By Guy Spriggs

When UK English doctoral student Travis Martin returned from military service in 2006, he found himself dealing with avoidance issues and concerns about assimilating into life after deployment. Martin says he didn’t know how to answer questions others had about the war. “I didn’t like being reminded of it all the time. I started avoiding situations and people altogether,” he said.

Then, in his last undergraduate semester at Eastern Kentucky University, Martin read a book by an Iraq war veteran when taking a course on memoirs. Martin was nervous about the assignment at first, but this exposure to another veteran’s story became a formative experience for him as both a scholar and a returning soldier.

“I found that the more I

by Gail Hairston

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 7, 2013) — Members of the public and especially young people are encouraged to attend "Aiming for New Heights," a celebration of the Lexington Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the group of black and white individuals largely responsible for Kentucky’s civil rights movement.

The unique event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, in the University of Kentucky Student Center Annex. 

The day includes presentations, panel discussions and exhibits about the civil rights era in Kentucky, most commonly identified as dominating the 1960s, although some scholars date African Americans’ struggle for equality from the post-Civil War Reconstruction era of the late 19th century. For many, the highlight will be an exhibit of wax figures depicting Kentucky’s CORE leaders. The afternoon will be

by Grace Liddle & Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 6, 2013) – University of Kentucky Libraries is adding another stamp to its passport in support of the UK College of Arts and Sciences Passport to the World program with exhibitions and programs in celebration of ¡Viva Mexico!

The exhibits and events at UK Libraries include:

by Whitney Hale

(Nov. 6, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Special Collections will celebrate the career of Appalachia scholar and historian Ron D. Eller. The donation ceremony of the Ron Eller Papers will include a talk by historian Chad Montrie on Nov. 8.

The public is invited to a formal donation of Eller's papers at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, located in 104 Margaret I. King Building. The program will include Montrie's talk, "

by Keith Hautala

(Nov. 6, 2013) — Being a successful student at the University of Kentucky requires a high level of commitment and self-discipline.

That goes double for students in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC.

ROTC cadets have committed to serve their country after graduation by pursuing a commission as an officer in the Army or the Air Force. In addition to their regular classes, ROTC cadets take officer training courses. This includes hands-on leadership training in a laboratory environment, academic courses and a rigorous physical training program (PT).

"With a lot of other students on campus, they schedule their classes later in the day so they don’t have to get up early," said U.S. Army Cadet Megan Presley, a sophomore majoring in psychology. "But with ROTC, you have PT in the morning. I have to be up at 5:30

by Nathan Owen

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 6, 2013) — The University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, in collaboration with the Appalachian Media Institute, will provide a glimpse into Appalachia through a showcase of young filmmakers’ documentaries.

The event takes place at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11, in Room 106 of the Whitehall Classroom Building. Representatives from AMI’s Summer Documentary Institute will screen three self-produced documentaries, each around 10 minutes long.

by Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Confucius Institute (UKCI) celebrates three years of collaborations with educational institutions in China at a free public concert on Nov. 7.

The "3rd Anniversary Celebration Concert: Featuring the Shanghai University School of Music" will spotlight string music, the pipa, martial arts and other musical talents from Shanghai. The concert will begin 7 p.m. Thursday, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

"UKCI is pleased to have the students and faculty from the College of Music of Shanghai University to join us in

by Jenny Wells & Grace Liddle

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2013) — As the first lecture of the Chellgren Seminar Series, Ganpathy Murthy, professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, will deliver a lecture titled “The Birth of Our Universe” 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium. He will discuss the Big Bang Theory — not the television show.  A reception will follow in the Alumni Gallery.

Murthy, considered a dynamic speaker, is capable of bringing deep physical insights to an audience of non-specialists. He received his doctorate in theoretical

by Gail Hairston

(Oct. 31, 2013) — The 46 winners of the fourth annual Outstanding Staff Awards; their friends and colleagues; and several campus leaders, including University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto, gathered at Spindletop Hall yesterday for a recognition luncheon.

Although the weather was a bit dreary, the mood was festive, enhanced by the performances of School of Music graduate quartet fellows, Maureen Kelly and William Ronning; and Iris Fordjour-Hankins, Alltech Vocal Scholar and doctoral candidate in Opera Theater, accompanied by UK School of Music faculty member, Tedrin Blair Lindsay.

“It’s a special pleasure to recognize our outstanding staff in this way – the many who work hard each day to represent the University of Kentucky, advance their college or unit, and support our impactful mission,” said President Capilouto. “I’m

Burt Davis, longtime associate director for the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research's Clean Fuels and Chemicals Group, has been selected as the 2013 American Chemical Society's Energy & Fuels Division Distinguished Researcher Award in Petroleum Chemistry. Criteria used for the award include excellence in research in the broadly defined area of petroleum chemistry, as evidenced by publications, patents, invention or commercialization of new technologies, and leadership in the research area. Dr. Davis is also a former ACS Storch Award recipient from 2002. One of the ACS top awards, the Storch Award recognizes distinguished contributions to fundamental or engineering research on the chemistry and utilization of all hydrocarbon fuels,

by Kathy Johnson & Sarah Geegan

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 30, 2013) ― The University of Kentucky is one of the top producers of U.S. Fulbright Scholars in the country.  In a recently released ranking in the Chronicle of Higher Education, UK is ranked sixth among research institutions for its number of professors earning the prestigious Fulbright grants for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Sponsored by the United States Department of State and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program, which provides funding for

by Whitney Hale & Mack McCormic

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 30, 2013) — University Press of Kentucky (UPK) author and University of Kentucky part-time history instructor James C. Nicholson has been named the recipient of a 2012 Kentucky History Award given by the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) for his book "The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event." This is the second award the book has garnered.

