The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected 11 outstanding undergraduates as new scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years.

Gaines Fellowships are given in recognition of students’ outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, interest in public issues, and 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.

The 11 students selected as Gaines Scholars are as follows:

"It's 11:57 a.m., and I'm hurrying to class with my backpack on. A colleague stops me in front of the Chemistry-Physics Building and says, 'You look like a student!' Actually, I am."
 
So begins the story of Alan Fryar, a University of Kentucky geology professor who elaborates on his midlife undergraduate experience in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.
 
Fryar, who is also the director of graduate studies for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at UK, began taking French language classes on campus last semester.
 
"At 46, I'm an associate professor of geology and one of 25 students in an elementary French class here at the university," he explains in the Chronicle Review. "I'm nearly twice the age of my oldest classmate and 20 years older than my

There’s more than 4,300 miles separating Morehead, KY and Berlin, Germany. For Ben Williams, it was a gap that would be bridged thanks, in part, to his experiences at the University of Kentucky.

Hailing from Morehead, Williams graduated from Rowan County Senior High. From there, he went to the University of Kentucky, followed by a graduate degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. His parents still live in Morehead, where his mother works in the Fuzzy Duck Coffee Shop and his father as a professor at Morehead State. His two sisters live in Lexington.
Inspiration
When studying at UK, he was inspired by two professors: 

The ripening and ever-changing democratic movements in the Middle East have taken the world by storm with their speed and resilience. 
 
This rapid change in areas such as Egypt and Tunisia have raised questions throughout the University of Kentucky campus: Who are the protesters and what are their grievances? Why are different segments of the population coming together? What are the economic impacts on individuals and the society?

UK faculty, staff, students and community members will come together to discuss these issues, in a thought-provoking forum, entitled "Democracy in the Middle East: Focus on Egypt and Tunisia" from 4-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16 in the Student Center Theater on UK's campus.
 
A panel of faculty and students

by Rebekah Tilley
photos by Shaun Ring

When you ask UK University Scholar Dan Sheffler to name one of his favorite books, he immediate replies The Confessions of St. Augustine. Leaning back in his chair, his face lights up and searching the ceiling, he begins to describe why.

“I feel that when I read The Confessions Augustine is talking to me, as if he were directly addressing me,” Sheffler explained. “Even though it is all obviously addressed to God I feel like I’m sort of sitting in the room. I feel like I can completely relate to Augustine’s position in his life, and I can really connect with what he’s saying.”

“I think it is one of the most beautiful things that has ever been written in Latin. There are passages in it that are just shockingly beautiful.”

If this wasn’t your take on The Confessions, you may want to experience

by Guy Spriggs

Cassie Hardin was sure that she wanted to explore her passion for studying languages after arriving at the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2008, but she also knew that she getting tired of more traditional romance languages. She wanted something new; she wanted a new horizon.

So how did Hardin arrive at her decision to pursue courses in UK’s Chinese Studies program? She left it up to chance.

“I wanted a new challenge, so I flipped a coin: did I want to do Japanese or did I want to do Chinese. It landed on Chinese, so I went with Chinese and I’m so glad.”

In the spring of 2010, Hardin was presented with a unique opportunity to travel to China for the Conversational Chinese in Shanghai Program through Education Abroad at UK. The program, directed by UK professor Liang Luo, was the inaugural exchange program for the new Confucius

Graduate student

by Sara Cunningham

Rachel Dunnagan has always been as dedicated to the education of others as she is to her own education.

Teaching comes natural to the math and classics senior.

Her love of education began with creating pretend assignments for her younger sister when they played school as children and continued with Dunnagan’s devotion to helping her classmates with their studies in high school.

The Louisville native was scheduled to graduate summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in math and a second Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics this past spring, and plans to progress to a graduate program to continue preparing herself for a long career in teaching math and Latin to