By Tasha Ramsey

When given the option, some students would jump at the chance to graduate early. But for Mason King, a senior double majoring in Spanish and political science at the University of Kentucky, the decision to forego an early graduation date in order to take part in an internship with the U.S. Department of State is one he doesn't regret.

In the spring of 2015, King learned that he could choose to participate in the December commencement rather than take another semester of classes to stay on his four-year track. Seeing this as an opportunity to extend his education rather than starting his career search an entire semester early, King set out in search of internships instead.

“I really didn’t care to rush my undergraduate experience and

By Jenny Wells

(Aug. 26, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its newest class of Chellgren Fellows Sunday, Aug. 23. Five Chellgren Endowed Professorships were also announced. 

The Chellgren Fellows Program is for students with exceptional academic potential and aspirations, who are eager to participate in a special learning community designed to cultivate extraordinary achievement. Outstanding faculty members from across campus serve as individual mentors for the Fellows.

The students selected as 2015-16 Chellgren Fellows include:

•  Sloan Ander, a biology major from

By Guy Spriggs

(Aug. 5, 2015) — Started in the summer of 2012 as an intensive “boot camp” to help the University of Kentucky’s new students prepare for college-level calculus, the FastTrack program has become an integral part of efforts to help students transition to the college classroom and set them up for success in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The curriculum for FastTrack has expanded over the last four years, and now gives students an invaluable introduction to UK’s math, biology, chemistry, engineering, Spanish and WRD (Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies). A key part of the program’s continued growth is the recent addition of FOCUS (FastTrack Orientation for College Undergraduate Success), a component built around developing the non-academic skills students need to achieve in coursework.

By Chris Shoals

(July 1, 2015) — Student-athletes from all eight of Kentucky's spring sports teams combined to earn a total of 84 spots on the Southeastern Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll, Commissioner Greg Sankey announced on Tuesday.


UK's honorees included 22 baseball players, 14 softball players, 13 women’s track and field members, 13 men’s track and field members, eight women’s tennis players, four men’s tennis players, six men’s golfers and four women’s golfers.

A total of 1,191 student-athletes from around the league earned spots on the honor roll, which is based on grades from the 2014 summer, 2014 fall and 2015 spring terms. In order to make the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must have a 3.0 grade-point average for the preceding academic year or his/her entire collegiate career, be at least a sophomore in academic standing, and meet

By Gail Hairston, Whitney Harder

(April 22, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will honor its faculty at 4 p.m. today at the William T. Young Library Auditorium.

The recipients of this year's college faculty awards are:

Charles Carlson, psychology, 2015-16 Distinguished Professor. For more information, visit http://uknow.uky.edu/content/carlson-honored-teaching-research-and-service

Beth Guiton, assistant professor of chemistry ‒ Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award

Guiton leads a materials chemistry group in the Center for Advanced Materials, investigates chemistry at the nanometer length scale, working at the intersection between solid state chemistry and

By Provost blog

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
 

These words by Albert Einstein ring especially true today as our community honors seven faculty members and three teaching assistants who have dedicated themselves to preparing, advising and inspiring our students.

I will have the honor of recognizing these 10 individuals at the 2015 University of Kentucky Provost's Outstanding Teaching Awards ceremony this afternoon. 

The Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award recognizes regular and special title series faculty for outstanding teaching performance. The 2015 winners are:

•  Matthew J. Beck, College of Engineering, Department of

Since 1972, several generations of faculty members and students have gathered for meetings and examinations around the conference table in Patterson Office Tower 1145 under the imposing gaze of a lady whose portrait once dominated the room. The Lady in the Portrait, Dr. Alberta Wilson Server, entered UK as an undergraduate in 1916. Her professional relationship with the university continued until her retirement as Professor of Spanish in 1966. Her contributions as a faculty member, as well as her financial gifts to the University, constitute an enduring legacy to the institution that she served for a half-century.

Alberta Wilson’s ties to the Spanish language and Mexican culture began shortly after her birth, March 31, 1897, in Ludlow (Kenton County), Kentucky. Her father, Albert Henderson Wilson (1875-1922), was a locomotive engineer for the Cincinnati Southern

By Lydia Whitman

(March 12, 2015)   The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has chosen 12 outstanding undergraduates as new scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. Gaines Fellowships are given in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities.

Gaines Fellowships are awarded for the tenure of a student's junior and senior years, or for the last two years of a five-year program; students in

by Derrick Meads

(Jan. 12, 2015) — UK’s Global Health Initiative is hosting a lecture about the success of Cuba’s health care system in spite of its economy.

The lecture, titled “The Curious Case of Cuba,” will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the Chandler Hospital, Pavilion A Auditorium.

According to Dr. C. William Keck who will be giving the lecture, 1.3 billion people live, and die, without health care.

“Most are in developing countries, but many are in industrialized nations,” said Keck. “Proving that political will, not wealth, is the key to transforming this devastating picture.The lecture will focus on the nature of the Cuban national health system, the forces that sustain it and the promise it holds as a model for others to learn from.”