University of Kentucky Appalachian Center

The logo for ASA ’25 was designed by Otis Smyth, a Digital Media Design student at Tennessee Tech. Smyth was inspired to combine mountain artwork with the wings of an eagle, the Tennessee Tech mascot, to represent the connection between the Great Smoky Mountains and our university community. They included the school’s beloved purple and gold colors to further tie Tennessee Tech to the conference theme of “Rural Reimagined.”
The unveiling of it later this week!


(Image Description: A purple and yellow graphic with the Tennessee Tech and Appalachian Studies Association logos, and text that reads: “Rural Reimagined: A Grand Challenge for Appalachia” the 48th Annual ASA conference will be held at Tennessee Tech in March 2025. The logo for ASA ’25 was designed by Otis Smyth, a Digital Media Design student at Tennessee Tech. Smyth was inspired to combine mountain artwork with the wings of an eagle, the Tennessee Tech mascot, to represent the connection between the Great Smoky Mountains and our university community. They included the school’s beloved purple and gold colors to further tie Tennessee Tech to the conference theme of “Rural Reimagined.” The unveiling of it later this week!)

Great group of UK students, staff, and alumni attended the Kentucky Riverkeeper Roundtable on the River today!

"NO RESEARCH ON A DEAD PLANET": PRESERVING THE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR ACADEMIA
Wednesday April 24, 12:15 - 1:30 p.m. ET, Zoom
Register here: http://tinyurl.com/57e6sv4y
Join the Appalachian Studies program for an Earth Week lecture and conversation with Dr. Aaron Thierry, one of the authors of “No Research on a Dead Planet”, an inquiry into professors’ inaction in the face of the climate and ecological crisis that threatens the existence of higher ed institutions. Dr. Thierry examines the conditions that inhibit academics’ feelings of accountability and agency and outlines steps to activate the academy in response to the climate emergency.

You’re invited! — Join us this Thursday from 4-5:30 at the Appalachian Center for our End of Year Celebration to celebrate the end of the academic year and the achievements of our wonderful Spring 2024 graduates and award winners!

The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center is excited to announce the Symposium on Dis/Ability and Debility in Appalachia, which will take place on September 28th, 2024. The event will be hybrid: in person at the Healthy Kentucky Research Building on UK campus, as well as online. We would love to have you there!

More information can be found on our event website, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/symposium-disability-debility-appalachia.

Please contact us at [email protected] or call 859-257-4852 with any questions or concerns


[Image Description, also in alt text: Flyer for Symposium on Dis/Ability and Debility in Appalachia. September 28, 2024. Healthy Kentucky Research Building, 760 Press Ave, Lexington, KY, 40508, and hybrid online. Features white quilt star layed over the disability pride flag. The Symposium on Dis/Ability and Debility in Appalachia seeks to foster an interdisciplinary and intersectional conversation on dis/ability and debility in the region, bringing together Disabled and Appalachian people, theorists, practitioners, advocates, and attendees at the many intersections of these identities. See website for accessibility information: Appalachian.Center.AS.UKY.EDU/Symposium-Disability-Debility-Appalachia, 859-257-4852. QR code leading to this website and official logo for UK Appalachian Center on bottom of page.]

Congrats to our very own Jed DeBruin!

We have been having so many wonderful SWAP talks this year! Join us tomorrow and Friday for our last five presentations of the semester!

Wednesday, 12-1:30:
London Orzolek (Anthropology): “Reflections on Transdisciplinary Research
Collaboration on the Solar Disinfection of Water in the African and indian Contexts”
Rylee Butler Modaff (Social Work): “The Impact of Stigma in Community Implementation of Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT)”

Friday, 12-1:30:
Arshiya Jeelani (History): “Mary Jane in the Mountains: The Social, Political, and Environmental Effects of Marjuana Growth in Eastern Kentucky”
Courtney Martin (Kinesiology and Health Promotion): “Examining Appalachian Patient Experiences Among those with and/or Post Critical Illness”
Rachel Sneed (Plant Pathology):“Assessing Endophyte Frequency Distributions and the Effect of Epichloe brachyeltri in the Chemotypic Diversity of Brachyelytrum erectum”

The Appalachian Studies program is excited to be co-hosting a screening of the film “Calls from Home: Prison Radio in Appalachia,” followed by a discussion with Director Sylvia Ryerson this coming Friday at 3 PM in partnership with . We hope to see you there!

Amazing group of Appalachian historians attending and presenting at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference! Several not pictured!

On Fridays we color with crayons

Come see us at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference this weekend!

We are so excited for the 47TH ANNUAL APPALACHIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE in Cullowhee, NC, and nearby Sylva!
Join us March 7-10, 2024, at Western Carolina University where we will explore the theme “Beloved Community: Pride in Identity, Culture and Geography,” Be sure and check out our website to sign up for email updates about the conference and other Appalachia news! And follow us on our social media accounts!
https://www.appalachianstudies.org/

Join us tomorrow!

MacArthur Fellow Robin Kimmerer to present on 'Indigenous Wisdom and Scientific Knowledge' Kimmerer is a State University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Science and Forestry. She also serves as the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scie...

Join us this evening!

Free show tomorrow at the Kentucky Appalachian Arts & Culture Festival for University of Kentucky Appalachian Center!

Music @ 5:15 PM🪕
Harris Ballroom at The Gaston Student Center on UK Campus

From our friends at Berea College:

Neema Avashia reads as part of The Appalachian Symposium at Berea College

Great coffee hour this morning! Join us for the Symposium this Saturday!

http://uknow.uky.edu/uk-happenings/uncovering-kentucky-s-black-history-sharyn-mitchells-we-too-were-here Join us Wednesday!

Uncovering Kentucky’s Black history with Sharyn Mitchell's ‘We, Too, Were Here!’ A native of Berea, Kentucky, Mitchell’s passion for genealogy led her to co-found the African-American Genealogy Group of Kentucky, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization and the first of its kind in Kentucky.

We had a great group for coffee hour this morning!

Mark your calendars for the 15th!

Job Announcement! Join our team
http://ow.ly/k0hm50Mt7NN

International Appalachia: Online Networking Event Celebrating UN International Mountain Day 2022. Tuesday, December 20, 2022 from noon to 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (drop-in). Free zoom event. For more information and to register visit:
https://www.appalachianstudies.org/post/asa-in-action-meet-ups

Have you registered yet for ? Link to registration is in the comments. Register today and join us as we explore AppalachiaFest: FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING 46th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference March 16 - 19, 2023, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

Listen now to episode 2 of bell hooks: becoming, being, beyond. bell’s loved ones, including Crystal Wilkinson
and Chad Berry, share bell as they knew her and share stories about how they met bell, her favorite—and least favorite—pieces of pop culture, sharing meals, and bell’s feelings about Appalachia and Kentucky.

https://www.kyhumanities.org/programs/think-humanities-podcast

THINK HUMANITIES is made possible with generous support from the Spalding University Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing.

We had a great time at Friendsgiving yesterday! Thanks to all who came to celebrate the successes of the semester and congrats to our December graduate Nolan Blakeman who will be graduating with a minor in Appalachian Studies!

New Children’s Book Looks At 'Affrilachia' When Frank X. Walker looked up the word Appalachia in a dictionary 30 years ago, he saw it was defined with the phrase “the white residents of the Appalachian mountains.” As a man of color, he said that shook him. His latest work is a children’s book, using the alphabet to identify and focus o...

We had a great coffee hour this morning!