By Sarah Geegan The University of Kentucky Center for Drug Abuse Research Translation (CDART) has received a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), funding which will continue the center's long history of developing novel intervention strategies that target high-risk individuals. CDART is connected to the Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Though they are separate entities, CDART and NIDA have the common mission of understanding the causes and prevention of
News
12/7/2012
by Jenny Wells & Danica Kubly
The University of Kentucky Office for Undergraduate Research recognized and awarded 19 students this week with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards. Diane Snow, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Ben Withers, interim associate provost for Undergraduate Education, were on hand to congratulate the winners and distribute the awards.
Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students, and to
11/26/2012
by Sarah Geegan & Tess Perica
Three University of Kentucky sociologists have co-authored a study that helps to fill a gap in our understanding of suicide risk among African-American women.
Appearing in the December issue of Social Psychology Quarterly (SPQ), the study, “Too Much of a Good Thing? Psychosocial Resources, Gendered Racism, and Suicidal Ideation among Low Socioeconomic Status African American Women,” examines the relationship between racial and gender discrimination and suicidal ideation, or thinking about and desiring to commit suicide. The co-authors on the study include Assistant Professor Brea L. Perry, Associate Professor Carrie B. Oser, and Ph.D. candidate
10/3/2012
by Sarah Geegan and Sarah Hutcheon Mancoll
A new study by researchers at the University of Kentucky found that teachers and schools that value diversity have a big impact on the academic experiences of Latino immigrant children living in predominantly White communities. The study appears in a special section of the September/October 2012 issue of Child Development on children from immigrant families.
The researchers discovered that children who had a teacher who valued diversity felt more positively about their ethnicity than children who had a teacher who felt uncomfortable with diversity.
“This is important because feeling positively about their ethnicity was associated with children valuing school more, enjoying school more, feeling like they belonged at school more and getting better grades,” said
9/26/2012
by Allison Elliot
A study by a team of University of Kentucky researchers has shed new light on the potential habit-forming properties of the popular pain medication tramadol, in research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The paper is slated to appear in an upcoming edition of the academic journal Psychopharmacology.
Prescription pain killer abuse is a major public health problem in the U.S. In 2010, more individuals over the age of 12 reported nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers in the past month than use of cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.
"Prescription pain pill abuse is a real problem in Kentucky. We have lots of overdoses. We held a summit here in February
9/10/2012
by Whitney Hale
Last spring, Teach for America selected 27 recent graduates of the University of Kentucky to serve in America's inner cities and rural communities. The UK group, the largest in school history, is among 5,800 new corps members selected for Teach for America, a national program in which outstanding college graduates commit to teach for two years in disadvantaged urban and rural public schools.
Teach for America places its recruits in the nation's highest-need elementary and secondary schools in many of the country's lowest income communities, both rural and urban, in an effort to close the achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged children.
This year’s corps is the largest in Teach for America’s history.
7/16/2012
By Sarah Geegan
Jonathan Golding, professor in the Department of Psychology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, was recently featured in Inside Higher Education describing his integration of Facebook into his courses.
"When the idea of using social media (e.g., Facebook) as part of my face-to-face classes was suggested to me about two years ago, I found myself in the slow lane," Golding said. "Luckily, about a year ago I saw the proverbial light."
After all the years of teaching “mega-sections,” introductory courses with more than 500 students, Golding sought a way to create more meaningful interpersonal communication with students, as well as more
6/1/2012
By Sarah Geegan
Psychology Associate Professor Nathan DeWall will showcase his expertise on the Discovery Channel's new series "Head Games," premiering at 10 p.m. this Sunday, June 3.
The show, narrated by actor John Krasinski, invites viewers to explore brain games, mind puzzles and social experiments that display how the human mind works. Both viewers and on-screen subjects will be challenged to participate in these puzzles to better understand how and why people conform, perceive, react in certain ways or make moral judgments — all relating to the complex inner workings of the brain.
DeWall will appear in the "Conformity
5/17/2012
By Sarah Geegan
Visionaries often ask us to look skyward for signs of alien intelligence. A new book, "The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Cognition," edited by Thomas Zentall of the University of Kentucky Department of Psychology and Edward Wasserman of the University of Iowa, suggests that we might more fruitfully explore and understand alien intelligence right here on Earth.
