On Oct. 16, 2017, the Department of Greek & Roman Classics at Temple University hosted a discussion panel featuring representatives from the Paideia Institute for Humanistic Studies and Anthony Parenti, a Temple University alumnus ’14, former middle-school Latin teacher, and current graduate student in classics in the UK Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures. The panel spoke about literacy and social justice in the context of teaching Latin.

“Professors, undergraduates, and Latin teachers in Philadelphia attended the event to learn more about the panel’s compelling experiences,” Parenti said. “We had a meaningful discussion about the social importance of Latin in the 21st century.”

The Paideia Institute also gave a presentation about their Aequora initiative, an after-school enrichment program offered to students who would otherwise

By Gail Hairston

World Languages Day and more than 250 Kentucky high school students return to the University of Kentucky campus Nov. 1.

Two UK College of Arts and Sciences departments, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Department of Hispanic Studies, have planned a full day for the young students.

The students, who are studying either Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese, Russian or Japanese, will attend two classes in the morning and then have a question and answer session with current UK students and alumni regarding careers and opportunities in language and cultural study.

World Languages Day will continue with Assistant Professor Molly Blasing, who will discuss the college’s Keys

By Gail Hairston

Organizers of the University of Kentucky’s Constitution Day activities last week have announced the winners of the essay contest associated with the national holiday.

Political science freshman RyAnn Schoenbaechler won the 2017 Constitution Day Essay Contest with her article titled “Donald Trump: The Modern Day Killer of the First Amendment.”

Schoenbaechler won $500 for her essay, which was evaluated by a panel of judges chosen by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center. Their assessment was based on the following criteria: historical and legal accuracy of the content; the strength and logic of the argument; the original ideas presented; the organization of the argument, including the thesis; and the quality of the writing.

The second place winner Kelsey Mattingly, a

By Abby Schroering and Sara Shehata

As a land grant university, the University of Kentucky is committed to the advancement of knowledge through research. Even undergraduate students contribute significantly to that mission.

Students of any major, background and skill level have the opportunity to work with professors from all over UK, whether in labs, on faculty projects or even on independent projects that they design themselves.

“For those undergraduates who are interested in building faculty mentorships, gaining critical thinking and presentation skills and deepening their understanding of the subjects that interest them, the UK Office of Undergraduate Research (UGR) is there to help them along the way,” said Evie Russell, assistant director of the UK Office of Undergraduate Research

By Lori Minter

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2017 semester.  A total of 6,412 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. 

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting: www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK

By Julie Wrinn

By Jennifer T. Allen

Growing up in a small Appalachian town, Blake Dilynn Donithan dreamt of exploring the world. Looking at the mountains out of her bedroom window in Pikeville, Kentucky, she envisioned traveling first to Russia. She never thought that a few years later she would be in a small village near the Russian-Mongolian border in the Sayan Mountains.

“I had no connection to Russia or the Russian language, and people often questioned my decision to study Russian,” Donithan said. “But I wanted to learn a challenging language that would be an asset in the future. From a young age, I was fascinated with Russian literature, history and culture.”

Now a senior at the University of Kentucky majoring in international studies with a focus on comparative politics and societies in Russia and Eurasia and minoring in

By Gail Hairston

Molly T. Blasing, assistant professor of Russian studies in the University of Kentucky Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures, has been awarded a 2017 NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Summer Stipend, one of only two conferred this year in Kentucky.

She will use the funding to complete research on a final chapter of her book, “Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture.”

Blasing's project examines the relationship between photographic seeing and poetic creation in Russia and the Soviet Union. The book represents an interdisciplinary approach to modern literary studies, visual culture and the social history of technology.

Blasing’s study considers how

By Gail Hairston

The Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) recently named Brenna Reinhart Byrd Teacher of the Year. Byrd is a University of Kentucky assistant professor of German studies. As the southern regional representative chosen by SCOLT, she will compete for Teacher of the Year at the national level at the annual conference of the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages. 

Byrd was named Kentucky's Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky World Languages Association in September 2016.

Byrd has over 15 years of education and teaching experience in the German language. She received her bachelor’s degree in German and a minor in linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and both her master’s and doctoral degrees in Germanic linguistics from University of California, Los

By Gail Hairston

The fourth event for the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Civic Life seminar series will be moderated by Molly Thomasy Blasing, assistant professor of Russian studies in the college’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MCLLC). The event will be noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in the UK Athletics Auditorium of the William T. Young Library.

