The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center announces the following internship opportunities for the spring semester, for undergraduate or graduate students. Each internship is for 10 hours per week, with $10/hr. compensation. Students from all colleges at UK are encouraged to apply, and there is special emphasis on providing this opportunity to UK students who are from the Appalachian region.

The Appalachian Center (http://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu)  emphasizes community-university partnerships in shaping research and engagement that is useful in and beyond the region, in keeping with the land grant mission of the University. Our role is to facilitate stronger connections between student and faculty researchers from across all colleges at the University of Kentucky whose teaching, research, learning and outreach

The United States is home to the largest highway system in the world, but most Americans consider the road as a means to a destination. People often pay little attention until construction detours, accumulating snow, signs touting an outlet mall, traffic or flashing blue lights force them to slow down and take a look.

Roads, however, are products of the places they wind through and have rich histories that modern drivers often ignore. Travelers have not always been able to take them for granted, however, particularly in the mountainous regions of Appalachia in the days before cars.

For generations, the steep hills and dense forests of the Cumberland Gap made wagon passage westward nearly impossible. Determination to reach the fertile hills of Kentucky led to the birth of America’s first highway into the trans-Appalachian west: the Maysville Road.

by Carl Nathe

University of Kentucky doctoral candidate and Letcher County native Amanda Fickey is the recipient of a research fellowship from the Central Appalachian Institute in Research and Development (CAIRD).  CAIRD is a nonprofit, public policy organization, which provides long-term educational and economic developmental strategies in order to establish vibrant and sustainable communities that will improve the quality of life for citizens of central Appalachia.  Fickey will serve as a fellow-in-residence for a year-long appointment in 2013.  CAIRD is located in the heart of the Central Appalachian region in Pikeville.

"We are delighted to have a person of Amanda's talent and proven research background helping us in the coming year," said Jason Belcher, CEO of CAIRD.  "Her combination of scholarly achievement and work experience in

by Whitney Hale & Lea Mann

From old time Kentucky tunes to a band’s unique take on art, the next two concerts in the "Appalachia in the Bluegrass" series are sure to cater to a wide audience. The first concert, featuring the Red State Ramblers, will be presented noon Friday, Nov. 30, in the Niles Gallery, located in the University of Kentucky Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. The final concert will feature Anna Roberts-Gevalt and

by Derrick Meads & Sarah Geegan

An exhibit titled “Interwoven: Rural Traditions, Modern Ties ~ Baskets from Appalachia and the Andes” will showcase more than 100 pieces of basketry from Ecuador and Appalachia at the Lexington Public Library’s Central Gallery.

The wide-ranging exhibit of baskets opened Nov. 3, and spans from Nov. 12-16. A reception will be held at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16, at the gallery, during the final day of UK’s "International Education Week.”

The Ecuadorian work ranges from baskets made by Huaorani and Kichwa indigenous groups in the Amazon Basin and Andean highland, to modern pieces collected in major cities. The Appalachian exhibited works also span across white oak baskets to modern contemporary craft.

In early 2012 the U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, invited

by Lea Mann and Whitney Hale

Fans of folk music and the dulcimer should check out the next two concerts in the "Appalachia in the Bluegrass" concert series. The first concert will feature Si Kahn, a chart-topping folk music player, at noon Friday, Oct. 26, in the Niles Gallery, located in the University of Kentucky Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. The following week, Don Pedi, an accomplished dulcimer player, will perform at noon Friday, Nov. 2. Both concerts are free and open to the public.

Folk Musician and Activist to Play at Niles Gallery

Si Kahn has performed at concerts and festivals all over the world, including events in

By Sarah Geegan & Ann Kingsolver

The UK Appalachian Center  and the Appalachian Studies Program will host scholars, artists and NGO representatives from mountain regions all over the world on Oct. 25-27. This Global Mountain Regions conference, free and open to the public, will be focused on comparing notes across mountain regions on several continents as residents of those regions look to the future.

Each day, Thursday-Saturday, 8-5 p.m.  in the William T. Young Library auditorium, presenters from Appalachia and from other mountain regions in Indonesia, Ecuador, Wales, India, Mexico, Italy, China, Sri Lanka, Mali,

by Whitney Hale 

The Thomas D. Clark Foundation and the University Press of Kentucky will host a symposium to honor the life and literary legacy of James Still. The Thomas D. Clark Medallion Symposium, which is free and open to the public, will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, located at 251 West Second St.

