program aims to recognize exceptional academic achievement, independent research capabilities, commitment to public issues and a passion for deepening the understanding of the human condition through the humanities.

“I want to acknowledge the hard work and difficult decisions made by our volunteer faculty selection committee led by Chelsea Brislin. This was a record year for Gaines applications and every one of them was stellar,” said Richard H. Schein, acting

By Lindsay Travis 

Jeremiah Smith

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 1, 2024) — A study by a group of researchers at the University of Kentucky in collaboration with scientists in four other countries has been published in Nature.

Jeramiah Smith, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, collaborated with an international research group to parse the hagfish genome and better understand the early evolution of vertebrates.

Their study is “The hagfish genome and the evolution of vertebrates.” Hagfish are a type of jawless fish that live in deep ocean

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2024) — On Monday, April 8,sky gazers across North America will be treated to a total solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the planet and temporarily blocking the sun's light. Weather permitting, this event creates an awe-inspiring display as the sky darkens and the sun's corona becomes visible.

Like the rest of the continent, the University of Kentucky and Lexington are gearing up for this rare natural phenomenon. However, it's important to note that Lexington will only experience approximately 97% coverage. While that might sound good enough, experts in the UK Department of Physics and

By Brandon Brown and Lindsey Piercy
 

A James Beard Foundation Award nominee as Outstanding Restaurateur and Best Chef Southeast, Ouita Michel has built a regional restaurant empire. Michel majored in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 25, 2024) — From the distilling industry to policy making, University of Kentucky alumnae are not just preserving Kentucky traditions — they’re rewriting them.  

Shannon Arvin, J.D., Maggie Davis, Tia Edwards, Ouita Michel, Crystal Staley and Tukea Talbert offer a glimpse into the diverse

By Jennifer T. Allen

Annie Saylor (first row, far left) after winning a math contest that earned her a college scholarship.

As a young girl growing up in the small mining community of Molus, Ky., in Harlan County nestled in the mountains of Appalachia, Annie Saylor excelled at math.  

“I enjoyed being good at something that other people weren’t,” she said. “I like being able to teach it, and I like that sense you get when you solve the problem.” 

Her acumen for math made college possible. While in high school, she won a math contest that allowed her to attend Cumberland College (now known as University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Ky., on scholarship. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Saylor came to the University of Kentucky to pursue her graduate studies in mathematics and numerical analysis.  

“I chose UK

By Ryan Girves 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 22, 2024) – Is Gratz Park really haunted? Where did the lore of Moth Man come from? Does Lexington have a tarot card reader? These topics will be explored at this year’s Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues presented by the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities.  

Presented annually, the Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues provides an opportunity for Lexington community members, faculty and students to come together and discuss our city’s past, present and future. Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, Ph.D. a

In early 2021, the Nunn Center and Dr. Janice Fernheimer partnered to launch the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. This oral history project, built in collaboration with students, documents women who have played important roles in Kentucky’s bourbon industry. Doug Boyd and Janice Fernheimer reflect on this phase of the oral history project and some key themes expressed in the interviews.  
 

By Morgan Luster 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky’s Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences will offer its 49th annual Naff Symposium, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium. The theme is  “Energetic Foundations and Futures of Life.”

The day's lectures will start with the dawn of life, which emerging science now explains in terms of reactions that capture and convert energy. Moreover, variants of those same reactions are being exploited in new research for a sustainable future. 

Distinguished scholars from around the world will present their work to students and faculty from UK as well as other colleges and universities in Kentucky and

By Haven L. Patrick

Posters-at-the-Capitol is a one-day annual event to help increase the understanding of the role undergraduate research plays in higher education. Photo provided by OUR.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The 22nd annual Posters-at-the-Capitol on March 7 featured 13 University of Kentucky undergraduate research projects that address such issues in Kentucky as public safety, energy conservation, homeownership and lung cancer prevention. 

Posters-at-the-Capitol is hosted by Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, University of

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Maddie Duff is reaching out to her fellow Appalachians through a University of Kentucky research initiative called SPARK, or Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky.  

Duff, a junior neuroscience major in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, conducts research through SPARK, the Appalachian Career Training in Oncology and the John Calhoun Wells Eastern Kentucky Scholars Fund. Each of these programs encourage and assist students with giving back inside their communities. For example, Duff conducts phone surveys of people with hearing issues.

“A lot of the participants I've dealt with just want to be heard,” said Duff, who’s from Prestonburg, Ky. “They want somebody to understand the struggles that they go through as a patient who has all these

By Daily Bates

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 15, 2024) — While St. Patrick’s Day is associated with wearing green, community parades and shamrock hunting, the holiday is also grounded in history that dates back more than 1,500 years.

