By Sarah Geegan

The UK American Studies Program, the Graduate School,UK Student Government Association and the English Graduate Student Organization will present "Hawthorne and the State of War," a lecture by Philip Gould from 12:30 - 1:15 p.m. Friday, March 30, in the Niles Gallery.

Gould is professor of English at Brown University and the author of "Covenant and Republic: History Romance and the Politics of Puritanism." His work has also appeared in journals such as "Eighteenth Century Studies," "American Literary History," and "Journal of the Early Republic".

The story of Nathaniel Hawthorne's

 By Jenny Wells

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Tuesday approved University Research Professorships for 2012-13 for four faculty members. The professorships carry a $40,000 award to support research. Funds for these annual awards are provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Now in its 36th year, the University Research Professors program's purpose is to enhance and encourage scholarly research productivity, provide an opportunity for concentrated research effort for selected faculty members, and to recognize outstanding research achievement by members of the faculty.

The University Research Professors are:

Christopher Pool

Pool, a professor in the UK Department of Anthropology in

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved honorary degrees to be presented at the May Commencement to professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and NASA researcher Vijay K. Dhir, as well as biology professor and president of the University of Iowa, Sally Mason.

Born in India, Dhir came to the United States in 1969 after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, India in 1965 and his Master of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India in 1968. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1972, he joined the faculty of UCLA and continued consulting for numerous organizations, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, GE Corp., Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International and the Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Labs.

By Whitney Hale, Sarah Geegan

A duo of Japan's foremost Tsugaru shamisen performers, Oyama x Nitta, will perform for a Bluegrass audience at an upcoming concert presented by the Japan/America Society of Kentucky (JASK), the University of Kentucky Japan Studies Program and the Asia Center. The concert, part of the statewide Kentucky Cherry Blossom Festival, will take to the stage 3 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Memorial Hall.

The Tsugaru shamisen is a banjo-like instrument from the Tsugaru region in Aomori Prefecture in the northernmost part of Japan’s central island of Honshu. Oyama x Nitta is comprised of Tsugaru shamisen performers Yutaka Oyama

By Sarah Geegan, Robin Roenker

Retired chemistry Professor Jim Holler ended his tenure as one of UK's most popular and celebrated teachers with a bang last December — literally. 

On the last day of classes last semester, before officially retiring on Jan. 3, 2012, Holler led his students outside the 

By Kel Hahn, Jenny Wells

Sen-Ching (Samson) Cheung is an associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Engineering's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member within the UK Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments. Like most professors, he is deeply involved in engineering research. Most of his research has been in the area of multimedia information analysis.

"I enjoy solving problems and developing new theories, working on new technology and future products," Cheung explains. "But something like video surveillance does not impact me personally. At the end of the day, I can leave my research in the lab."

The distance between professional research and personal impact was shortened a few years ago when Cheung and his wife began to detect developmental delays with their son. They noticed he

The following story was translated from Chinese to English by Hive member Yiwen Chen. You can read the original stories in Chinese here and here.

Jilin University is a top-ranked university in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province in Northeastern China. Jilin University has established worldwide exchange programs with more than 110 universities, colleges, and research institutes in 25 countries/districts, including a partnership with the University of Kentucky.

Over 1,500 foreign students are currently enrolled in Jilin University. A group of exchange students from Jilin University

It is with great sadness we report that Professor Emeritus Richard Ulack passed away on March 22nd, 2011. 

Professor Dick Ulack started teaching at the University of Kentucky in 1974 after earning his PhD at Pennsylvania State University. While he was on the faculty at UK he taught thousands of undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as: Lands and People of the Non Western World; Cities of the World; World Regional Geography; Third World Development; Geography of Southeast Asia; and Tourism Geography. His research strengths were in the broad area of development, with emphasis on tourism development in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. He won two Fulbright awards: one took him to the Philippines for a year and another took him to Fiji for six months. He was well known in geography for his published research on migration and tourism development, among other

By Sarah Geegan

The revolutions throughout Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other nations in the Arab world have inspired earnest debate among experts. Are the ideological underpinnings of the revolutions democratic, religious, liberal or non-ideological? Will these revolutions spearhead an Islamist takeover of the Arab world? Professor Asef Bayat, of the University of Illinois, will address these questions Friday, March 23, in the William T. Young Library auditorium.