The Kentucky History

 by Whitney Hale

(Oct. 29, 2013) — In celebration of the University of Kentucky's upcoming sesquicentennial in 2015, the 68th of 150 weekly installments on the university looks back at the construction of the Chemistry-Physics Building.

On Nov. 11, 1960, construction began on the Chemistry-Physics Building. The current site of the building once was occupied by the president’s garden and tennis courts. 

Physics once occupied 33,600 square feet of Pence Hall and chemistry used 41,500 square feet in 

By Kendra Sanders

The relationship has never been made official, but everyone knows that Languages and the Arts are an item. As the story goes, the two got together sometime around the fall of Babel, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

For Jan-Piet Knijff, Agata Grzelczak, and Gonzalo Hernández Baptista, three A&S graduate students that share a common thread of knowing multiple languages and a passion for the arts, this relationship is an enduring one.

Jan-Piet Knijff was prepared to study Classics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, almost 30 years ago. A last minute switch to study music at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam, a specialized music university, led him to an international career as an organ and harpsichord player.

Knijff moved to New York in 1999, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts

By Victoria Dekle

Geography graduate student Malene Jacobsen is no stranger to travel for her research. While she is a student at UK and spends most of her time in Lexington, Jacobsen’s work on political asylum and migration requires her to move between Europe and the United States as she collects data for her degree.

All of those transatlantic flights, however, are expensive.

Jacobsen was fortunate to recently receive an Academic Excellence grant from the College of Arts & Sciences. The funds from this alumni-sponsored award enabled her to present a paper on her M.A. thesis work at the 5th Annual Nordic Geography Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, this past June.

“The aim of this research project has been to critically examine how everyday practices and spaces are produced and how asylum seekers navigate and understand themselves within this system,” she

By Victoria Dekle

“The moment I realized I could make a career by playing outside,” Olivia Woodruff exclaimed, “I was hooked.”

Thanks to the growth of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields over the past few years, this dream career is possible for Woodruff and millions of other women across the United States.

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is one example of this positive demographic change at the University of Kentucky.

“Earth science,” said Department Chair, David Moecher, “like all other STEM disciplines, was once considered to be defined as an underrepresented field with regard to the proportion of women and minorities

by Allison Elliott-Shannon

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 25, 2013) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry will host the 17th annual Lyle Ramsay Dawson Lecture today, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m. in Room 139 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. This year's speaker will be Yury Gogotsi, professor of materials science and engineering at Drexel University, and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute. The lecture is named after Dawson, a former UK distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry.

Gogotsi will provide an overview of research activities in the area of nanostructured carbon and carbide materials used for capacitive storage of electrical energy. Electrochemical capacitors or “

By Victoria Dekle

90 miles to the north of Lexington on the banks of the Ohio River is the “The Queen City.” The nickname itself could probably be the topic of a panel discussion when the 37th annual meeting of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) rolls into town in early November. There will be presentations, roundtables and workshops about anything and everything relating to critical studies of gender, from the ways gender is taught, experienced, and promoted in society including higher education.

Most notably, GWS chair Karen Tice will be headlined in an innovative feature of this year’s conference, the Authors Meet Critics roundtable. It is an event in which authors of recently published books hear and respond to comments from experts in

By Victoria Dekle

Piecing together the developments of Mesoamerican civilization is not easy… or comfortable. University of Kentucky archaeologists Christopher Pool and Michael Loughlin have spent many summers in southern Veracruz working among snakes, spiders and sharp sugar cane fields in dense humidity so they can learn more about ancient Mesoamericans.

Pool and Loughlin are both scholars of the Olmec culture -- considered by most archaeologists to be one of the earliest complex societies in Mesoamerica and the creators of giant stone heads that weigh over six tons -- and the succeeding Epi-Olmec culture that produced some of the oldest writing in the Americas.

One of the top scholars in Olmec archaeology, Professor Pool published one of the

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 24, 2013) — Kentuckians will have a chance to experience through music, crafts and cuisine the Appalachian culture that makes the region unique. The Pickin’ Time Mountain Music and Harvest Festival will offer all of those things Nov. 2 at the Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability in Jackson. RCARS is part of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

“We have carefully planned and orchestrated this festival to be a celebration of Appalachian culture expressed through the talents of this region’s most valuable resource — its people,” said David Ditsch, RCARS director. “We invite all Kentuckians to come out and experience a taste of the mountains with us through musicians’ lyrics, crafters’