Lilian Milanes received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. 

By Sarah Geegan

Biology professor James Krupa recently received his second major accolade from the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) in the past two years. After taking home the NABT University Teaching Award last year, Krupa received the Evolution Education Award for 2012 — crediting famous UK alumnus John T. Scopes for much of his inspiration.

The award recognizes innovative classroom teaching and community education efforts to promote the accurate understanding of biological evolution. Sponsored by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), the honor will be officially presented to

University of Kentucky professors Paolo Visona and George Crothers have spent their professional lives studying ancient civilizations — Visona, mostly Greek archaeology; and Crothers, mostly early Native American populations in Kentucky's Green River valley.

Read the story here in the Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/24/2349541/university-of-kentucky-professors.html

Matt Wilson's GIS Workshop at the University of Kentucky builds connections to the community through partnerships with non-profit organizations such as Seedleaf and the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice.

This podcast was produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

The Department of Psychology is excited to welcome professor Michelle Martel to its faculty!

Professor Martel joins us this fall studying preschool and childhood Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Her research looks to find developmental pathways to DBD and ADHD by studying not only early markers and traits, but also biological and environmental factors.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the new faculty members who joined the College of Arts and Sciences in the fall 2012 semester.

Produced by Stephen Gordinier.

This podcast was produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

The Department of Political Science is excited to welcome professor Abby Córdova to its faculty!

Professor Córdova joins us this fall to continue her research on comparitive politics. She studies the effects of crime, poverty, and economic inequality on the democratic process in Latin America. Her field research has taken her to Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, and Guyana.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the new faculty members who joined the College of Arts and Sciences in the fall 2012 semester.

Produced by Stephen Gordinier.

This podcast was produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

When you hear the phrase “Crime and Punishment,” you may think of the famous novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – or, if you’re a student at the University of Kentucky, you may think about a unique course developed by Cynthia Ruder and Janet Stamatel. The course, titled “A&S 100-401: Crime and Punishment in Russia’s Realms,” will examine issues of crime and punishment from literary, social science, and creative perspectives in Russia and surrounding countries from the 1920s to the present. 

by Sarah Geegan

English professor and 2011 National Book Award winner Nikky Finney was recently appointed the inaugural Guy Davenport Endowed English Professor, an award honoring one of UK's most distinguished professors.

Guy Mattison Davenport, author, poet, painter and critic, retired in 1990 as a UK Distinguished Alumni Professor of English. Throughout his career, he received national and international recognition by several educational and professional institutions for his many achievements. Honoring this legacy, the endowed professorship was made possible through a generous donation to the College of

The Shakers are one of America’s best-known utopian societies. An investigation of Pleasant Hill, one of their former communities in Kentucky, reveals how their emphasis on order, work, and religious devotion, and their penchant for innovations, were an attempt at perfecting their lives.By Kelli Whitlock Burton.  See attached article from American Archaeology.

David Crabbe, a graduate student in the Division of Classics in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures has been awarded the Swift-Longacre-Scaife Fellowship for academic year 2012-13, in the amount of $6,000.  The award was made in recognition both of what David had already accomplished in the Classics program and for his outstanding promise as a career Latin teacher.  David graduated with an M.A. in Classics this past year, and is staying at U.K. to complete a second M.A. in Teaching Latin in the Master of Arts in Teaching World Languages program (MATWL) of the Modern and Classical Languages department. 

The Swift-Longacre-Scaife fellowship is named for and honors three notable teacher-scholars in Kentucky. Louis Swift is an emeritus professor of Classics at UK with a specialty in the Latin Church Fathers; he also

Matt Krebs has been selected along with a handful graduate students from around the world to present his dissertation research plan at a colloquium in Savannah, GA on October 14, 2012, as part of the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC).  Matt's research, An Ethnographic Study of a Japanese Technology Corporation, addresses the cultural dimensions of actor networks in the design of technology products.

We are also very pleased to announce Dr. Karl Raitz has been named the Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor. This award is highly competitive and is selected from nominations submitted by the Deans of UK's colleges. Recipients are honored for their consistently high level of achievement in their contributions to their disciplines and the university. The appointment is for three years, and brings a research fund for each of the three years.

