By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved honorary degrees to be presented at the May Commencement to professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and NASA researcher Vijay K. Dhir, as well as biology professor and president of the University of Iowa, Sally Mason.

Born in India, Dhir came to the United States in 1969 after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, India in 1965 and his Master of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India in 1968. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1972, he joined the faculty of UCLA and continued consulting for numerous organizations, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, GE Corp., Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International and the Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Labs.

By Whitney Hale, Sarah Geegan

A duo of Japan's foremost Tsugaru shamisen performers, Oyama x Nitta, will perform for a Bluegrass audience at an upcoming concert presented by the Japan/America Society of Kentucky (JASK), the University of Kentucky Japan Studies Program and the Asia Center. The concert, part of the statewide Kentucky Cherry Blossom Festival, will take to the stage 3 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Memorial Hall.

The Tsugaru shamisen is a banjo-like instrument from the Tsugaru region in Aomori Prefecture in the northernmost part of Japan’s central island of Honshu. Oyama x Nitta is comprised of Tsugaru shamisen performers Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta, who are

Date: Monday, March 26, 2012
Time: 6:00 - 7:30pm
Location: Whitehall Classroom Building Room 118

Shenggen Fan: Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute

To learn more about the Year of China, click here.

Date: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Room 206 Student Center

The English Department welcomes all students interested in taking Fall 2012 English classes to its pre-registration reception from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Room 206 Student Center.  Come meet and chat with other English majors and the English Department faculty! There will also be a drawing for Coffea gift cards!  Light refreshments will be served.

By Sarah Geegan, Robin Roenker

Retired chemistry Professor Jim Holler ended his tenure as one of UK's most popular and celebrated teachers with a bang last December — literally. 

On the last day of classes last semester, before officially retiring on Jan. 3, 2012, Holler led his students outside the Chemistry-Physics Building for some learning and fun. The task at hand: seeing how much of a boom they could create while exploding enormous, hydrogen-filled balloons.

It was a suitable salute to Holler’s 35 years at

By Kel Hahn, Jenny Wells

Sen-Ching (Samson) Cheung is an associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Engineering's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member within the UK Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments. Like most professors, he is deeply involved in engineering research. Most of his research has been in the area of multimedia information analysis.

"I enjoy solving problems and developing new theories, working on new technology and future products," Cheung explains. "But something like video surveillance does not impact me personally. At the end of the day, I can leave my research in the lab."

The distance between professional research and personal impact was shortened a few years ago when Cheung and his wife began to detect developmental delays with their son. They noticed he

The following story was translated from Chinese to English by Hive member Yiwen Chen. You can read the original stories in Chinese here and here.

Jilin University is a top-ranked university in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province in Northeastern China. Jilin University has established worldwide exchange programs with more than 110 universities, colleges, and research institutes in 25 countries/districts, including a partnership with the University of Kentucky.

Over 1,500 foreign students are currently enrolled in Jilin University. A group of exchange students from Jilin University recently

By Sarah Geegan

The revolutions throughout Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other nations in the Arab world have inspired earnest debate among experts. Are the ideological underpinnings of the revolutions democratic, religious, liberal or non-ideological? Will these revolutions spearhead an Islamist takeover of the Arab world? Professor Asef Bayat, of the University of Illinois, will address these questions Friday, March 23, in the William T. Young Library auditorium.

The UK College of Arts and Sciences and the Muslim World Working Group will present the symposium titled, "Understanding the Arab Spring." The event will include a lecture from Bayat, "The Arab Spring: Are the Islamists Coming?" as well as commentary from three UK professors.

Bayat is a

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky Asia Center, in the latest installment of its 2012 Spring Speaker Series, will present an exploration of Buddhism and it's place in daily life on Friday, March 23.

The event, which will include two lecturers, will expose students to Buddhism and the social and practical roles it plays in various societies. Professors Ruth Baer from the UK Department of Psychology and Jeffery Samuels from the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Kentucky University will present.

Baer, esteemed for her work in clinical psychological therapy,

By Sarah Geegan

Students in professor Randolph Hollingsworth's research seminar expanded the boundaries of a typical history class as they examined the complexities and influences of Kentucky civil rights era women. By participating in digital dialogues, contributing to online databases and engaging in community service, the students experienced history by thinking outside the book.

"We don't have many scholarly books covering the wide-ranging history of women in Kentucky," Hollingsworth said. "One thing that we've found is that women are simply absent in many historical records. Sometimes it's a willful absence, and people choose not to include them. But then other times, it's just neglect."

