By Whitney Hale

A new composition by University of Kentucky sophomore Ben Norton has been selected for the Lexington Philharmonic's New Music Experiment, a new initiative to foster musical creativity and innovation. As part of the experiment, Norton's piece will be part of a workshop and later presented to the public in a performance scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. Tickets to the performance of Norton's Woodwind Quintet No. 9 and other selections from the New Music Experiment is $5 and can be purchased at the door.

"I am very excited and incredibly honored to be given this opportunity," says Norton. "I was simply happy that others wanted to go out of their way to perform one of my works. This is why I

By Kathy Johnson

The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Appalachian Studies and the Graduate Appalachian Research Community are making a call for papers for the 2012 UK Appalachian Research Symposium and Arts Showcase. The topic of the work must be related to Appalachia, original, and produced in the last three years. 

The deadline for submitting an abstract of work online is midnight Dec. 15. The submission can be made by going to the GARC tab on www.appalachiancenter.org and clicking on the "Abstract Submission"

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

University of Kentucky creative writing Professor  Nikky Finney has won the 2011 National Book Award in Poetry for her recent work, “Head Off & Split.”  Finney attended the award ceremony last night in New York City, where she accepted the highly prestigious honor.

“Head Off & Split” was published by Northwestern University Press in February of this year, and Finney has been touring with the book since late winter.

The National Book Award website says the poems in Finney's "Head Off & Split" "sustain a sensitive and intense dialogue with emblematic figures and events in African-American life: from Civil Rights matriarch Rosa Parks, to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, from a brazen girl strung out on lightning, to a terrified woman abandoned on a rooftop during Hurricane

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences welcomes a strategist, futurist and technologist to campus to discuss a timeless and wholly necessary skill.

Craig Saper, a professor in the Language, Literacy, & Culture doctoral program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will give a talk titled, "WRD UP 2.0: Teaching\R\E\A\D/I/N/G/ as Genre & Practice," at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in Room 211 of the Student Center Addition. Refreshments will be served.

"Teaching has begun to respond to our multi-modal contemporary situation with digital assignments," said organizer Jeff Rice, an associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences' Division of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences will host a trailblazing American diplomat next week to continue the college's Year of China initiative.

Former U.S. Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch will speak on “Leadership and Education in a Globalizing World: China’s Challenge” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Room 118 of the White Hall Classroom Building on UK's campus.

Bloch’s talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the "Passport to China: Global Issues & Local Understanding" course taught by UK sociology Professor Keiko Tanaka.

Ambassador Bloch, the first Asian-American ambassador in American history, has had a broad career in U.S. government service. She is currently president of the U.S.-China Education Trust, a nonprofit organization working to

Erin Ziegler wrote a piece for Business Lexington about how UK recently ranked 6th in social media among colleges and universities. You can read the full story here.

http://www.bizlex.com/Articles-c-2011-10-12-99159.113117-UKs-successful-...

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky's revamped UK Core Composition and Communication classes combine historically united concepts, while giving students the interactive skills they need for the future.

"This is the only program in the United States that we're aware of in which communication faculty from another department —  actually, another college  —  and writing faculty are collaborating on a joint curriculum," said Roxanne Mountford, director of the Division of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

UK sophomore Jake Allgeier will remember his Composition and Communication classes (CIS 110 and 111 or WRD 110 and 111) for years to come.

The civil engineering student didn't know what to expect when he registered,

When employers are asked about what's missing from the resumes of college graduates, it's less about certification and qualification than communication skills.

Employers of college graduates across the country are observing noticeable problems with writing, speaking, presenting and working in teams.  Now the University of Kentucky is tackling this issue as part of its work toward reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), a standard of quality among colleges and universities in the southern region of the U.S.

...

See the full article here.