By Gail Hairston

The University of Kentucky will send 59 undergraduate student-researchers to the 31st annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Memphis April 6-8.

The UK group joins young researchers from around the world to showcase their research findings through poster and oral presentations. Each student will be given the opportunity to discuss their display and share their research results, illuminating how their work will have an impact on future research development. UK has been an active NCUR participant since the mid ’90s.

One of the first things these young researchers learn is that most research is not conducted in the traditional laboratory with bubbling beakers and flaming Bunsen burners. But modern research spans all disciplines and majors, and includes a wide variety of activities.

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By Gail Hairston

Drury Bell took the $100 first place prize in the 51st annual Latin Prose Competition Contest and Katerina S. Banks tied for the third place $50 prize.

The Latin Prose Composition Contest consists of the translation of a passage of English into Latin. The contest is intended for advanced students of Latin who are in their third or fourth year of collegiate studies. It is organized by Eta Sigma Phi, the Honorary Society for Classical Studies.

“These outstanding students are bringing national recognition to our program in Classics, MCLLC, A&S, and to UK. I think that this extraordinary achievement merits great attention,” said Valerio Caldesi Valeri, assistant professor of classics and the Eta Sigma Phi advisor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and

By Whitney Harder

Paidin Dermody, a University of Kentucky journalism and English sophomore with a minor in photography, has been named the Kentucky Kernel's editor for the 2017-2018 school year.

“I feel lucky — opportunity met preparation, and I now have the great responsibility of following a talented line of editors-in-chief to continue the storied history of the Kernel as one of the pre-eminent student publications in the country,” Dermody said in a Kernel story last week. “Good people and great journalism will deliver an evolved, enlightened and entertaining product to our readers.”

The Kernel Board selected Dermody, currently the managing editor, "for her detailed plan to expand the Kernel’s digital footprint,

By Lisa Lockman

Two University of Kentucky women who profoundly contribute to issues that affect women at the university and across the Commonwealth received the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award March 23 during a luncheon ceremony at the Woodford Reserve Club at Commonwealth Stadium. Kimberly Sayre, staff, and Christia Spears Brown, faculty, received the 2017 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award.

The award recognizes one female faculty member and one female staff member who promote growth and well-being of women at the university and across Kentucky. Created by the UK Women’s Forum, the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award has been among the most esteemed recognitions bestowed at UK and brings recognition for efforts that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Christia Spears Brown is a professor of developmental and social psychology in the

By Gail Hairston

An international hero — a friend, ally and cellmate to the great Nelson Mandela in the global fight for equality and justice — has died at 87, and many in the University of Kentucky community grieve with the world. South African anti-apartheid leader Ahmed Kathrada, who dedicated his life to the belief that all men and women are born free and equal, died “peacefully in a Johannesburg hospital after a short period of illness, following surgery,” according to communications from his family.

Kathrada spent more than 26 years in prison‚ 18 on Robben Island. While in prison he earned four university degrees: a bachelor’s in history and criminology‚ one in African politics and library science‚ a bachelor honors degree in history and a second bachelor honors degree in African politics.

Nearly six years

By Gail Hairston

The second in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ “Civic Life” panel series continues noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, in the UK Athletics Auditorium of the William T. Young Library. The panel discussion series focuses on a wide range of issues confronting society today. 

Wednesday’s topic is “Emerging Trends in U.S. Defense and Human Rights” led by Associate Professor Clayton Thyne, Assistant Professor Jesse Johnson and Assistant Professor Jillienne Haglund, all members of the UK Department of Political Science.

Thyne is also director the college’s 

By Jenny Wells

Zhongwei Shen, professor of mathematics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), will deliver the college’s 2017 Distinguished Professor Lecture this week.

Shen, who is serving as the college’s 2016-17 Distinguished Professor, will deliver a lecture titled “Heterogeneous Media and Homogenization” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in William T. Young Library's UK Athletics Auditorium. A reception will follow the lecture.

This public lecture will describe a mathematical research program that investigates the quantitative homogenization theory of partial differential equations, which form the backbone of mathematical modeling in the physical science. The research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

“The theory of

By Gail Hairston

UK Mock Trial Team: (males L-R) Nick Nash, Cody McGlothlin, John Wilson; 
(females L-R) Anne Klette, Rachel Hampton, Hannah West, Lauren Williams and Kassie Satterly.

For the first time in the program's 10-year history, the University of Kentucky Mock Trial Team has earned a spot to compete in the American Mock Trial Association's (AMTA) National Championship Tournament, hosted this year by University of California, Los Angeles.

Since its inception in 2007, the UK Mock Trial Team has represented the university at mock trial competitions across the country. There are over 600 undergraduate teams in the United States, and this year, UK’s group is one of only 48 teams to earn a coveted spot at the NCT, putting UK among the top 8 percent of teams

By Jenny Wells

Ron Pen (right) played the fiddle at the UK College of Arts & Sciences 
Appalachian Center's 40th Anniversary celebration.

