By Whitney Hale

(Feb. 17, 2017) – University of Kentucky's Abby Schroering, a theatre and English junior from Louisville, Kentucky, has been awarded an English-Speaking Union (ESU)Scholarship presented by the English-Speaking Union Kentucky Branch. The scholarship will cover Schroering's expenses for summer study at the University of Cambridge.

The Kentucky Branch of the English-Speaking Union awards a limited number of scholarships to qualified Kentucky college students for courses offered at institutions in the United Kingdom.

By Amy Jones-Timoney and Kody Kiser

Video produced by UK Public Relations & Marketing. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. If using a mobile device, click on the "thought bubble" in the same area. 

(Feb. 10, 2016) — Fans cheered for more than three pointers, dunks and steals last night as UK honored this year’s Great Teachers on the court at Rupp Arena. 

On Tuesday evening, the University of Kentucky Alumni Association presented its 2016 Great Teacher Awards to six recipients at a recognition dinner. The award-winners were then recognized on the court of Rupp Arena during the Kentucky vs. Georgia men’s basketball game.

The recipients are:

• Matt Dawson, 

By Whitney Hale

(Feb. 5, 2016) — Performances of "Dead Poets Society" will kick off this semester of productions in the University of Kentucky Department of Theatre and Dance Studio Season. The spring portion of the season, which gives UK students the chance to stage their own work or interpretations of work, opens with two showings of "Dead Poets Society" at 5 p.m. today (Friday, Feb. 5) and noon Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Lucille C. Little Black Box Theatre, located in room 102 of the Fine Arts Building.

The UK Theatre and Dance Studio Season provides an opportunity

By Ashley Cox

(Feb. 5, 2016) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently recognized and awarded 16 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards. 

Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences. All submissions are sent anonymously to faculty reviewers in related fields and are judged based on a rubric.

Awards in each category are: first place: $350; second place: $200; and honorable

By Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick

(Jan. 29, 2016) — Last night, five writers were honored at the fourth annual induction of the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame held at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in downtown Lexington. Created in 2013, the hall recognizes Kentucky writers whose work reflects the character and culture of the Commonwealth and educates Kentuckians about the state’s rich literary heritage. All of this year's class of inductees have had work published by University Press of Kentucky (UPK) and two are celebrated alumnae of the University of Kentucky.

Hear

By Sara-Elizabeth Bush

(Jan. 13, 2016) — Six University of Kentucky educators were recently named recipients of the UK Alumni Association 2016 Great Teacher Award. Of those six, two are from the College of Arts & Sciences. 

The recipients are:

By Gail Hairston

(Jan. 5, 2016) — PEN’s Literary Awards Committee has chosen Manuel Gonzales, assistant professor of English at the University of Kentucky, as a judge for the 2016 PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize. The PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize is an annual award that recognizes a promising young writer of an unpublished work of nonfiction that addresses a global and/or multicultural issue.

This prize is awarded to an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of 35, who has had at least one prior publication (articles, essays, op-eds) in a national magazine or journal. The manuscript submission must be an original, previously unpublished work of

By Whitney Harder

(Nov. 18, 2015) — A new collaboration between the University of Kentucky College of Law and College of Arts and Sciences will allow students seeking a law degree to save time and money by graduating in six years instead of seven.

The UK BLUE (Bachelor-to-Law Undergraduate Education) program is open to incoming freshmen who know early on they plan to pursue a law degree. The program reduces total tuition costs by one year and exposes students to the practice and study of law early on in their undergraduate career.

"For highly motivated, exceptional students, this is a targeted pathway to help them reach their career goals," said

By Whitney Hale 

(Nov. 13, 2015) — Now in its 34th year, the Kentucky Book Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Frankfort Convention Center. This year’s fair will feature more than 200 authors and editors showcasing their most recent books including several writers from University Press of Kentucky (UPK).

Sponsored by The State-Journal, and co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Joseph-Beth

By Tiera Carlock

(Nov. 12, 2015) — The University of Kentucky's Art Museum and MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Creative Writing Program in the Department of English welcomes to campus essayist, poet, artist and cultural critic Wayne Koestenbaum to discuss his paintings and writings with UK Art Museum Director Stuart Horodner at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, in 106 

By Guy Spriggs

In order to prepare for the exam and for law school, the American Bar Association recommends students take courses that strengthen their writing skills and research skills, as well as pursue majors that develop skills in problem solving, analytical reading, editing and oral communication. It’s no surprise, then, that many pre-law students choose English as their major.

However, UK pre-law advisor Sarah Ballard says recent data presents another compelling motivation for majoring in English: for the fall 2014 entering class at the University of Kentucky College of Law, English majors had the highest LSAT scores of all students with an A&S major.

