By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A University of Kentucky doctoral student dug deeply into the Tapichalaca reserve in Ecuador and uncovered a magnolia tree variety that’s different enough from other types to be called its own species: Magnolia tapichalacaensis.  

The tree’s big flowers attracted the attention of Edison Rea-Sancho, a doctoral student in biology in UK’s College of Arts and Sciences. He recently co-wrote a paper for the journal Phytotaxa. 

“Plants are awesome," Rea-Sancho said. “I am from Ecuador, and I grew up surrounded by plants. Being in the tropical rain forest made me curious about plants and trees. Among

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 29, 2026) — Applications are now open for awards and funding opportunities offered by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies program. These opportunities are open to any student participating in work and research in the Appalachian region.

Graduate students are eligible to apply for the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, and both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply for the Eller & Billings Student Research Award. These awards support student research in/

By Ryan Girves

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 26, 2026) — Brandon Erby, Ph.D., assistant professor in writing, rhetoric and digital studies in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, will present this year’s Gaines Lecture for Outstanding Research in the Humanities.

Erby’s lecture, titled “Digitizing Prison Dreams: Incarcerated Podcasters and their Views on Freedom,” will highlight research from his award-winning, peer-reviewed article, “Imagining Freedom: Cultural Rhetorics, Digital Literacies and Podcasting in Prison.”

By Sara Spinks, Veena McCoole and Jenny Wells-Hosley

OXFORD, England (Jan. 20, 2026) — Large language models like ChatGPT increasingly shape how people see the world, yet their responses can mirror long-standing biases in the data they ingest.

New research from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford and the University of Kentucky finds that ChatGPT systematically favors wealthier, Western regions in response to questions ranging from “Where are people more beautiful?” to “Which country is safer?”

The study, “The Silicon Gaze: A typology of biases and inequality in LLMs through the lens of place,”

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 16, 2026) — As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the University of Kentucky Department of History is launching a public event series designed to deepen understanding of the American Revolution and its enduring legacy.

The “Celebrating 1776” series will feature lectures, conversations, film screenings and new courses for students through 2026, drawing on the department’s nationally recognized scholars in American history and serving as a resource for the UK campus and the broader Kentucky community.

The series kicks off 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, with a public conversation featuring Joseph Ellis, one of the

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, KY. -- A new book edited by University of Kentucky faculty offers hope, in a variety of ways, to the people of a post-coal and deindustrialized Appalachia. 

“Toward Just Transitions: Visions for Regenerative Communities in Appalachia,” published by the University Press of Kentucky, tackles such issues as food, health, race and philanthropy in a series of essays. 

“The Just Transition movement has to do with the decline of coal mining and other sorts of natural resource-producing, energy-producing and exporting industries," said Shaunna Scott, Ph.D., emerita associate professor of sociology in UK's College of Arts and Sciences co-editor of the

By Francis Von Mann 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 9, 2026) — University of Kentucky professor Andy Doolen has published a new biography examining the life, ideas and assassination of early American figure John Dunn Hunter.

Andy Doolen, professor of English and American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “Traitor: The Life and Assassination of John Dunn Hunter, American Radical,” published Dec. 2, 2025, by Johns Hopkins University Press.

John Dunn Hunter was many things: a frontier hero, a writer, a celebrity at home and abroad, and, ultimately,

More than 2,100 students have been named to the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Science's Dean's List for Fall 2025<. To earn Dean's List honors, students must earn:

A list of Dean's List students may be found here. 

By Francis Von Mann 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 19, 2025) – Allegra Solomon has been longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection, one of the most prestigious honors for emerging fiction writers in the United States. 

The award, presented by PEN America, recognizes an exceptionally talented author whose first short story collection demonstrates distinguished literary achievement and strong promise for future work. Solomon was selected as one of ten longlisted authors nationwide for her debut collection, “There’s Nothing Left for You Here” (Four Way Books). 

Solomon

By Daniel Flener 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 18, 2025) — Husna Ahmadi isn’t sure what she will feel walking across the stage of Rupp Arena to receive her University of Kentucky diploma.

“I don’t know what to expect,” she said. “Maybe my whole journey here; the flights, the anxiety, the friends, the memories, all of it may just come rushing back.”

