By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 10, 2025) - The College of Arts and Sciences has a number of students selected for the 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Award program. This year’s SURA recipients represent a an array of academic disciplines and will engage in immersive, faculty-mentored research across the University of Kentucky campus.

The SURA awards provide $5,000 to support Arts and Sciences undergraduate students pursuing summer research full-time. 

Throughout the summer, students will work closely with faculty mentors on projects of mutual interest. Their work will culminate in presentations at the UK Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium on Aug. 26, where they will share their findings with the campus community.

The 2025 SURA recipients are:

 By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Dan Knapp

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 9, 2025) — James “Jimmy” Dunne, a 1977 University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences graduate, has built a successful and wide-ranging career in entertainment — as a songwriter, composer, television and film producer and entrepreneur.

As a student at UK, Dunne found early creative outlets through writing and music. He worked as a writer for the Kentucky Kernel and was deeply influenced by professors who encouraged his passions. 

After graduation, Dunne moved to Los Angeles to launch his career, working as a writer and producer on hit shows like “Happy

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Research accounts published in popular journals help to get information out to the public, particularly when the research explores under-examined areas of women’s health. So Michelle Martel jumped at the chance to see her research on how menstrual cycles affect ADHD symptoms written up in Scientific American magazine. 

“I personally was excited about it, because I have a big emphasis on disseminating my work,” said Martel, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Psychology in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences. “My experience with Scientific American was really good; they sent me preprints and like ran everything by me to make sure that it was all accurate. I appreciated that.” 

The article by Kelso Harper, “

Approximately 2,008 students have been named to the spring 2025 Dean's List in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences. For a complete Dean's List, click here.

To earn Dean's List honors, students must earn:

A least 12 earned credit hours in graded coursework. Earned credit hours taken as Pass/Fail are excluded.

The Fall 2024-Spring 2025 dean's list celebration is Thursday, September 4, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Gatton Student Center. To RSVP for the event, click here. 
 

Dean's List Dean's List RSVP

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 6, 2025) —Juan Fernández Cantero, Ph.D., lecturer and interim director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Hispanic Studies in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is one of nine winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2025 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and

By Erin Wickey 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 5, 2025) — The University of Kentucky has selected Chris Richards, Ph.D., as a 2025-26 University Research Professor.

Richards is a professor in the Department of Chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences. He also serves as the director of the Light Microscopy Core and the director of the Bioelectronics and Nanomedicine Research Center.

Richards’ lab develops novel nanoscale biomaterials that

By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Tracy Marc 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 3, 2025) — A team of faculty, postdoctoral scholars and students from the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences has contributed to the groundbreaking final result in the ongoing Muon g-2 experiment at

By Haven L. Patrick 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 27, 2025) — Six University of Kentucky undergraduates have been selected for the Sustainability Summer Research Fellowship, a program that supports student-led projects that advance sustainable practices and community impact through research.

Now in its 11th year, the fellowship is a collaboration between the Office of Undergraduate Research, UK Sustainability and the UK Student Sustainability Council. Since its launch in 2014, the program has supported

By Haven L. Patrick 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 22, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has announced the 16 students who have been selected for the 2025 Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience  Fellowship program.

Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research, the CURE Fellowship provides students with the opportunity to engage in faculty-mentored research within seven of UK’s eight Research Priority Areas: cancer, cardiovascular health, diabetes and

By Amy Jones-Timoney

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 16, 2025) — A new faculty trustee and a new staff trustee have been elected following the University Community Election of Faculty and Staff Representatives to the Board of Trustees. On April 25 the election cycle opened to fill one faculty seat and one staff seat for three-year terms starting July 1. Nomination submissions closed May 4, and voting took place May 8 through May 14.

Karen Petrone, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences and co-director of the UK-Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative, has been elected to serve as a faculty trustee. The faculty trustees 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 15, 2025) — In celebration of University of Kentucky alumnus Bill Roark’s retirement, Starfish Holdings is providing $50,000 gift to establish an endowed scholarship in his name.

