By Robin Roenker

Carmen Martínez Novo can point to a specific event in her childhood that inspired her future work as an anthropologist: as a young child in Madrid, Spain, she witnessed deep-seeded unease and cultural prejudice among her otherwise socially progressive, Left-leaning neighbors when a gypsy family moved in.

That disconnect between intellectual progressiveness and blatant intolerance intrigued Martinez Novo, placing her on a path of study that has informed her entire career.

“That incident made me become very interested in questions of discrimination, cultural difference, and tolerance,” said Martínez Novo, who joined UK’s faculty in September as a new Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the

by Sarah Geegan

University of Kentucky students come from all over the map — from as nearby as Fayette county, to as far away as Vietnam. Though their hometowns vary, they all share one thing in common; they're part of a Big Blue community that comes together during one of the most exciting times on UK's campus: K Week.

For international students at UK, K Week starts a week earlier, with K Week International Orientation, a series of events designed especially to support students coming to UK from abroad. More than 400 international undergraduate, graduate and CESL (Center for English as a Second Language) students will arrive during K Week International Orientation; UK currently hosts approximately 1,900 international students from 114 different countries

by Kathy Johnson

"The Unghosting of Medgar Evers" is the title of a book of poetry about the slain civil rights icon and now the title of a special one-hour radio production by WUKY 91.3 FM, the University of Kentucky's NPR station.

2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Evers on June 12, 1963 in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, just hours after President John F. Kennedy's nationally broadcast speech in support of civil rights. The WUKY radio production examines the civil rights struggle of that time through a blend of poetry from "Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers" by Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X Walker; music from 1963; and

by Derrick Meads and Sarah Geegan

Five UK graduate students recently attended the 2013 International Graduate Student Conference at Shanghai University. The UK American Studies Center at Shanghai University selected the students to represent the University of Kentucky.

The conference aimed to promote an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue about Asia’s past and present. The UK graduate students presented papers that explored specific interrelationships between Asia and the United States.  

The five students who attended were:

·         Hui Chu, a doctoral candidate in social and developmental psychology

·         Melinda Lio, a master’s student in ethnomusicology

·         Richard Parmer, a doctoral student in English

·         Ralph Schoellhammer

by Carl Nathe

A passion for science, which she discovered while in high school, led University of Kentucky senior Devin Henry to her current path of a major in agricultural biotechnology and a minor in psychology. And this summer, thanks to gaining firsthand research experience early in her academic career, the Lexington native spent two months in the Finger Lakes region of New York after being selected as a Cornell University Summer Research Scholar.

Henry, a graduate of Henry Clay High School, knew at a young age that UK was going to be the school for her.

"Being from Lexington, I have always bled blue, and attending UK was always on my mind," Henry said. "I did visit other universities, but decided UK was where I belonged. The major factors that went into my decision were the quality of academics, the school spirit, and the Greek life."

A

by Sarah Geegan

As the University of Kentucky prepares its students to compete in a globalized world, it's crucial to provide students with what associate provost for international programs Susan Carvalho calls "China literacy."

As the world's leading exporter, with the world's second-largest economy, there is no question that China is a dominant player in the 21st century marketplace.

"We’re thinking about how to make sure we’re graduating students who are world-ready, and there is no question that 'China literacy,' if we could use that term, is needed by people who are going into the global workforce," Carvalho said. "And it’s hard to think of any sectors that aren’t impacted in some way by what China does."

Just as China's influence spans across various industries, the elements of global literacy span across multiple disciplines. Part of

By Patrick O'Dowd

By Alicia Gregory

In 2009, the Virtual Observatory And Ecological Informatics System (VOEIS) project was launched. Funded by an NSF EPSCoR grant, VOEIS united researchers at five universities in Kentucky and two universities in Montana to develop a cyber infrastructure system to monitor, analyze, model, and forecast the consequences of environmental changes in freshwater ecosystems.

Real-time sensor readings from lakes and streams are sent to laboratories at Flathead Lake Biological Station in Montana and Hancock Biological Station in Kentucky and go into a database management system.

Barbara Kucera, principal

by Sarah Geegan

Christine Kindler graduated from the University of Kentucky in May 2013, and like her fellow alumni she is preparing to start a new career. However, unlike most graduates, she's using her experiences in the Middle East — in Israel and Palestine — to determine what the future has in store for her.

Kindler grew up with a passion for learning. As a home-schooled student from Lexington, her parents always encouraged her to seek out new opportunities and maintain an open mind. It was that mindset that led Kindler to pursue an education abroad opportunity during her junior year.

