By Gail Hairston

As part of the University of Kentucky Visiting Writers Series, acclaimed author Dinaw Mengestu will read from his works at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the Creative Arts Studio (Room 153) in Holmes Hall, 111 Avenue of Champions in Lexington. Mengestu, an Ethiopian-American, has written three novels, including “All Our Names,” published in 2014.

“All Our Names” is an epic love story that follows Isaac, a refugee fleeing war-torn Uganda. Isaac finds himself in the American Midwest and begins a passionate affair with the social worker assigned to him. The book was named a best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor and The Boston Globe, among other major publications.

Mengestu’s “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears,” published in 2007, was a New York Times Notable Book, won The

By Dave Melanson

Twenty-four experts from industry, academia and government have accepted appointments to serve on the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) Advisory Board. The advisory board, which will meet in April 2017, provides counsel and guidance to the center about emerging trends in energy research and development.

“I thank all of the advisory board members for their willingness to serve,” said Rodney Andrews, director of CAER. “The depth and breadth of expertise will provide the center and our research teams with valuable, strategic insight."

Since 1977, CAER has served as one of the nation’s premier energy research and development institutes, collaborating with companies and government agencies to help maximize Kentucky’s — and the nation’s — energy resources.

By Rebecca Stratton

Want to get to know the people behind some of the biggest student leadership positions on campus? We did, too! That's why we've introduced "see blue." #selfie — a series on UKNow that lets student leaders from across campus tell us a little bit more about themselves and their organizations. Up this week, College Mentors for Kids President Maddie Conrad

Meet Maddie Conrad, this year's president of the University of Kentucky's College Mentors for Kids. A senior psychology major and neuroscience minor, Conrad claims she always enjoyed working with kids but truly found her passion as she got involved with College Mentors once she got to UK. Conrad has mentored more than 100 students through this program! Learn more about Conrad in her "see blue." #selfie!

UKNow: What year are you and what

By Gail Hairston

For the first time, the University of Kentucky is hosting the southern chapter of the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS), March 9-11.

With over 50 speakers from 17 states and several speakers from Ireland, the event has something for anyone even slightly interested in the history and culture of “The Emerald Isle.”

“I am delighted that we are able to host — for the first time — the southern regional meeting of the Conference for Irish Studies here at the University of Kentucky,” UK English Professor Jonathan Allison said.

All events are free and open to members of both the UK and Lexington communities. Allison said he especially wants to invite students.  

Friday’s schedule includes the keynote address, poetry and music. Ronald Schuchard, the Goodrich C. White

By Loretta Stafford

University of Kentucky's Derek Gaiser, a secondary social studies education and history junior from Ludlow, Kentucky, has been awarded an English-Speaking Union (ESU) Scholarship presented by the English-Speaking Union Kentucky Branch. The scholarship will cover Gaiser's expenses for summer study at Oxford University.

The Kentucky Branch of the English-Speaking Union awards a limited number of scholarships to qualified Kentucky college students for courses offered at institutions in the United Kingdom. Scholarship awards include tuition, lodging and two meals daily for three-week courses

By Loretta Stafford

Over the last year, University of Kentucky neuroscience senior and Cuban native Giamnys "Gia" Valdés Lastre has worked closely with Mark Prendergast, professor of neuroscience and psychology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, and the UK College of Pharmacy's Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation on research concerning extremophile bacteria and alcohol-related brain damage.

As an undergraduate research assistant in Prendergast's lab, Valdés Lastre is part of a team that has studied a species of bacteria found at the site of the Ruth Mullins coal fire near Hazard,

By Kathryn Macon

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a public lecture on cosmology next week for a general audience. Presented by UK Physics Professor Ganpathy Murthy, "History of the Universe from the Big Bang to Now" will begin 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, in the William T. Young Library.

The lecture is designed to be accessible to everyone without sacrificing scientific accuracy. This event is free and open to the public and a question and answer period will follow the presentation.  

Murthy received his doctoral degree from Yale University and his research is in condensed matter theory. In recent years, he has been focused on "strongly correlated electron systems," in which the interactions between electrons play a dominant

By Gail Hairston, Amy Jones-Timoney, and Kody Kiser

Six University of Kentucky educators were named recipients of the UK Alumni Association 2017 Great Teacher Award Tuesday night.

The recipients are:

Award recipients were honored at the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Recognition Dinner last night at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. They were also recognized during the Vanderbilt vs.

By Dave Melanson

 The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research’s (CAER) Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis Group has received a $1.2 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant for their novel work in utilizing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to develop bioplastics.

The DOE's Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected seven projects to receive $5.9 million to focus on novel ways to utilize carbon dioxide. All of the selected research projects will directly support FE’s Carbon Storage program’s Carbon Use and Reuse research and development portfolio. This portfolio will develop and test novel approaches that convert carbon dioxide captured from coal-fired power plants to useable products. The projects will also explore ways to use

By Gail Hairston

University of Kentucky graduate student in anthropology, Mary Elizabeth Schmid, won the Eric R. Wolf Prize from the Society for the Anthropology of Work for her paper "Tomatoes and Temporality: Political Economies of Time in the Fresh-Market Tomato Industry in the Southeastern U.S." The award is presented by the American Anthropological Association.