The Bill Roark Endowed Science Scholarship will support students pursuing degrees in scientific disciplines — students, like Roark, who are driven by curiosity, perseverance and purpose. The endowment will be housed in 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 15, 2025) — Frank X Walker, professor of English and African American and Africana Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded the 2025 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry for his compelling collection, “Load in Nine Times: Poems.”

The award winners were announced live at the PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony May 8 at The Town Hall in New York City, hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Tamron Hall.

The 2025

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 15, 2025) — A new study by University of Kentucky researchers is helping change how scientists understand and control magnetic energy and could lead to faster, more efficient electronic devices.

Led by Ambrose Seo, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, the study recently was published in Nature Communications. Seo is also the principal investigator

By Haven L. Patrick 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 14, 2025) — The University of Kentucky’s Office of Undergraduate Research has selected a cohort of Undergraduate Research Ambassadors — a group of outstanding students who serve as advocates for undergraduate research and creative scholarship at UK.

This year, the office awarded four students as Excellent Undergraduate Research Ambassadors in recognition of their outstanding contributions, achievements, dedication to promoting undergraduate research and creative opportunities across UK’s campus and fostering

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2025) — Last fall, the University of Kentucky Office of the Provost announced the second cohort of the Institutional Multidisciplinary Paradigm to Accelerate Collaboration and Transformation (IMPACT) Awards winners. 

The IMPACT Awards initiative, an internal funding program from the Office of the Provost, launched in 2023 to support innovation and transformation within UK’s colleges. The UK Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) Hub connects and trains AI/ML consumers, practitioners and developers across

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2025) — Last fall, the University of Kentucky Office of the Provost announced the second cohort of the Institutional Multidisciplinary Paradigm to Accelerate Collaboration and Transformation Awards winners. 

The IMPACT Awards initiative, an internal funding program from the Office of the Provost, launched in 2023 to support innovation and transformation within UK’s colleges.

“Fostering Bioelectronics and Nanomedicine Innovation” explores how interdisciplinary collaboration and student-led research can accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies to

By Avery Schanbacher and Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2025) -- Diksha Satish has always been a problem solver with a passion for helping people. That passion led her to pursue dual degrees in mathematics and biology at the University of Kentucky, combining analytical thinking with a desire to improve lives through science.

This Friday, Satish will graduate from the UK College of Arts and Sciences with dual degrees. Her academic journey has been shaped as much by research as by coursework.

During her first year at UK, Satish joined Lance Johnson’s neuroscience lab in the College of Medicine Department of

By Alexis Baker

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 7, 2025) — Anna Cox never planned to pursue a career in medicine.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 2017 with a degree in mathematical economics in the College of Arts and Sciences, she began working as a logistics broker. Less than two years later, Cox said her life changed when she was rushed to the UK Albert B. Chandler Emergency Department with severe abdominal pain.

At 23, Cox said she had never been seriously ill and had no primary care doctor.

Her arrival at the emergency department set off a whirlwind of care. Within hours, she had

By Ben Branscum, Tom Musgrave and Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 6, 2025) — When Asa O’Neal arrived at the University of Kentucky in 2021, he didn’t have a clear plan, but he knew he was in the right place to figure it out.

“My mother and grandmother went here, so UK felt a little like home,” said O'Neal, a West Liberty native. “But at the end of the day, it was about what [UK] had to offer. It was a huge university where I could do anything I wanted.”

Originally a chemical engineering major, O’Neal, also a member of the

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Beth Guiton’s talents and interests range from growing nanomaterials inside small environments to singing big choral works at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington. Her range of expertise shows just how multi-faceted faculty members in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences can be.  

First the science. Guiton, Ph.D., is professor of chemistry and Frank J. Derbyshire Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Chemistry as well as the director of undergraduate studies for chemistry. A lot of her work involves solid-state, or inorganic, chemistry. She and her fellow researchers manipulate wire-like objects at the nanometer scale — about one billionth of a meter. Guiton sees a myriad applications for her research.  

"There's a really wide range