Rebekah Radtke, associate professor in the School of Interiors at the University of Kentucky College of Design, will lead next year’s Mary C. Bingham Seminar titled “Sustainable Futures Design Lab: Appalachia x France.”

The Bingham Seminar provides students and faculty with an opportunity for an intensive humanities experience in and out of the classroom and allows them to explore a subject not in the university’s regular course offerings. The seminar provides funding to offset the cost of course development and two to four weeks of study either in the U.S. or abroad. 

Radtke’s seminar will explore how design can address pressing social, environmental and economic challenges across global and regional contexts, with a specific focus on post-mining communities. Students will investigate and respond to complex terrain through a transdisciplinary approach that blends art, design, community engagement and cultural exchange. Additionally, students will engage in a reciprocal knowledge-building exchange between Appalachian and French communities, learning from local artists, designers, and social practitioners.

“This course offers a unique opportunity for students to engage deeply with the social, environmental and cultural complexities of post-extractive territories,” Radtke said. “Through this course, we will provide students with the tools to navigate the challenges of sustainable design in both local and global contexts, fostering lifelong learning and connections.”

Travel for the seminar will happen over spring break and in early summer, with students participating in on-site workshops and design explorations in Eastern Kentucky (Letcher, Knott or Perry counties) over spring break and in France early next summer. 

Radtke is a University Research Professor (2024) and a Chellgren Endowed Professor (2023-26). She received her Bachelor of Arts in interior design at UK and Master of Architecture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Radtke joined UK as an instructor in 2011 and assistant professor in 2013.

Radtke’s research investigates design pathways exploring sustainable climatic futures in the post-mining territories of Appalachia. She uses community-centric co-design processes in support of climate-responsive communities in Southeastern Kentucky and communities worldwide. The impacts of her work are through international partnership development and research collaborations in post-extraction territories.

Radtke collaboratively founded Global x Appalachia and Studio Appalachia to lead these endeavors, which have been grant funded from entities including the National Endowment for the Arts, chronicled in articles, book chapters and presented locally and internationally. Her collaborative work more broadly includes pedagogical projects in China, design-build projects in Brazil, sustainability research in South Africa, community-activated interventions in Southeastern Kentucky and experiential learning design initiatives in Lexington, Kentucky. Her scholarship seeks to build transformative connections through impactful collaborations and bring interior design principles to a broader audience. 

“This seminar provides a unique opportunity to study sustainable design principles within a comparative Mountain Studies framework — onsite, in two locations. Through this immersive, hands-on learning experience, students will address some of the economic and climate change challenges that Appalachian and French post-industrial communities have in common,” said Michelle Sizemore, director of UK’s Gaines Center for the Humanities.

Students can apply for the seminar via competitive application that will become available in Spring 2025.

Founded in 1984 by a generous gift from John and Joan Gaines, the Gaines Center for the Humanities functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on UK’s campus. The center is devoted to cultivating an appreciation of the humanities in its students and faculty. The Gaines Center embraces varied paths of knowledge and particularly strives to integrate creative work with traditional academic learning.

For more information on the Bingham Seminar, call the Gaines Center at 859-257-1537 or email Associate Director Chelsea Brislin at clbris4@uky.edu.