Dr. Terry L. Birdwhistell is Dean of Libraries and holds the William T. Young Endowed Chair at the University of Kentucky. During his nearly four decades at UK he has also served as Associate Dean for Special Collections and Digital Programs, University Archivist, and Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Dr. Birdwhistell helped found and now serves as Co-Director of the UK Libraries’ Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center.
Dr. Birdwhistell serves as Co-General Editor of Kentucky Remembered: An Oral History Series published by the University Press of Kentucky. His dissertation, “An Educated Difference: Women at the University of Kentucky through the Second World War,” was completed in 1994. Publications include: "Some Kind of Lawyer: Two Journeys from Classroom to Courtroom and Beyond, Kentucky Law Journal (1996), "Divided We Fall: State College and the Normal School Movement in Kentucky, 1880-1910," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (1990) and "WHAS Radio and the Development of Broadcasting in Kentucky, 1922-1942." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (1981). He has also been involved in the production of two documentaries broadcast on Kentucky Educational Television: "Kentucky's New Dealer: Ed Prichard Remembers" (1983) and "Long Road Back: Vietnam Remembered" (1985).
Dr. Birdwhistell has served as president of several professional associations including the national Oral History Association, the Kentucky-Tennessee Chapter of the American Studies Association, and the Kentucky Council on Archives. He represents UK on the Kentucky State Archives and Records Commission and serves on the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress. Dr. Birdwhistell was honored by the Kentucky Oral History Commission as a pioneer in his field as part of their 30th Anniversary celebration and was also named to the UK College of Education Alumni Hall of Fame.
At UK Dr. Birdwhistell serves on the Steering Committee for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, as a member of the University Senate, and on the UK Historic Marker Committee. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation.
Dr. Birdwhistell earned his B.A. in American Studies from Georgetown College. He also earned M.A. degrees in both history and library and information science and a doctorate in Educational Policy Studies all from the University of Kentucky.