We are mourning the extremely untimely passing of Mel Lesch: our dearly beloved student, tireless scholar, dedicated activist, all too appropriately described by their friends as “human sunshine.”

We would like to share some tributes and student comments about Mel.

Tributes:

"Mel was a dedicated activist who worked tirelessly on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. Among their accomplishments are helping to found UK's LGBTQ+ Center and the Audre Lorde Living Learning Community. Mel's dissertation work combined scholarship and praxis, seeking a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by trans college students in order to find better ways to support them. Mel was also a dedicated teacher and an exceptional and kind human." – Jenn Hunt

"I have been privileged to work and learn from Mel for over 15 years as

The following op-ed was written by Aria Halliday, an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, African American and Africana Studies and International Film Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

<em>Aria Halliday</em>

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 31, 2023) — Growing up, I was — what we called in the '90s — a “tomboy.” Other than the dreadful laffy taffy-colored taffeta dresses with ruffles and white lace-trimmed socks, which my mother forced us to wear on special occasions, I

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 12, 2023) — Are you looking to get lost in your next summer read but don’t know where to start?

We asked the University of Kentucky community to recommend books they feel would make good additions to anyone’s reading list.

In the descriptions below, faculty members across various colleges and disciplines share the novels they can’t put down. Pulling from the worlds of history and fiction — their picks explore timely themes while providing intriguing insights.

The recommendations below range from short stories to dystopian, historical and horror fiction.

“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver

Recommended by Diane Loeffler, senior lecturer in the College of Social

By Brian Carrico 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 2, 2023) — The University of Kentucky recognized exceptional faculty and teaching assistants with the Outstanding Teaching Awards during the 2023 UK Faculty Awards Ceremony held Wednesday, April 26 in the J. David Rosenberg College of Law's Grand Courtroom.

The Outstanding Teaching Awards were established by the Provost to reward and encourage excellence in teaching. Selected via nomination, candidates were reviewed by a selection committee empaneled by the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching in the Office for Faculty Advancement.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant university, our teaching mission is critical to the success and well-being of the Commonwealth. And, given

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky – As Black women gained economic status in the United States, one of the big issues that arose involved what their daughters’ toys would look like. It’s an issue Aria S. Halliday finds fascinating.  

"At the turn of the 20th century, a lot more Black people were able to participate in the consumer marketplace,” said Halliday, assistant professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and Program in African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences. “They want stuff that represents their culture and who they think they are. From then to the present, we'

CHSS Workshop Series Grants

The Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Workshop Series Grants are supported by generous donors and the College of Arts and Sciences.  These grants offer funding for faculty and graduate students to create a series of workshops for reading, writing, and discussion of a particular theme across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

During the Spring Semester of 2022, CHSS supported four Workshop Series Grants. These workshop events presented new pedagogical and research ideas within A&S and across other UK Colleges as well. Below, we spotlight each series of workshops. We would like to thank our donors and everyone who participated in these workshops, and to congratulate those who planned and executed these innovative events.

by Amanda Nelson

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Researchers at the University of Kentucky have released a 10-minute film titled “Becoming Myself: Positive Trans & Nonbinary Identities.” It features narratives from the lives of seven transgender and nonbinary identified young adults, reflecting on their experiences navigating gender identity.  

The film’s executive producers, based in the colleges of Arts & Sciences and Education, are Zak Clements, Ph.D. candidate in counseling psychology; Ellen Riggle, professor and chair in the 

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 4, 2022) — Susan Bordo, professor emerita in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and Otis A. Singletary Chair in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences — one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. 

Founded in 1780, the

By Jennifer Haynes

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 22, 2022) — Eleven university faculty and teaching assistants were recognized by the University of Kentucky with the 2022 Outstanding Teaching Awards on Thursday, April 21, in the J. David Rosenberg College of Law Grand Courtroom. 

This annual award program recognizes faculty and graduate teaching assistants who demonstrate special dedication and outstanding performance in the classroom or laboratory. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.

Each winner received an award certificate, a commemorative engraved gift and a cash award

Congratulations to Hallie Lintner for being awarded the 2023 Space, Place, and Southern Grace for Feminist Studies Scholarship. 

This scholarship is made possible by Sarah Caton (B.A. GWS ’16) and provides $1,000 for a GWS major entering their junior or senior year.   The scholarship winner will also have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Sarah for professional mentorship throughout the academic year.

The Department of Gender & Women’s Studies is excited to introduce the 2022 Tomasky Leaders!

The Tomasky Leaders Scholarship Fund, which serves undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky, encourages students to engage in politics and public debate, to pursue higher office, and to lead an activist life. 

