Gaines Year of The Human Algorithm: Teaching Faculty
Clare Batty, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
College of Arts & Sciences
Clare Batty works in the philosophy of mind and, in particular, the philosophy of perception. Her current work focuses on olfactory experience. In addition to the philosophy of perception, her other areas of interest include topics in metaphysics, epistemology and the history of philosophy.
Molly Blasing, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
College of Arts & Sciences
Molly T. Blasing specializes in modern and contemporary Russian poetry, literary history, and second language acquisition. She has published articles on a topics in 20th-21st century poetry and poetics, contemporary theater and political performance, and Russian language pedagogy. Her first book, Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture (Cornell UP, 2021) examined the influence of photography on Russian poetic writing in the 20th century. Blasing's research on poetry and photography has been supported by grants from the Fulbright Program and the National Endowment for the Humanities. As a specialist on the life and works of Marina Tsvetaeva, Blasing secured a major donation for UK Libraries of material on Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva from Dr. Uli Zislin, curator of the Washington Museum of Russian Poetry and Music. Thanks to Dr. Zislin's generous gift to the university, the American Archive of Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva opened in December 2024 with Blasing serving as curator with support from the Special Collections Research Center, William T. Young Library and the Nunn Center for Oral History.
In addition to research in literary and cultural studies, Blasing is an active in the field of Russian language pedagogy. To train the next generation of Russia experts, she is developing Russian language instructional materials built around skills and competencies in several areas of the sciences and technology, including climate change and environmental sustainability; global health; war and energy markets; the past and future of space exploration; and cybersecurity. The STEM + Russian initiative has resulted in peer-reviewed publications, a seed grant from the U. Kentucky Energy Research Priority Area, and two awards from the UKY Libraries Alternative Textbook grant program. Dr. Blasing has also been a featured speaker at conferences and symposia where she has presented on integrating STEM content into Russian language curricula. As a College of Arts and Sciences Rankin Fellow for AI and Teaching in 2023-2024, she is researching the efficacy of AI chatbots for foreign language teaching and learning. In 2024 she co-founded C-SAILS, the Consortium for the Study of AI and Language in Slavic, with Kit Pribble (Wake Forest U). Blasing also serves on the Executive Council of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) and is a member of the Association of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), and the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). She recently joined the editorial board of the book series Issues in the Teaching of East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures (Benjamin Rifkin, series editor) with Academic Studies Press, Boston.
Sophia Farmer, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Art History and Visual Studies
College of Fine Arts
Sarah Kercsmar, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Department Chair
Department of Health and Clinical Sciences
College of Health Sciences
Dr. Sarah Kercsmar joined the College of Health Sciences in 2017. She serves as the Department Chair for the Department of Health and Clinical Sciences and the Certificate Director for the Clinical Healthcare Certificate program. Previously, she spent 7 years as a faculty member in the College of Communication and Information at UK. She has also worked on funded health policy projects for the UK College of Nursing and as a grassroots organizer for the American Lung Association of West Virginia and the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia.
Dr. Kercsmar loves teaching and working with students, from the very first year until graduation. She especially likes trying out new teaching methods and active learning tools to help students learn through hands-on experience. Her research interests include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, service-learning, and population level public health interventions.
Dr. Kercsmar has a PhD from the University of Kentucky in Communication (with a cognate in Educational Policy and Evaluation) and an MA and BA from Marshall University in Communication Studies. She also has a Master of Health Administration and graduate certificates in Distance Learning and Tobacco Treatment from the University of Kentucky.
Meg Wallace, Ph.D
Professor, Department Chair
Department of Philosophy
College of Arts & Sciences
Dr. Meg Wallace is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at University of Kentucky. Her primary research interests include the metaphysics of ordinary objects, mereology, mental fictionalism, and modality. Her monograph, Parts and Wholes, was recently published with Cambridge University Press as part of their Elements in Metaphysics series (June 2023). It is an opinionated overview of philosophical issues involving parts and wholes, lightly guided by a diagnosis of why we shouldn’t conclude a priori that there are an odd number of things in the universe.
Two of her papers - “Mental Fictionalism” and “Mental Fictionalism: a foothold amid deflationary collapse” - are included in a volume Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations, Tamas Demeter, T. Parent, and Adam Toon (eds.), Routledge (2022), the first anthology dedicated to the topic of mental fictionalism.
Chef Tanya Whitehouse
Chef and Program Manager, The Food Connection
Chef Tanya is both the heart and brains of The Food Connection's culinary programing. As the former Sous Chef of Holly Hill Inn for Ouita Michel, she brings both her culinary expertise and a passion for Kentucky-grown foods to our programing. You’ll find her both in our learning kitchen and out in the community inviting students and professionals, children and adults to gain new skills, explore new flavors, and enjoy new experiences. Chef Tanya passionately believes that we are inexorably tied to what we eat and that sitting down to a meal together can connect you with other people in a way nothing else can. Tanya’s favorite Kentucky food is her grandma’s recipe for ketchup, and her favorite tool is her 10” chef’s knife. Tanya leads a number of programs for our community members throughout the year.