By Lydia Whitman

(March 12, 2015)   The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has chosen 12 outstanding undergraduates as new scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. Gaines Fellowships are given in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities.

Gaines Fellowships are awarded for the tenure of a student's junior and senior years,

By Gail Hairston and Doug Slaymaker

(March 6, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Japan Studies Program presents the documentary 『ほんとうの歌』 ("True Songs") March 11. The event coincides with the fourth anniversary of the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant meltdown in Northern Japan.

The documentary will be screened with free admission at 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at the Kentucky Theatre on Main Street, downtown Lexington. 

“True Songs” follows the performances of a dramatic reading of the late Kenji Miyazawa’s “Milky Way

By Gail Hairston

(Feb. 27, 2015) — Thirty-five students from Lafayette, Scott County, Atherton and Eastern high schools visit the University of Kentucky campus on Saturday to immerse themselves in the Japanese culture and to compete in the Kentucky Japan Bowl®.

The Japan Bowl is a franchised quiz competition for high school students studying Japanese. The competition challenges the students’ knowledge of the Japanese language and culture.

“We are hoping that students will enjoy this event and get motivated to study Japanese even more,” said Atsushi Hasegawa, assistant professor of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures in the UK College of Arts and Sciences.

Hosted by UK Japan Studies, the Kentucky Japan Bowl is

By Yan Wang

(Feb. 23, 2015) — A panel discussion about Cuba and U.S. relations will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the UK Athletics Association Auditorium in Young Library.

“We have such an incredible variety of perspectives and areas of expertise across the UK community, and the shift in US-Cuba relations is an ideal opportunity to let faculty, staff and students benefit from that expertise,” said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for internationalization, interim associate provost and dean of the graduate school and moderator of the panel discussion. “I know that the discussion will be enlightening for all of us, as we re-examine our own views, as well as broaden our understanding of alternative viewpoints.”

The panel discussion

by: Gail Hariston

(Jan. 22, 2015) — Global events have been happening at a rate few of us can track much less comprehend. Populism and right wing politics in Europe and Latin America could be such issues for many.

Several University of Kentucky programs, including the International Studies Program and the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences and University Press of Kentucky, have organized two events just for those

by: Whitney Hale

(Jan. 21, 2015) — University of Kentucky Confucius Institute and thePatterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce will present a lecture by Craig A. Harton positive and negative dynamics of China-U.S. relations. The talk, which will explore aspects of energy and climate, regional security, trade and rule of law, will begin 2:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

"Dr. Hart has over a decade

by Derrick Meads

(Jan. 12, 2015) — UK’s Global Health Initiative is hosting a lecture about the success of Cuba’s health care system in spite of its economy.

The lecture, titled “The Curious Case of Cuba,” will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the Chandler Hospital, Pavilion A Auditorium.

According to Dr. C. William Keck who will be giving the lecture, 1.3 billion people live, and die, without health care.

“Most are in developing countries, but many are in industrialized nations,” said Keck. “Proving that political will, not wealth, is the key to transforming this devastating picture.The lecture will focus on the nature of the Cuban national health system, the forces that sustain it and the promise it holds as a model for others to learn from.”

Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing

by Sibel Solagan

(Nov. 19, 2014) — As UK celebrates its sesquicentennial this year, one faculty member in particular has plenty to remember about his history with the university.

 Out of 150 years, I’ve experienced 58 years of UK’s history. Technically, I’m in my 116th semester,” said Pradyumna (Paul) Karan, who is originally from India.    

In August of 1956, Martin M. White, dean of the UK College of Arts and Sciences, hired Karan to teach geography – making Karan one of the first international faculty members in UK's history.

“[Dr. White] couldn’t say my name – that’s when he asked if he could just call me

by Gail Hairston

(Nov. 5, 2014) — “Democracy at Risk Around the World” will be examined at the next University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ Year of the Middle East: Crossroads of the World event Nov. 7.

The Quantitative Initiative in Political and Social Research (QIPSR) contributes to The Year of the Middle East calendar with this fifth annual conference, featuring:

(Nov. 4, 2014) -- Christie Vilsack, Senior Advisor for International Education at the U.S. Agency for International Development, will visit the University of Kentucky on Thursday, November 20, as part of UK's International Education Week.

Speaking at 6 p.m. in Memorial Hall, Vilsack will discuss USAID’s education strategy in her presentation titled, "Let Girls Learn: Education in Developing Countries." The event is free and open to the public.

UDAID's education strategy is an initiative focused on improving children’s reading skills, strengthening workforce development and providing fair opportunities for education in areas ridden by conflict. As USAID’s Senior Advisor for International Education, Vilsack travels the world to visit with education leaders, to learn about international programs

by Gail Hairston

(Oct. 17, 2014) — An expert in U.S. foreign relations in the Middle East since 1940 will discuss the historical foundations of the current crises in the region at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in the UKAA Auditorium of the University of Kentucky's W.T. Young Library. The event, "Messy Little Wars: U.S. Approaches to Iraq Since 1990," is part of the UK College of Arts and Sciences event Year of the Middle East.