Congratulations to this year's Tomasky Leaders:

By Carlie Laughlin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2021) — University of Kentucky students, faculty and staff from every area of campus are leading exciting, sustainability-focused programs. These programs provide high-impact research and learning opportunities for students and faculty, have significant positive environmental and economic impacts on operations, and provide resources and support for a foundation of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at UK and across the Commonwealth. 

The 2021 Sustainability Showcase, hosted in the innovative and community-facing Cornerstone Exchange, highlighted the university's accomplishments in student engagement, athletics, health care, campus operations and interdisciplinary scholarship. A brief award presentation also honored the recipients of the 2021 Sustainability

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

UK undergraduate researchers Bridget Bolt and Gretchen Ruschman. Students are encouraged to explore undergraduate research opportunities at the Research + Creative Experience Expo.

At the University of Kentucky, undergraduates have access to outstanding research and creative work activities led by world-class faculty and staff that promote self-discovery, experiential learning and lifelong achievement.

Explore exciting undergraduate opportunities at the first annual UK Research + Creative Experience Expo 3-5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, around the Gatton Student Center’s Social Staircase.

“The goal of the Research + Creative Experience Expo is to introduce undergraduates to the diversity of research and creative work conducted at UK,” said Chad Risko, faculty director of the

By Jennifer T. Allen

M. Cristina Alcalde, who has served as the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences’ Associate Dean of Inclusion and Internationalization, has announced she will be leaving UK on June 30 to become the Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion at Miami University of Ohio. She will also hold a tenured appointment as full professor in the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies.

Alcalde has been instrumental in leading diversity and internationalization efforts as the first associate dean in the role which was created in the College of Arts & Sciences in January 2018. In this role, Alcalde developed a College-wide DEI Strategic Plan; designed and ran initiatives focused on inclusivity and under-represented faculty, staff and students;

By Trey Conatser

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 3, 2021) — Of its many effects, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about rapid innovations in teaching. Courses were redesigned for a range of delivery modes to in-person and remote students (often at the same time) and the conversation about active learning, class community and belonging took on new urgency as the challenges of the pandemic amplified the barriers — systemic and discrete — to student engagement, motivation and success.

Cohort members include Ruth Brown, senior lecturer Hispanic Studies; Anushka Karkelanova, lecturer, Statistics; Katherine Paullin, lecturer Mathematics; Elizabeth Williams, assistant professor, Gender and Women’s Studies; and Heather Worne, assistant professor, Anthropology. 

Innovation, of course, is a long-term project whose

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- In March 2020, Sarah McCurrach was asleep in Heidelberg, Germany, as messages crammed into her cell phone. When she awoke, she found out that a virus rampaging across the world was about to interrupt her education-abroad studies through the University of Kentucky.

“It was the 11th of March, and I looked at my phone and it  was off for some reason,” said McCurrach, a UK College of Arts & Science student who’s graduating in August because the Heidelberg second semester runs from April to July rather than through May. “I turned it back on, and my phone exploded with messages from the UK Education Abroad & Exchanges office on my Instagram and my Twitter. They were like, ‘Where are you?’ ‘Get on an airplane! Do you know what is happening in the world?

“So I naturally panicked a little bit, and I called my mom, and I was

By Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 17, 2021) ­— The University of Kentucky honored two winners for the Otis A. Singletary Outstanding Senior Award, Auburn Mattingly and Ngoc Phan, and two finalists, Lily Hurt and Courtney Wheeler, along with many other students and staff members during the hybrid Lead Blue: Student Organizations Celebration and Award Ceremony on April 28.

The Otis A. Singletary Outstanding Senior Award was established in 1978 as the first award recognizing overall student leadership at UK. The award is named after former University of Kentucky President Otis A. Singletary.

Students nominated for this award have displayed outstanding leadership while attending the University of Kentucky, made significant contributions to academics and are dedicated to service through campus

By Alicia Gregory

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 4, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees at a May 4 meeting announced that two College of Arts & Sciences faculty members have received University Research Professorship Awards.  These awards recognize excellence in research and creative work that addresses scientific, social, cultural, economic and health challenges in our region and around the world.

The faculty members are Anne-Frances Miller, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Carol Mason, professor of Gender and Women's Studies and English.

The University Research Professorships were established by the UK Board of Trustees in 1976 to recognize outstanding research achievements. The

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will induct six new members into the A&S Hall of Fame next week as part of its 2020 class of inductees.

For the first time in 21 years, the Hall of Fame ceremony will take place virtually, offering the campus community and the public the opportunity to watch the induction ceremony and celebration. The ceremony had to be delayed last year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Those interested in attending must register at https://forms.as.uky.edu/hof-rsvp and can tune in at 7 p.m. EDT Friday, April 9, at www.as.uky.edu/hall-fame-live.

The 2020 alumni inductees include:

Ouita Papka Michel (Political