By Lindsey Piercy

Amanda Bunting, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky, is one of 100 doctoral students in the U. S. and Canada selected to receive a $15,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was sponsored by Chapter AO KY of Lexington.

Bunting is from Frederick, Maryland. She received a bachelor's degree from Hood College in 2009 and a master's degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2014. At UK, she has received a Presidential Fellowship, the University of Kentucky Association of Emeriti Faculty Endowed Faculty Fellowship Award and is currently supported as a predoctoral scholar on a NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) T32 training grant. Bunting is dedicated to research of employment, health and treatment outcomes among substance using individuals returning to society from prison

By Lindsey Piercy

In front of a crowd of fellow classmates, faculty, staff and local leaders, victimology student Ann Pitts stepped to the podium and began to share a heartfelt story of hurt, hope and healing.

"Beyond protecting society from crime, we need to protect our survivors," Pitts said. "This has inspired a fire in me to keep pushing for change."

Pitts is one of several passionate students who had a hand in organizing the Clothesline Project held on the University of Kentucky campus on April 12.

"I decided to speak because I believe if you want to change things, you have to be brave. I wasn't just being brave for myself but for all of the survivors in the audience," Pitts continued. "I was silent for three years of my life, but I know now that it's time to speak up. I don't want survivors to think speaking out is the only option towards

By Lindsey Piercy

Several University of Kentucky faculty members within the College of Arts and Sciences presented research at the Association for Asian Studies annual conference last weekend.

The four-day event, in Washington, D.C., brought together scholars, professors, researchers and authors from around the world to present research and discuss topics devoted to the study of Asia.

The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is the largest Asian Studies conference held in North America. More than 3,000 people attended this year, including UK faculty:

By Gail Hairston and Kathy Johnson

Karen Rignall of the University of Kentucky has received a $50,000 Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Fellowship to pursue her research “Stories of Place in a Changing Appalachia,” a project in Eastern Kentucky, to bring “stories of place” and other traditions to bear on local land-use planning.

The Whiting Foundation announced yesterday (Tuesday) a new cohort of seven Whiting Public Engagement Fellowships, including Rignall’s, to showcase how the humanities enrich our lives.

In a written statement, Whiting Foundation leaders declared, “Never before has an understanding of history, philosophy, literature, and culture been so important. The humanities — too often underappreciated outside of academia — bring to bear careful inquiry and deep context, and help us absorb the news

By Tony Neely

Student-athletes at the University of Kentuckycombined to earn a total of 80 spots on the 2017 Southeastern Conference Fall Sports Academic Honor Roll, the league announced earlier this week. 

The 2017 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll includes the sports of cross country, football, soccer and volleyball. It is based on grades from the 2017 spring, summer and fall terms. Among other qualifications, student-athletes must have a 3.0 grade-point average to be on the honor roll.   

Fittingly, UK’s SEC co-champion volleyball team also tied for the most student-athletes on the SEC Honor Roll with 13. UK placed seven student-athletes in the sport of men’s cross country, six in women’s cross country, 27 in football, 13 in men’s soccer and 14 in

Congratulations to sociology instructor and post-doctoral fellow Emily Bonistall Postel for being recognized as an Advocate for Change by the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center.

https://uknow.uky.edu/professional-news/uk-postdoc-honored-rape-crisis-center-advocacy-work

By Kristie Colon

The University of Kentucky’s Igniting Research Collaborations (IRC) grant program has awarded nearly $300,000 in pilot grants to support cross-college interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

IRC seeks to increase interdisciplinary scientific engagement and leverage the breadth of expertise across campus to tackle important health problems in the Commonwealth. UK is one of eight universities in the nation with the full range of undergraduate, graduate, professional, medical and agricultural programs on one campus, which creates distinct opportunities for collaborative research. 

"Programs like the IRC give us the opportunity to drive discovery and find creative solutions to complex problems in Kentucky," said Linda Dwoskin, associate dean of research at the UK College of Pharmacy. "Ultimately, we’re transforming patient-centered care by

By Lori Minter

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2017 semester.  A total of 6,412 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/.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK

By Kathy Johnson

Claire Renzetti, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has been chosen to receive a leadership award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP).

The national organization promotes and protects sociological research and teaching on significant problems of social life and encourages the application of scientific method and theory to the study of vital social problems. Renzetti will receive the Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award at SSSP's national meeting in Montreal in August.

Named for UK Sociology

By Kathy Johnson

Attorney General Andy Beshear, front, joined Emily Bonistall Postel's UK sociology class on victimology for a photo.