This week’s topic is “Russia and the World in 2017."

A panel discussion will be moderated by Blasing with: Gregory Hall (Patterson School); Karen Petrone (History); Jeanmarie Rouhier

By Gail Hairston

Drury Bell took the $100 first place prize in the 51st annual Latin Prose Competition Contest and Katerina S. Banks tied for the third place $50 prize.

The Latin Prose Composition Contest consists of the translation of a passage of English into Latin. The contest is intended for advanced students of Latin who are in their third or fourth year of collegiate studies. It is organized by Eta Sigma Phi, the Honorary Society for Classical Studies.

“These outstanding students are bringing national recognition to our program in Classics, MCLLC, A&S, and to UK. I think that this extraordinary achievement merits great attention,” said Valerio Caldesi Valeri, assistant professor of classics and the Eta Sigma Phi advisor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages,

By Gail Hairston

UK Mock Trial Team: (males L-R) Nick Nash, Cody McGlothlin, John Wilson; 

(females L-R) Anne Klette, Rachel Hampton, Hannah West, Lauren Williams and Kassie Satterly.

For the first time in the program's 10-year history, the University of Kentucky Mock Trial Team has earned a spot to compete in the American Mock Trial Association's (AMTA) National Championship Tournament, hosted this year by University of California, Los Angeles.

Since its inception in 2007, the UK Mock Trial Team has represented the university at mock trial competitions across the country. There are over 600 undergraduate teams in the United States, and this year, UK’s group is one of only 48 teams to earn a coveted spot at the NCT, putting UK among the top 8 percent of teams

By Gail Hairston

The languages and cultures of the world will be highlighted at the University of Kentucky March 25 at the Kentucky World Language Association World Language Showcase.

The UK College of Arts and Sciences departments of Hispanic Studies and Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures will play host to nearly 200 student-competitors from across Kentucky.

The students will display their proficiency in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and French. UK faculty, graduate and undergraduate students will lead language and cultural sessions in Arabic, French, German, Latin, ancient Greek, Italian, Russian, Chinese, American Sign Language and Japanese. A presentation dedicated to using language professionally is also scheduled.

Representatives from GlobalLex, World Trade Center, Sister Cities, UK Education Abroad and Kentucky Refugee

By Kathy Johnson

The "Civic Life" panel series, developed by the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is a new weekly forum exploring a wide range of issues confronting society today. Open to the entire UK campus, these lunchtime panel discussions will take place each Wednesday for the remainder of the semester, and the series kicks off Wednesday, March 22, with a discussion of immigration — a topic making headlines worldwide.

“At the core of the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences is the commitment to prepare students to be engaged citizens in our Commonwealth, in an increasingly diverse nation, and in an ever-more interconnected world," said Mark Kornbluh, dean of the college. "Faculty members across all of the disciplines of our college take this commitment seriously and are seeking to provide

By Gail Hairston

 For the second year, the University of Kentucky will observe World Languages Day Friday, Feb. 24.

The event is organized by UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Hispanic Studies and the college’s International Student and Programs represented by coordinator Megan Koshurba.

UK’s World Languages Day will host about 120 local students from Scott County High School, Tates Creek High School, Carter G. Woodson Academy and Bryan Station High School. The high school students will attend classes in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish.

An open house is slated 1-2 p.m. in Buell Armory

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR

By Blair Hoover

As part of faculty development efforts, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (KCPE) has planned a series of workshops to address the personal, interpersonal and organizational issues faced by early career underrepresented faculty of color. Kentucky colleges and universities were asked to nominate faculty members for the Academic Leadership Development Institute.

Several faculty members at the University of Kentucky were nominated. Ultimately, three were chosen to participate in the program.

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky Libraries will be hosting an online “Jeopardy” contest Nov. 14-18 as part of the campus activities being presented in celebration of International Education Week. The contest will focus on the College of Arts and Sciences Passport to the World countries celebrated as part of their Year of South Asia, and is designed to provide information about the countries as well as to raise awareness about library resources available that provide country information.  

The winning contestant of the UK Libraries "Jeopardy" contest will receive a $25 Starbucks gift card. The contest will be available