UK’s African American & Africana Studies Program in a partnership with the Lyric Theater & Cultural Arts Center, will kick-off Rebuilding the Block, the 2011-2012 S.T. Roach Community Conversations, on Saturday, December 10th with a Celebration of Black Men at 11 am. As the kick-off to the Community Conversation series, poet, professor and community activist Frank X Walker leads a salute to adult Men Making a Difference, young Men of Excellence & Promise.

UK Linguistics Club meeting will take place Thursday December 1st at 5pm in Student Center room 205.  As with the last one, faculty will be talking about their research.  Guest speakers will be Greg Stump, Jennifer Cramer and Mark Lauersdorf. 

This showcase will feature three films produced by AMI students that cover a wide range of content.  The films are "Searching for an Appalachian Accent" 15 mins- which explores the stigma attached to regional dialects, "A Little Piece of Me" 10 mins- which focuses on three stories about growing up gay in the mountains and "True Cost of Coal" 13 mins - which through personal stories explores the mark the coal industry has left on Eastern Kentucky communities.

Appalachian Media Institute strives to:

    Build the confidence levels and creative capacity of central Appalachian youth

    Position youth from central Appalachia as initiators of dialogue and social action around crucial community issues

    Highlight rural voices and to inform national audiences and diverse communities of the unique challenges that face rural Appalachian communities

    Enable our participants to become informed, tolerant, and engaged citizens and to recognize the interconnections between central Appalachia and the rest of the world"