Promoting the Humanities throughout Campus and the Commonwealth

Our Year on Origins

Coinciding with the United States’ quarter millennial, the Gaines theme for 2025-2026 explores the meaning of origins through the prism of disciplinary viewpoints offered by the humanities, the arts, and the sciences. The Gaines Fellows seminar highlights the multiplicity of beginnings not only for Lexington and the United States but also for current technologies, social institutions, political movements, the planet, humans, and other species as the city and nation commemorate—and reckon with—our 250th anniversaries

Gaines Newsletter: Fall 2025

News and Upcoming Events

Now Accepting Applications for the 2026 Gaines Fellowship Applications open until midnight, Monday February 2, 2026

Feb 2, 2026

The application for the Gaines Fellowship is open; applications will be accepted through Monday February 2, 2026. The Gaines Fellowship is an intensive two-year program awarded to 12 outstanding undergraduate students each year. Selected fellows take a four-credit hour seminar course as a small cohort focused on the humanities with outstanding UK faculty both semesters of their junior year.

REGISTRATION OPENS IN NOVEMBER HMN 303 Humanities in Action

Jan 12, 2026

Join Architecture faculty Darren Taylor and Special Collections Preservationist Ruth Bryan for this special team-taught course in the applied humanities. The course will feature the Raymond Betts House as a case-study to explore how our community works to renovate, protect, and preserve our historic buildings. Registration opens in November--check MyUK for your registration window.

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN The 2026 Bingham Seminar HMN 300 Sustainable Futures Design Lab: Appalachia x France

Oct 31, 2025

The Gaines Center for the Humanities is excited to announce HMN 300: Sustainable Futures Design Lab, an extraordinary opportunity for students to combine academic inquiry with hands-on, real-world engagement in Spring 2026.

NOW AVAILABLE Our Spring 2025 newsletter

Aug 31, 2025

The Spring 2025 newsletter includes the many (many!) things happening over here in the UK Gaines Center including reviews of our Breathitt Lecture and the 2025 Lafayette Seminar, a celebration of our graduating seniors, an alumni interview with Dominique Luster, and a reflection on the year from our new Director, Dr. Michelle Sizemore.

now available to stream 2025 Breathitt Lecture with Lucas Carlos de Lima

Jun 30, 2025

The 2025 Breathitt Lecture, Crystal Palaces: Designing a Better World Amidst Social Chaos presented by Lucas Carlos de Lima, is now available to stream on our YouTube channel. Click here to view the lecture.

View all news