Public Schooling, Critical Race Theory, Political Polarization

Over the past year, the teaching of “critical race theory” in public schools has become a hot-button political issue, dividing parents, teachers, and school board officials alike,  sparking a national conversation about who should determine the content of public-school curriculum, and leading to the introduction of legislation that would limit what could be taught in Kentucky classrooms . The Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences seeks to bring together scholars and community members to discuss critical social problems, in this case the influence of political polarization on public school curriculum.  We will discuss what exactly critical race theory is,  seek to understand why legislation affecting school curriculum is being introduced in Kentucky, and explore what its impact might be. Our panelists include: Nikki Brown, UK Professor of History and African American and Africana Studies; Arnold Farr, UK Professor of Philosophy and Fayette-Urban County Council-at-Large Candidate; Tyler Murphy, Chair of the Fayette County Board of Education and a National Board-Certified Social Studies Teacher at Boyle County High School; Pragya Upreti, a Senior at Lafayette High School and the research lead for the Kentucky Student Voice Team, an independent youth-led organization focusing on education research, policy, and advocacy; Steve Voss, UK Professor of Political Science; and Lucy Waterbury, a Fayette County Public School Parent, School Based Decision Making Council Parent Representative, PTSA Leader, and co-founder of Save Our Schools Kentucky.

Register here: https://uky.zoom.us/j/85145431963?pwd=di9sVlQ5bkE4SnFjNnNCaERjSndzdz09

Open Round: January 25, 2018 at 10:00am in William T. Young Library

Distinguished Professor in Arts and Sciences for 2015-16 Charles R. Carlson, will present the honorary lecture on March 28, titled “Breathing Entrainment for Self Regulatory Gain: Using Programmatic Research to Improve the Management of Motion Sickness and Chronic Orofacial Pain.”

What is the role of public art in an educational environment? How should we engage with our institutional past, in terms of art already at the University of Kentucky, and any proposed future projects? Who decides about public art on campus and how is the university community involved in the process?

Twenty-three women at the University of Kentucky have been nominated for the 2016 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award, and registration is underway now to attend the award ceremony and luncheon 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 10, at the Hilary J. Boone Center.

University of Kentucky Education Abroad (UK EA) is proud to host its Spring Expo from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4 in The Hub of the William T. Young Library. This event is open to all students and faculty who are interested in learning more about education abroad at the UK.

By Weston Loyd, Whitney Harder

(Jan. 19, 2016) — Catherine Linnen, an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Biology, has been awarded a three-year, $468,527 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The grant will fund her project, "Comparative Genomics of Specialization: The Genetic Basis of Interspecific Variation in Pine Use in Neodiprion Sawflies."

By Whitney Hale