The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center will be accepting donations to support relief and clean-up efforts due to flooding in our Eastern Kentucky Communities. Donations of physical goods can be dropped off at the Appalachian Center - 624 Maxwelton Ct. 8:00AM - 5:00PM, Monday-Friday. We will update dates, times, and supply needs as we hear more from clean-up locations. We are operating on limited staff, if no one is there when you arrive, please leave items on the covered porch and they will be moved inside throughout the day. Donations can also be taken to the second floor of the UK Law Building through the UK Appalachian Law Caucus. 

URGENT NEEDS - As of 8/2/2022

heavy duty cleaning equipment such as large brooms, buckets, heavy duty contractor bags/trash bags, work gloves, bleach, soap, wheelbarrows, baby supplies, & non-perishable food items

We're excited to celebrate the induction of Dr. Dwight Billings into the College of Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame! 

Dwight Billings, professor emeritus of sociology, has been a pioneer in Appalachian Studies and the examination of inequality in the region. He was born in Logan, West Virginia, in 1948 and moved to Beckley when he was 10. In Logan, he attended an elementary school that was segregated not only by race but by occupation, which inspired him to pursue research into race and class inequality. Both Logan and Beckley were sites of deadly coal mining accidents as well as intense labor conflicts, and throughout his career he has been interested in and supportive of labor struggles.

He joined the UK faculty in 1975 and earned his doctorate in sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1976. As an assistant professor, he helped to establish the UK Appalachian Center and the Appalachian Studies Program. He served as the Center’s first research director, the first director of Appalachian Studies and as associate director and acting director. Having taught at UK for 43 years, he earned the UK Chancellor’s Outstanding Teaching Award (for Tenured Faculty, 2000), the 2003 Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts and Sciences award and the 1993-94 UK Research Professor Award.

Outside of UK, he has served as the president of the Appalachian Studies Association, vice president of the Southern Sociological Society and editor of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. He and his former UK Sociology colleague, Kathleen Blee, won the Weatherford Award for best nonfiction book on Appalachia for The Road to Poverty: The Making of Wealth and Hardship in an American Region. To acknowledge his mentorship, teaching and service, the Department of Sociology endowed a graduate student scholarship in his honor called the Billings-Hougland Scholarship Gift Fund.

For more information or to RSVP to the ceremony visit: https://www.as.uky.edu/halloffame

AppalachiaCorps student interns will have a cohort meeting. Zoom login information will be emailed to students. 

The Appalachian Studies Association Education Committee is excited to host virtual "Teaching Chats." We invite postsecondary and K-12 teachers who cover Appalachian Studies or issues related to the Appalachian region to join us on Wednesday, April 27 from Noon to 1PM. During these informal chats we will discuss pedagogy, successes, syllabi development, teaching resources, challenges, and other topics of interest to teaching about Appalachia on both the K-12 and post-secondary level. Please register below to join us. 

These chats are in partnership with the UK Appalachian Center & Appalachian Studies Program and UK First Generation Student Services. 

The Appalachian Center welcomes you to our drop-in Coffee Hour, Thursday from 10-11 AM. We welcome students, faculty, staff, and community members for coffee and light refreshments. Come visit with others interested in the region and learn more about the work of the Appalachian Center and the Appalachian Studies Program. Coffee Hour is a space to exchange ideas for programs, initiatives, and events, discuss regional issues, and share research in a casual, collegial atmosphere.

Join us in person, or virtually via Zoom!

Register for Coffee Hour here: https://uky.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvcu-rrTguE9BkweoxkCODOqYN19M3gvAB