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UK Students Create Elkhorn City Railroad Museum's Mobile Exhibit for Schools, Tourists

8/15/2016

By Gail Hairston

Kentucky is privileged with a bounty of railroad museums and attractions, but the Elkhorn City Railroad Museum has a charm and history all its own.

With its unique collection of railroading tools, equipment, uniforms and instruments; enhanced by books and photos; and personalized by retired railroad employees eager to share their tales of life on the rails, the Elkhorn City Railroad Museum preserves and protects Eastern Kentucky’s pride and culture as well as its hope for the future.

This past spring semester, University of Kentucky sociology students in Associate Professor Shaunna L. Scott’s “Sociology of Appalachia” class were quick to recognize the potential of the small museum

Renzetti Recognized for Her Attention to Mentoring and the Community

7/11/2016

University of Kentucky Professor of Sociology Claire Renzetti was recently selected as the recipient of the prestigious 2016 Peterson-Krivo Mentoring Award by the American Sociological Association’s Section on Crime, Law and Deviance and its Section on the Sociology of Law. The award was established to recognize the sustained and innovative work of a distinguished faculty member in the mentorship of undergraduate students, graduate students and junior scholars in the field. One award recipient is selected every two years through a competitive nomination process. Renzetti is currently chair of the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology, the college's diversity and inclusion officer and the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair for Studies of Violence Against Women. Her research interests include

A&S Graduate Confronts Diabetes in Appalachia

7/7/2016

By Mallory Powell

Growing up in Hazard, Kentucky, Brittany Martin was familiar with diabetes. Many of her older relatives had been diagnosed with the chronic condition, and her younger family members were starting to develop it as well. In a state with one of the highest rates of diabetes — 11.3 percent of adults had a diagnosis in 2014 —Martin’s family wasn’t out of the ordinary, but she found the status quo unacceptable.

Since she graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2014 with a dual degree in biology and sociology, Martin’s family history and her interest in health have converged in her current role as coordinator of the Big Sandy Diabetes Coalition (BSDC), where she serves as an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer. The coalition, based at Big Sandy

25th Volume of disClosure Focuses on “Transnational Lives”

6/7/2016

By Jennifer T. Allen

The 25th volume of Social Theory journal disClosure was recently released focusing on the topic of “Transnational Lives.” The issue’s theme brings together a variety of genres, including creative pieces, analytical articles, interviews and art, as it explores concepts related to the topic.

“Simple words such as ‘home’ or ‘religion’ take on an entirely new meaning when they are considered across transnational spaces,” said Catherine Gooch, co-editor of the issue and graduate student in the Department of English. “In addition, there are larger implications both on a personal and public level. If we think about our economic system and how globalization has caused capitalism to expand transnationally, around the world, we see how this economic expansion impacts everything from our personal lives to the higher education system.”

Dr. Mahmood

Sociology Professor’s High Ranking Article Explores School Dress Codes, Discipline

5/24/2016

by Guy Spriggs

For almost 3 years, the Open Syllabus Project (OSP) has collected and analyzed syllabi to shed light on what texts are assigned in college courses. The Project boasts a catalog of 1.1 million syllabi, and its insights were chronicled in a January 2016 feature in the New York Times titled, “What a Million Syllabuses Can Teach Us.”

As the OSP continued the enormous task of looking through syllabi for resources and assignments, it also released the Syllabus Explorer, a search function which enables visitors to see what texts are most commonly assigned by location and field of study. It was around this time that UK sociology professor Edward Morris received a phone call from his mentor from graduate school.

“She sent me a link and said I had to check it out,” he explained. “I had no idea, because you don’t know when your work is being taught. I was

Study May Explain the Nation’s Growing Racial Achievement Gap

4/28/2016

By Gail Hairston

(April 28, 2016) — For decades, researchers and scholars have studied what some call the “racial achievement gap” in academics and careers, without having a clear understanding why such a gap exists.

Edward Morris, associate professor of sociology and director of undergraduate studies at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, and Brea Perry, associate professor of sociology at Indiana University, assert that racial disparities in academic achievement constitute “one of the most important sources of American inequality.”

“Racial inequalities in adulthood — in areas as diverse as employment, incarceration and health — can be clearly traced to unequal academic outcomes in childhood and

Two Sociology Grad Students Receive Awards

4/19/2016

Amanda Bunting was awarded the Presidential Graduate Fellowship. This award is for currently enrolled Graduate Students in the amount of $20,000, plus a tuition scholarship and student health insurance.

