Most of us associate mapping with cartography, but that's not always the case. The Committee on Social Theory is presenting a graduate-level course on mapping this semester and Jenny Rice, assistant professor in the …

Foreign languages are in a period of transition regarding requirements for graduation here at the University of Kentucky. French professor Sadia Zoubir-Shaw and French graduate student Amelia Stevens discuss the continuing importance of world languages in a regular curriculum, as well as the career possibilities that a second language opens up. Various actors and international artists that speak French to some degree are featured in…

Gwendolyn Schaefer knew she wanted to study abroad in the Middle East, but the Arab Spring presented a potential threat to her personal security. Her first two choices were Egypt and Syria, but both were deep in the throes of political unrest. Eventually, she landed in Amman, Jordan through Education Abroad at UK with AMIDEAST. There, she was paired with an internship at Jordan’s…

In 2011, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures gained a new faculty member: Francis Bailey, the current director of the TESL MA program. It's a new degree program that will train graduate students to teach English as a second language. In this interview, Bailey shares the program's philosophy and the various avenues through which students will work with diverse communities within Fayette County, including the…

Fall of 2012 was the perfect time to conduct a class about American electoral politics - so it was taken up as the topic for Currents, a class offered to incoming Freshmen. The course explores the 2012 election from a variety of academic perspectives - including, but not limited to, philosophy, economics, history, and, of course, political science. In this podcast, five Currents students shared their experiences with the class. 

The students interviewed are: Trevor McNary, a double major in International Studies…

Karen Petrone and Cindy Ruder (from History and MCL, respectively) are two of the A&S faculty members behind this year’s Passport to the World initiative – Reimagining Russia’s Realms. They stopped by the studios of UK’s student-run radio station, WRFL 88.1 FM, to talk to host Mick Jeffries on his show…

When you hear the phrase “Crime and Punishment,” you may think of the famous novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – or, if you’re a student at the University of Kentucky, you may think about a unique course developed by Cynthia Ruder and Janet Stamatel. The course, titled “A&S 100-401: Crime and Punishment in Russia’s Realms…

Dripsinum is the name of a place that isn't on any modern map - but, according to recent research, should be on the maps of the ancient Roman Empire. Archaeologists George Crothers and Paolo Visona returned from Italy this summer with data that indicates the whereabouts of the lost Roman settlement, said to be half the size of Pompeii - and another, older site below that!

Though written about in antiquity by medieval scholars and even Pliny the Elder, the…

Since 2010, the Chinese Studies program at UK has taken groups of students to Shanghai University in the summer for a 6-credit Conversational Chinese course. Liang Luo is a professor of Chinese culture and language, and has accompanied two of these groups to Shanghai. The group that went this summer also participated in the Shanghai University & UK Student Summit, part of the programs…

Recent UK  graduate Kenneth Taylor had been interested in Japanese since high school, so when the College of Arts & Sciences began offering a full degree program for the Japanese Language, Kenneth couldn't turn the opportunity down, nevermind that he was already studying mechanical engineering. In this podcast, Kenneth discusses why he chose Japanese Studies and Mechanical Engineering and what he is doing with his degrees.

This podcast was produced by Sam Burchett.…