University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

The UK College of Arts & Sciences is collaborating on an effort to revitalize science education with the addition of a new science building. Born with ecological ideals in mind, this building will create a learning environment unlike any other on campus as classrooms engage students with the incorporation of nature into the building’s design itself. In this podcast, Philip Crowley, a professor in the Biology Department, describes the new science building from inside and out and discusses what he looks forward to the most.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

Kentucky’s First Annual Japanese Speech Contest was held in Lexington on March 1st, 2014. The speech contest invited high school and college level students from around the state to compete in various categories, based on their level of Japanese study. One University of Kentucky student, Faiyad Mannan, a double major in Biology and Japanese Studies, won first place in the Advanced Speech category. In this podcast, Mannan discusses the contest and what he enjoys most about learning Japanese. Head to the JASK website to find out more about the Japanese/American Society of Kentucky.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

Greenhouse, the new Living Learning Program put together by a partnership between the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Agriculture, is opening its doors next semester. As an incentive for students to join the new community, Greenhouse has organized a giveaway of several new bikes.

Here, UK Office of Sustainability Coordinator Shane Tedder discusses the giveaway, the Greenhouse Living Learning Community, and the benefits of having a bike at UK.

For more information on Greenhouse, be sure to visit: https://greenhouse.as.uky.edu/

This podcast was produced by David Cole.

Steven Alvarez helps to bring the Mexican culture of Lexington's community to campus in his course "Mexington, Kentucky," offered to students in the Wired Living Learning Community. In the course, Alvarez, a professor of the Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies Department, and his students explore the Mexican community and its rich culture while also discussing the role it plays in the city of Lexington and the University of Kentucky. In this podcast, Steven Alvarez discusses a recent field trip, activism, and the curiosity of his students. The class recently took a field trip to "Mexington," photos of the trip can be found here.

Furthering our exploration of Mexico through the "¡Viva Mexico!," Passport to the World Program, the University of Kentucky Libraries introduces us to the whimsical folk art of Alebrijes from Oaxaca, Mexico. These carved and decorated figures of animals can be found in the William T. Young Library. In this podcast, Francie Chassen-Lopez, co-chair of the "¡Viva Mexico!" Program and a professor in the Department of History, and Dara Vance, a graduate student within the Department of History, discuss the history and production of Alebrije and what can be found in the exhibit. Head to the William T. Young library to check out the exhibit and take a photo of your favorite Alebrije - don’t forget to share online and tag as #vivamexico to share it with your friends and the University! Click for more information about alebrije or the exhibit.

This podcast was produced by Casey Hibbard.

UK Biologist Jim Krupa studies carnivorous plants and has long been the steward of an unusual patch of land on UK's campus: Mathews Garden. The Garden is a 0.6 acre woodland garden on the corner of Limestone Street and Washington Avenue that has been in existence since 1900 and is used by students for research and teaching.

The Mathews Garden was originally part of the grounds of the Mathews House and the original plan of the garden was the work of Clarence Wentworth Mathews. In later years it was tended by Ruth E. Mathews, his daughter, who sold it to the University in 1968.

In this podcast, Krupa discusses the history and biodiversity of the garden. Mathews Garden contains approximately 350 species of plants.

University of Kentucky professor Jeff Rice assembled and hosted a symposium on UK's campus in February. The symposium, called "Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture" brought people from across the country to Lexington to discuss the forms of professional writing done in the craft beer industry.

In this podcast, Dr. Rice discusses what the symposium set out to accomplish, what it succeeded in accomplishing, and the culture of the craft beer industry.

This podcast was produced by David Cole.

Looming greenhouse gas emission regulations will affect the economies and power grids of every state in the nation. The Commonwealth of Kentucky's Energy and Environment Cabinet partnered with the University of Kentucky's Department of Statistics to generate a variety of potential scenarios for the future of energy in Kentucky. The projections included economic and environmental impacts of energy production methods including coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power.

This interview features Leonard Peters, Secretary of Kentucky's Energy and Environment Cabinet, Arnold Stromberg, Chair of UK's Statistics Department, and Woody Burchett, an intern who worked on the project.

For more information about this project and other initiatives of the Energy and Environment Cabinet, please visit www.eec.ky.gov.

In this podcast, we hear from Carrie Oser, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Michele Staton-Tindall, associate professor in the College of Social Work, and Damien Angel, a former student of the College of Social Work, as they talk about their experiences with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. This course, centered around cooperation between “Inside” incarcerated students within Blackburn Correctional Complex and “Outside” students from the University of Kentucky, explored drug dependency, its relationship with crime, and policy related issues regarding this problem. This course was a first for both Lexington and the University of Kentucky and shaped new perspectives while also establishing a bond between Inside and Outside students. For more information about Inside-Out courses, click here.

University of Kentucky alumni make names for themselves all across the world. Loretta Williams is now employed at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, which has been consistently ranked the number one cancer care hospital by U.S. News & World Report. Dr. Williams believes in making the most of the opportunities presented to you, and credits taking a chance on an experimental psych course at UK with teaching her this lesson. In this podcast, Dr. Williams discusses her time in Lexington before and during her study at UK, the psych course that put her on the path to where she is now, and the importance of taking advantage of those opportunities.

This podcast was produced by David Cole and recorded by Laura Sutton.