UK College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Awarded 2021 Kirwan Prize, Sturgill Award

Two University of Kentucky faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences are recipients of The Graduate School’s distinguished annual awards for exemplary research in the last four years and outstanding contributions to graduate student mentoring and graduate education.

Michael D. Bardo, professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology, is the 2021 recipient of the Albert D. Kirwan Memorial Prize. The prize is bestowed each year to a faculty member in recognition of their outstanding contributions to original research or scholarship, with an emphasis on work produced four years prior to the award.

Mark T. Fillmore, Director of Graduate Studies and professor of cognitive science in the Department of Psychology, is the 2021 recipient of the William B. Sturgill Award, an honor given each year to a graduate faculty member who has provided outstanding contributions to graduate education at UK.

“The Graduate School and the Graduate Council are proud to recognize and celebrate our 2021 honorees in research and mentoring,” said interim Dean Brian Jackson. “Professors Bardo and Fillmore are outstanding role models to our graduate students, as are so many of our graduate faculty members.”

Michael D. Bardo

Bardo, a faculty member at UK since 1982, has worked in neuropsychopharmacology and drug abuse for over 35 years. For his work, he has received continuous funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1985 and is the author of more than 200 research articles.

Bardo’s research investigates neurobehavioral effects of environmental enrichment and social influences on drug self-administration. His research interests also include medication development for substance use disorders. In addition to behavioral processes, his laboratory conducts work using chemogenetics, immunohistochemistry, stereotaxic surgery and microdialysis with High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC).

Throughout his career, Bardo has trained 21 Ph.D. students, 14 postdoctoral scholars and more than 200 undergraduate students in his research laboratory.

“He has always freely shared recognition with his students and made sure people understood their crucial role in the work of his lab, often including first-author status on publications,” said Gregory T. Smith, nominator and department chair. “Beyond recognition, his students describe him as generous with his time and his other resources.”

The Kirwan Memorial Prize was established in 1995 and recognizes its namesakes' collaborative research efforts, as well as Albert Kirwan's endeavors in creating an environment at UK that promotes high quality research and scholarship.

Serving as head football coach from 1938 to 1944 and later dean of men, "Ab" Kirwan was a distinguished faculty member and scholar in the field of Southern history, dean of The Graduate School and served as university president from 1968 to 1970.

Elizabeth Kirwan was awarded the Sullivan Medallion in 1973 for her service to UK and the Lexington community. She held executive roles across more than 10 organizations, including president of the UK Woman’s Club and chairwoman of the Lexington Parks and Recreation Board.

Mark T. Fillmore

Fillmore has been a professor of psychology at UK for 22 years, and his research areas include behavioral pharmacology and alcohol addiction. Funded by grants from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, his research program focuses on how alcohol consumption alters behavioral and cognitive functioning in humans.

Fillmore currently serves as co-director of the university’s NIH-funded training grant supporting the research training of graduate students in the study of alcohol abuse. He is also a mentor and co-sponsor of several NIH career-development awards for graduate students at UK and other institutions in the United States.

“Mark’s mentorship fundamentally changed my professional life,” says Walter Roberts, a former student in Fillmore’s lab who now serves on the research faculty at Yale University’s School of Medicine. “When I was selected to attend the University of Kentucky, I had recently graduated from a small state school with little real research experience. Mark supported me in coming up the summer before my first semester to work in the lab and ease my transition. Over the next six years, Mark helped me discover my passion for alcohol research.” 

Established in 1975, the Sturgill Award is named in honor of alumnus William B. Sturgill, who contributed to higher education through organizing and serving as president of the Hazard Independent College Foundation, in addition to working with legislators to develop the community college system across the Commonwealth.

Sturgill, who died in 2014, was born in Lackey, Kentucky, and graduated from UK in 1946. He was involved in a variety of businesses, including executive and owner of several coal operations, East Kentucky Investment Company, Fourth Street and Gentry Tobacco Warehouses and the Hartland Development Project. Sturgill served as both secretary of energy and secretary of agriculture under Gov. John Y. Brown Jr.  He served 18 years on UK's Board of Trustees, including serving as chair for 10 years. The Sturgill Development Building is named in his honor.

Additional distinguished nominees for the 2021 Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan Memorial Prize:

• Tracy Campbell, E. Vernon Smith and Eloise C. Smith Professor of American History in the Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences;

• Susan Gardner, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Arts and Sciences;

• Jason Unrine, professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment; and

• Dong-Sheng Yang, University Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.

Additional distinguished nominees for the 2021 William B. Sturgill Award:

• Debra Harley, professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Special Education and Counselor Education, College of Education;

• Arthur Hunt, professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment;

• Lorri Morford, assistant professor in the Division of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry; and

• Yinan Wei, professor in the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.