By Erin Holaday Ziegler

Grateful people aren't just kinder people, according to UK College of Arts & Sciences psychology Professor Nathan DeWall. They are also less aggressive.

DeWall proves his point with five studies on gratitude as a trait and as a fleeting mood, discovering that giving thanks lowers daily aggression, hurt feelings and overall sensitivity.

"If you count your blessings, you're more likely to empathize with other people," said the researcher who is more well-known for studying factors that increased aggression. "More empathic people are less aggressive."

Gratitude motivates people to express sensitivity and concern for others and stimulates pro-social behavior, according to DeWall. Although gratitude

The University of Kentucky Confucius Institute one-year anniversary celebration will culminate with a concert by world-renowned guest violin soloist Sha at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Memorial Hall.

Sha is one of China’s leading violinists on the world stage today. Her singing style and dynamic stage presence have mesmerized audiences from East to West. Born in Shanghai, China, Sha started the violin at age 6, and as a child prodigy, appeared often on radio and television.

"We are so lucky to have Sha return to celebrate with us," said Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at UK. Sha participated in the UK Confucius Institute Inaugural Ceremony and Concert on Nov. 6, 2010.

"The Confucius Institute has achieved so much this year,"

By Guy Spriggs

University of Kentucky's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES), in partnership with UK alumnus Tom Spalding (’80, ’82), accepted a $600,000 gift from Pioneer Natural Resources Company today.

Spalding is vice president of Pioneer, a large independent oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, with operations in Texas, Colorado, Alaska and South Africa.

“Pioneer really went to bat for us,” said David Moecher, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies of EES in the 

Jeremy Popkin is the T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. professor of History for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the director of the Jewish Studies Program, an interdisciplinary minor.

He has been named one of six finalists for the 2011 Cundill Prize in History, the world‘s largest nonfiction history book award, for his recent publication of "You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery."

The Jewish Studies Program will have its open-house event on Wednesday, October 19th, from 12 - 1:30 p.m. at the Bingham-Davis House (213 E. Maxwell Street).

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By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's revamped UK Core Composition and Communication classes combine historically united concepts, while giving students the interactive skills they need for the future.

"This is the only program in the United States that we're aware of in which communication faculty from another department —  actually, another college  —  and writing faculty are collaborating on a joint curriculum," said Roxanne Mountford, director of the Division of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

UK sophomore Jake Allgeier will remember his Composition and Communication classes (CIS 110 and 111 or WRD 110 and 111) for years to come.

The civil engineering student

The University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology welcomes renowned political reporter Mark Allen Peterson to campus this week to discuss the struggle between a confident future and controversial history for contemporary Egyptians.

A former political journalist in Washington D.C., Peterson will present the first lecture of the UK Department of Anthropology's Annual Colloquium Series titled "Egyptian Youth in Urban and Virtual Spaces" at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 in Room 230 of UK's Student Center. His talk is the first colloquium for the 2011-2012 series with the theme "Youth and Urban Space in the Middle

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky Confucius Institute celebrates its one-year anniversary on campus with the opening of its first virtual Chinese cultural hub.

The UK Confucius Institute will mark the opening of the first of two Chinese Culture Experience Centers at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, in the Hub of the William T. Young Library.  

The Chinese Culture Experience Center will feature two sets of interactive (touch screen) stations with various aspects of Chinese culture, including Chinese ancient technology, calligraphy, Chinese food, Chinese philosophers, Chinese martial arts, Chinese scenery and Peking opera.  

"This will be a smaller version of a display at Hanban headquarters in China," said Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at UK. "These

By Guy Spriggs

In June of 2011, UK’s Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES) partnered with UK alumnus Tom Spalding (’80, ’82) to secure a $600,000 gift from Pioneer Natural Resources Company.

Spalding is Vice-President of Pioneer, a large independent oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, with operations in Texas, Colorado, Alaska and South Africa.

“Pioneer really went to bat for us,” said David Moecher, professor in the EES Department. “Tom [Spalding] and Pioneer want to make sure that we have faculty in these fundamental fields to maintain a pipeline of future earth scientists.”

The gift, which is intended to be spread out over the next 3 years, will fund the Pioneer Natural Resources Research Professorship in

In celebration of National Chemistry Week, the UK Chemistry Department will be presenting a demonstration show Friday October 21, 2011 at 7 pm in room 139 of the Chemistry/Physics building at 505 Rose street. Come one come ALL!!! This fun-filled evening has become a much-anticipated annual event. Students of the Chemistry Department of the University of Kentucky will inform, entertain and amaze you with a variety of demonstrations of the colour, charm and excitement of chemistry. For children in school, ask your teacher if attendance can earn you extra credit in a science course. For parents, don't get left out, learning something new keeps you young!

For more information contact Pauline Stratman, psst223@uky.edu.

University of Kentucky history professor Jeremy Popkin has been named one of six finalists for the 2011 Cundill Prize in History for his recent publication of "You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery."

Popkin will compete for the world‘s largest nonfiction history book award, which offers the winning author a $75,000 grand prize.

Popkin's "You Are All Free," released by Cambridge University Press in September 2010, provides a gripping historical account of the Haitian Revolution and the abolition of slavery in the now disaster-torn country. 

Popkin, a renowned French Revolution scholar, tells a dramatic story, employing a wide range of sources, affording him the opportunity to capture Haiti's complex history

A creative writing professor at the University of Kentucky has been named a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award in Poetry. English professor Nikky Finney was named for the prestigious award for her recent work, “Head Off & Split,” on Oct 12.

“Head Off & Split” was published by Northwestern University Press in February of this year, and Finney has been touring with the book since late winter. 

