By Jessica Bowman-Jones

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2020) — Ten University of Kentucky undergraduate student finalists recently competed in the final round of the third 5-Minute Fast Track Research Oral Competition.

The competition included two virtual preliminary rounds, with the top 10 students advancing to the final championship competition. This year’s final round was hosted in the UK's Worsham Cinema and livestreamed to a virtual audience.

Cultivating students’ presentation and research communication skills, competitors were challenged to present their research in five minutes, using only one static slide, in front of a panel of three judges and a virtual audience.

The top three winners are:

By Richard LeComte

The College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding TA Awards recognize excellence in undergraduate instruction by teaching assistants. Fifteen teaching assistants were recognized for the 2019-2020  academic year .

Eligible students are current A&S graduate student teaching assistants in at least their second year of graduate work and must be responsible for instruction in some or all of a course offered by the College. The TAs recognized this year taught in courses offered through A & S departments and interdisciplinary programs. 

“Graduate Teaching Assistants are fundamental to the high-quality education that the College of Arts & Sciences provides to undergraduate students,” said Sarah M. Lyon, A&S associate dean for graduate studies. “I am routinely impressed with their hard work and the contributions they make to

By Lindsey Piercy

The University of Kentucky has been named one of the Top Producers of U.S. Fulbright Scholars among colleges and universities for 2019-20. The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes the list annually.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. Since its inception in 1946, the prestigious program has provided more than 390,000 participants — chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, while finding

By Madison Dyment

Most people have a desire to make their world a better place, but a special few devote their lives to this form of service. Royal Todd, a fourth-year philosophy major with sociology and African American and Africana Studies minors at UK, is one of those few. 

Todd and his family come from the west end of Louisville. From a young age, Todd felt called to be of service to those around him. He has spent his life answering that call in many ways. At 12, he began gospel ministry, preaching his first sermon on his 13th birthday. But it was during high school that Todd began forming his core personality and beliefs.

“From my eighth-grade year to my ninth-grade year, I started doing church work and ministry,” Todd said. “I started putting a lot more emphasis on education and not just being socially competent but also more politically competent.”

By Ryan Girves

The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently recognized and awarded 19 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity awards. 

The Oswald Research and Creativity Competition was established in 1964 by then President John Oswald as part of the university’s Centennial Celebration. The program is intended to promote creativity in all fields of study and provides annual awards in seven categories. The competition accepts reports, of all forms of creativity, and scholarship by undergraduate students.

Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture, and interior

Dear Friends,

It is with much sadness that I announce philosophy professor emeritus Ronald Bruzina passed away this May. Dr. Bruzina was an esteemed faculty member in the Department of Philosophy from 1970 until his retirement in 2016. During his distinguished 46-year career in the College of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Bruzina chaired the department from 1978 - 1982 and oversaw numerous dissertations. He was a world-renowned scholar of Husserl and the phenomenological tradition, and an important expert on Edumund Husserl's philosophy. Dr. Bruzina was a dedicated and beloved teacher and will be greatly missed. 

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Dr. Ronald Bruzina, 1936-2019

In May of 2019, Professor Ronald Bruzina passed away in Lexington, KY. Born on July 9, 1936, he received both an M.A. (1961) and

Dear Friends,

While at UK, Joan Callahan touched the lives of generations of our students and impacted this College and University profoundly for the better.  It was my great honor to induct her in the A&S Hall of Fame in 2010. I asked her good friend and colleague, Patty Cooper, to write a note about Joan that I could share with our faculty. Patty consulted with a few colleagues and wrote the tribute below. Joan will be greatly missed by our community.

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Emerita Professor Joan Callahan (1946-2019) joined the UK Philosophy Department in 1986 and served as Director of the Women’s Studies Program (later renamed Gender and Women’s Studies Program) from 1998-2002 and after a one-year sabbatical returned as Director from 2003 through 2007. She led the move to make GWS a Department with a major and celebrated

By Lori Adams

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2019 semester. A total of 6,562 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. 

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade-point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes. Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting: www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity and

     Andrew Marquis

     Elizabeth Martin

     Jaime McCaffrey

     Ryan McCoy

     Steven Winterfeldt

     Tyler van Wulven

Kayla Bohannon

 and Thayne Cameron!

By Aaron Porter

G.R.F. (John) Ferrari, a distinguished professor of classical literature at the University of California, Berkeley, will be speaking on campus Monday, April 8. The event, hosted by the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, will be held at 7 p.m., in the UK Athletics Auditorium at William T. Young Library. Ferrari will be discussing his book, "The Messages We Send: Social Signals and Storytelling."

Ferrari is an expert on Greek philosophy and has written several books on Plato. This particular piece of work marks a departure in his research.