The Presidential Fellowship is made available for a continuing student who demonstrates outstanding academic merit and research capabilities in their field of study and has a graduate grade point average of 3.7 or above.

Kaitlyne Motl was awarded the A&S Certificate for Outstanding Teaching. The College of Arts & Sciences has established the Certificate for Outstanding Teaching award to recognize excellence in undergraduate instruction by teaching assistants. Fifteen Teaching Assistants in Math/Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities related courses will receive a certificate and monetary award.

Kaitlyne also won a dissertation

UK’s Shaunna Scott Named a Weatherford Award Winner for Best Nonfiction Appalachian Book

3/21/2016

By Gail Hairston

(March 18, 2016) — Shaunna L. Scott, associate professor of sociology and director of the Appalachian Studies program at the University of Kentucky, is co-editor of a book chosen as the 2015 Weatherford Award winner for nonfiction.

"Studying Appalachian Studies: Making the Path By Walking," edited by Chad Berry, Phillip J. Obermiller and Shaunna L. Scott (University of Illinois Press), is a collection of essays reflecting on the scholarly, artistic, activist, educational and practical endeavor known as Appalachian Studies. Following an introduction to the field, the writers discuss how Appalachian Studies illustrates the ways interdisciplinary studies emerge, organize and institutionalize themselves, and how they engage with intellectual, political and economic forces both locally and around the world.

Weatherford Award judges in nonfiction say

Dr. Alan DeYoung Receives Fulbright Specialist Award

1/14/2016

Dr. Alan J. DeYoung, professor in the College of Arts & Sciences Department of Sociology and professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education, has been selected by the US Department of State and the International University for the Humanities and Development (IUHD) in Turkmenistan to serve as Fulbright Specialist in the spring 2016 semester. This project is coordinated by the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Dr. DeYoung will work with local university staff on the continued development of their specialization in sociology by reviewing their new curriculum and giving lectures to students of that department as a visiting speaker.

IUHD is a new educational institution, which started offering its 14 different majors with English as the medium of instruction this academic year. DeYoung will also work with the teaching staff of the

UK Faculty Selected as SEC Faculty Travel Program Participants

11/23/2015

By Whitney Harder

(Nov. 23, 2015) — Seven faculty members from the University of Kentucky have been selected to participate in the 2015-16 SEC Faculty Travel Program. The program, in its fourth year, provides support for faculty to collaborate with colleagues at other SEC member institutions.

UK faculty participants include:

Brad Berron, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, will travel to the University of Florida; Bradley Kerns, assistant professor in the School of Music, will travel to the University of Tennesee;

Racial Conflicts Discussed at UK

11/17/2015

By Gail Hairston

(Nov. 16, 2015) — Two films highlighting America’s racial conflicts will be shown on the University of Kentucky campus this week, with time scheduled for discussion afterward.

At 6 p.m. today, the documentary “Let the Fire Burn,” will be shown at the UK Athletics Auditorium in William T. Young Library, followed by a panel discussion hosted by the UK Martin Luther King Center and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and the African American and Africana Studies Program.

“Let the Fire Burn” recounts the 1985 tragedy when Philadelphia police, with authorization from the mayor, responded to a stand-off with a black liberation group the city was trying to evict from its communal house in West Philadelphia by dropping a firebomb on the roof, burning the house to the ground and killing 11 MOVE members, five of them

UK College of Social Work: Continuously Evolving to Meet Society's Needs

10/30/2015

By Whitney Harder

(Oct. 30, 2015) — Like the University of Kentucky itself, the UK College of Social Work was established to fulfill a need in Kentucky, one for the college that began in the 1930s with the Great Depression and continues to evolve today.

Emerging from the Great Depression, the nation was dealing with a number of social issues, including one-third of the workforce being unemployed. The widespread suffering helped catalyze the establishment of the Social Security Act of 1935, which brought immediate relief to many families with a system of retirement benefits, old age pensions and aid to dependent children.

Qualified personnel were needed to staff these programs and so the social work profession flourished, ideally situated to expand along with these social policy changes, and the need for

UK Sociology Professor Releases New Book

10/15/2015

By Tasha Ramsey

Populism, a political discourse that promises to empower and include the poor and the excluded, is one of the most important political forces in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. According to Dr. Carlos de la Torre, a sociology professor in the College of Arts & Sciences, populism is “a Manichaean political rhetoric that aims to rupture the existing institutional system to include the excluded.”