A University of Kentucky sociology class welcomed Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear to campus Friday, April 28, as he presented the class with the first-place prize in the #VoiceofJustice video contest. As determined by a panel of survivors and victim advocates, Emily Bonistall Postel's class on victimology created the winning 30-second video “Stand with us" to promote the state's free and confidential Sexual Assault Hotline.

The Office of the Attorney General and the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs created the contest to engage Kentucky college students in raising awareness of

By Kathy Johnson and Terry Sebastian

A University of Kentucky sociology class won the #VoiceofJustice video contest, as announced via Facebook Live yesterday by Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear and Eileen Recktenwald, director of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP).

The competition called upon college students to submit 30-second videos to promote the free and confidential Sexual Assault Hotline, 800-656-HOPE, and to increase awareness of sexual assault and active bystanding to help prevent it.

A panel of survivors and victim advocates selected the video “Stand with us” as the overall $500 video prizewinner. Students enrolled in Emily Bonistall

By Dominique Page

This week, the University of Kentucky Center for Research on Violence Against Women (CRVAW) will present the fourth lecture of their series "Researching Violence: Challenges, Strategies, and Practices."

Claire Renzetti, professor and chair of the UK Department of Sociology, and the Judy Conway Patton Endowed Chair for CRVAW, will deliver the lecture titled "Benefits and Challenges of Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk for Studying Violence Against Women" at noon, Wednesday, April 12, in Room 115 of the UK College of Nursing.

The endowed faculty at the center are presenting topics over the next several years regarding the challenges of measuring violence against women and potential strategies for conducting this research. The focus is

By Gail Hairston

The University of Kentucky will send 59 undergraduate student-researchers to the 31st annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Memphis April 6-8.

The UK group joins young researchers from around the world to showcase their research findings through poster and oral presentations. Each student will be given the opportunity to discuss their display and share their research results, illuminating how their work will have an impact on future research development. UK has been an active NCUR participant since the mid ’90s.

One of the first things these young researchers learn is that most research is not conducted in the traditional laboratory with bubbling beakers and flaming Bunsen burners. But modern research spans all disciplines and majors, and includes a wide variety of activities.

“For some

By Lisa Lockman and Kristie Law

The UK Women's Forum, formally established during the 1991-1992 academic year,  is currently celebrating over 25 years of open discussion, creativity, and leadership development for all women employed at the University of Kentucky.  Women's Forum is also celebrating the 17 women who have been nominated for the 2017 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award — an award created by UK Women's Forum.

Established in 1994, the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award honors a distinguished former dean of women at the University of Kentucky. Sarah Bennett Holmes, who was widowed at a young age, raised four children while completing her own education. She went on to have a successful career at UK where she inspired

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

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

Dr. Shaunna Scott was interviewed by a filmmaker and community activist about a proposed, community-based, participatory action research study of land ownership and taxation in Appalachia. In the interview she discusses the original land ownership study, later published as Who Owns Appalachia in 1983, and the impact of that work. She argues for why the time is right for a new study of land ownership in the region.

The Appalachian Land Ownership Study (1978-80) was a landmark participatory action research collaboration that analyzed land ownership and property tax patterns across six states in southern Appalachia.

Read the interview here. 

By Gail Hairston

In recent years, much federal funding has been earmarked to help find solutions to the opioid use and overdose crisis in the nation’s rural regions. The effort has included a focus on coal-impacted Appalachian states, including Kentucky.

Rising overdose deaths and substance use disorder treatment rates in many rural communities indicate sharp increases in opioid use, resulting in high rates of opioid use disorder, injection drug use, and unmet needs for treatment services. These dramatic increases have led to high rates of opioid overdoses, as well as large increases in acute HCV (hepatitis C virus) infections and the potential for localized HIV and continued HCV transmission.

Federally funded projects work with state and local communities to develop best practice responses to opioid injection epidemics that can be implemented by public health

By Vice President for Research Lisa Cassis

This podcast features Claire Renzetti, the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair in the University of Kentucky Center for Research on Violence Against Women, and professor and chair of sociology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences.

Renzetti’s research focuses on violence against women, particularly violent victimization experiences of socially and economically marginalized groups of women, including women living in poverty and women in same-sex intimate partnerships. Her current research focuses on human trafficking, and services for trafficking victims. She also examines the effects of religiosity and religious self-regulation on intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization. Additionally, she is evaluating the potential benefits of a therapeutic horticulture program for residents of