Schmid's dissertation research is making original contributions to a number of fields. Her findings contest the stereotypes about Latino workers in southeastern agriculture and global circulations of labor and commodities. She is studying binational Latin@ family agricultural enterprises in Mexico and the southeastern U.S.

Schmid is finding that women have an important role in these production and marketing networks, a contribution often overlooked in the literature. Latin@

By Lisa Lockman and Kristie Law

The UK Women's Forum, formally established during the 1991-1992 academic year,  is currently celebrating over 25 years of open discussion, creativity, and leadership development for all women employed at the University of Kentucky.  Women's Forum is also celebrating the 17 women who have been nominated for the 2017 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award — an award created by UK Women's Forum.

Established in 1994, the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award honors a distinguished former dean of women at the University of Kentucky. Sarah Bennett Holmes, who was widowed at a young age, raised four children while completing her own education. She went on to have a successful career at UK where she inspired young women to persevere in the face of

By Gail Hairston

 For the second year, the University of Kentucky will observe World Languages Day Friday, Feb. 24.

The event is organized by UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Hispanic Studies and the college’s International Student and Programs represented by coordinator Megan Koshurba.

UK’s World Languages Day will host about 120 local students from Scott County High School, Tates Creek High School, Carter G. Woodson Academy and Bryan Station High School. The high school students will attend classes in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish.

An open house is slated 1-2 p.m. in Buell Armory with UK

By Gail Hairston

University of Kentucky Associate Professor of Anthropology Carmen Martínez Novo has been awarded an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship for the year 2017-2018.

She will use it to complete her new book, tentatively titled “The Decline of Indigenous Rights in Latin America.” Martínez Novo will address the following questions:

By Tiffany Molina and Gail Hairston

The connection between two neurons in the brain has been an intriguing topic to Robin Cooper, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Cooper has been at UK for 21 years teaching his true passion: synaptic transmissions. Cooper said he loves it so much that he “often goes on tangents” and has to be reminded by his students to stay on track during lectures.

When he came to Kentucky, Cooper said he noticed there was a need for outreach to the younger community. He started a regional science fair program for young middle and high school students with an interest in science. The program, which has been running for 12 years, has been a success.

“Working with the teachers and students for the

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR/News/

By Whitney Hale

Poet Camille T. Dungy, known for her groundbreaking anthology of African-American nature poetry, will be the keynote speaker for the 2017 Kentucky Women Writers Conference, running Sept. 15-16. Dungy, who has two books scheduled to be released this year including her debut memoir, will present her keynote address 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at the University of Kentucky Singletary Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

“Camille Dungy’s seminal anthology of African-American environmental poetry, 'Black Nature,' redefined the American poetic canon. At the same time, her own volumes of poetry have enlarged our sense of the

By Gail Hairston

For the second year in a row, an advisor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center has been recognized by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

“Phyllis Nally has done sterling work and deserves this honor,” said Ruth Beattie, associate dean for advising for the college in the Office of Academic Advising and a biology professor in the Health, Society and Populations Program.

Phyllis Nally was named the winner of the 2017 Excellence in Advising-New Advisor Award in Region 3, an area that includes Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. The New Advisor Award

University of Kentucky associate professor Jim Ridolfo has won the 2017 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Research Impact Award for his book, “Digital Samaritans: Rhetorical Delivery and Engagement in the Digital Humanities,” published by University of Michigan Press. The CCCC is a constituent organization within the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The award honors an empirical research publication in the previous two years that most advances the mission of the organization or the needs of the profession.

The Award’s selection committee shared this statement: “The committee recognizes this work for its contribution to moving the field forward. The book takes advantage of the affordances of both digital distribution and multimodal composition, offering effective new modes of scholarly communication. Ridolfo's method infuses his

By Gail Hairston

"UK at the Half" interview with UK history Professor Gerald Smith about the Kentucky African American Encyclopedia.

Now celebrated in several nations around the world, Black History Month began humbly when noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other African American leaders urged the nation to recognize a “Negro History Week” in February 1926. Fifty years later, President Gerald Ford officially designated February as Black History Month, defining it as an annual celebration of the achievements of African Americans and their roles in U.S. history. At the time, he urged the nation to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Decades later, University of Kentucky’s history professor and Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar in Residence 

By Gail Hairston

Fourteen University of Kentucky undergraduate students -- one sophomore, two juniors and 11 seniors -- were recently awarded with Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards by the Office of Undergraduate Research.  

Students submitted research posters in six categories -- Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences. Winners in each category received $350; second place finishers received $200.

The 2017 winners were