Emily Beaulieu Bacchus is the Director of the International Studies program and an Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the department of Political Science. After majoring in International Studies at the Jackson School at the University of Washington, Emily received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, and then began working at the University of Kentucky.

In addition to directing CLIME and International Studies, and teaching courses in Comparative Politics, Emily is an active researcher and expert on topics of election fraud, protest, corruption and scandals, and violence in democracies. Her book, Electoral Protest and Democracy in the Developing World, with Cambridge University Press, examines election-related protests and their consequences for democracy. Emily has also published articles on democracy and perceptions of fraud and corruption. Thanks to grants from the National Science Foundation, she has been able to study how voting laws affect political participation through social networks, as well as ethnic politics and violence in the Caribbean. Currently, she is writing a book about parliamentary brawls in Taiwan and Ukraine.

Ruth Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Hispanic Studies. Her primary goal as an instructor is to break down the wall between classroom and real life, to give students direct and meaningful experience using Spanish in practical, real-world settings. Dr. Brown’s research explores and documents the history and cultural production of Latinx people and communities in Kentucky.

Valerio Caldesi Valeri works as Associate Professor of Classics in the UK Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MCLLC), which he represents by regularly offering courses in Medical Terminology, Greek and Roman Mythology, and Ancient Greek. Dr. Caldesi Valeri has also served as coordinator of, as well as instructor in, the Latin language program. He has taught and consistently guest-lectures in the departmental common core course on Global Literacy, which showcases the diverse linguistic and cultural traditions that MCLLC encompasses. A strong believer in the enrichment opportunities associated with international education, Dr. Caldesi Valeri has co-directed two faculty-led Summer Abroad Programs centered in Rome and Naples (Italy), one of which sponsored by the Gaines Center for the Humanities (2016), the other a joint venture with the Italian Program (2019). In addition, he routinely sits on the Review Committee that awards UK Education Abroad scholarships.

Heather Campbell-Speltz is an Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Hispanic Studies Department at the University of Kentucky. The latter position includes working with Education Abroad and students who choose to study abroad in Spanish-speaking countries. Her research interests include Feminist Theatre, 20th and 21st century Spanish Women’s Literature, and Translation. She also coordinates the coursework in Translation Studies and Spanish for the Professions in the department. She volunteers regularly as an interpreter for the Samaritan’s Touch Student Physical Therapy Clinic and works with UK’s Shoulder-to-Shoulder Global Health Initiative and has taught with the KIIS program in Segovia, Spain.

Leon Lane is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and Coordinator of Anthropology, Folk Studies, Geography, Religious Studies, and Sociology. He completed his undergraduate studies at West Virginia University and then pursued graduate work at the University of Kentucky. He has researched and published on prehistoric cultures of the eastern U.S., specializing in the colonization of the Americas. He has been employed at the College for over twenty years, primarily teaching courses that fulfill the cultural studies requirement. His courses focus on providing students with a better understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity in the U.S., the impact of globalization, and the importance of fostering civility and inclusion in our lives.

Juliana McDonald: I received the Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky in 2000. My research interests include gerontology, agriculture and tobacco production, Native Americans, development and poverty. As a graduate student, I was Research Assistant with the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging on a three year ethnographic research project of family decision making in nursing homes in Kentucky. While working on this project, I researched social networks of nursing home residents for a M.A. thesis. I also conducted research in Morocco in North Africa on aging in rural and urban areas, a topic I continue to pursue. From 1996 to 2000, I worked at Wake Forest University School of Medicine/Section on Epidemiology, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I lived fulltime in a large agricultural county where I conducted ethnographic research with European-American, African-American, and Lumbee Native American elders. During this time, I conducted my dissertation research on aging and agricultural practices of farmers and became interested in understanding tobacco production. I joined the faculty of the UK Department of Anthropology in 2005. Since 2006, I have worked with the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and the Kentucky Department of Transportation on environmental justice mitigation for a major road project, the Newtown Pike Extension. I completed a social needs assessment in 2006 and am currently conducting a final evaluation of the impact of the road and neighborhood development.

Danni Quintos is a Kentuckian, a mom, a knitter, and an Affrilachian Poet. She received her BA from The Evergreen State College, and her MFA in Poetry from Indiana University. Her debut poetry collection, Two Brown Dots, winner of the BOA Editions 20th A. Poulin Jr. Prize, will be published in April 2022. Quintos lives in Lexington with her kid & farmer-spouse & their little dog too. She is a Humanities instructor at Bluegrass Community & Technical College. Read her work here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/danni-quintos.

Nels “Jeff” Rogers is an Associate Professor of German Studies in the department of Modern & Classical Languages Literatures & Cultures. Professor Rogers is also the Director of the Max Kade German House and Cultural Center at UK. He was born in the desert (Tucson, AZ), raised in the woods (Oregon), and radicalized by Reagan's war on the poor in the 1980s. He came to UK in 2001. Today, his teaching and research focus on intersections of aesthetics, representation, and politics as well as Second Language Acquisition and literacy. Current research/teaching projects focus on mass culture in Germany in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly Audio-Visual materials. This includes the integration of film and other AV materials into the world language classroom and the development of visual literacy among world language students.

Heather Worne: As a biological anthropologist and bioarchaeologist, I am concerned with the interaction between health and the "natural" and social environment in the past. My recent research has focused on regional conflict and violence in Mississippian populations from the Middle Cumberland region of Tennessee and identifying potential geophysical or spatial correlates. I employ a biocultural approach to address how communities in the past engaged with their cultural and biological environments, as well as what biosocial consequences these interactions may have had on health and well-being. Specifically, my research focuses on the interrelationships among violence, health, health-related care, and differential access to necessary resources, especially as these relate to gender and other issues of identity in the past.