by Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick

(June 2, 2014) — For more than a century, Kentucky women have fought for the right to vote, to own property, to earn and control their wages, and to be safe at home and in the workplace. Tragically, many of them have been silenced by abuse and violence.

In "Violence Against Women in Kentucky: A History of U.S. and State Legislative Reform," Carol E. Jordan, executive director of University of Kentucky's Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, gives Kentucky women — specifically victims of rape, domestic violence and stalking — a voice. Their stories punctuate her account of the struggles of advocates and legislators to bring legal protections to these Kentuckians. Written for those engaged in the

by Whitney Hale

(May 27, 2014) — University of Kentucky Office of External Scholarships has announced that four UK students have been selected as recipients of Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships. The UK recipients are among approximately 1,800 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2014-2015 academic year through the prestigious program.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S.

(May 15, 2014) — From the first day of their lives, most of us treat boys and girls differently. Those differences begin with a pink versus blue nursery, clothes with laces rather than ribbons, sports equipment or dance lessons, and on and on right through to “manly” careers versus “feminine” jobs.

Across the country, devoted parents routinely treat boys and girls differently because their parents, sundry child rearing experts and psychiatrists, and ultimately all of society has taught us to believe that boys and girls are fundamentally and radically different. But what if we are all wrong? What if treating boys like boys and girls like girls is not a good approach to bringing out the best in every child?

In “Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue: How to Raise Your Kids

 by Sarah Geegan

(May 1, 2014) – Provost Christine Riordan will honor three tenured faculty members, two lecturers and six teaching assistants today at the 2014 University of Kentucky Provost's Outstanding Teaching Awards ceremony. The ceremony will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. in the Lexmark Public Room.

The award recognizes faculty and graduate teaching assistants who demonstrate special dedication and outstanding performance in the classroom or laboratory. Recipients are selected via nomination and review by a selection committee based in the Provost's Office of Faculty Advancement.

Winners receive cash prizes of $5,000 for regular and special title series faculty, $3,000 for lecturer and clinical title series, and $1,000 for teaching assistants.

The Category One Faculty Award recognizes regular and special title series

by Gail Hairston

(April 29, 2014) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences recently announced the Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women.

The office’s purpose is to shape the creation, implementation and evaluation of public policy as it relates to intimate partner violence, sexual assault and stalking. Specifically, the office will work to enhance direct services to victims, legal response and legislative reform related to violence against women through policy research and analysis, and empirically driven advocacy and practice.

“The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women is a creative opportunity to weave together the interests of several departments in the College of Arts and Sciences with the policy expertise the office affords,” said Mark Lawrence Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The

by Tony Neely

(April 29, 2014) — A total of 61 University of Kentucky Wildcats earned a place on the 2013-14 Sports Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll announced by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

UK’s 61 honorees was the fourth most among the 14 league teams. UK has five representatives from the men’s basketball team, six from women’s basketball, 12 from gymnastics, six from rifle, 16 from men’s swimming and diving and 16 from women’s swimming and diving.  This marks another strong showing for UK’s student-athletes, who had the second-most qualifiers on the SEC Fall Sports Honor Roll released earlier this year.

The 2013-14 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on the grades from the 2013 Spring, Summer and Fall terms. Among other qualifications, a student-athlete must have a grade-point average of 3.00 or above for the preceding

by Jenny Wells, Carl Nathe

(April 23, 2014) — As a University of Kentucky Commencement tradition, two students have been selected to serve as speakers for the two undergraduate ceremonies Saturday, May 10.

Emily Willett will speak at the 1 p.m. ceremony and Pooja Reddy will speak at the 6 p.m. ceremony. Willett and Reddy were selected among several candidates by UK President Eli Capilouto to represent the May 2014 undergraduate class.

Willett, from Ormond Beach, Fla., is graduating Summa Cum Laude with a degree in management from the Gatton College of Business and Economics.  She is a third-generation

by Keith Hautala

(April 21, 2014) — The University of Kentucky's Center for Research on Violence Against Women is under new leadership, and its new director says the center will focus its efforts to promote violence prevention research.

Diane R. Follingstad, the center's Women’s Circle Endowed Chair and a professor in the UK Department of Psychiatry with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology, took on the role of executive director April 1, pending confirmation of her appointment by the university's Board of Trustees. A clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in partner abuse and battered women’s legal cases, Follingstad has been with the center since 2008.

The former director of the center, Carol Jordan, is leaving to head the Institute for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women in the UK College of Arts and Sciences.

by Thomas Janoski

(April 9, 2014) — In an effort to train University of Kentucky graduate students and help researchers, the Quantitative Initiative for Policy and Social Research (QIPSR) is bringing four of the most sophisticated methodologists in America for a mini-conference April 10-11 and a workshop May 15-18 on structural equation models (SEM). This method goes far beyond the typical single equation explanation of social science voting, health, participation, protesting or learning. It encompasses the combination of up to hundreds of variables into a complex system of meaningful behavior.

by Keith Hautala

(April 8, 2014) — When people think of psychologists, many envision a clinical setting, where the focus is on helping individuals with personal problems and relationships. But what about our problems and relationships with technology? For that, you need an engineering psychologist.