The course aimed to begin filling this historical void. Students served as history-detectives, acquiring

By Colleen Glenn

Pauline Stratman, a teaching assistant in the Department of Chemistry at UK, was recently honored with a 2012 Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching. Stratman is athird-year Ph.D. student focusing on biological chemistry.

“I was so excited to win the award.  It was incredible,” said Stratman.

Teaching can be a challenging vocation in any field, but for teachers of tough subjects such as chemistry, the challenges can be double.

“When I tell people that I am a chemist, the response is often a sign of their feelings towards chemistry,” explained Stratman. “Those feelings are often not the most positive ones. Chemistry has a stigma.”

But already as a teaching assistant, Stratman has found a way to reach students.

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky’s Aleksey Graboviy, an accounting sophomore, and Nolan Jackson, a political science junior, have been awarded two Henry Clay Internships presented by the Kentucky Society of Washington. The public policy internships will allow Graboviy and Jackson to work in an office of a member of the Kentucky congressional delegation or an office of the executive branch.

The Kentucky Society of Washington awards a limited number of internships to qualified Kentucky college students. Each intern receives a stipend of $3,000 for living expenses in Washington during the six to eight week summer

By Whitney Hale

The upcoming University of Kentucky Libraries Annual Dinner will recognize this year's Medallion for Intellectual Achievement recipient, chemist John Anthony, and will feature guest speaker, Alan C. Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The dinner, which is open to the public, will be presented 7 p.m. Friday, April 13, at the Hilary J. Boone Center.

Alan C. Lowe, UK alumnus and native of Paris, Ky., has been the director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum since 2009. Lowe began his career with the National Archives where he helped assemble records to open the Ronald Reagan Presidential

By Sarah Geegan

The African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky will present the 18th annual Black Women's Conference March 22-24.

The conference, titled, "Learning the Ropes: Black Girlhood, Identity and the Power of Play," will center specifically on the lives and expressions of African-American girls. Incorporating expert speakers, performances, panels and activities both on campus and in the community, the conference will reveal the significance of play in the lives of African-American girls.

Melynda Price, professor in the UK College of Law

By Sarah Geegan

Paul Steinhardt, professor of physics and astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, will deliver the Van Winter Memorial Lecture at the University of Kentucky from 3:15-4:15 p.m. Friday, March 23, in Room 139 of the Chemistry-Physics Building.

The Van Winter Memorial Lecture honors Clasine Van Winter, a professor in the UK departments of Mathematics and Physics and Astronomy from 1968-1999. Van Winter is best known for Weinberg-Van Winter equations for multi-particle quantum

By Kathy Johnson

A'dia Mathies has been an outstanding guard for the University of Kentucky women's basketball team, even being named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year by Associated Press this year.

Mathies, a junior, went "One on One" with College of Arts and Sciences Dean Mark Kornbluh, talking about the experience of being an athlete and a student majoring in psychology.

To view the "One on One" video interview, click here.

By Sarah Geegan

In February, area high school teachers gathered twice at the University of Kentucky to learn about recent scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, specifically in the fields of chemistry, physics and astronomy. On Thursday, March 22, the College of Arts and Sciences will offer a biological perspective on "What's New in Science."

Biology professor Randal Voss will lead the third forum in the What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs.

The series engages teachers and youth in various scientific areas by focusing specifically on

For a transcript of the video above, click here.

By Jay Blanton, Amy Jones, Kody Kiser

As a young man growing up in Ashland, Ky., there was never a question in Larry Conley’s mind about where he would go to college.

“I am a Kentuckian. I grew up in Ashland. I loved basketball. I played basketball and there isn’t a state in the United States that reveres basketball like the state of Kentucky,” Conley said.

The University of Kentucky would be his home and Conley would make his mark playing for legendary Coach Adolph Rupp in the 1960s.

“I loved Kentucky basketball,” he said recently from his home in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. “I followed it from the

By Robin Roenker

Veteran UK Chemistry professor Jim Holler ended his tenure as one of the university’s most popular and celebrated teachers with a bang last December—literally.

On the last day of classes last semester, before officially retiring on Jan. 3, 2012, Holler led his students outside the Chemistry-Physics Building for some fun. The task at hand: seeing how much of a boom they could create while exploding enormous, hydrogen-filled balloons.

It was a suitable salute to Holler’s 35 years at UK, a career that was hallmarked by his passion for teaching and a love for sharing the fun of science with his students.

“Students will tend to remember things if they’re exciting enough,” said Holler, who taught high school chemistry and physics in his native Indiana for five years before deciding to pursue a doctoral degree. 

“I really enjoyed being a