"The book offers a new framework for understanding different ways in

By Chris Crumrine, Amy Jones-Timoney, Kody Kiser, and Brad Nally

“To actually be in Washington, D.C. is unlike anything that you can experience in a classroom or here in Kentucky,” says Hayley Leach. “The hands-on experience is unlike anything you can get.”

That is the primary goal of the University of Kentucky’s WilDCats at the Capitol program — to provide students with unique opportunities in the nation’s capital; support them through organized housing, academic credit and financial aid; and provide a rewarding and professional experience that will serve them beyond graduation.

Over the last year, more than 40 UK students from multiple disciplines have walked the halls of Congress alongside elected officials and policymakers, gaining a dynamic academic and professional

By Torrie Johnson

The SEC (Southeastern Conference) Faculty Travel Program will support more than 100 SEC faculty members during the 2018-2019 academic year, the league office announced Monday. Nine University of Kentucky faculty members will participate. Established in 2012 by the SEC provosts, the program is designed to provide financial assistance from the SEC office that bolsters intra-SEC collaboration.

Identified participants will travel to other SEC universities to exchange ideas, develop grant proposals, conduct research and deliver lectures or performances. Areas of interest for this year’s class include music, engineering, anthropology, law, medicine and African-American studies, among others.

“The SEC Faculty Travel Program has been a tremendous resource for faculty at universities across the SEC,” said Ellen Reames, associate professor at

By Whitney Hale and Jenny Wells

More than 45 of the University of Kentucky's students and recent graduates had the world's most prestigious scholarship, fellowship and internship organizations take note this year. The newest class of highly regarded scholars include UK’s 14th Truman Scholar and first Pickering Fellow.

Helping prepare these UK students and recent alumni to compete for and win such honors is the mission of the UK Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. Under the guidance and leadership of Pat Whitlow, the office identifies and works with young scholars on the application process for large scholastic prizes awarded by regional, national and international sources.

This year UK students and alumni were recognized with the following awards:

By Nick Harling

Theodore Schatzki, geography and philosophy professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences,  recently received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities at Aalborg University (AAU), located in Aalborg, Denmark. The award comes out of recognition on Schatzki’s work on practice theory, a research field delving into how humans create and transform the world in which they live.

This honor is yet another chapter of Schatzki’s relationship with AAU. Since being appointed in 2016 as the Obel Professor in the AAU Department of Learning and Philosophy, Schatzki “has inspired colleagues” at AAU “to engage in practice theory in relation to several fields of research,” according to his nomination.

AAU, founded in 1974, chiefly practices problem based and project organised learning (PBL) -

By Whitney Hale and Jenny Wells

 

The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that 2017 philosophy graduate Benjamin Troupe, of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, will receive one of only 30 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships. Troupe is the first UK student to be awarded the prestigious honor.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, the Pickering Fellowship Program provides graduate students with up to $37,500

By Whitney Hale

Beau Revlett, a UK College of Arts & Sciences philosophy junior from Georgetown, Kentucky, has been selected to deliver the 24th annual Edward T. Breathitt Undergraduate Lectureship in the Humanities beginning 7 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in the UK Athletics Auditorium at William T. Young Library. Revlett’s free public lecture will explore how multidisciplinary approaches to deciding what is good or rational may be beneficial to society.

The Breathitt Lectureship was named for an outstanding UK alumnus who showed an exceptional interest in higher education and the humanities, Gov. Edward T. Breathitt. The

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that recent College of Arts & Sciences philosophy graduate Benjamin Troupe, of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, was named a finalist for the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. Troupe is one of 60 national finalists who will interview for the fellowship in Washington, D.C., in mid-April.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, the Pickering

By Amy Jones-Timoney and Kody Kiser

After deployments that took him from North Carolina to Afghanistan to Alaska, Andrew Fadley, a University of Kentucky student veteran, discovered he had a passion for philosophy.

Since he started his degree at UK before joining the United States Army, the native of Marquette, Michigan, decided to return to Kentucky to finish what he started.

Watch why taking this new step in life means so much to him.

This video is the final production in a three-part series highlighting student veterans at the University of Kentucky. These student veterans were honored by UK Athletics during UK men's basketball games at Rupp Arena during the past

By Julie Wrinn

“Kentucky Is a Pretty Special Place”

The Transformation of Andrew Grotto from High School Underachiever to Cybersecurity Wonk

As a freshman entering UK’s Honors Program in 1994, Andrew Grotto (B.A. Philosophy ’99) was on academic probation from day one. Though he would go on to a glittering career on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and now at Stanford, with graduate degrees from Berkeley and Harvard, Grotto didn’t apply himself to academics until his last year of high school. “I figured out in my senior year that maybe I should go to class,” he joked. Grotto is not really sure why he didn’t take school seriously, other than “teenagers’ brains aren’t wired to think about risk and long-term consequences.”

Despite a mediocre cumulative GPA coming out of high school in the Chicago area, Grotto had unusually high ACT scores