The Department's culture revolves around creating communities among a diverse group of graduate students and faculty. This goal is facilitated through an open door policy in which graduate students are encouraged to consult faculty about research, teaching, and professional development. In addition, grads and undergrads participate as voting members on departmental committees.

To achieve a sense of community within the graduate student body, we co-author papers with one another, organize sessions at conferences, hold occasional "Grad Bag" brown bags, and form reading groups. Geographers have been known to frequent local bars and coffee houses, play ultimate frisbee, and go hiking at the Red River Gorge and Raven's Run. Faculty and grads from the Department, along with folks from other programs, regularly meet for happy hours at the local outdoor patio/bar. As a group, we try to accommodate as many different 'lifestyles' and ideas as possible through a range of different social and intellectual gatherings.

The seminars offered in Geography are intellectually stimulating and characterized by a concern for others' positions and approaches. There is an effort to ensure that all voices are heard and that diverse opinions are laid on the table for discussion. Office talk and reading groups often spring out of ongoing conversations within seminars. The core classes provide an excellent background to historical and contemporary literatures, while in specialized seminars we pursue various theoretical and methodological perspectives which are integrated into our work.

Because of the Department's flexible course requirements, we often take classes outside of Geography (click here to see the Graduate Student Handbook). Many of us have obtained or are working on Graduate Certificates in interdisciplinary programs such as Women's Studies, Social Theory, Transportation Systems, Environmental Studies, and Gerontology. 

UK's Geography graduate students are known across campus - and increasingly within the city - as a very engaged and socially concerned group. Students work through a number of avenues to represent and communicate student concerns and issues on campus. Grads have initiated and participated in numerous petitions and protests, formed University-wide graduate student groups, and some are active in student government and the University Senate. We are organized into the Geography Graduate Student Union (GGSU), through which we promote student concerns. Outside the University, students work on various issues, including women and the justice system, local environmental issues, community health projects, prisoner education programs, and gay and lesbian rights. In 1994 a group of geography graduate students formed "Geographers for Justice" around a number of local gender and class based issues.

As a saying goes: "Lexington has all the things a big city has but it just has one of them." There are various bars for informal gatherings, plenty of good local bands to hear, and a coffee house 'scene' for those who prefer to be wired. Lexington also has an alternative theater showing cult movies, the latest foreign films and the Troubadour concerts series. Basketball is an obvious attraction, and football and soccer are improving. You can even find a good drag show downtown on Friday nights. Lexington is home to the original Long John Silver's; still, it has a range of down home and ethnic restaurants, from barbecue to sushi, hot browns to Indian, Cajun and Caribbean. The city itself is consistently ranked as one of the nation's safest. Many students choose to rent in quiet residential neighborhoods close to campus. For those who'd rather commute, there are small, quaint towns and rural areas within half an hour. Lexington also has a widely respected public school system. One grad has a daughter in the Performing Arts Magnet School; there are 20 other magnet programs, including Science and Technology, Language Immersion, and other specializations.

The mountains of Eastern Kentucky are just 45 minutes away, and all around there are great places to hike, swim, bike, and rock climb. For those not claustrophobic there are also plenty of spelunking (i.e., caving) opportunities within an hour's drive. 

Overall, Lexington is a great place to live and work. The city's rich urban landscape and dynamic social-economic situation spur a lot of grad research, field excursions, and activism, while its proximity to Appalachia provides plenty of opportunity for study and engagement in rural sites.