University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

In Fall of 2015, a new initiative to connect campus and community will open its doors. LEXengaged, a Living Learning Community connecting undergraduate students to the city of Lexington, will welcome its first students. Lynn Phillips and Rosie Moosnick, faculty advisors and co-directors of the program, explain LEXengaged and the inspiration behind it.

This podcast was produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

Photo by Jwombles on Flickr.

This summer took a different turn for Nathan Moore, an English undergraduate student with a minor in African American and Africana Studies, as he headed to New York City as a Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Summer Institute Fellow. Part of the New York Public Library, the Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Institute encourages minority students and others with an interest in African-American and African Diasporan Studies to pursue higher education degrees. In this podcast, Nathan Moore discusses how his experiences this summer have helped to shape his future and his research.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

Health doesn’t end at biology - there are many societal and environmental factors that can play a crucial role. The University of Kentucky will be introducing a new Health, Society, and Populations program that will be focused on approaching health illness from a social and structural standpoint in order to recognize the diverse factors that influence well being and available health services. In this podcast, Erin Koch, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, and Carrie Oser, a professor in the Department of Sociology, discuss the new program, its potential impact on the study of health and medicine, and what they are most excited for as co-directors.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

From childhood, Susan Gardner has had an interest in how the world works, developing a sense of curiosity that would later fuel her work and inspire her research. Recently, Gardner, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, played an important role in a study that was responsible for the discovery of a wave in the Milky Way Galaxy. In this podcast, we spoke to Susan Gardner about this discovery, its relation to her research, and the importance of curiosity.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

Noticing a lack of literature on volunteerism in South Africa, Sociology graduate student Sara Compion decided to focus her studies on home. Within her research, Compion began investigating connections between volunteering and democratization while also exploring why many South Africans volunteer, titling her dissertation “Volunteering and democratization in Africa: How individual traits and national contexts inform non-political volunteering.” In this podcast, Sara Compion discusses her research, interest in volunteerism, and about receiving the National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

English courses introduce students to skills beyond analyzing novels - teaching them how to interact and connect with other students and improve their skills of analysis. This skill set is useful beyond the classroom, helping former students to succeed in their occupations and as they continue their occupation. In this podcast, Rachael Gilley, an English undergraduate student, and Jaclyn Spraetz, a 2009 Secondary English Education graduate, discuss how Spraetz's background with English courses impact her daily life.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

In August 2016, the University of Kentucky will be welcoming a new icon to campus with the opening of the Academic Science Building. Focusing on integration across scientific fields and levels, the Academic Science Building will celebrate the relationship between research and learning while providing new opportunities for students. In this podcast, Mark Kornbluh, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, discusses plans for the Academic Science Building and how it will emphasize the importance of scientific study and research at the University of Kentucky.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

The University of Kentucky's Passport to the World series is entering its fifth year and with that anniversary comes a number of exciting changes. For one, the next program highlights an entire region rather than a single nation. That region? The Middle East.

Professors Janice Fernheimer and Paul Chamberlin are at the helm of The Year of the Middle East, which begins in the Fall 2014 semester, and they have ambitious plans for the program over its yearlong duration. The professors sat down with us to discuss some of those plans and to enlighten us a bit on the culture of the Middle East.

This podcast was produced by David Cole.

College is always a growing experience, and for UK graduate William Snyder, it was a particularly memorable one. 60 years after his graduation, he still recalls his time at the University of Kentucky fondly. He recounts how his time at UK led to his admission to Vanderbilt and how he came to be interested in opthalmology, and concludes with some advice to the students of today.

This podcast was produced by Patrick O'Dowd.

Being a female anthropologist in the 60's was no bed of roses. Martha Ann Rolingson, who graduated from the University of Kentucky, recounts the differences she saw over time while working in the field. She touches on her story of how she arrived at UK, how the role of women in science has changed over time, and gives some advice for current students.

This podcast was produced by David Cole.