By President Eli Capilouto

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to China with a delegation from the University of Kentucky to advance several partnerships growing between UK's colleges and departments and universities and industries in a country growing in economic importance.

One such partnership is between UK's Center for Applied Energy Research and the world's largest power company. During a meeting with industry representatives, we shared our exciting work in the development of clean coal technology and discussed partnerships, the exchange of students, and faculty collaboration as part of the US-China Clean Energy Research Center.

As we met, they described several multi-billion dollar research and development investments in their country’s energy sector. In comparison, the proposed

By Sarah Geegan

By Guy Spriggs

Anthropology junior Chi Woodrich will be the first to admit that he took an unusual path to studying at the University of Kentucky. After graduating from high school, Woodrich spent 20 years working as an auctioneer and auto auction manager.

But when his father passed away, Woodrich – who is the only person in his family without a college degree – decided to go back to school. “My father valued education. This is a chance to do something I want to do, but it’s also a tribute to him, to honor his memory by going back to school,” Woodrich said.

“I worked for 20 years, saved all my money, scraped together, had gifts from my grandparents, and had enough to come back for schooling instead of taking out student loans and repaying them,” he said. “I’m a bit backwards in that way

by Sarah Geegan

Students in the University of Kentucky Honors Program had the opportunity to demonstrate their dexterity last month at the bi-annual Kentucky Honors Roundtable (KHR), hosted at UK.

A conference held each spring, KHR rotates among public universities in the Commonwealth and allows undergraduate students to present their research projects, serve on academic panels and interact with academically excelling students from other Kentucky institutions. This year the conference hosted approximately 60 presentations, spanning over a range of diverse topics.

The conference will serve as wonderful practice for UK honors students as many of them prepare for more large-scale conferences, such as National

The Department of Anthropology is delighted to announce that Dr. Maureen Meyers has accepted a tenure-track position in anthropology at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. The Department of Anthropology wishes Dr. Meyers the best in her future endeavors.

Lydia Shanklin Roll, a doctoral candidate in anthropology, will study Turkish in Turkey.  Please click here for the full story http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-students-receive-scholarships-study-languages-abroad

By Kathy Johnson

George Crothers, anthropology, and Paolo Visona, art and visual studies, were the guests on Feb. 27's "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Mississippi State game that was broadcast on radio.  Among the topics discussed is the ancient city they found during an archeological dig in Northern Italy last summer.

"UK at the Half" airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by Carl Nathe of UK Public Relations and Marketing.

To hear the "UK at the Half" interview, click here. To view a transcript of the "UK at the Half" interview,

Dr. Kristin Monroe is a recipient of the Career Enhancement Fellowship, 2013-2014, through the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Chi Woodrich, an undergraduate student in the Department of Anthropology, is a recipient of the prestigious Native American Undergraduate Scholarship from the Society for American Archaeology.  

Karla Encalada's M.A. thesis, Racismo e interculturalidad dentro del sistema de administración de Justicia ordinario en Riobamba – Ecuador, written before arriving to the Anthropology Department at the University of Kentucky, won an international prize from a Research Center in Argentina called The Center for Social Anthropology. The prize honors the work of the late Eduardo Archetti, a well known Argentinian anthropologist, who worked at Oslo University in Norway. The prize recognizes the best M.A. thesis on Argentina, Ecuador, Norway, or Guatemala. Karla won the first prize and her Master's Thesis will be published in Argentina by Antropofagia publishers. This is the first time that a thesis on Ecuador wins the Archetti Prize. The advisor for Karla's M.A. Thesis was Professor Carmen

The James S. Brown Award is given to honor the memory of Professor James S. Brown, a sociologist on the faculty of the University of Kentucky from 1946 to 1982, whose pioneering studies of society, demography, and migration in Appalachia (including his ethnography of “Beech Creek”) helped to establish the field of Appalachian Studies at U.K. and beyond.

The Award supports graduate student research on the Appalachian region. To be eligible, students must be actively enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program at U.K. The Award must be used to meet costs of doing research relevant to social life in Appalachia including travel, lodging, copying, interviewing, ethnography, data collection, archival research, transcribing, and other legitimate research expenses. Except under special circumstances, awards will not exceed $1,500. The award does not cover registration or travel

By Sarah Geegan

A notorious feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky is once again making national news, but this time it is hitting a little closer to home.

A discovery of artifacts associated with patriarch Randall McCoy’s home and site of an infamous 1888 attack were confirmed by Kim McBride, a historic archaeologist with the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, a joint partnership with the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology and the Kentucky Heritage Council/State Historic Preservation Office.

McBride’s work is central to the story of the site, and what the artifacts and their context of recovery can contribute to our understanding

The Hatfield and McCoy families of Kentucky and West Virginia will be stealing the show in an upcoming episode of National Geographic’s “Diggers.” Click here for more http://kykernel.com/2013/01/21/hatfields-and-mccoys-to-be-featured-on-national-geographic/

Victoria Dekle has received the Dissertation Enhancement Award. Her dissertation research centers on Late Archaic Interaction and Hunter-Gatherer History along the Lower Savannah River Valley.

 All applications for graduate study at the University of Kentucky Graduate School must be submitted on-line. Here is the link to the admissions page at the University of Kentucky:  http://www.gradschool.uky.edu/ProspectiveStudents/Admission.htmlShould you have any questions about our graduate program in anthropology or the application process, please do not hesitate to contact the Director of Graduate Studies at hsain.ilahiane@uky.edu

Susan Abbott-Jamieson joined UK as an assistant professor of anthropology in 1974, became an associate professor in 1980 and served as the chair of the department from 1990-1994. She retired in 1998 and began an applied research and program-development position with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). She served as Lead Social Scientist in the NMFS Office of Science and Technology from 2002-2011.  Click here to view the video.

A fellowship established in her name, the “Susan Abbott-Jamieson Dissertation Research Fund Award” is given annually to graduate students in the Department of Anthropology to support pre-dissertation research. Abbott-Jamieson was also awarded a Bronze medal by the U.S. Department of Commerce for her work on

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/rankings/2012/10/17/kentucky-indiana-louisville-preseason-poll/1637215/

Ph.D. Candidate Allison Harnish from the Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with the International Book Project (a local non-profit), recently oversaw a shipment of over 6,000 pounds of books to schools in rural Zambia. Harnish, who traveled to Zambia in 2007, 2008, and 2010-2011 to carry out research for her doctoral dissertation, befriended teachers in the two communities where she was living and working. The teachers lamented to her that they were suffering from a shortage of supplies.

Over the years, Harnish has helped to bring Nkandanzovu Upper Basic School and Habulungu Middle Basic School into a relationship with the International Book Project (IBP), which is headquartered here in Lexington, Kentucky. From 2007 to 2009, Harnish volunteered with the IBP’s Books as Bridges program, which partners Central

Dr. Karen Rignall is the winner of the 2012 Schneider Student Paper Prize for her paper: “Land use change the new spatiality of livelihoods in pre-Saharan Morocco."

by Sarah Geegan

Adjunct Anthropology Professor Kim McBride's 22 years of archaeological work at Pleasant Hill, a former Shaker community approximately 30 miles southwest of Lexington, was recently featured in the national publication, American Archaeology magazine.

The magazine's seven-page feature highlights McBride's extensive work at Pleasant Hill, which includes directing a series of field schools in which more than 100 students have located former building sites throughout the village. Throughout these excavations, McBride, co-director of Kentucky Archaeological Survey