By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. --  Johanna Miller absolutely wanted to go to the University of Kentucky, but when she found herself in economic need, she contemplated dropping out the next semester.  

That’s when the people of UK’s College of Arts and Sciences stepped in in the person of Christia Spears Brown, Ph.D., associate dean for student engagement and success. 

"Out of the blue, I was sitting in class, and I got a text message from the associate dean that said she wanted to have a phone call with me,” said Miller, an undergraduate Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies major from Lexington. “That's all she said, so I got really nervous about that. I was like, ‘You want to talk to me? That’s really strange.’ So after class, I called her, and she said

By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 1, 2025) - The family of Gurney Musick Norman and the University of Kentucky Department of English invite the public to a weekend of words, music and film celebrating the life and legacy of the beloved writer, teacher and mentor. 

The memorial will be held over two days, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Gatton Student Center on UK’s campus. Events are free, open to the public and will be livestreamed. 

Norman, who died in Lexington on Oct. 12, 2025, at age 88, was an Appalachian fiction writer, documentarian, advocate and UK professor emeritus of English. He is widely regarded as one of Kentucky’s most important literary

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 25, 2025) — This year, the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities launched an initiative designed to foster meaningful interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration across campus. 

The Gaines Humanities Cooperatives were created to bring together faculty, staff and graduate students from diverse fields to spark intellectual exchange and lay the foundation for innovative humanities-centered projects that engage both the university and the broader community. Supported by the Gaines Center through funding, meeting space and other relevant resources, the cooperatives are intended to serve as a hub for community.

The pilot cooperative, launched in 2024 under

By Ainsley Saurers 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and the UK Graduate Appalachian Research Community invite undergraduate and graduate students from all majors to submit proposals for the 15th annual Appalachian Research Symposium & Arts Showcase.

The showcase is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in the Healthy Kentucky Research Building first-floor atrium.

This year’s theme — “Interdependent Possibilities: Cultures of Care, Practices of Place-Making” — encourages participants to explore how care, community and place interrelate across disciplines and everyday lives.

“We

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Leon Sachs’ background in teaching a class in civil discourse led him to a seminar in North Carolina, where he picked up some new ideas about how to foster civil discussion at the University of Kentucky. Now he wants to get the word out to draw people on the UK campus into safe places for open discussion. 

"I would welcome other people interested in participating in civil discourse,” said Sachs, professor of French in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures in UK’s College of Arts and Sciences and a Chellgren endowed professor. “It seems like UK's got people working on it, but they don't know about one another. There is an urgent need, I think, for people around campus to know who to contact if they want to get involved going forward.” 

Sachs has

By Allie Barnes 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 18, 2025) — University of Kentucky students are invited to learn how to thrive in an artificial intelligence-driven world through a new online course.  

UK is offering a 100-level, one-credit-hour course titled Transdisciplinary Educational Approaches to Advance Kentucky (TEK 100): Collaborative Intelligence — Understanding and Using Modern AI. 

This rolling, asynchronous course will be offered twice during the Spring 2026 semester to create multiple opportunities for students to fit this in their schedule. This course will run from Jan. 12 through March 2 and from March 9 through May 8.  

The launch of TEK 100 comes as part of the university’s recent effort and

By Haven L. Patrick 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 19, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research  recently announced the 21 undergraduate winners of the 61st annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, Ph.D., faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and research ambassadors presented the awards.

Founded in 1964 by UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition promotes undergraduate research and creative endeavors across all academic disciplines.

The competition spans these categories: biological sciences, design (architecture, landscape architecture and

By Ryan Girves 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 17, 2025) — When first-generation college students arrive at the University of Kentucky, they carry with them more than backpacks and class schedules. They bring the hopes of families, the weight of new beginnings and the courage to step into new spaces.

At UK, nearly one in four undergraduates identifies as a first-generation college student. Supporting those students is central to the university’s mission to advance student success and Kentucky. Through such units as CARES First-Generation, housed in the Office for Student Success, the university provides tailored academic guidance,

By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, KY. (Nov. 12, 2025) – Bernadine “Bernie” McGhee never imagined herself with a college degree. But in 2022 at 61, McGhee crossed the stage of Rupp Arena with a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I thought I’d be a factory worker for the rest of my life,” McGhee said. “College wasn’t part of the plan. But life has a funny way of circling back.”

McGhee grew up in Gary, Indiana, one of nine children in a family where steel dust clung to everything: clothes, homes, hopes and dreams. Her parents both worked in the mills, and she expected to do

By Jennifer T. Allen

“Recycling is one of the easiest ways everyone on campus can make an impact,” said Ryan Lark, zero-waste specialist in Facilities Management.

