2026 ‘Great Teacher’ Patrick Lee Lucas connects design history to everyday spaces
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 28, 2026) — Earlier this year, the University of Kentucky Alumni Association honored six recipients of this year’s Great Teacher Awards.
Launched in 1961, it is the longest-running UK awards program recognizing accomplished and passionate educators.
In order to receive the honor, teachers must first be nominated by a student. The UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee, in cooperation with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa, then makes the final selection. Recipients receive a commemorative award and stipend.
Patrick Lee Lucas, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Interiors within the College of Design, is one of this year’s distinguished Great Teacher Award recipients.
Lucas wants students to look more closely at the spaces around them. A building on campus, the layout of a room or the objects in a home can reveal something about the people who designed and use them.
“My interest really lies in where design and community meet,” Lucas said.
That interest shapes the way he teaches design history. Lucas takes students into campus spaces and buildings to connect lessons from the past with places they experience every day. He wants them to understand both how a space was designed and what it says about the community that created it.
His work as a design historian follows a similar thread. Lucas studies how buildings, interiors and everyday objects reflect culture, identity and history. In 2026, UK also named him a 2026-27 University Research Professor.
Lucas hopes students leave his classes curious about the places they enter and the things they see there. Whether they become designers or follow another path, he believes understanding those environments can help them better understand people.
To learn more about what makes Lucas a “Great Teacher,” check out the video and “Behind the Blue” podcast episode above.
In the coming months, UKNow will continue to share stories featuring this year’s Great Teacher Award winners.
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“Behind the Blue” is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for most episodes are now embedded in the audio file and can be accessed in many podcast apps during playback. Transcripts for older episodes remain available on the show’s blog page.
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This interview has been edited for time and clarity.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and healthcare. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $1.02 billion research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.