Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS)
CHSS Workshop Series - Spring 2022 Review
CHSS Workshop Series Grants
The Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Workshop Series Grants are supported by generous donors and the College of Arts and Sciences. These grants offer funding for faculty and graduate students to create a series of workshops for reading, writing, and discussion of a particular theme across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
Working Group on War and Gender
Associate Professor of English at Centre College presents:
"The War Comes with You: Enduring War in Life, Fiction, and Fantasy."
Writing Fiction on Appalachian Culture: A Conversation with Authors Lee Mandelo and Ashley Blooms

Mission: Humanities
Kentucky Humanities presents Astronaut Story Musgrave in conversation with Kris Kimel
Gatton Student Center at the University of Kentucky - Worsham Theatre
160 Avenue of Champions, Lexington
About the event
To culminate its 50th anniversary celebration, Kentucky Humanities, in partnership with The University of Kentucky's Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences (A&S) and Space Tango, will host space pioneer Story Musgrave and Space Tango co-creator Kris Kimel. The duo will discuss Dr. Musgrave’s illustrious career and life experiences as well as the trajectory of the space program across the years, where it is now, and where it’s heading especially in light of Space Tango's Humanity in Deep Space initiatives.
About the presenters
Dr. Story Musgrave, is an American physician, a retired NASA astronaut, an author, a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second astronaut to fly on six spaceflights (spending a total of 1,281 hours, 59 minutes, 22 seconds on space missions) and he is the most formally educated astronaut with six academic degrees. Often called the “Dean of NASA,” including earning his M.S. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Kentucky, Musgrave is the only astronaut to fly aboard all five space shuttles and he participated in the design and development of all space shuttle extra-vehicular activity equipment, including spacesuits, life support systems, airlocks, and Manned Maneuvering Units. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including induction into the International Space Hall of Fame.
Kris Kimel is the Founder of Humanitiy in Deep Space, a new initiative exploring the challenges and hard problems facing humans as we transition to deep spacefaring species. He is also the Co-founder of the growing commercial company Space Tango. Previously Kimel was President of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and founded the IdeaFestival, an international event centering on innovation, discovery, and creative thinking across different disciplines. He holds bachelor and masters’ degrees from the University of Kentucky.
About the partners
This event is a collaboration between Kentucky Humanities, Space Tango and the Planetary Society, and the A&S Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Kentucky.
Event free of charge, but reservations required.
Here is the reservation link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/221036745857
Here is the link to the event page: https://kyhumanities.org/about-us/50th-anniversary/anniversary-events
Introducing Environmental Humanities at the University of Kentucky and the Wider Community
The “Introducing Environmental Humanities at the University of Kentucky and the Wider Community” workshop seeks to support the University of Kentucky’s newly established Environmental Humanities Initiative. This workshop is in the form of a Zoom meeting (rather than a Zoom webinar) which will provide a platform for everyone’s input. We have invited speakers from two different environmental humanities programs to speak about their own EH initiative’s origins, challenges, and structures. Dr. Walker, from Colby College’s Environmental Humanities Initiative, as well as Dr. Engelhardt and Anna Hamilton, from the Mellon-funded Coasts, Climates, the Humanities, and the Environment Consortium, will relay their own experiences whilst allowing for discussion across our group. We invite you to come along and share in this exciting and informative project.
The State of Education: A Conversation about Public Schooling, Critical Race Theory, and 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 is bringing 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.
Zoom Recording:
Conversation on Public Schooling, Critical Race Theory and Political Polarization
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
Workshop “Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis and the Next”
Register here: https://uky.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pc-GtqDIvE9G4ovB2j71UKJrtTneZPCIc
A Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop Series Event
Mutual aid is the radical act of caring for each other while working to change the world, especially
as people around the world are faced with crises such as climate change-induced fires, floods, and storms,
mass incarceration, racist policing, environmental degradation caused by capitalism and severe wealth inequality.
This workshop is to give University of Kentucky’s faculty, staff, students, and Fayette County’s
community members tools for understanding what mutual aid is and why it is important.
This event is sponsored by the Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Gender & Women’s Studies