by Erin Holaday Ziegler

From the halls of Congress to the streets of downtown Lexington, America might not agree much, but the majority of its citizens can see the disparity in the economic fortunes of rich, poor and middle class American families.

The myriad reasons behind economic inequality range from the decline of unions to the decline of the progressive income tax, but the outcome is undeniable: those at the very top of the income ladder have emerged as the biggest winners in a huge transformation of the American economy. 

As an interdisciplinary body striving to improve policy and government performance through the production and distribution of world-class scholarship, The University of Kentucky’s Quantitative Initiative for Policy and Social Research (QIPSR) wants to

By Sarah Geegan

Three experts in the areas of gender, sexuality and politics of identity will share insight with UK students in professor Vershawn Young's classes this spring.

Young, of the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English, will incorporate the speaker series including Daniel Black, Lisa Moore and Sharon Bridgforth into his ENG 480 and GWS 595 classes. These courses focus on gender and race in documentary film through the work of late film maker Marlon Riggs. Riggs' work

By Guy Spriggs, Sarah Geegan

The cutting edge experiment didn’t require any million-dollar equipment — just a camera, a 2-liter soda bottle, a balloon, rubber bands and string.

Associate Professor Jeremy Crampton of the Department of Geography met his Intro to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) students in front of the Main Building on a windy February day. Their project? Survey the western border of UK’s campus using the balloon and a process called citizen remote sensing.

By simply suspending a camera from the balloon, this technique allowed students to not only physically map an area, but to use other forms of recording, such as thermal imaging, to capture data on vegetable health and building efficiency.

“We

By Sarah Geegan, Jessica Powers

The University of Kentucky Department of Gender and Women's Studies will host a series of lectures covering the diverse topic of queens. The lectures will be given by professors Rusty Barrett, Susan Bordo and Karen Tice.

Barrett, assistant professor of linguistics, will present his lecture, titled "Sickening Queens," Thursday, Feb. 16.  The lecture will showcase

By Sarah Geegan

Rich Kirby and John Haywood will present the second lecture in the Appalachian Studies Program’s Place Matters lecture series on Friday, Feb. 17.

The lecture, “Somewheres on the Track: Place, Art and Music in Eastern Kentucky,” will demonstrate Kirby and Haywood's experience with all three – place, art, and music – from Appalachian Kentucky. Their multimedia presentation will take place  from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Center Theater, University of Kentucky Student Center.

Rich Kirby is a musician who founded June Appal Recordings in 1974. For over 30 years –

By Colleen Glenn

A new year is just starting, but an important community series at the Lyric is already underway. “Rebuilding the Block,” the S.T. Roach Community Conversations, kicked off in December and will continue through the spring.

The second annual series is a collaborative project created by UK’s African American & Africana Studies

The College of Arts & Sciences offers a limited number of academic scholarships for currently enrolled students with a primary major in the College.

The annual Darwin Lecture Series will feature Eugenie C. Scott, who will present a lecture titled "Darwin: Demon or Revolutionary?" Presented by the Kentucky Section of the American Institute for Professional Geologists, the lecture will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

Scott is the executive director at The National Center of Science Education at the University of Missouri. She has been a researcher and activist in the creationism/evolution conflict for over 25 years, and is able to address the variety of different aspects the conflict entails.

The sponsors for the lecture include:

Originally published on February 12, 2012 in the Kentucky Kernel

By Luke Fegenbush

Twelve UK ROTC cadets received rated slots in the Air Force.

The Cadets were honored on Friday in an impromptu awards ceremony at Buell Armory. This ceremony started as a surprise because the results came back a week earlier than expected.

Receiving a rated slot in the Air Force means that a cadet has been selected for training in a position involving frequent flight. A limited number of these slots are given to applicants based on their grades, test scores and physical fitness.

“A lot of people, when they go into the Air Force, want to fly,” said Maj. Jesse Hedge, ROTC Operations Officer. “But it’s really hard to be selected to fly.”

Applicants who receive a slot are then sorted into one of four groups — Pilot, Combat Systems Officer, Remotely

Last November ROTC cadets ran 29 miles from UK's Barker Hall to Frankfort's Vietnam Veterans Memorial to memoralize American Prisoners of War and Missing In Action. I recently sat down with Air Force ROTC cadets Christopher Corley, Melissa Matthews, Erin Jewell, Andrew Hoch, all of whom ran the entire 29 miles, to discuss their experience and what POW-MIA means to them.