Kindler chose a Middle East program based in Egypt that allowed her to travel to nearby countries, including Turkey, Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

“I became interested in Middle Eastern culture, history and politics through courses I took at UK,” Kindler said. “I

Ashleigh Lovelace graduated in May from UK's English Dept.  She is now in New York City where she has a paid internship at Penguin.  Sigma Tau Delta, the English Dept. Honors Society (http://english.as.uky.edu/sigma-tau-delta), is subsidizing her internship. 

Read her blog!

http://www.wordybynature.org/the-halfway-point-penguin-group-usa-summer-internship/

By Matt Carmichael

Lexington is ranked as the fifth best college town in America according to Livabililty.com.  The best college towns appeal not just to potential students but to potential residents and businesses looking for strong economies and opportunities to grow. With this in mind, Livability.com has named the Top 10 College Towns 2013, the fourth installment in an annual listing of the best college towns in America.

For this installment of the Livability.com list of top college towns, editors narrowed their search to cities with a high quality of life based on a range of factors from cost of living and walkability to cultural amenities and pollution levels. They then focused on those cities where a university is the top employer and key economic driver.

And finally, they

By Patrick O’Dowd

English Professor Armando Prats said something that stuck in Elijah Edwards' head, "We are, in great measure, the living expression of our influences."

It's a powerful sentiment that recent English graduate Edwards reflects in his own story.

Edwards, a Kentucky native from Harrodsburg, came to the University of Kentucky in 2009 as a secondary English education major but quickly picked up two more: English and linguistics. That might seem like a lot to take on in four years, but for Edwards the workload was made manageable due to the nature of degrees from the

By Whitney Hale

In celebration of the University of Kentucky's upcoming sesquicentennial in 2015, the 61st of 150 weekly installments remembers the accomplishments of Dean Arthur McQuiston Miller, for whom Miller Hall is named.

Arthur McQuiston Miller was born in the countryside of Eaton, Ohio, on Aug. 6, 1861. One of his pastimes growing up was trilobite hunting in the Niagara limestone quarries in the region and thus began his interest in geology.

Miller attended Eaton public schools and in 1880 matriculated at the University of Wooster, transferring to Princeton University in 1883, and graduating in 1884. For several years Miller served as principal in Eaton High School but returned to Princeton where he earned a master’s degree in 1887, continuing on at the

By Sarah Geegan

When UK chemistry professor Susan Odom was asked about one of her students at the 244th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia, her answer rendered her colleagues speechless.

Her colleague's question: "How many years of graduate school has she completed?" Odom's response: "She's still in high school."

Her student, Corrine “Nina” Elliott, works to synthesize and study new compounds for overcharge protection in lithium-ion batteries — essentially creating chemicals which can be added to batteries to make them safer and more efficient. Elliott won first place in chemistry at her regional and state science fair competitions, and presented this research at the Intel International Science Fair,

By Sarah Geegan

UK chemistry professor Marcelo Guzman was recently awarded the prestigious, National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award, a five-year grant for his research, education, and outreach efforts in the field of environmental chemistry. 

The $525,000 grant will allow Guzman to develop the first atmospheric chemistry research and education program in Kentucky. The funding will also support students in various stages of their academic careers: undergraduate, graduate and K-12.

Guzman's work with environmental chemistry focuses on the interaction of light with organic compounds present in low water activity environments such as the atmospheric aerosol, clouds and fogs

By Jenny Wells, Kristen Stauffer

Research contributions by faculty from the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences and College of Education are featured in the 2013 release of "Common Core Mathematics Standards and Implementing Digital Technologies," published by IGI Global.

Carl Lee, UK professor of mathematics, Margaret Mohr-Schroeder, associate professor of STEM education, and College of Education doctoral graudate Robin Magruder (now a professor at Campbellsville University) were primary contributors.

Standards in the American education system are traditionally handled on a state-by-

By Victoria Dekle

Professor Bruce O’Hara in the Department of Biology is interested in the overall quality of your sleep. In his research laboratory in the Thomas Hunt Morgan Building, O’Hara investigates sleep patterns and circadian rhythms within the brain.

Not all of his test subjects, however, are human.

Mice are a common organism used in many experimental laboratories, but O’Hara and two University of Kentucky colleagues have developed some new methods to expedite the research process and to provide a more humane data collection process.

O’Hara, Professor Kevin Donohue in the