A UK College of Law graduate was sworn in Sept. 8 as a justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. Daniel J. Venters joins four other UK alumni already serving on the court.

Venters represents the third district, which includes 27 counties in Southern Kentucky. He serves before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as the U.S. District courts of Eastern and Western Kentucky.

A member of the Kentucky Bar Association Board of Governors, Venters has 24 years of judicial experience.

Five out of the seven justices currently serving are UK College of Law graduates. Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., a 1977 graduate, leads the Supreme Court of Kentucky. Along with Venters and Minton are Bill Cunningham (1969 graduate) who represents the first district; Mary Noble (1982 graduate) serving for the fifth district; and Wil Schroder (1970) from the sixth district.

Professor to speak on Kennedy assassinations

Texas A&M professor Simon Sheather will speak on campus Thursday about his research on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Sheather is the chair of the department of statistics at Texas A&M, and has studied the flaws in the evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the Kennedy assassination. Sheather’s research offers new ideas as the 45th anniversary of the assassination approaches.

Sheather will speak at 5 p.m. in the W. T. Young Library Auditorium. Refreshments will be provided at the reception before the lecture at 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Event sponsors include the UK College of Arts & Sciences, departments of biology, chemistry, statistics, and the graduate school.

Annual State of the Campus Address Thursday

President Todd will give the annual State of the Campus address Thursday. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. and Todd is scheduled to speak at 12:30.

Olympics broadcaster and UK alum Tom Hammond will also speak, along with Student Government President Tyler Montell. Student organizations will have tables set up, and food will be available between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Todd will speak about the progress of UK’s Top 20 Business Plan,  campus diversity and the effects of state budget cuts on the university.

In case of rain, the event will move to the Singletary Center for the Arts.