University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences

Note: This article was proposed for deletion on Wikipedia.

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college at the University of Kentucky (UK), located in Lexington, Kentucky. Its departments cover the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities and offer more than thirty undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs.

The college serves over 5,000 undergraduate students, 960 graduate students, 50 postdoctoral students, and 350 faculty members. The College of Arts and Sciences features programs in different fields, including Hispanic Studies, Human Geography, and Clinical Psychology.

History

The College of Arts and Sciences was established on April 14, 1908, by University of Kentucky's first president, James K. Patterson.

The Graduate School was formally established in 1912. By 1919, the UK was one of only 130 institutions in the United States whose graduate program had been accepted into the National Association of State Universities.

In 1918, President Frank McVey expanded the college's departments from 13 to 22 departments. Reflecting this growth, the school's name was officially changed to the "College of Arts and Sciences" by pluralizing sciences. Additionally, McVey insisted on hiring faculty members with doctorates as a means to make the university more competitive.

In 1958, sociology major William Augustus Jones, Jr. and social work major Doris Wilkinson became the first African-Americans to graduate from the university. They both enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences. Joseph Walter Scott, the UK's first African-American professor, was hired by the Sociology Department in 1965. In 1967, Doris Wilkinson became the university's first African-American female professor.

In response to an increasingly tense political climate, the College of Arts and Sciences opened the Patterson School for Diplomacy in 1959.

In 1974, Judith Lesnaw became the university's first female Biology professor. Lesnaw later became the first woman to receive tenure at the university.

William Nunn Lipscomb earned a bachelor's degree at the UK, before completing his education and career out-of-state. In 1976, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies on the Borane structure and on chemical bonding.

As academic interest in Appalachia grew during the 1970s, the UK opened the Appalachian Center in 1977 and developed an academically acclaimed curriculum in Appalachian Studies.

Departments

The College of Arts and Sciences features 18 traditional departments, offering majors leading to B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees:

  • Anthropology
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Earth & Environmental Sciences
  • Economics
  • English
  • Gender & Women's Studies
  • Geography
  • Hispanic Studies
  • History
  • Mathematics
  • Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures
  • Philosophy
  • Physics & Astronomy
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Statistics

Programs

In addition to its departments, the College of Arts and Sciences also houses 19 interdisciplinary programs and committees:

  • Aerospace Studies/Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps
  • African Studies
  • American Studies
  • Appalachian Studies
  • Cognitive Science
  • Environmental Studies
  • Foreign Language and International Economics
  • Indian Culture
  • International Studies
  • Islamic Studies
  • Japan Studies
  • Judaic Studies
  • Latin American Studies
  • Linguistics
  • Mathematical Economics
  • Military Science/Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps
  • Social Theory
  • Topical Studies
  • Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies

Faculty awards and grants

Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences have been awarded grants from federal institutes such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and on Drug Abuse, the United States Department of Education, along with the National Institutes of Health. Faculty members have also received many national and international fellowships, including awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright Program, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Humboldt Foundation.

Research funding

Professors in the College of Arts and Sciences account for 60% of the researchers at the University of Kentucky. In addition to multiple grants and fellowships, the College of Arts and Science has $45 million in collaborative external grants. The college ranks first in the number of graduate student publications among colleges at the university.

Deans of the college

  1. Arthur M. Miller, 1908–1917
  2. Paul P. Boyd, 1917–1947
  3. Martin M. White, 1947–1965
  4. Paul Nagel, 1966–1969
  5. Wimberly Royster, 1969–1972
  6. Art Gallaher, 1972–1980
  7. Donald Sands (Acting Dean), 1980–1981
  8. Michael Baer, 1981–1990
  9. Bradley C. Canon (Acting Dean), 1990–1991
  10. Richard Edwards, 1991–1997
  11. Donald Sands (Acting Dean) 1997–1998
  12. Howard Grotch, 1998–2003
  13. Steven L. Hoch, 2003–2009
  14. Phil Harling (Acting Dean), 2008–2009
  15. Mark L. Kornbluh, 2009–2020
  16. Christian M. M. Brady, 2020–2022
  17. Ana M. Franco-Watkins 2022–present

Publications

  • Ampersand, the magazine of the College of Arts and Sciences, is published twice a year for alumni, faculty, and friends of the college.
  • Limestone, a journal of art and literature, is edited and published annually by graduate students in the Department of English.
  • disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, an annual thematic publication of contemporary social theory produced by the Committee on Social Theory.