Carlos de la Torre received his Ph.D. in sociology at the New School for Social Research, New York, in 1993. He has been a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Fulbright Foundation. Since 1989 he has published on the relationship between populism, authoritarianism and democratization.

Dr. de la Torre released his new book titled, “De Velasco a Correa, insurrecciones, populismo, y elecciones

Sociology Professor Youngest to Receive Senior Scholar Award

10/14/2015

By Dara Vance

At the American Sociological Association (ASA) 2015 annual meeting in Chicago, Ill., in August, Sociology Associate Professor Carrie Oser received the “Senior Scholar Award” from the Alcohol, Drugs, & Tobacco section. This award is given annually to one scholar for their outstanding scientific contributions to the sociological examination of alcohol, drugs, and/or tobacco. Oser, who is the youngest scholar to ever receive the award, was selected from an international field of scholars.

Carrie Oser has been a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at UK since 2006. Her research interests include addiction health services, health disparities, HIV risk behaviors/interventions, as well as drug use among rural, minority, and criminal justice populations.

As part of her commitment to innovation in education, she and a colleague, Michele

Panel of Experts Discusses Refugee Crisis in the Middle East, Europe

10/6/2015

By Gail Hairston

(Oct. 6, 2015) — The images of untold thousands of people — many of them children — escaping the horror and despair of the war-ravaged Middle East are seared in the memories of anyone even semi-aware of global events in recent months.

Newscasters and reporters around the world have failed to find the words to adequately describe and explain the tsunami of humanity that washed upon the shores or stumbled across the borders of European nations. So many questions and so few answers.

A panel of nine experts from six disciplines was formed by the University of Kentucky’s International Studies Program and its director Sue Roberts to help the campus community better understand

REVEAL Research Media: UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women

9/16/2015

By Alicia Gregory

(Sept. 16, 2015) — University of Kentucky REVEAL Research Media presents an inside look at the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women. This is the nation's only center focused solely on research to address and prevent gender-based violence.

Interviews include:

Diane R. Follingstad, Director & Women’s Circle Endowed Chair , Professor in Psychiatry & Psychology Ann L. Coker, Verizon Wireless Endowed Chair , Professor in OB/GYN & Epidemiology Claire M. Renzetti, Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair , Chair & Professor in Sociology Charles R. Carlson, Robert H. & Anna B. Culton Endowed Professor , Professor in Psychology Heather M. Bush, Kate Spade & Company Endowed Professor, Professor in Biostatistics

Apply for Special Collections Learning Lab Internships Now

8/31/2015

By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 28, 2014) — One week remains for students to apply for the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) Learning Lab internship. The SCRC Learning Lab is a center of primary research, experiential learning, and training targeted to UK undergraduates in various disciplines who want to enhance their studies through training in archival methods and theory. Applications for fall and spring internships are due Friday, Sept. 4.

Interns with the SCRC Learning Lab will be taught to arrange and describe rare or unique collections in their area of research interest, and enhance access to those collections through the broader academic community through creating guides,

New Directors Named for Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program

7/16/2015

By Whitney Harder

(July 16, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences has named Shaunna Scott as the new director of its Appalachian Studies Program and Christopher Barton as the new director of the Appalachian Center.

"Chris Barton and Shaunna Scott will make a great leadership team along with the staff of the Appalachian Center," said Ann Kingsolver, former director of both the Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program. "They

Margaret McGladrey Selected as the 2015 Recipient of the American Sociological Association Student Forum Paper Award

7/9/2015

By Rachel Lorch

The American Sociological Association (ASA) named Margaret McGladrey, Assistant Dean for Research for the College of Public Health and part-time Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology, the 2015 recipient of the Student Forum Paper Award.

Comprised of more than 13,000 members, the ASA is the largest professional organization in the discipline of sociology. The association is the publisher of nine professional journals and magazines, and hosts an annual meeting for its members.

Every year, the Student Forum Advisory Board Paper Sessions and Roundtables sub-

Passport to the World Takes UK Faculty to Middle East

7/6/2015

By Blair Hoover

(July 6, 2015) — In support of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Passport to the World Initiative and the 2015 Year of the Middle East campaign, University of Kentucky Education Abroad partnered with the college to sponsor a faculty development seminar in the Middle East focusing on contemporary issues pertinent to the region.

The seminar was developed to provide faculty members with an opportunity to gain firsthand experience with the issues concerning the region and thus, to better equip them to share their knowledge and experience with their students and subsequent international initiatives, such as developing institutional partnerships and further education abroad programming at UK.

The following faculty members were selected to

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