by Kathy Johnson

(Dec. 17, 2013) ― The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today accepted nearly $6.5 million in gifts and pledges to UK.

The pledges include:

   Gifts include:

by Whitney Hale

(Dec. 18, 2013) — The University of Kentucky invites nominations and applications for the job position of director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities and John R. Gaines Endowed Chair in the Humanities.

Founded in 1984 by a generous gift from John and Joan Gaines, the Gaines Center for the Humanities functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on UK's campus. Devoted to cultivating an appreciation of the humanities in its students and faculty, the center embraces varied paths of knowledge, and particularly strives to integrate creative work with traditional academic learning.

The center is also designed to provide a link, intellectual as well as geographic, between the

by Keith Hautala

(Dec. 17, 2013) — An essay by Lisa Zunshine, a University of Kentucky professor of English, appears in the Dec. 13 edition of The Chronicle Review, published by the Chronicle of Higher Education.  

The essay, titled "Why Fiction Does it Better," argues that works of fiction — which operate on varying levels of sociocognitive complexity — help to drive the development of both a rich vocabulary and "theory of mind," and are essential reading for preparing young minds for college. 

A scholar of 18th-century British literature, Zunshine is Bush-Holbrook Professor of English at UK, where she teaches courses in Restoration and 18th century British literature and culture. She is the author or editor of 11 books, including, most recently, "Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us about Popular Culture," published in 2012. 

by Whitney Hale

(Dec. 16, 2013) — Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky, has received a 2013 Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award. The honor recognizes UK's director as one of the top 15 leaders of 430 Confucius Institutes worldwide.

Maske received the international award at the opening ceremony of the eighth Confucius Institute Conference held Dec. 7, in Beijing. The award is

by Keith Hautala

(Dec. 16, 2013) — Katharine Ott, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics, has been chosen by the Association for Women in Mathematics to receive its annual service award for 2013.

The award was created in 2012 to honor volunteers who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to the organization. Recipients are chosen based on contributions made over the past seven years. Ott was one of two recipients to be honored this year.

Ott was selected because of her service to the association as a principal investigator on the successful Sonia Kovalevsky Day grant from the National Science Foundation. Sonia Kovalevsky Days, named for a pioneering Russian woman mathematician of the 19th century, consist of a program of workshops, talks, and problem-solving competitions for female high school and middle

by Jenny Wells

(Dec. 16, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has honored 18 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards.  Representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Research, along with director  Diane Snow, presented the winners with certificates at a reception on campus Dec. 5.

Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement.

Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including

by Jenny Wells, Derrick Meads

(Dec. 12, 2013) — The University of Kentucky has more students participating in Education Abroad (EA) programs than any other higher education institution in Kentucky, according to recently released data by the Institute of International Education. The 2013 Open Doors Report revealed that UK sent 845 students abroad in the 2011-12 academic year.

The report also showed that UK enrolls more international students (nearly 1,900 in 2011-12) than any other institution in the state, a lead the university has maintained for many years.

“A UK education creates a hunger in its students to learn more," said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for international programs. "By pursuing educational opportunities abroad they refine their skills of discovery and equip themselves for the

by Ceci Amador

When December arrives, it brings new—and stronger—waves of Christmas-themed everything. Yet, there are some that have a harder time getting in that wonderful Christmas spirit: I am talking about myself. Don´t get me wrong, I love Christmas, but having grown up in another country (Guatemala), my Christmas preparations and traditions have been pretty different since I came to the University of Kentucky. I have realized I don´t get into the Christmas spirit until I finally make it back home. This isn´t a bad thing, I knew what I was getting into when I applied for college in the US, and it’s not like holiday activities are lacking here. On the contrary, there are several, they´re just different from what I am used to.

In a college town, by the time December rolls in, everyone wants to be done with school, go home, have a nice winter break, and enjoy

By Guy Spriggs

Experimental work on quasicrystal tilings by UK physics and astronomy professor Lance De Long’s group was recently featured on the cover of “Physical Review Letters.”

De Long says the artificial ferromagnetic quasicrystals at the center of his work were celebrated because such intricate patterns had never been fabricated before.

“It’s all about topology,” he explained. “The fact it’s nickel-iron doesn’t matter in any details. We can do what we want with [the design] within reason. The basic properties of it are determined just by its pattern.”

The artificial quasicrystals De Long’s group produced are composed of a network of sub-micron-scale thin-film segments, taking the shape

by Mallory Powell

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 5, 2013) – David Gross watched his mother care for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease.  He also saw the toll the disease took, not just on his grandmother, but on his mother who served as her caregiver. This inspired him to initiate a project in Morehead to support an assessment of Alzheimer Disease caregivers in rural Kentucky.

The project, which received a Seed Grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), is just one example of how the CCTS is achieving its commitment to community-engaged research through a community mini-grant program for health outreach programs in Appalachia.  