In 2024, the university collected 1,138 tons of recycling from the blue bins around campus to send to their recycling partner. This was only 40% of the 2,869 total tons recycled last year. The rest came from operations efforts including collecting scrap

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 30, 2025) —The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research and UK Sustainability have announced the six winners of the fifth annual sustainability research poster competition.

The competition was in conjunction with the annual UK Sustainability Showcase in the atrium of the Healthy Kentucky Research Building on Oct. 15.

As part of the showcase, graduate and undergraduate students in all majors were invited to submit their research related to the

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2025) —The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research announces the eighth annual 5-Minute Fast Track student research competition finalists. These undergraduates will present their research during the final round from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in 150 Healthy Kentucky Research Building.

The 5-Minute Fast Track challenges students to present their research clearly, concisely and engagingly with no props and one single static slide, in front of a panel of judges and live audience. The 10 finalists will share their scholarship in a jargon-free, five-minute talk for a general audience. Students develop their academic, presentation and research communication skills

By Clarissa Rhule 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies program is once again highlighting the research and creative scholarship of students and faculty through the annual Sharing Work on Appalachia in Progress series.

SWAP encourages collaboration across disciplines, fostering dialogue among researchers, students and community members. By featuring ongoing projects, the series highlights the breadth of inquiry taking place at UK and its continued commitment to understanding and supporting Appalachia.

This year’s SWAP series will feature presentations running from Fall 2025 through Spring ’26, spotlighting recipients of the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Just miles from the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, University of Kentucky anthropologists are helping to unearth a Revolutionary War-era fort that promises to yield artifacts and data about 18th century America. 

The site, called Butts Hill Fort, left enough evidence for ground-penetrating radar to pick up an outline of what once were barracks  for the British colonial army in 1777, two years after the start of the revolution and a year after the Declaration of Independence. 

"This fort was developed in 1777 as a response, primarily by the British,” said Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at UK’s College of Arts and Sciences. "There had been activity by the

Written by: Kat Brown

Pooja Sidney, Ph.D., is trying to answer the question: How can we help students learn math? One simple idea for helping students has turned into a blossoming research-based community partnership with Lexington schools. 

A cognitive developmental psychologist and associate professor at University of Kentucky, Pooja Sidney, Ph.D. researches how children and adults learn in academic settings. She focuses on improving students’ mathematical problem-solving and examining students’ attitudes toward mathematics. 

Within her research lab, the questions she explores are often driven by the motivation of the lab members, both graduate and undergraduate students. For example, one student in Sidney’s lab who is interested in the medicine-related decision-making is exploring how graphs

By Francis Von Mann 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 17, 2025) – The University of Kentucky’s Creative Writing Division in the Department of English, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, will mark the 11th anniversary of its Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing with a special Visiting Writers Series event spotlighting three recent graduates whose debut books have already earned national attention. 

The reading will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the Esports Theater at the Cornerstone. The event is free and open to the public. 

Since its start in 2013, UK’s MFA Program in Creative

By Dave Melanson 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 10, 2025) — The University of Kentucky's Center for Applied Energy Research and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet have completed a risk assessment of representative fats, oils and grease feedstocks that can be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel in Kentucky. The project is funded by the Office of Energy Policyky. 

The study identified corn oil as the safest bet for making  

By Erin Wickey 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct.10, 2025) — UK Innovate marked the achievements of innovators across campus at Patent Palooza! 2025.

These researchers, entrepreneurs and industry partners all drive intellectual property creation, commercialization success and entrepreneurial growth at the University of Kentucky. In fiscal year 2025, UK saw the most patents issued, the most licenses executed and the second-most inventions disclosed in UK history.

In fiscal year 2025, 29 teams completed Launch Blue’s UAccel program. More than 100 UK innovators were issued 61 patents, had 40 licenses and options executed for their innovations and received four Small

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2025) — Filled with natural light, open gathering areas and state-of-the-art research labs, the newly renovated Chemistry-Physics Building at the University of Kentucky has become a vibrant center for learning and discovery — a transformation now celebrated by the American Institute of Architects Kentucky.

The project’s $60.9 million first phase, led by Omni Architects, has received the AIA’s only Honor Award for 2025 — the highest professional recognition presented by the organization that commemorates architectural excellence in Kentucky.

The teaching,

By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 8, 2025) – In the Jacobs Science Building, a mural sprawls across a whiteboard. On one side, a magnified cell with swirling, intricate layers. On the other, Charles Darwin circled by Galápagos finches and double helixes. It is equal parts science and art, memorialized with a signature in the corner: Shane D’Souza, Class of 2018.

Seven years later, D’Souza stands in front of that same mural – untouched by students who have long admired it – delivering a lecture on his research in pediatric ophthalmology. The audience of biology undergraduates leans in. His subject is technical, but his metaphors are clear and vivid. What captivates students is