The UK College of Arts and Sciences and the Muslim World Working Group will present the symposium titled, "Understanding the Arab Spring." The event will include a lecture from Bayat, "The Arab Spring: Are the Islamists Coming?" as well as commentary from three UK

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky Asia Center, in the latest installment of its 2012 Spring Speaker Series, will present an exploration of Buddhism and it's place in daily life on Friday, March 23.

The event, which will include two lecturers, will expose students to Buddhism and the social and practical roles it plays in various societies. Professors Ruth Baer from the UK Department of Psychology and Jeffery Samuels from the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Kentucky University will present.

Baer,

By Sarah Geegan

Students in professor Randolph Hollingsworth's research seminar expanded the boundaries of a typical history class as they examined the complexities and influences of Kentucky civil rights era women. By participating in digital dialogues, contributing to online databases and engaging in community service, the students experienced history by thinking outside the book.

"We don't have many scholarly books covering the wide-ranging history of women in Kentucky," Hollingsworth said. "One thing that we've found is that women are simply absent in many historical records. Sometimes it's a willful absence, and people choose not to include them. But then other times, it's just neglect."

The course aimed to begin filling this historical void. Students served as history-detectives,

Here is the link to MaryBeth Chrostowsky's featured article on the Committee on Social Theory website: http://socialtheory.as.uky.edu/erasing-disconnect

By Colleen Glenn

Pauline Stratman, a teaching assistant in the Department of Chemistry at UK, was recently honored with a 2012 Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching. Stratman is athird-year Ph.D. student focusing on biological chemistry.

“I was so excited to win the award.  It was incredible,” said Stratman.

Teaching can be a challenging vocation in any field, but for teachers of tough subjects such as chemistry, the challenges can be double.

“When I tell people that I am a chemist, the response is often a sign of their feelings towards chemistry,” explained Stratman. “Those feelings are often not the most positive ones. Chemistry has a stigma.”

But already as a teaching assistant, Stratman has found a way to reach

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky’s Aleksey Graboviy, an accounting sophomore, and Nolan Jackson, a political science junior, have been awarded two Henry Clay Internships presented by the Kentucky Society of Washington. The public policy internships will allow Graboviy and Jackson to work in an office of a member of the Kentucky congressional delegation or an office of the executive branch.

The Kentucky Society of Washington awards a limited number of internships to qualified Kentucky college students. Each intern receives a stipend of $3,000 for living expenses in

Listen to the podcast here. Produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

The Appalachian Forum on Home Food Preservation will take place on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 7 p.m. in room 206 of the UK Student Center.

Please visit our Video page to watch the forum on Hydraulic Fracturing that took place February 23, 2012.

By Whitney Hale

The upcoming University of Kentucky Libraries Annual Dinner will recognize this year's Medallion for Intellectual Achievement recipient, chemist John Anthony, and will feature guest speaker, Alan C. Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The dinner, which is open to the public, will be presented 7 p.m. Friday, April 13, at the Hilary J. Boone Center.

Alan C. Lowe, UK alumnus and native of Paris, Ky., has been the director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum since 2009. Lowe began his career with the National Archives where he helped assemble records to

Founders Lecture Series presents 

Tammy Horn, award-winning author of Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation and the recently published, Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Can Teach Us about Local Trade and the Global Market is well-known for her work with bees and plants in Appalachian regions. Dr. Horn, born in Harlan County, Kentucky is a graduate of Berea College and continued her schooling with a M.A. degree from Fort Hays State and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama. After teaching for three years at the University of West Alabama, she returned to Kentucky to help her grandfather with his bees and to teach at Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College. Her primary research and outreach activity involves collaboration with coal companies to reclaim surface mine sites with pollinator for- age and habitat. The goal is to create a three-season

By Sarah Geegan

The African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky will present the 18th annual Black Women's Conference March 22-24.

The conference, titled, "Learning the Ropes: Black Girlhood, Identity and the Power of Play," will center specifically on the lives and expressions of African-American girls. Incorporating expert speakers, performances, panels and activities both on campus and in the community, the conference will reveal the significance of play in the lives of African-American girls.

By Sarah Geegan

Paul Steinhardt, professor of physics and astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, will deliver the Van Winter Memorial Lecture at the University of Kentucky from 3:15-4:15 p.m. Friday, March 23, in Room 139 of the Chemistry-Physics Building.

The Van Winter Memorial Lecture honors Clasine Van Winter, a professor in the UK departments of Mathematics and