Mark Kornbluh's Blog
Summer Reading: The Girl in the Blue Beret
There are still a few weeks left in the summer before classes start – so for those of you who are still looking for that great summer book, check out A&S English professor Bobbie Ann Mason’s latest work, The Girl in the Blue Beret. The novel’s hero, a World War II crash survivor, sets out to find the people who risked their lives to help him.
Click here to visit our Facebook page and see what the New York Times reviewers had to say about this great read!
National Association of Biology Teachers Recognizes James Krupa
James Krupa, UK biology professor, was named the 2011 winner of the Four-Year College & University Section Biology Teaching Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT). Krupa’s lesson on the ivory-billed woodpecker, which was used to cover evolution with non-biology majors, was considered by the award committee. The award honors a four-year college or university faculty member who demonstrates creativity and innovation in teaching. Krupa will receive this award at the NABT meeting in Anaheim, California in October. Congratulations on this outstanding recognition!
New Applied Statistics Laboratory to Launch This Month
In an effort to streamline and centralize statistical consulting activities on campus, a new Applied Statistics Laboratory (ASL) will launch July 2011. The main objectives of this venture are to provide improved statistical services to groups preparing grant proposals, direct faculty involvement from the Departments of Statistics and Biostatistics for study design and data analysis throughout UK, foster collaborative research between scholars who develop quantitative methodology and those who use such methodology in their work, and to become a resource which may be referenced in institutional support for larger grants, in addition to direct statistical support typically included in such grants.
The ASL will be supported by two experienced M.Sc. statistician staff members, Adam Lindstrom and Candace Brancato, as well as several graduate students from the Departments of Statistics and Biostatistics. Professors from these departments may also be enlisted to assist with projects. The laboratory will be led by Director Arne Bathke and Associate Directors Constance Wood and Heather Bush, who have been involved in all levels of statistical consulting and collaboration and who have extensive experience communicating statistical results to non-statisticians, including collaborative publications and grants.
For those interested in using the ASL, a consultation request may be submitted by emailing Candace Brancato at Candace.Brancato@uky.edu. In January 2012, the ASL will move into renovated space in the Multidisciplinary Science Building.
Anna Bosch Honored as a Leadership Program Fellow
Diversity Committee Reception
Please join the College of Arts & Sciences Diversity Committee as they host a coffee and tea reception on June 16. This college-wide event is a great way to meet fellow staff members from other departments as well as discuss issues that are important to you and your workplace.
The reception will take place in 245 POT from 3:00pm – 4:00pm on June 16. We hope to see you there!
Novel Electronic Materials Conference Held in China This Year
The Novel Electronic Materials conference is going international after two workshops were held at UK in 2005 and 2008. Wuhan University in China is the new host of the conference which will be made up of scientific representatives from around the world, including Gang Cao, UK physics professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Materials. The meeting is intended to provide an opportunity to communicate recent developments, tackle challenges and establish possible collaborative research in multiple fields of science, including physics, chemistry, and engineering. The group of approximately 350 participants and 65 scheduled speakers will discuss topics ranging from orbital physics and spin excitations, to magnetism and organic semiconductors.
Cao and his global scientific colleagues will meet in China June 10-15 for the UK organized workshop.
Shannon Bell Noted for Work with Rural Sociological Society's Journal
UK sociology professor Shannon Bell and University of Oregon sociology professor Richard York received recognition for the Best Article by the Rural Sociological Society. Bell’s work currently focuses on the barriers to local participation in the environmental justice movement in response to mountaintop removal in Central Appalachia.
The article, “Community Economic Identity: The Coal Industry and Ideology Construction in West Virginia,” was published in the March 2010 issue of Rural Sociology. Using the Appalachian coal industry as a case study, the article explores the relationship between capitalist modes of production and ecological destruction, chronicling the ways in which declines in industry jobs and the rising tide of protest against mining practices have challenged the coal industry’s hold on political power.
Scientists in the Classroom, Stars on the Softball Field
In an exciting victory this past weekend, the UK Women’s Softball Team advanced past Michigan to seal the program’s first NCAA Super Regional bid. With UK down by one, senior Meagan Aull hit her tenth home run of the season to put the Cats back in the game. Junior Rachel Riley’s pitching performance also played a major role in the win – Michigan only got one hit and walked four. The full recap is at the UK Official Athletics Site.
While Aull and Riley are talented players on the field, they are also outstanding students in the classroom. Both are A&S biology majors and have received All-SEC Academic Team Honors during their time on the field. Aull will be applying to dental school this summer and Riley to medical school next summer.
Congratulations to both of our student athletes and to the UK Women’s Softball Team!
Two A&S Professors Receive Honorary Degrees
I am pleased to note that two distinguished A&S professors recently received honorary degrees. Gurney Norman, English professor, Kentucky Poet Laureate in 2009-2010, and director of UK’s Creative Writing Program, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Berea College. With a career spanning over 30 years at UK, Norman is a respected authority on the literary culture of Appalachia. He is the author of several works, including Divine Right’s Trip and Kinfolks. Norman has also written and presented documentary films for KET and been involved with three short films based on his stories.
A frequent lecturer in Appalachia and senior writer-in-residence at Hindman Settlement School's annual Appalachian Writers Workshop, Norman was honored in 2002 by the Eastern Kentucky Leadership Conference and in 2007 with the Appalachian Studies Association Helen M. Lewis Community Service Award for his work in the region.
George Herring, Professor Emeritus, former history department chair, and Fulbright Scholar, also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater, Roanoke College. Herring’s work focuses on U.S. foreign relations and the Vietnam War and connected him both with the A&S history department and the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. He is the author of several books, including From Colony to Superpower: American Foreign Relations Since 1776 and America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975.
Herring was a visiting professor at the U.S. Military Academy in 1993 and at the University of Richmond in 2001. He was also awarded the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations’ Norman A. Graebner Prize for distinguished contributions to the field in 2002.
Congratulations to both of these outstanding individuals!
Comparative Decision Making Conference
Several A&S faculty members are part of an international conference being held here in Lexington May 13-15. A&S Biology professor Phillip Crowley and psychology professor Thomas Zentall along with agricultural economics professor Helen Pushkarskaya and computer science professor Judy Goldsmith lead the UK interdisciplinary team on Comparative Decision Making (CDM) and scheduled the conference. Close to 25 researchers from UK’s colleges of Agriculture, A&S, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, and Medicine formed the CDM group to explore different viewpoints, methods, and applications of decision-making analysis on campus and beyond. While the group meets regularly for seminars and other events, their ultimate goal is to create a new Graduate Certificate Program in Comparative Decision Making Studies.
The conference will include speakers from across the globe, faculty and student poster presentations, and discussions on how to encourage the development of the emerging CDM field. Zentall and Crowley plan to edit a book based on the presentations which will be published by Oxford press.
The conference is hosted at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington May 13-15.
