Intern Insights is a mini-series that spotlights the interns participating in the Sustainability Internship Program (SIP) and their day-to-day activities and accomplishments. The Office of Sustainability partners with the Student...
Gracie French
Category - Make the pursuit of sustainability an integral part of the student experience
Vision: Equip students with the knowledge, leadership skills and experience to face pressing sustainability challenges both during their time at UK and beyond.
Oldest student-run environmental org in Kentucky comes back together after hiatus
Connectivity. The word current co-lead Jon Blatnik, a junior studying environmental sustainability studies and economics, uses to describe the revival of Greenthumb at the University of Kentucky. This word...
Adreonna Rainey
Carlie LaughlinMake an impact during Earth Month at UK
This Earth Month, consider attending one of the many events UK and the local community are putting on to celebrate sustainability and the natural world. UK Sustainability will be hosting the Spring Sustainability...
Behind The ScenesMake the pursuit of sustainability an integral part of the student experienceModel environmental excellence
Product design student transforms red oak tree into functional work bar
Chase Lobaldo, 3rd year product design student, was working in the Fabrication Lab at the University of Kentucky’s College of Design, when the Office of Sustainability approached him with a clear goal in mind: create a...
New SAVS courses prioritize sustainable materials for studio practices
The University of Kentucky’s School of Art and Visual Studies (SAVS) is reimagining what an art studio can be. Two courses, Healthy Materials Lab and Digital Matrix Modeling, led by fabrication lab specialist Hannah...
UK student transforms bourbon byproducts into biodegradable plant pots
Small enough to fit in your hand, yet powerful enough to change how we think about sustainability, these biodegradable nursery pots, made from distillers’ spent grains, tackle two major environmental challenges: bourbon...
Become a zero-waste campusBehind The ScenesMake the pursuit of sustainability an integral part of the student experience
Behind the blue bins: UK’s new recycling video reveals the journey of your waste
The University of Kentucky is turning one person’s waste into another’s pizza box, soda can, Adirondak chair or a plethora of other items that can be found around campus. “Recycling is one of the easiest ways everyone...
Jennifer Allen
Graduate student Zoë York researches the benefits of flowering shrubs on our campus trees
Urban trees do so much more than make our campus look beautiful. They filter the air, cool the ground, and improve our mental well-being. But many of the trees at the University of Kentucky are under attack from...
Meet the 2025-2026 sustainability internship cohort
The sustainability internship program has been around since 2016, giving undergraduates the opportunity to engage with others through campus projects, research, and outreach within sustainability. Each intern works...
Understanding the resilience of Kentucky ash trees at reforested sites
For over 20 years, Reforest the Bluegrass has been Lexington’s premier community tree planting festival, resulting in the planting of more than 215,000 tree seedlings. It has started to increase canopy coverage in...
The changing canopy of UK’s campus
UK has long been a growing epicenter of healthcare and academics, and large facilities have been built, renovated, or demolished to accommodate this. But with all this expansion, what is the impact of growth on our...
Graciela Martinez
Tracking the rise of Dahurian buckthorn in Kentucky
Heading into my senior year as a Natural Resources and Environmental Science major at UK, I became interested in studying the Dahurian buckthorn (Rhamnus davurica), a woody invasive that is emerging in central Kentucky...
Signage study at UK’s Arboretum explores new ways to foster environmental literacy
Walk through any arboretum, and you will find signs that guide your experience, naming plants, offering insights into the ecosystem’s role, or even helping you find your way around. However, many signs fall short of...
Protecting Kentucky’s horses with sustainable fly control
As the “horse-capital of the world,” Kentucky is home to a thriving population of horses – and a rampant population of flies. As a horse owner myself, there is nothing I care more about than the welfare and...
ActivismHealthCareMake the pursuit of sustainability an integral part of the student experienceReinforce the University's commitments to our people
Intern Insights: Creating pockets of green on UK HealthCare’s campus
As a recent graduate of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program at the University of Kentucky – and a proud alum of the Sustainability Internship Program – I had the pleasure to serve as the UK...
