CURRENTS is a pioneering first-year program at the University of Kentucky focusing on contemporary issues as a doorway to a deeper understanding of our world. CURRENTS provides a linked set of classes, extra-curricular activities, student-faculty interaction, and creates a close-knit community for a select group of first-year students.

Beginning in fall 2012, the program will be centered around an interactive course, UKC 180: America Through the Lens of the 2012 Election. Utilizing an innovative classroom design and extensive multi-media resources, the class will focus on the upcoming presidential election by exploring essential features of American democracy and the key challenges our nation faces on election day. The last third of the class will look back on the election after the results are known and look forward to the policy implications for the future. The class will draw widely from diverse humanities and social science disciplines, exploring current political, social, and cultural divisions and discourses from a wide range of angles. The class will be taught by award-winning faculty Kathi Kern and Mark Lawrence Kornbluh.

>>Listen to a CURRENTS podcast with Kathi Kern and Mark Kornbluh

CURRENTS will continue in the Spring 2013 semester with UKC 120: The Environment Today. By completing CURRENTS, first-year students will finish at least four of their 10 UK Core requirements, Composition & Communication I and II, Inquiry in the Natural/Physical/Mathematical Sciences, and U.S. Citizenship. Students will not only be able to experience a wide range of academic disciplines, they will also be able to form valuable connections with fellow students and faculty involved in the program.

For more information on the course, contact your advisor or email ashelp@uky.edu.