"That’s something that puzzles a lot of people: How do you put psychology together with engineering?" says Melody Carswell, a University of Kentucky professor of psychology and associate director of the UK Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments (Vis Center). "I think probably the most obvious way is

by Whitney Harder, Whitney Hale

(March 27, 2014) — 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 2014-15 and 2015-16 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 all disciplines and with any intended profession

by Gail Hairston

(March 11, 2014) — It’s tournament time in the world of collegiate basketball. For the athletes, coaches and fans of the sport, that means once again pulling on that unwashed-for-four-months T-shirt or making sure that lucky coin nestles in the front left pocket of your jeans or settling into that ancient easy chair gripping a certain brand of beer purchased only in March.

Sports superstitions and rituals are nothing new. Suspending belief for the moment, you might envision an ancient ancestor throwing a shiny rock into a rabbit hole and dinner popped out. The connection was made: Shiny rock equals rabbit stew. Now, the shiny rock may miss the next few targets, but inevitably the rock again brings meat to the campfire. By now, our ancient ancestor is convinced he possesses an exceptionally lucky rock, perhaps even a supernatural rock

by Mallory Powell

(March 6, 2014) -- Nearly 700 researchers, students, policymakers and community members will gather at the Lexington Convention Center March 27 to share research, mentor junior faculty, and enhance collaborations in clinical and translational science, with special focus on addressing health disparities in Appalachia. The 9th Annual Spring Conference and 4th Annual Appalachian Translational Research Network (ATRN) Summit will be hosted by the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).

"This year’s theme will be health disparities, which fits well with CCTS efforts to boost research

Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

by Jenny Wells, Whitney Harder

(Feb. 27, 2014) — Twenty-four undergraduate researchers from the University of Kentucky, along with more than 200 other student representatives from across the state, are taking over the state capitol in Frankfort today to showcase their research to the state legislature.

Posters-at-the-Capitol is a one-day annual event held to educate the Kentucky state legislators of the importance of undergraduate research and scholarly work. The governor, members of the General Assembly and representatives from

Video by Vis Center media team.

by Kieth Hautala

(Feb. 27, 2014) — Designing energy efficient buildings that are both functional and attractive raises a question: How do people adjust to a building that is adapting to them?

Melody Carswell, an expert in engineering psychology and associate professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Psychology, investigated with her students how occupants, including themselves, were responding to the new, adaptable Davis Marksbury research building on the UK campus.

by Gail Hairston

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 26, 2014) — An innovative grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is funding a University of Kentucky program that will not only advance research of alcohol abuse, but also train tomorrow's problem solvers.

Professor Mark Prendergast of the Department of Psychology and Associate Professor Kim Nixon of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences turned their devotion to research and their commitment to

By Afton Fairchild Spencer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2014) — Six University of Kentucky educators were recently named recipients of the UK Alumni Association 2014 Great Teacher Award.

The recipients are:

Award

by Allison Elliott-Shannon



(Feb. 13, 2014) — Open access to information is the goal of higher education, and several members of the University of Kentucky Department of Psychology faculty are participants in an innovative project designed to bring free, up-to-date texts to students. Headed by University of Illinois professors Ed and Carol Diener, the website Nobaproject.com gives instructors and their students access to customized psychology content written by top experts in the field.

120 authors, including seven members of the UK faculty, put together more than 80 chapters in 11 psychology topic areas. All content is completely free, and allows instructors to customize texts by

by Jake Most

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 24, 2013) — Seven Kentucky Wildcats – Khristina Blajkevitch, Caitlin Ciokajlo, Ashley Frazier, Jonathan Keltner, Shelby Kennard, Megan Moir and Chelsea Oswald – have been recognized with the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives organization’s Academic Excellence Awards.

Individuals had to maintain a minimum 3.8 cumulative GPA and have competed for at least two years of intercollegiate athletics in a sport sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1A) conference to qualify for the awards.

Joe Fink, UK’s Faculty Athletics Representative and Professor of Pharmacy, noted that this national recognition is significant for several reasons.

“In addition to recognizing academic excellence as indicated by achieving an outstanding GPA, the award emphasizes the skill these outstanding

by Keith Hautala 

(Nov. 25, 2013) — Ashley Candelaria Alumbaugh, a fifth-year predoctoral intern in the University of Kentucky school psychology program and a longtime research assistant at the UK Human Development Institute, received some special recognition at a national conference last week. 

Alumbaugh received the prestigious 2013 Anne Rudigier Award from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities at the group's annual conference in Washington, D.C., held Nov. 17-20. The award recognizes an outstanding student who has demonstrated a commitment to supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families. 

Alumbaugh graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor's degree in