The symposium will celebrate Still’s posthumous collection of short stories, "The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories of James Still," winner of the Thomas D

In November, the James W. Stuckert Career Center assembled a UK team to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative University, a program through which university students propose solutions to the world's humanitarian problems. While each of the students came from different backgrounds, from the College of Arts

By Sarah Geegan, Amanda Osborn

Imagine being a University of Kentucky student in Lexington, but sharing a "global classroom" with students in China, France or India.  In collaboration with the associate provost for International Affairs and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), the UK College of Arts and Sciences recently established a program called Global Classroom Connections that will promote international learning and experiences through the use of contemporary technology.

As university graduates increasingly require international perspectives, skills and knowledge to succeed in the multicultural and interconnected world, 

By Sarah Geegan

The Appalachian Center and the University Press of Kentucky are hosting three events Friday, April 20, to celebrate Appalachia-related books published during this academic year.

The events, which will take place both at Memorial Hall and the Appalachian Center, honor books that contribute to the understanding of the Appalachian region and were published by UK faculty or by the University Press of Kentucky during this academic year.

Helen Lewis and Judi Jennings will give an Appalachian forum based on their new book, "Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will present the Distinguished Professor Lecture, featuring History Professor Ron Eller at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 12 in the William T. Young Library auditorium.

Eller's lecture, "Seeking the Good Life in America: Lessons From the Appalachian Past," will discuss what the future holds for Appalachia, using the history of the region as a foundation.

Eller, a professor in the Department of History, is originally from West Virginia. Having  spent more than 40 years teaching and writing about the Appalachian region, he also served as the director for the UK Appalachian Center for 16 years. Eller has also served as

By Sarah Geegan

The UK Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program will host the author, director, full cast and technical crew of Silas House's new play, "This is My Heart For You," fresh from its world premiere at Berea College. The cast will do a staged reading, accompanied by projected images of the world premiere event, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in Memorial Hall.

House, a Kentucky author whose novels have attained major prizes and spanned across national best-seller lists, sold out the first three performances of his play on the night of the world premiere.

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Dr. Ann Kingsolver, director of the UK Appalachian Center and professor of Anthropology has won the 2011 SAW Book Prize. Co-author Nandini Gunewardena and Kingsolver were awarded the prize at the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting in Montreal this past February for their book, The Gender of Globalization: Women Navigating Cultural and Economic Marginalities. Read more here. The prize represents the best book in the anthropology of work published within the last five years and is awarded annually. Congratulations Dr. Kingsolver!
 

By Ann Kingsolver, Sarah Geegan

Author bell hooks will give the final lecture in the "Place Matters" series, sponsored by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program. The lecture, "Reclaiming Place: Making Home," will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the Worsham Theater, with a reception following at the Appalachian Center (624 Maxwelton Court).

Writing as bell hooks, Kentucky-born Gloria Jean Watkins received her doctorate in literature from the University of California Santa Cruz and has taught at a number of universities across the country. She has published more than 30 books; her forthcoming book of poetry, "Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place," will be

English Department Colloquium presents Gurney Norman reading "Spoken Stories"

Friday, April 6

3 p.m.

211 Student Center

Refreshments Served

As part of the Department of Sociology's Colloquium Series, Dr. Shaunna Scott to present, "The Martin County Coal Waste Disaster: A Sociologist's Reflections on Researching Disaster Impacts."  The lecture will take place in room 205, UK New Student Center on Friday, April 6, from 3-5pm.

Listen to the podcast here. Produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

The Appalachian Forum on Home Food Preservation will take place on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 7 p.m. in room 206 of the UK Student Center.

Please visit our Video page to watch the forum on Hydraulic Fracturing that took place February 23, 2012.

Founders Lecture Series presents 

Tammy Horn, award-winning author of Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation and the recently published, Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Can Teach Us about Local Trade and the Global Market is well-known for her work with bees and plants in Appalachian regions. Dr. Horn, born in Harlan County, Kentucky is a graduate of Berea College and continued her schooling with a M.A. degree from Fort Hays State and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama. After teaching for three years at the University of West Alabama, she returned to Kentucky to help her grandfather with his bees and to teach at Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College. Her primary research and outreach activity involves collaboration with coal companies to reclaim surface mine sites with pollinator for- age and habitat. The goal is to create a three-season