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

By Jenny Wells

Two faculty members from the University of Kentucky have received three of four funded awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop responses to the opioid injection epidemic that can be implemented by public health systems in rural communities.

Carrie Oser, an associate professor of sociology in the UK College of Arts & Sciences, was awarded a one-year, $150,000 grant for her project "Improving Outcomes after Prison for Appalachian PWIO (People who Inject Opioids): The Role of XR-NTX & Networks." This research aims to understand the factors and barriers related to an effective continuum of care for people who inject opioids, with a specific focus on social networks, as they leave prison and return to their normal lives. The ultimate goal of this

Nominations are now open for the 2017 Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award through the Society for the Stuidy of Social Problems.  This award was established in 2016 and honors University of Kentucky Emeritus Professor of Sociolgy and African American Studies, Dr. Doris Wilkinson.  For more information about the award, nomination procedures, and past winners please visit the Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award page.  

Margaret McGladrey, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology, has published a study "Becoming Tween Bodies: What Preadolescent GIrls in the US Say About Beauty, the 'Just-Right Ideal,' and the "Disney Girls'" in the Journal of Children and Media. A blog post on ChildrenAndMediaMan about the study was recently published here. You can read the full study here. 

McGladrey is the Assistant Dean for Research in the College of Public Health and a doctorate student at the University of Kentucky. This study resulted from her thesis project for her master's program in Communication at the University of Kentucky. Her

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

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

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

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

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