By University Press of Kentucky and Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 30, 2021) — The University Press of Kentucky is debuting its newest series, “Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices,” edited by Crystal Wilkinson, niversity of Kentucky faculty member and Kentucky's recently named Poet Laureate, alongside Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle and Davis Shoulders.

This book series gives voice to Black, Native, Latinx, Asian, queer and other nonwhite or ignored identities within the Appalachian region.  

“This series reminds us that Appalachian literature is an ever-changing, complex organism with ancient bones and a

By George Wright

One of the most rewarding parts of my role as chair of the diversity, equity and inclusion implementation plan, is that I continue to meet outstanding individuals from UK who are devoted to their community – Dr. Anastasia Curwood is one of those leaders.

Where are you from and what is your background?

I am from Cambridge, Massachusetts and grew up going to the Cambridge public schools until I went to college, which was at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania – an all-women’s institution. That was where I became devoted to scholarship.

When I went to graduate school at Princeton for history, what was important to me was having a vibrant community of Black scholars. My advisor was Nell Irvin Painter, the great historian, and she had a very talented group of students,

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Francie Chassen-López, professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been named the Otis A. Singletary Endowed Chair in Humanities.

The professorship is named after Otis A. Singletary, a historian and the eighth president of UK, serving from 1969 to 1987.

“Professor Chassen-López is an internationally renowned scholar whose research has had a profound impact on the understanding of Southern Mexican history all around the globe, but especially in the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking worlds,” said Christian Brady, interim dean of the College.

Chassen-López has produced three single-authored books, two co-authored books, two short books, three edited short anthologies, and 53 journal articles and books chapters, one of which won the Tibesar Prize in 2000 from the Council

The 17th floor of Patterson Office Tower is strangely quiet this semester. Thanks to Covid, most of us are working remotely, and we greatly look forward to the day when POT will once again become its usual beehive of activity. But even then, if it seems quiet compared to what it was, that’s because Bruce Holle has retired after 45 years of teaching.

Bruce reckons he taught more than ten thousand students over the course of his teaching career, which began at the University of Michigan, where he got his Ph.D. in 1978, and ended at UK, where he has taught ever since. Nearly every one of them has visited Bruce’s office at one time or another. I should know, because my office was only a few doors down from Bruce’s. For as far back as I can remember, almost every time I walked past, he was in there talking to at least one student, and often to three or four.

Bruce was a

Robert M. Ireland Undergraduate Research Award

Established in honor of Professor Emeritus Robert M. Ireland, who encouraged excellence and provided advice and support to generations of History majors, this award grants up to $1,000 to offset research expenses to undergraduate History majors or minors engaged in independent research inside or outside of the classroom, with preference to students with unmet financial need. Congratulations to the following awardees, pursuing the following projects in 2020–21:

By Karen Petrone

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 30. 2020) — The following op-ed was published in the Herald Leader Aug. 21, 2020. Karen Petrone is the director of the Cooperative for Humanities and Social Sciences.

Times of crisis can be disorienting and overwhelming, but they can also be opportunities for creativity and growth. In such moments, the humanities and social sciences are well equipped to address and amplify community needs.

Recognizing that we can and must do better in this regard, the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky has created the Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CHHS). The goal is to promote partnerships among faculty and graduate

Among its many other impacts, COVID-19 has disrupted opportunities for University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences faculty to teach abroad.

In previous years, A&S faculty have taught short courses in China through partnerships facilitated by UK's Confucius Institute. For example, Rita Basuray, senior academic coordinator in A&S, has taught courses at Jilin University in Changchun, China, for six summers. Unfortunately, she was interrupted in 2020 by the pandemic.

She said she kept going back to Jilin because of her many positive experiences and her connections with the faculty and students. 

"Early on, it became obvious that it wasn’t just teaching, but exchanging active teaching ideas, fostering relationships over dinner or outings, and much more," Basuray said. "Not only did I develop long-term relations with teachers, but with students as

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 10, 2020) — The discussions over removal of Confederate memorials in the United States have been some of the more prominent ones in our current cultural landscape. Gaining momentum from other recent social movements that are happening concurrently, from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo and beyond, the focus of these discussions now seems to have widened to include memorials and statues that go well further back than the American Civil War, and beyond the borders of this country.

Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, last appeared on "Behind the Blue" in September of 2017. On this newest episode

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 3, 2020) — This summer, the United States has seen nationwide demonstrations and protests in light of, among other things, the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis May 25. Local protests, including ones in response to the death of former University of Kentucky student Breonna Taylor during a "no-knock" warrant raid in Louisville on March 13, quickly spread across the country, and The New York Times cited polls that estimated, as of July 3, between 15 and 26 million people had participated at some point in the demonstrations, making them the largest in U.S. history.

On this week’s episode of "Behind the