“The average score for English majors was a 162. This means the average score for English majors was very good – in fact, it was above the 75th percentile LSAT [score] for UK Law in 2014,” she explained

By Tiera Carlock

(Nov. 5, 2015) — The University of Kentucky King Library Press will present a lecture on the physical structure of books of Tudor England at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6., in the Great Hall of Margaret I. King Library on UK’s campus. "The Books of Tudor England" talk will be presented by UK alumnus and fine press printer Alex Brooks, and is free and open to the public.

A first-generation college graduate, Brooks received his master's degree in creative writing from UK. During his time at the university, he was awarded a Fulbright to study book conservation at West Dean

By Gail Hairston

(Oct. 26, 2015) — Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford, was recently awarded a President’s Medal from the British Academy for “transforming the understanding of a period or subject of study” for his book “Vivid Faces: the Irish revolutionary generation 1890-1923.”

Focusing on the central event of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the motivations which drove the people behind it, Foster will lecture on the history of the Irish Revolution of 1912-1922, “Making a Revolution in Ireland: Some Centenary Thoughts” at 4 p.m. today at the William T. Young Library Auditorium.

His lecture will also consider the agendas, elisions and implications of commemorating events in history that are at once inspirational and divisive. He will raise issues such as the changing historical interpretations of

By Weston Loyd

(Oct. 23, 2015) — The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) has released two eerie publications just in time for Halloween, "Next Door to the Dead: Poems" by Kathleen Driskell and "Haunted Holidays: Twelve Months of Kentucky Ghosts" by Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown.

When Kathleen Driskell moved into a disused church in Louisville, Kentucky, she found that there was a cemetery next door in which the 112

By Whitney Hale

(Oct. 22, 2015) — A new play by Lydia Blaisdell will have its world premiere in the Bluegrass Nov. 5–7, in four performances at Lexington's Downtown Arts Center. Produced and directed by Eric Seale, "The Silent Woman" is the winner of the biennial Prize for Women Playwrights from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference.

"'The Silent Woman' is a deeply assured work, funny and strange and beautiful in turns. It will make a thrilling production," said

By Gail Hairston

(Oct. 19, 2015) — University of Kentucky students and faculty are well represented during “Celebrating Isaac Murphy Week,” Oct. 19-24, a city-sponsored schedule of events honoring the legendary 19th century African-American jockey. Murphy’s career spanned from the mid-1870s through the mid-1890s; he rode in 11 Kentucky Derbies, winning three of them. By his account, he won 44 percent of his 1,412 races, a victory rate never equaled in 120 years.  

UK English and African American and Africana Studies professor and former Kentucky poet laureate, Frank X Walker’s poetry brought to life Murphy’s story in “I Dedicate This Ride.” Excerpts

By Gail Hairston

(Oct. 8, 2015) — Roxane Gay was born in Nebraska, of Haitian descent, but her family moved quite a bit during her childhood. That doesn’t completely explain the divergent, eclectic nature of her writing, but perhaps it’s a starting point.

Like many children who felt a bit isolated from their peers, Gay turned to books to find friends. By the time she was in her teens, she was already writing essays. But it’s only been in the past few years that her books and stories began flying from bookstore shelves and garnering the favorable attention of critics.

She is the author of the short story collection "Ayiti" (2011), the novel “An Untamed State” (2014), the essay collection "Bad Feminist" (2014), and “Hunger” (forthcoming 2016). She also edited the book “Girl Crush: Women's Erotic Fantasies.”

By Whitney Harder

(Oct. 6, 2015) — With "Banned Books Week" celebrated last week and "Teen Read Week" coming up Oct.18-24, exploring the world through literature seems to always be in season. For professors at the University of Kentucky, books have impacted their lives and careers in surprising ways.

Read below for the third and final piece in a series of professors reflecting on the books that shaped them. 

Ashley Seifert

Assistant Professor of Biology 

For me, the most influential books have been all about timing. As a young college graduate, I came upon Benjamin Hoff’s "The Te of Piglet." Hoff’s condemnation of man’s disharmony with the natural world resonated deeply with me. But it was his elegant illumination of Taoist philosophy

By Whitney Harder

(Oct. 1, 2015) — Four faculty members at the University of Kentucky, including one from the College of Arts & Sciences have been selected as 2015-2016 SEC Academic Leadership Development Program fellows, the SEC announced Wednesday.

Fellows selected from UK are:

By Mack McCormick, Mariana Moreno

The AWA's mission is to promote and recognize writing about the Appalachian region. The association works to celebrate writers who are living or have lived in the Appalachian region and those who have significant Appalachian connections through heritage or scholarship. The AWA currently gives out five awards each year: the Harriette