The Seed Grant program, now in its second year, supports projects that contribute to the reduction of health disparities in rural and Appalachian communities by developing, implementing

Maureen Meyers, who received her PhD. in anthropology from UK in 2011, was awarded the 2013 C. B. Moore Award by the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC). Meyers accepted the prestigious award at the organization’s annual meeting held in early November in Tampa, Florida. The C. B. Moore Award, given annually by SEAC in recognition of “Excellence in Southeastern Archaeology or associated studies by a distinguished younger “scholar”, was established by the members of the Lower Mississippi Survey in 1990. Scholars who are conducting archaeological research in the Southeast U.S. and completed their PhD. with the past ten years are eligible for the award. Nominees are selected by a committee consisting of all past C.B. Moore Award recipients

by Ann Blackford

(Dec. 4, 2013) — A state Senate candidate forum will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Cats Den at the University of Kentucky Student Center.

A special election to replace Kathy Stein in the 13th state Senate District, which includes UK and downtown Lexington, will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10.

"If you enjoyed Constitution Day at UK, you'll love this forum," said Buck Ryan, director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of UK's Scripps Howard First Amendment Center in the College of Communication and Information and whose Honors Program class, "Citizen Kentucky: Journalism and Democracy," is organizing the event. "Come for two minutes or two hours, and be sure to pick up the voters guide."

The students held a mock debate in class as

by Allison Perry

(Dec. 2, 2013) — A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers suggests that a diet low in vitamin D causes damage to the brain.

In addition to being essential for maintaining bone health, newer evidence shows that vitamin D serves important roles in other organs and tissue, including the brain. Published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, the UK study showed that middle-aged rats that were fed a diet low in vitamin D for several months developed free radical damage to the brain, and many different brain proteins were damaged as identified by redox proteomics. These rats also showed a significant decrease in cognitive performance on tests of learning and memory.  

"Given that vitamin D deficiency is especially widespread among the elderly, we

by Allison Elliott-Shannon

(Nov. 26, 2013) — From humans to sparrows, individuals within a species display distinct "personalities" when it comes to their behaviors. Taking an innovative approach to understanding how various factors impact behavioral patterns, David Westneat is working with a local population of house sparrows to understand how variables including local ecology, stress and hormones come together to affect the parenting behaviors of birds and other creatures.

Westneat, professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology, has been awarded a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for $670,000. As a behavioral ecologist with expertise on reproductive and social behavior, Westneat will use the grant to study variation in parenting patterns.

by Nathan Owen

(Dec. 2, 2013) —  Youth volunteer programs in the "War on Poverty" will be examined at a panel discussion sponsored by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center.

The panel will reflect critically on 50 years of the War on Poverty and the youth volunteer programs in Appalachia funded through those policies. The discussion will take place at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, at the Center Theater in the UK Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The panelists will provide short opening presentations, to be followed by an open discussion. Historians and representatives of federal volunteer programs will discuss a half-century of investments in social change in Appalachia through youth service programs from the

by Keith Hautala 

(Nov. 25, 2013) — Ashley Candelaria Alumbaugh, a fifth-year predoctoral intern in the University of Kentucky school psychology program and a longtime research assistant at the UK Human Development Institute, received some special recognition at a national conference last week. 

Alumbaugh received the prestigious 2013 Anne Rudigier Award from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities at the group's annual conference in Washington, D.C., held Nov. 17-20. The award recognizes an outstanding student who has demonstrated a commitment to supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families. 

Alumbaugh graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor's degree in psychology before

by Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 22, 2013) — In celebration of the University of Kentucky's upcoming sesquicentennial in 2015, the 70th of 150 weekly installments explores the history of observatories on campus.

By December of 1905, the college had purchased a telescope for $1,000 but there were no accommodations for its mounting. It was recommended to the Board of Trustees that to build a suitable observatory building and to cover the cost for proper care of the telescope would cost around $2,000. A request was made to the Board of Trustees that an appropriation in that amount be named. This first campus observatory was located on the northeast corner of what is now McVey Hall.

By 1928 the university campus had grown. The Board of Trustees minutes reflected the

From A&S staff reports

University of Kentucky and College of Arts & Sciences alumnus John W. Egerton, one of the nation’s most successful independent journalists and nonfiction authors, died November 21 at his home in Nashville. He was 78.

Egerton penned more than 300 articles and columns in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, and was well known for his series of books that chronicled Southern life.

>>Tom Eblen's tribute to John Egerton in the Herald-Leader

Born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1935, and raised in

“Death is not meant to be feared, it is meant to be celebrated.”

This is what Rosalinda Rodriguez was taught as a little girl growing up in Mexico. This has been a prevailing philosophy in Mexico for many centuries now, and it is still the main reason for the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos.

Rosalinda Rodriguez was born and raised in the city of Jalapa in Veracruz, Mexico. After graduating high school, Rosalinda moved to Mexico City in order to continue her studies in Hotel and Restaurant Management and International Relations. After completing her studies there, she decided to move to the United States, believing that this country would offer her more opportunities in her desired field of work. Now, Rosalinda has been living in Lexington for twelve years; she is married and has two children. Although Rosalinda does not go back to Mexico as often as she would