Professor Daehyun Kim has won the Association of American Geographers J. Warren Nystrom Award for 2012. 

Dr. Nystrom, a distinguished scholar and educator, was Director of the AAG from 1966 to 1979. He established the award to recognize the best academic paper based upon a recent dissertation in geography. Daehyun completed his PhD at Texas A & M University and his research foci include biogeography, coastal and forest ecology, and soil-landform modeling. More specifically he is pursuing issues of bio-geophysical complexity in which he models the relationships between vegetation and soils as they relate in complex and dynamic ways to climate, hydrology, and landforms. His dissertation addressed the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Salt Marsh Vegetation Across Scales, wherein his field-based research became the basis for conceptual and simulation models that

The volume, The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool is out.  1001 congratulations to Dr. Christopher A. Pool!

First photo: Jennifer Osterhage crosses the finish line as the women's winner of the 2011 Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon.

Second photo: As the winner, Jennifer was asked to hold the women's finish line tape at the summer 2012 Louisville Ironman (standing right). 

Jennifer Osterhage is a lecturer in the Department of Biology at UK that specializes in molecular biology, phylogenetics, and biology education. In addition to teaching an introductory biology course (BIO 148) and coordinating the Genetics laboratories, she is continuing a collaboration with other geneticists and ecologists at other institutions investigating the evolutionary relationships among the Homalopsidae, rear-fanged water snakes found throughout Southeast Asia.

The University of Kentucky's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences gives its graduate students the chance to explore a wide swath of the geosciences that take them many divergent routes but, in the end, they're all at home in EES.

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Lucas Rohrer is from Princeton, Kentucky, and received a B.A. in Chemistry from Asbury University.  Lucas received a 2012 Geological Society of America Student Research Grant for his M.S. thesis research on the evolution of the Appalachian mountains of the northeastern U.S. Lucas's research involves a lot of field work (i.e., hiking) in the woods of central Massachusetts. Like many geologists, the field work is what Lucas finds particularly stimulating.

Although he was a chemistry major as an undergraduate, Lucas was inspired to pursue a graduate

Megan Maurer will be attending the EPIC (Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference) Graduate Student Colloquium in Savannah, Georgia, October 14-17, where she will present her research proposal on urban gardening in Southeast Michigan. Her research involves working closely with area non-profits engaged in community development efforts, and this conference is an opportunity to network with students and professionals working in similar situations, as well as to receive feedback on her proposed research project.

by Amy Jones and Kody Kiser

As freshmen move into the University of Kentucky, one of the first things greeting them will be tables of free food near their residence halls. 

It’s a welcome many students take full advantage of throughout K Week.  But is it possible to actually go the entire week without paying for food during this special Big Blue welcome? 

Watch the feature above to get some tips from a real free food expert, UK Biology Senior Annie Tiu and discover why the incentive helps students become involved in campus life from the very start of their college careers.

This is the first in a new series produced by UK Now called "Who Does That?"  We'd like to show you the unique

History Professor Hang Nguyen recently published an op ed piece on Vietnam in the Sunday New York Times Opinion Section. Her article discusses myths about the Vietnam War and how the war compares to the current and lengthy conflict in Afghanistan. To read the full article, follow the link to the online edition of the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/what-we-dont-know-about-vietnam-can-still-hurt-us.html?_r=1

by Carl Nathe and Nathan Schwake

Recently, eight UK female student-athletes, along with members of the athletics department staff, participated in a service trip to Ethiopia. On the trip were Megan Moir from women's golf, Brooke Keyes and Kayla King from women's soccer, Kayla Hartley from gymnastics, Grace Trimble from women's tennis (political science major), Kastine Evans from women's basketball, Emily Holsopple from rifle (biology major), and Aubrey Lamar from softball. Each student was nominated by her respective head coach for this trip.

This is a wonderful example of how UK students and staff involve themselves in efforts so much bigger than themselves. This article is excerpted from blogs written by several of the student-athletes. 

For the second consecutive year,