This podcast was produced by Sam Burchett.

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 4:00pm

Location: President's Room, Singletary Center

Gender & Women's Studies Spring 2012 Lecture Series presents Queens:

Rusty Barrett, Assistant Professor of Linguistics at UK, will present "Sickening Queens:  Ethnic and Class Differences in Drag".

Lecture begins at 4:00pm with a reception to follow.

Rusty Barrett explains more about the event - listen below.

By Sarah Geegan, Jonathon Spalding

It started with a simple question, then grew into a large online survey with responses from over 1,000 people from across the U.S. and abroad. A new book by Ellen Riggle and Sharon Rostosky, “A Positive View of LGBTQ: Embracing Identity and Cultivating Well-Being," explores what’s positive about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identities.

“It is the right question at the right time. People want to share their positive experiences,” said Riggle, UK professor in the

By Whitney Hale

A new composition by University of Kentucky sophomore Ben Norton has been selected for the Lexington Philharmonic's New Music Experiment, a new initiative to foster musical creativity and innovation. As part of the experiment, Norton's piece will be part of a workshop and later presented to the public in a performance scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. Tickets to the performance of Norton's Woodwind Quintet No. 9 and other selections from the New Music Experiment is $5 and can be purchased at the door.

"I am very excited and incredibly honored to be given this opportunity," says Norton. "I was simply happy that others wanted to go out of their way to

By Guy Spriggs

On a windy day in February 2012, Department of Geography associate professor Jeremy Crampton met his Intro to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) students on the main lawn in front of Administration Building for a demonstration of citizen remote sensing.

This cutting edge experiment didn’t require any million dollar equipment, however. Crampton and his students were able to survey the western border of UK’s campus using only a camera, a 2-liter soda bottle, a balloon, rubber bands, and string.

By simply suspending a camera from the balloon, this technique makes it possible to not only physically map an area, but to use other forms of recording (such as thermal imaging) to capture data

By: Jonathon Spalding

Listen to the podcast with Ellen Riggle and Sharon Rostosky.

https://english.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/A%20Positive%20View%20of…

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—What’s positive about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identities?

By Keith Hautala

University of Kentucky students will have the opportunity to meet with more than 115 employers at the Spring 2012 Employer Showcase, sponsored by the UK James W. Stuckert Career Center.

The showcase will bring employers in both technical and non-technical professions to the Student Center Ballrooms from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, and Wednesday, Feb. 15. 

The first day of the event will showcase employers in technical career fields such as engineering, computer science, construction, information systems/technology and scientific research.

The second day will host employers in non-technical fields such as communications, accounting, banking, consulting, health care, government, management, human services,

By Sarah Geegan

What is Reggabilly?  “It’s music and stories from Southern Appalachia inspired by the heartbeat of Rastafari,” says Red Pepper recording artist Ras Alan about his blend of reggae music and mountain traditions.

Ras Alan, a Grammy Award nominee, has released four albums, performed at the National Mall in Washington D.C., and has three albums archived in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institute. His next stop — the University of Kentucky.

The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Appalachian Studies Program, UK Student Government Association and the Graduate Appalachian Research

By Kathy Johnson

Kentucky poet, novelist and environmentalist Wendell Berry has been named the 2012 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  This is the highest honor the federal government betstows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Berry, a University of Kentucky alumnus with a degree in English and former creative writing professor at UK, will deliver the 41st Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2012, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.  The lecture is titled "It All Turns on Affection."

To read the NEH news release, click here.

This has been a notable year for

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky's Nicole Schladt, an international studies and gender and women's studies sophomore, and Sarah Smith, a history junior, have been awarded two of six English-Speaking Union (ESU) Scholarships presented by the English-Speaking Union Kentucky Branch. The scholarships will cover Schladt and Smith's expenses for summer study at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge respectively.

The Kentucky Branch of the English-Speaking Union awards a limited number of scholarships to qualified Kentucky college students for courses offered at institutions in the United Kingdom. Scholarship awards include tuition,

Date: Saturday, February 11, at 11:00am

Location: The Lyric Theater

By Colleen Glenn

A new year is just starting, but an important community series at the Lyric is already underway. “Rebuilding the Block,” the S.T. Roach Community Conversations, kicked off in December and will continue through the spring.

The second annual series is a collaborative project created by UK’s African American & Africana Studies Program in partnership with the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center. Faculty members from across the University of Kentucky are involved in the project.

“The idea is to broaden access