The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center recently celebrated its 40th year on campus, recognizing the university’s partnership with the Appalachian region and honoring those who have contributed to the center’s development and success.

“A rich literary history from the likes of Harry Caudill, John Stephenson, Dwight Billings, Gurney Norman, Ron Eller, Ron Pen, Shaunna Scott, Frank X Walker, Mary Anglin, Eric Reece, Shannon Bell — just to name a few — helped give notoriety to the UK Appalachian Studies program,” said Chris Barton, director of the center. “Today, the center is considered a leader in research,

By Jenny Wells

A long-form essay by Jim Krupa, professor of biology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is featured in the winter issue of Minding Nature, the Center for Humans and Nature’s journal.

In the essay, Krupa explores the play between environmental issues and politics, with a focus on endangered wildlife in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.

The essay can be read at www.humansandnature.org/geronimos-pass.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can

By Connie Sapienza

Featuring world-renowned scientists, the University of Kentucky’s 2017 Naff Symposium will host four experts Friday, March 31, at the William T. Young Library auditorium. A poster session will be held in conjunction with the symposium at the Jacobs Science Building.

Presented by the Department of Chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the annual symposium focuses on chemistry and molecular biology and is attended by students and faculty in the chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pharmacy, engineering, agriculture and medical fields from UK, as well as other colleges and universities in Kentucky and surrounding states.

By Gail Hairston

The languages and cultures of the world will be highlighted at the University of Kentucky March 25 at the Kentucky World Language Association World Language Showcase.

The UK College of Arts and Sciences departments of Hispanic Studies and Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures will play host to nearly 200 student-competitors from across Kentucky.

The students will display their proficiency in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and French. UK faculty, graduate and undergraduate students will lead language and cultural sessions in Arabic, French, German, Latin, ancient Greek, Italian, Russian, Chinese, American Sign Language and Japanese. A presentation dedicated to using language professionally is also scheduled.

Representatives from GlobalLex, World Trade Center, Sister Cities, UK Education Abroad and Kentucky

By Dorothy Freeman and Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Art Museum in collaboration with UK's Department of English and MFA in Creative Writing program will present a free public lecture by poet, novelist, performer and art journalist Eileen Myles 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, in Gatton College of Business and Economics' Kincaid Auditorium.

Eileen Myles has become a feminist icon whose literary and artistic work has, in the words of the New York Review of Books, “set a bar for openness, frankness, and

By Blair Hoover

Wildcat fans around the country have been rooting for the men's basketball team in the NCAA tournament. While the Wildcats are battling on the court, three University of Kentucky students are in Chicago this week to pit their brains against students from other Sweet 16 schools.

UK students Ryan Morales, Christina Zhang and Evelyn Mechas will appear on a new ESPN quiz show — "Bracket Genius." Hosted by Trey Wingo of ESPN's "SportsCenter," "Bracket Genius" aims to spotlight the academic genius of students at schools participating in March Madness. The show matches Sweet 16 schools against one another in a bracket-style competition for the chance to have their team crowned the inaugural Bracket Genius Champion and share the prize of $100,000.

​Biosystems engineering seniors Morales and Zhang and Mechas, a 

By Blair Hoover

The 1934 mural painted by Ann Rice O'Hanlon on display in Memorial Hall has been a topic of campus debate for many years. This Friday, March 24, at 1:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall, University of Kentucky's African American and Africana Studies Program will host a panel discussion after the mural's unveiling.

Panelist for the discussion include:

"As we unveil the mural, it is important that we honor the recommendation

By Loretta Stafford

The University of Kentucky Institute for Rural Health Policy recently published a report detailing Chellgren Student Fellow and Honors biology junior Elijah Myers's research on buprenorphine treatment availability in Kentucky.

Along with his mentor, Ty Borders, who is a professor in the UK College of Public Health, Myers co-authored 

By Gail Hairston and Whitney Hale

Ernest Yanarella, chair of the Department of Political Science for the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 10 scholars worldwide who have received a Shanghai Elite Collaborative Research Grant. The grant will allow Yanarella to join his colleague Lu Chao, professor of management at Shanghai University, for a month in China, enhancing their research. Yanarella's research was eligible for this prestigious grant due to the joint effort of UK’s Confucius Institute and the Office of China Initiatives whose mission is to create collaborative research

By Kathy Johnson

The "Civic Life" panel series, developed by the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is a new weekly forum exploring a wide range of issues confronting society today. Open to the entire UK campus, these lunchtime panel discussions will take place each Wednesday for the remainder of the semester, and the series kicks off Wednesday, March 22, with a discussion of immigration — a topic making headlines worldwide.

“At the core of the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences is the commitment to prepare students to be engaged citizens in our Commonwealth, in an increasingly diverse nation, and in an ever-more interconnected world," said Mark Kornbluh, dean of the college. "Faculty members across all of the disciplines of our college take this commitment seriously and are seeking to provide