"As an artist and a daughter of the South, and as someone who honors my feelings as often as I can, I don't have to acquiesce to the polite expectations of the moment," the Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor has said. "I have watched black people forgive and forget over and over again … I too forgive, but I don't forget … My responsibility as a poet, as an artist is to not look away."

Finney, a

By Katy Bennett, Student Activities Board

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words,” a famous poet once said. Come hear from poets who call Kentucky home at the third installment of the James Baker Hall Writer’s Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in the Student Center Small Ballroom. This event is free and sponsored by the Student Activities Board.

James Baker Hall was a renowned Kentucky writer, UK faculty member, intense Wildcat fan, and ultimately an interesting person. This series is dedicated to writers who have been raised or influenced by living in Kentucky and designed as a memorial to Baker Hall. This week the series will feature poets Erik Reece and Maureen Morehead.

Reece is a writer of prose and poetry and is the author of two acclaimed books and numerous essays and articles

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's Committee on Social Theory will welcome a former faculty member and active debater in spatial science and geographic thought to campus for its Fall Distinguished Speaker and Founders Forum this week.

John Paul Jones III, dean of the University of Arizona's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, will deliver the committee's annual lecture titled, "The Politics of Autonomous Spaces" at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, in the West End Boardroom on the 18th floor of Patterson Office Tower.

Jones' visit and participation in the annual series is unique, as he was an esteemed professor and colleague on the faculty of UK's Department of Geography from the fall of 1991 to summer

By Jonathon Spalding

What do you think of when you hear the word “diversity”? Whatever it may be, chances are you learned of the word at a young age and it has been drilled into your head ever since. Generally, we think of diversity as one-dimensional, in only one context: the diversity of peoples. For Cadet Jay Hurst, senior Army ROTC Battalion Commander, diversity has evolved into a more personal endeavor.  

Jay graduated from high school in northern Virginia where his family was stationed; but with roots in Anderson County, Ky., he felt a definite gravitation towards the University of Kentucky and the Army ROTC program.

“I didn’t feel any pressure from my family to join ROTC,” said Jay, the son of a UK graduate and U.S. Army veteran, “I wanted to help people, especially while I am young.”

This past summer, Jay graduated from the U.S. Army

by Beth Connors-Manke

“I graduated, saw news about the war, but I was very far from it.”

This is how Assistant Professor of Philosophy Natalie Nenadic describes the beginning of her involvement in the groundbreaking lawsuit Kadic v. Karadzic, which gained recognition for sexual atrocities as acts of genocide.

The war Nenadic had seen in the news was the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, in which Serbian forces carried out “ethnic cleansing” through a system of concentration camps for torture, mass killings, and mutilations. This campaign included mass rapes and murder of women.  

Nenadic had recently received her B.A. from Stanford University when she was contacted by ethnologist and philosopher Asja

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities will present the 2011 Bale Boone Symposium in the Humanities Oct. 10-12 on the topic of religion. The free public symposium, "Religion in the 21st Century," will give the public an opportunity to explore the connections between religion and such topics as history, science and politics.            

Three presentations on religion are scheduled for the 2011 Bale Boone Symposium. The event will open with the session "Are Faith and History Compatible?" featuring speakers Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and 

By Whitney Hale, Erin Holaday Ziegler

Bluegrass audiences can learn more about the art of throat singing, a form of overtone singing practiced by the Tuva people of southern Siberia, at several events being presented at the University of Kentucky this week. Arts patrons can take in a lecture, demonstration and concert by the renowned Tuvan acoustic quartet Huun Huur Tu centered on the art of throat singing as part of the 2011 ArtsAsia Festival.

On Saturday night, Oct. 8, Huun Huur Tu will take the stage at the Singletary Center for the Arts for a concert. The descendants of isolated Siberian herdsmen make

The University of Kentucky's ArtsAsia Festival breaks new ground this year with a two-day conference on Chinese art, design, film and architecture.

The ArtsAsia Festival's annual academic symposium, titled "Contested Ground: Visual Culture in China after 1989," takes place Oct. 14-15 on UK's campus.

The symposium keynote lecture by Eugene Wang, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art at Harvard University, will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, in the Singletary Center for the Arts President's Room.

Wang will discuss "After-Shock and After-Image: A Chinese 'Neo-realist' Painter's Engagement with the Real in the Postmedium and Post-Earthquake Situation."

According to Wang, a new dilemma confronts the Chinese “neo-realist,” painters who came of age in

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Department of Theatre will transport audiences to China in their opening production of the season, "The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven." This family-friendly production will storm the Guignol Theatre stage Oct. 6-16.

"The Monkey King" is a classic tale of mayhem and adventure in a family-friendly setting. The performance highlights a beloved Chinese character, the Monkey King, as he raids the Grand Banquet of Immortal Peaches in search of extra lives. As a result, the central character finds himself in hot water with the Emperor and only Buddha can bail him out of his predicament. UK Theatre's "The Monkey King" will come to life through puppetry, dance, combat and colorful costumes.

by Erin Holaday Ziegler

Chad Montrie, professor in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, will be visiting the University of Kentucky to discuss the history of environmentalism and its connection to the modern-day struggle against mountaintop removal (MTR) on Oct. 20.

His talk, titled, "Confronting Environmental Mythology, Making a New Environmental Movement," will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 in the Niles Gallery of the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library.

Montrie will examine common notions about the origins and development of environmentalism in the United States, highlighting militant opposition to strip mining in Appalachia during the 1950s and 1960s as a precursor to contemporary efforts to end (MTR).

Montrie suggests that acknowledging underground miners’ critical involvement in that preceding