LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 8, 2026) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center is honoring 12 students with its annual research awards.

Eight graduate students received the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, and four students received the Eller and Billings Student Research Award.

"This year's award recipients represent a range of disciplines doing cutting edge research in Appalachia" said Kathryn Engle, Ph.D., director of UK Appalachian Center. "Representing a variety of colleges and departments across the university, these students are working in and with Appalachian communities examining pressing issues in the region."

The James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia is given to honor the memory

For link to original article published in UKNow, click here.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 8, 2026) — Fifty-six high school students from 28 schools across 24 Kentucky counties recently spent a day at the University of Kentucky, meeting and learning from cancer researchers, physicians and health care professionals. The event was the first in what organizers plan to make an annual effort to help build the state’s oncology workforce pipeline.

The first Kentucky NextGen Cancer Summit, which took place April 17 in the Healthy Kentucky Research Building, was organized by two UK Markey Cancer Center programs, the

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 3, 2026) — Economic transition is reshaping rural America. A public panel at the University of Kentucky will explore how Appalachian communities are responding through research, collaboration and local action.

The UK Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program, housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, will host the discussion, “Shifting Power in Rural America: Conversations on Just Transitions,” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, in Jacobs Science

By Robby Hardesty

Author and UK professor Crystal Wilkinson will be honored as the 2026 recipient of the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement. Photo provided by Crystal Wilkinson.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 25, 2026) — University of Kentucky Libraries is honoring award-winning and critically acclaimed novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet and professor Crystal Wilkinson, as the 2026 recipient of the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement.

Wilkinson will be recognized at the UK Libraries Spring Celebration May

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 24, 2026) — Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Kentucky Legal Clinic and the Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky have entered a joint partnership to research the history and legal outcomes of the 1919 racial removal in Corbin, Kentucky.

Initiated in the Spring 2025 semester, students from both programs collaborated on annotating legal documents from the 1920 court case which followed the violent removal of approximately 200 Black residents from Corbin on Oct. 30, 1919.

Law students within legal clinic a

By Jenny Wells-Hosley 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 29, 2026) — Applications are now open for awards and funding opportunities offered by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies program. These opportunities are open to any student participating in work and research in the Appalachian region.

Graduate students are eligible to apply for the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, and both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply for the Eller & Billings Student Research Award. These awards support student research in/

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, KY. -- A new book edited by University of Kentucky faculty offers hope, in a variety of ways, to the people of a post-coal and deindustrialized Appalachia. 

“Toward Just Transitions: Visions for Regenerative Communities in Appalachia,” published by the University Press of Kentucky, tackles such issues as food, health, race and philanthropy in a series of essays. 

“The Just Transition movement has to do with the decline of coal mining and other sorts of natural resource-producing, energy-producing and exporting industries," said Shaunna Scott, Ph.D., emerita associate professor of sociology in UK's College of Arts and Sciences co-editor of the

Check out this article published in the Nov. 24, 2025 UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment news featuring Appalachian Studies Program faculty affiliate Julie N. Zimmerman.

Julie N. Zimmerman was honored by the Rural Sociological Society and by the Kentucky Association of State Extension Professionals.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — As Julie N. Zimmerman’s colleagues at the Rural Sociological Society (RSS) gave her a standing ovation, she counted to five before speaking.

By Ainsley Saurers 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and the UK Graduate Appalachian Research Community invite undergraduate and graduate students from all majors to submit proposals for the 15th annual Appalachian Research Symposium & Arts Showcase.

The showcase is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in the Healthy Kentucky Research Building first-floor atrium.

This year’s theme — “Interdependent Possibilities: Cultures of Care, Practices of Place-Making” — encourages participants to explore how care, community and place interrelate across disciplines and everyday lives.

“We

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 31, 2025) — A new University of Kentucky study used environmental DNA (eDNA) to search 90 sites across 73 rivers for Eastern hellbenders — large, secretive salamanders nicknamed “snot otters” and “lasagna lizards” for their mucous secretions and the skin folds that help them breathe.

Now, a UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) study published in Freshwater Biology reveals a correlation

By Clarissa Rhule 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies program is once again highlighting the research and creative scholarship of students and faculty through the annual Sharing Work on Appalachia in Progress series.

SWAP encourages collaboration across disciplines, fostering dialogue among researchers, students and community members. By featuring ongoing projects, the series highlights the breadth of inquiry taking place at UK and its continued commitment to understanding and supporting Appalachia.

This year’s SWAP series will feature presentations running from Fall 2025 through Spring ’26, spotlighting recipients of the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2025) — Kentucky NSF EPSCoR’s CLIMBS project will hold a screening of two documentaries that show how communities have endured weather-related catastrophes and the ongoing work to be better prepared for future disasters.

Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems seeks to advance Kentucky’s climate resiliency by bringing together researchers across the state to address this issue.

“CLIMBS - Kentucky Climate Resilience - The Documentary” highlights the effort from more than 50 multidisciplinary researchers from eight universities and colleges across Kentucky.

“All Is Not

This article was published in the June 27 edition of UKNOW

Each Friday this summer, UKNow is highlighting one of the winners of the University of Kentucky’s 2025 Outstanding Teaching Awards, given by the Office for Faculty Advancement with the Office of the Provost.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 27, 2025) — Zada Komara, Ph.D., a Senior

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2025) — Kentucky NSF EPSCoR’s CLIMBS project will hold a screening of two documentaries that show how communities have endured weather-related catastrophes and the ongoing work to be better prepared for future disasters.

Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems (CLIMBS) seeks to advance Kentucky’s climate resiliency by

This article was published in the June 18 edition of UKNOW.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 17, 2025) — It all started with a classic childhood toy. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 14, 2025) — Jeff Fugate, associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Design’s School of Architecture, and Rebekah Radtke, associate professor in the School of Interiors, have been selected to exhibit their work on

One of the panels at the symposium was “Disaster Perspectives in Appalachia” and featured three CLIMBS participants. The session explored questions about disaster perspectives in Appalachia, sharing and communicating research data and connecting with the community. The panel also included a session to discuss research reciprocity and receive feedback from the Appalachian scholar community.

Kevin Puckett, KY NSF EPSCoR’s communication strategist, moderated the panel and

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 14, 2025) — Two University of Kentucky students are playing major roles in the traditions leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Maddie Duff, a Lewis Honors College senior majoring in neuroscience and Appalachian studies, and Elizabeth King, a senior Presidential Scholar majoring in finance and music performance, were selected as