Did you know, the earliest known celebrations were held in the 17th century on March 17 — marking the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick in the 5th century?

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, Ph.D., 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, has expertise in how St. Patrick’s Day came to be.

By Jennifer T. Allen

Last year, Jayden Sheridan worked 70+ hours a week to make ends meet while taking a 19-credit hour course load. A first-generation student from Findlay, Ohio, majoring in political science and minoring in gender and women’s studies and criminology while also working on a peace studies certificate, Sheridan has no lack of motivation.

“Looking back, I don’t know how I was doing that,” she said. “I don’t know how I was keeping my grades up and also working that much. Honestly, last year was a blur.” 

Being the first in your family to attend college means navigating the world of higher education without much guidance from home. Sheridan knew that to get the research experiences she wanted while in college, she was going to have to look for funding opportunities. 

“First-generation students don’t know where to go for scholarships

By Lindsey Piercy and Kody Kiser

Who are your kitchen ghosts?

Hold onto that question, we’re going to come back to it.

We don’t all have the same upbringings. But we do all have people, places and things that inform who we are today.

We all have loved ones we try so dearly to hold onto — even when they are no longer physically with us. And Crystal Wilkinson finds, in those desperate moments, happy memories centered around food have a uniquely protective power.

When baking thick and buttery biscuits, the acclaimed poet and fiction writer often summons “Granny Christine” to join her.

“The kitchen was where the secrets were revealed, plans were made, advice was

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 11, 2024) — Theodore Schatzki, Ph.D., professor philosophy at the University of Kentucky, is serving as the 2023-24 College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished Professor and will deliver the annual Distinguished Professor Lecture on Monday, March 25.

Schatzki is also a professor in the Department of Geography and, until September 2024

By Meredith Weber and Steve Shaffer 

Award winners Jordan Brower, left, Bradley Elliott, Mark Fillmore, Kayla Johnson, Eric Thomas Weber and Zada Komara; and UK Alumni Association president Janie McKenzie-Wells and awards committee chair Kelly Sullivan Holland. Carter Skaggs | UK Photo

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 8, 2024) — What makes a good teacher a great one? University of Kentucky students were eager to share their opinions about the best teacher in their lives, nominating them for one of the most esteemed awards on campus.

The UK Alumni Association 2024 Great Teacher Award was recently bestowed upon six UK educators. Initiated in 1961,

By Jennifer T. Allen 

JWells looks for the gaps. The places where others aren’t looking; aren’t researching; aren’t writing. When she was volunteering at a county jail as an assistant GED instructor, JWells began to learn the extent of bias toward people of color, especially men of color, in the carceral system. Then she began to realize that the voices of one of the fastest growing populations in prison – women – were missing.  

“I started to quickly find out there wasn’t really, at that time, any research on women in prison,” she said. “I read all these memoirs written by men when they were incarcerated. I read all these statistics about men, but attention to women was just starting to develop.” 

As JWells followed the gap, she noticed there was also a gap in information about incarcerated

By Kody Kiser 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 4, 2024) — On March 5, 1964, following the postponement of legislation aimed at eliminating segregation in public accommodations in Kentucky, some 10,000 residents of the Commonwealth of Kentucky came together with notable civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson, to participate in a March on Frankfort. This interracial protest was designed to exert pressure on the governor, urging support for a more robust legislative proposal.

On this episode of "Behind the Blue," University of Kentucky professor of history Gerald Smith talks about the historical context and significance of the march, the legacy it left behind and how, 60 years later, it continues to be

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Anthony R. Bardo, assistant professor of sociology in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, is participating in a key international 12-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development panel. The panel will focus on revising the Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity’s Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-Being.  

 Social scientists in member states use these guidelines when collecting data. The guidelines help to harmonize efforts that promote international comparisons to gauge trends in national-level well-being and social progress. An online event to kick off the revision will be at

By Richard LeComte  

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For baseball fans, the game can be poetry in motion: Athletes swing, catch, run, slide and throw with both power and grace. Thus it’s natural that Dorian Hairston, a former University of Kentucky baseball player, English major and writer, would use poetry to chronicle the life of one of the sport’s greatest players. 

In the book, “Pretend the Ball is Named Jim Crow,” Hairston collects a series of provocative poems about Josh Gibson (1911-1947), the legendary Negro Leagues player who hit more than 800 home runs and was compared favorably to Babe Ruth. Because of segregation, Gibson never got to play in the majors, and he died just before

By Daily Bates and Emily Sallee 

Rachel Hwang, left, and Ella Brown-Terry will complete their Fulbright Canada-MITACS Globalink Research Internships this summer.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 26, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that Ella Brown-Terry and Rachel Hwang have received Fulbright Canada-MITACS Globalink Research Internships, which will be completed this summer.

The program provides