This 960-page volume, published in February by Oxford University Press, is a compendium of scientific research into the cognitive worlds of animals, a flourishing field of study that that was prompted by Charles Darwin’s provocative proposal that humans and animals
4/26/2012
By Sarah Geegan
In February and March, area high school teachers gathered at the University of Kentucky to learn about recent scientific discoveries in various fields. On Thursday, April 26, the College of Arts & Sciences will offer a psychological perspective on "What's New in Science."
Psychology Professor Susan Barron will lead the fourth lecture in the What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs. The lecture will take place in the Davis Marksbury Building at 7 p.m.
The series engages teachers and youth in various scientific
4/25/2012
By Sarah Geegan
The University of Kentucky Biology, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, and Psychology departments are reaching out to area high school science teachers and teaching them something new: what's new in science.
The What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs, will engage teachers and youth in various scientific areas. It will focus specifically on emerging discoveries and developments in the realm of science.
"The university already has a strong history in supporting science teachers in Kentucky Schools," said Sally
4/24/2012
The College of Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce that the recipients of the 2012-13 A&S Outstanding Teaching Awards are Drs. Christia Brown (psychology), Brenna Byrd (MCLLC), Yanira Paz (Hispanic Studies), and Bradley Plaster (physics & astronomy).
Dr. Christia Brown has been in the psychology department since 2007 and is affiliated with the Children at Risk Research Cluster, Gender and Women’s Studies, and the UK Center for Poverty Research. She exemplifies teaching excellence. She creates an innovative learning environment in every classroom she enters, whether through engagement activities in her large lecture courses or debates in her smaller seminars. One of her students stated, “This is the best class and professor I have ever had at UK.” Outside the classroom she is a
4/4/2012
By Whitney Hale, Lea Mann
The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has chosen 10 outstanding undergraduates as new scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 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. 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 all disciplines and with any intended profession are given equal consideration.
UK's 10 new Gaines
3/28/2012
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
3/26/2012
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
3/22/2012
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, esteemed for her work in clinical psychological therapy,
3/20/2012
By Kathy Johnson
A'dia Mathies has been an outstanding guard for the University of Kentucky women's basketball team, even being named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year by Associated Press this year.
Mathies, a junior, went "One on One" with College of Arts and Sciences Dean Mark Kornbluh, talking about the experience of being an athlete and a student majoring in psychology.
To view the "One on One" video interview, click here.
3/14/2012
By Colleen Glenn, Sarah Geegan
This past fall, the Department of Psychology launched the Psychology Honors Program as a way to give students "the best of both worlds" — state-of-the-art research opportunities that large universities offer, as well as a feeling of community that smaller classes provide. So far, the program has demonstrated success.
Robert Lorch, chair of the Department of Psychology, and other faculty members in the department developed the Psychology Honors Program to provide incoming freshmen with smaller class sizes, more research opportunities and a built-in support network.
Students in the honors program take their core psychology courses as a cohort during their first two
3/1/2012
By Erin Holaday Ziegler, Sarah Geegan
From the halls of Congress to the streets of downtown Lexington, America might not agree much, but the majority of its citizens can see the disparity in the economic fortunes of rich, poor and middle class American families.
The myriad reasons behind economic inequality range from the decline of unions to the decline of the progressive income tax, but the outcome is undeniable: those at the very top of the income ladder have emerged as the biggest winners in a huge transformation of the American economy.
As an interdisciplinary body striving to improve policy and government performance through the production and distribution of world-class scholarship, The University of Kentucky’s Quantitative Initiative for Policy and Social Research (QIPSR) wants to join the conversation.
Each
12/20/2011
By Kathy Johnson
Jonathan Golding, University of Kentucky psychology professor who was recently named Kentucky Professor of the Year, was the guest on Saturday's "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga game that was broadcast on radio.
"UK at the Half" airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by Carl Nathe of UK Public Relations and Marketing.
To hear the "UK at the Half" interview, click here. To view a transcript of the "UK at the Half" interview, click