As an Ohio State University research scholar, Professor Peter Hahn has been supported by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Truman Library Institute, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Lyndon Johnson Foundation, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, the Office of United States Air Force History, and the U.S. Army Center of Military History.

His most recent

by Gail Hairston 

(Sept. 30, 2014) — More than an “s” has been added since the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Science was created in 1908 with only seven faculty members. In fact there was a College of Arts and Science even before the institution was named the University of Kentucky; the institution was called the State University, Lexington, Kentucky (previously Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky and State College) until 1916.

In those 106 years, several of today’s largest colleges were birthed from the original College of Arts and Science’s former programs, including today’s College of Education, College of Communication and Information, College of Social Work and College of Fine Arts.

The college grew quickly under the inspiration and commitment of President James Patterson, whose statue now graces the plaza next to the

by Abigall Shipp

(Sept. 23, 2014) — Chinese involvement in Africa and female drug dealers in Chinese prisons are the topics of this fall’s Distinguished Scholar Series, sponsored by the University of Kentucky Confucius Institute (UKCI).

Ching Kwan Lee, a sociology professor at University of California, Los Angeles, launches the series with “The Specter of Global China: Contesting the Power and Peril of Chinese State Capital in Zambia,” which explores China’s role in copper and construction in Zambia.

Sheldon Zhang, a sociology professor at San Diego State University follows Lee with “

by Whitney Hale

(Sept. 19, 2014) — This weekend, Huajing Maske, executive director of the Office of China Initiatives and director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky, will receive the Amici Linguarum (Friend of Languages) Award given by the Kentucky World Language Association (KWLA). The honor recognizes an individual or organization not directly involved in teaching world languages that has made a significant contribution to the profession.

Maske will be presented with the Amici Linguarum Award at the annual KWLA Awards Luncheon scheduled for Sept. 20, at the

by Jenny Wells

(Sept. 17, 2014) — University of Kentucky Education Abroad (EA) will hold its annual fall fair today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom.

From A to Z, the Education Abroad Fair showcases every international education opportunity available at the University of Kentucky.  Students will find a range of options, including study, intern, research, teach, and service abroad programs.  In addition, campus offices involved in the education abroad planning process, such as Financial Aid, the Stuckert Career Center and others, will be available to answer questions. 

"To meet the diverse academic needs of UK's study body, we have hundreds of programs, each with

by Gail Hairston

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 29, 2014) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ Passport to the World program has already whisked students on four virtual globetrotting tours, yearlong explorations into the culture and history of a country or region. For the program’s fifth academic year, the college will delve into the turbulent, headline-grabbing region of the Middle East.

Once again the UK College of Arts and Sciences has chosen a region that impacts all of us. The eyes of the world have focused on the area for months, years. And yet, for many Americans, the Middle East is still mysterious and threatening, a culture and people churning with unfamiliar beliefs, traditions, expectations and dreams.

Like past programs about

by Jenny Wells

(Aug. 26, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its newest class of Chellgren Fellows this past weekend.  Benefactor Paul Chellgren, along with Chellgren Endowed Chair Philipp Kraemer, recognized and congratulated the students on being named Fellows.

The Chellgren Fellows Program is for students with exceptional academic potential and aspirations, who are eager to participate in a special learning community designed to cultivate extraordinary achievement. Outstanding faculty members from across campus serve as individual mentors for the Fellows.

The students selected as 2014-15 Chellgren Fellows include:

by Keith Hautala

(July 15. 2014) — The University of Kentucky has entered into an agreement with a major Chinese petrochemical conglomerate to develop technologies to capture, utilize and store 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year from a coal-fired power plant in Dongying, Shandong, China.

The agreement, between UK's Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and the Sinopec Corporation's Shengli Oilfield Company and Petroleum Engineering Construction Corporation, is a project of the joint U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) as part of its Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) initiative. Preliminary work on the project began in 2012, and work is scheduled to continue through 2017.

The purpose of the project, with an estimated total investment of $320-400 million, is to develop a series of technologies to capture, transport, store and

Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with more than 250 million speakers worldwide. Aside from its country of origin, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Acores, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe, and is commonly spoken in seven other countries. A part of the Ibero-Romance language group that descends from Latin dialects, its origins are ancient, but during the Age of Exploration, it spread to many corners of the globe, and is present in many popular forms of music, such as bossa nova and samba.

During Fall semester 2014, Fabrício da Silva will teach introductory Portuguese. He is a native Portuguese speaker from Brazil, has lived in Lisbon, Portugal, and has an MA in Languages, Literatures