By Richard LeComte
LEXINGTON, KY. -- One member of the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences is contributing to the cultural life in Lexington during the COVID-19 pandemic with a colorful painting at a local gallery.
By Richard LeComte
Five recently hired faculty members associated with the African American and Africana Studies interdisciplinary program in the College of Arts & Sciences are broadening the range of diverse and inclusive course offerings to University of Kentucky students. The five new hires are JWells, Vieux Touré, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Brandon M. Erby and Aria S. Halliday.
Aria S. Halliday, assistant Professor in the department of gender and women’s studies and in African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky, participated recently in "The future of America, according to 7 teachers," a feature on the NBC "Today" show.
"The future of America is a diverse, people-centered and people-led democracy that actively works to end white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and its effects (racism, colorism, fatphobia, xenophobia, etc.) in policies and cultural landscapes," Halliday said on the NBC website.
Among its many other impacts, COVID-19 has disrupted opportunities for University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences faculty to teach abroad.
In previous years, A&S faculty have taught short courses in China through partnerships facilitated by UK's Confucius Institute. For example, Rita Basuray, senior academic coordinator in A&S, has taught courses at Jilin University in Changchun, China, for six summers. Unfortunately, she was interrupted in 2020 by the pandemic.
By Lindsey Piercy
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, children across the country are facing social isolation. With many school districts in the U.S. choosing remote learning, students are likely to consume more mass media.
You might be wondering, should parents be concerned?
Jiali (Kira) Ma, Gender & Women's Studies and U.S. Culture & Business Practices Major is featured in this month's International Check-In newsletter. You can read the full newsletter here
New and returning students have been inundated with messages about the “new normal” at UK, talk of face-to-face instruction, and using terms that students may not be familiar with, like “hybrid,” “distance learning,” “synchronous,” and “asynchronous.” It is understandable, then, if you are feeling apprehensive or confused about what it will be like to take courses this semester.
What makes for effective leadership in a moment of crisis? Please join State Representative Charles Booker, president and founder of the new Kentucky-based organization, "Hood to the Holler,” and UK history professor Tracy Campbell, author of The Year of Peril: America in 1942, to discuss leadership during a crisis from both historical and contemporary perspectives. What challenges did leaders face dealing with the sudden onset of World War II, and what difficulties do they face now in dealing with the multi-layered racial, economic, and Covid crises? How can we overcome the divisions that crises create?
This talk, moderated by A&S Dean Mark Kornbluh and Cooperative Director Karen Petrone, is the inaugural event of the UK College of Arts and Sciences's new Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS). This year our theme is “Crises and Creating Social Change.” CHSS facilitates interdisciplinary research and university engagement locally, nationally and internationally, to demonstrate the value and the contributions of the Humanities and Social Sciences in sustaining our communities and solving critical social problems.
As a prelude to the Fall Semester, Associate Provost Kathi Kern and Dean Mark Kornbluh will discuss the challenges posed by teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty and students alike worry about the logistics. How will we maintain a safe and healthy learning environment? How much of instruction will need to be moved online or “flipped”? How does technology enable or restrict us? How do we continue to foster strong student-teacher bonds at a distance? How do we build community in our current environment?
And while these questions are urgent for the particular moment, they also point to a lasting shift in how we go about our work as educators. Even after the pandemic subsides, we will likely find ourselves reflecting on the unexamined, yet sacred elements of what makes a college education. As disruptive as the pandemic has been, it has also ignited a climate of innovation. We are led to think anew about the journeys that our students take, how our research and disciplines best serve a diverse community of learners, how the wicked problems of the world defy institutional silos, and how we can best support individuals while also strengthening communities. Our lessons learned and enduring challenges from the past few months afford us a unique opportunity to anticipate these emergent paradigms for teaching and learning.
Pandemic and the Professor from UK College of Arts & Sciences on Vimeo.