In late 2021, as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, many students in the country suddenly found themselves in limbo, unsure of whether or how to continue their educations. After a year in another country, still in limbo,

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

NEW YORK (Dec. 17, 2025) — Schmidt Sciences has awarded $11 million for up to 23 teams of researchers around the world to develop and apply artificial intelligence to archaeology, history, literature and other humanities disciplines, seeking to unlock new understandings of human history and culture, the organization announced today. 

By Rebekah Frazier 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2025) — The Kentucky Geological Survey received a $182,961 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey to advance geological understanding and hazard preparedness for Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. 

The project will produce landslide inventory maps and landslide susceptibility maps for the region that will benefit city planners, local governments and landowners. 

“There is currently no published landslide inventory for the city of Cincinnati and only an incomplete landslide inventory for Northern Kentucky, despite

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. --  Johanna Miller absolutely wanted to go to the University of Kentucky, but when she found herself in economic need, she contemplated dropping out the next semester.  

That’s when the people of UK’s College of Arts and Sciences stepped in in the person of Christia Spears Brown, Ph.D., associate dean for student engagement and success. 

"Out of the blue, I was sitting in class, and I got a text message from the associate dean that said she wanted to have a phone call with me,” said Miller, an undergraduate Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies major from Lexington. “That's all she said, so I got really nervous about that. I was like, ‘You want to talk to me? That’s really strange.’ So after class, I

By Francis Von Mann 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2025) - For an hour each week, the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences and the UK International Center make Lexington seem five countries bigger. Over steaming cups of international tea, the International Student Services space transforms into a crossroad of language and culture.

The gatherings are informal, half game night and half real-world practice, run by two student teams: Student Leaders

By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 1, 2025) - The family of Gurney Musick Norman and the University of Kentucky Department of English invite the public to a weekend of words, music and film celebrating the life and legacy of the beloved writer, teacher and mentor. 

The memorial will be held over two days, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Gatton Student Center on UK’s campus. Events are free, open to the public and will be livestreamed. 

Norman, who died in Lexington on Oct. 12, 2025, at age 88, was an Appalachian fiction writer, documentarian, advocate and UK professor emeritus of English. He is widely regarded as one of Kentucky’s most important literary

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 25, 2025) — This year, the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities launched an initiative designed to foster meaningful interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration across campus. 

The Gaines Humanities Cooperatives were created to bring together faculty, staff and graduate students from diverse fields to spark intellectual exchange and lay the foundation for innovative humanities-centered projects that engage both the university and the broader community. Supported by the Gaines Center through funding, meeting space and other relevant resources, the cooperatives are intended to serve as a hub for community.

The pilot cooperative, launched in 2024 under

By Ainsley Saurers 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and the UK Graduate Appalachian Research Community invite undergraduate and graduate students from all majors to submit proposals for the 15th annual Appalachian Research Symposium & Arts Showcase.

The showcase is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in the Healthy Kentucky Research Building first-floor atrium.

This year’s theme — “Interdependent Possibilities: Cultures of Care, Practices of Place-Making” — encourages participants to explore how care, community and place interrelate across disciplines and everyday lives.

“We

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Leon Sachs’ background in teaching a class in civil discourse led him to a seminar in North Carolina, where he picked up some new ideas about how to foster civil discussion at the University of Kentucky. Now he wants to get the word out to draw people on the UK campus into safe places for open discussion. 

"I would welcome other people interested in participating in civil discourse,” said Sachs, professor of French in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures in UK’s College of Arts and Sciences and a Chellgren endowed professor. “It seems like UK's got people working on it, but they don't know about one another. There is an urgent need, I think, for people around campus to know who to contact if they want to get involved going forward.” 

Sachs has

By Allie Barnes 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 18, 2025) — University of Kentucky students are invited to learn how to thrive in an artificial intelligence-driven world through a new online course.  

UK is offering a 100-level, one-credit-hour course titled Transdisciplinary Educational Approaches to Advance Kentucky (TEK 100): Collaborative Intelligence — Understanding and Using Modern AI. 

This rolling, asynchronous course will be offered twice during the Spring 2026 semester to create multiple opportunities for students to fit this in their schedule. This course will run from Jan. 12 through March 2 and from March 9 through May 8.  

The launch of TEK 100 comes as part of the university’s recent effort and

By Haven L. Patrick 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 19, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research  recently announced the 21 undergraduate winners of the 61st annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, Ph.D., faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and research ambassadors presented the awards.

Founded in 1964 by UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition promotes undergraduate research and creative endeavors across all academic disciplines.

The competition spans these categories: biological sciences, design (architecture, landscape architecture and