UK Geography

Shoutout to Dr Camilo Rey Sabogal (PhD '21), featured here in his ongoing work in Cartagena, Colombia!

📢 ¡Avanzamos con paso firme en la revisión y ajuste del POT de Cartagena! 🏙️ ✅ Cerramos la fase de diagnóstico y ya tenemos un panorama actualizado y claro del territorio: sus retos, sus oportunidades y todo lo que podemos mejorar. 📑 🔍 Analizamos la ciudad desde 5 dimensiones clave: Institucional 🏛️ Económica 💰 Sociocultural 🎭 Funcional 🚍🏘️ Ambiental 🌿🌎 ➡️ Ahora nos preparamos para la siguiente fase: la formulación. 🗣️

🎓 Exciting news from Geography at UKY!

Join us in congratulating Dr. Nari Senanayake on her promotion and tenure! Her hard work, mentorship, and research excellence have shaped our department in profound ways.

We’re so proud—and we want YOU to help us celebrate! Drop a 🎓 or leave your message of congratulations below. 💬

For the past two years, Bethany has been the creative heart behind our department’s social media. 💻📸

From highlighting student research and department events to celebrating faculty achievements and promoting our community’s work, she has helped tell the story of Geography at UK in such meaningful and memorable ways.

While she is no longer managing the social media outlets, we’re incredibly thankful for her time, talent, and thoughtful storytelling—and we’re proud to continue building on the strong foundation she created.

Thank you, Bethany, for everything! 💙🌍

Students in GEO485G presented the findings of their research project “Gentrification Indicators in Council District 1” to LFUCG Division of Planning staffers and Councilmember Tyler Morton, who represents the first council district. Councilmember Morton gave a shoutout to the students' work in Dr Lynn Phillip’s course!

Swipe to see all of the graduation fun! 🥳🎓

🎓🌏Happy graduation day and congratulations to all of our Kentucky geography graduates!🎓🌏

Hans Purisch, MA, successfully defended his thesis, “Epigenetic Clocks as Instruments of the Profitable Medicalization of Aging under Biocapitalism”, with an advisory committee chaired by Nari Senanayake and members, Nick Lally and Tad Mutersbaugh. Purisch also received Honorable Mention in the competition for the 2025 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). 🌟Congratulations, Hans!🌟

Sable Augustyn, MA, successfully defended his thesis, “Lust, Labor, and Legitimacy: Visibility and Precarity in Platformed S*x Work”, with an advisory committee chaired by Matt Wilson and members, Matt Zook and Sharon Yam (WRD).
🌟Congratulations, Sable!🌟

Sarah Fogel, MA, successfully defended her thesis, “Woke-lahoma: Anti-Trans Ideology on the Frontlines”, with an advisory committee chaired by Lydia Pelot-Hobbs and members, Tad Mutersbaugh and Carol Mason (GWS).🌟Congratulations, Sarah!🌟

DR Jacob Saindon defended his dissertation last week titled “Commercial Attention Spaces: A Century of Discourses, Measurements, and Models of Attention in the Construction of U.S. Advertising Markets”. The PhD committee was chaired by Matt Wilson with committee members Nick Lally, Matt Zook, and Joshua Abboud (WRD), with external reviewer Jennifer Meakins (Interiors).

🌟Congratulations, Dr. Saindon!🌟

Want to take a geography course? Check out our fall 2025 class listings! 🌎🌍🌏

At Kentucky geography’s annual GeoGuessr department tournament the graduate student team (Calvin Horning, MA student, and Isaac Oluwatimilehin, PhD student) took top prize, besting the faculty team (above top right photo with Boyd Shearer)!