College Commemorates 10th Anniversary of Alabama-Cuba Initiative with Research Trip

Thirty-four UA faculty researchers are in Cuba this week for a series of academic meetings with their Cuban counterparts. The meetings mark the 10th anniversary of the Alabama-Cuba Initiative.

The initiative, spearheaded by the College, has brought UA and Cuban educators together to establish opportunities for graduate student research, teaching and formal course work for undergraduate students at Cuban academic institutions and has also allowed Cuban educators to come to UA for collaborative work.

The week-long series of meetings will take place at the University of Havana, the Institute of Art (Instituto Superior de Artes) and the University of San Gerónimo in Cuba. Faculty members will be presenting proposals for future educational and research collaborations and discussing project descriptions with Cuban educators working in comparable areas. The group includes 29 members of the College’s faculty.

“In 2002 The University of Alabama and Cuban educators began exploring ways to advance knowledge and our educational missions through academic collaborations. The last 10 years have been highly productive with fruitful research partnerships and opportunities for our students to participate in study exchanges,” said Dr. Robert Olin, dean of the College. “With this trip, we seek to launch a new series of research and educational collaborations that deepen and expand our intellectual exchanges.”

A milestone in the trip will take place at the University of San Gerónimo where Olin will present a new book, La Habana Vieja/Old Havana, to Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, Cuba’s historian for Havana and director of the Old Havana restoration project. Authored by Chip Cooper, a faculty member in the Department of Art and Art History, and Néstor Martí, a photographer of the Havana Historian’s Office, La Habana Vieja, published by The University of Alabama Press this month, presents 200 pages of photographs of the people and places of Havana taken by both Cooper and Martí. The two photographers have been collaborating since 2008 to produce a body of photographs that capture the spirit of the city and its people during this pivotal time in Cuba’s development.

Cooper and Martí will discuss this research collaboration as part the week-long events. Other researchers and scholars will explore topics in history, chemistry, law, modern languages, poetry, art, music, theatre, literature, writing, anthropology, geography, biological sciences, cultural studies, engineering, human nutrition, and others.

For more information about the Alabama-Cuba Initiative, visit: http://cuba.ua.edu.

Pellegrini Discusses Religious Acceptance
in 10th Annual Aronov Lecture

Although the United States of America was founded on ideals of democracy and religious freedom for all, there are many people who debate how freely our society accepts all religions today. One researcher who is actively participating in that conversation through her scholarly work is Dr. Ann Pellegrini, who will visit The University of Alabama campus later this month.

Pellegrini, an associate professor of performance studies and religious studies at New York University, will speak as part of the 10th annual Aronov Lecture Series, sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies. Her lecture, “Discomforting Democracy: Religion, Performance, and the Space of Political Exchange” will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Room 205 of Gorgas Library on the UA campus. It is free and open to the public.

Focusing on controversies over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York and the “anti-Shariah” law passed by Oklahoma in 2010, Pellegrini’s talk asks how we might generate conditions for democratic social life that make room not just for “being” different but for “doing” difference.

Pellegrini is the director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at NYU. She is the author of Performance Anxieties: Staging Psychoanalysis, Staging Race; co-author with Janet R. Jakobsen of Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance; co-editor with Daniel Boyarin and Daniel Itzkovitz of Queer Theory and the Jewish Question; and co-editor with Jakobsen of Secularisms. She is currently completing a book on the performance and politics of religious feelings.

Named after the late Aaron Aronov, founder of Aronov Realty of Montgomery, this annual lecture series was established in 2002. Its aim is to introduce the UA community to nationally recognized scholars of religion who are capable of reflecting on issues of wide relevance to scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.

Political Science Professor’s Book Featured
in Harper’s Magazine

Dr. Ted H. Miller, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and a nationally known scholar on English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, was recently interviewed by Harper’s magazine about his most recent book, Mortal Gods: Science, Politics, and the Humanist Ambitions of Thomas Hobbes. The interview is part of award winning journalist and human rights lawyer and activist Scott Horton’s “Six Questions” column that appears regularly in Harper’s online.

In the interview Horton asks the question, “Is lawless power today in American the legacy of this 17th Century political philosopher?” Miller discusses his answer to this question and his own interpretation of Hobbes’s science and politics. Miller’s reading challenges the consensus among Hobbes scholars by reconnecting Hobbes’s affinities for mathematics with renaissance humanism.

Furthermore, Miller explains that humanists and their patrons in the era of absolutism had high hopes for what mathematical knowledge might do. Hobbes, Miller argues, comes out of this tradition.

“In his most famous work, Leviathan, Hobbes wrote that state’s sovereign is a ‘Mortal God,’” Miller says. “It was a power that acted with impunity, and this kind of power has proven a strong temptation even today.”

To read the full interview, go to http://harpers.org/archive/2012/01/hbc-90008381

ALLELE Lecture Series Explores Water and Evolution of Humans

“Elixir: Water and Humans over 10,000 Years,” will be the topic of an upcoming lecture by Dr. Brian Fagan, an archaeologist and professor emeritus from the University of California Santa Barbara. The lecture is part of the ALLELE lecture series, and will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Room 127 of the Biology building on the UA campus.

Fagan is the author or editor of more than 45 books, including several widely used undergraduate college texts. He has been an archeological consultant for the National Geographic Society, Time Life, Encyclopedia Britannica and Microsoft Encarta.

At UA, Fagan will discuss the changing relationship between water and human societies since the beginnings of farming some 10,000 years ago and the lessons this history offers for human societies of the future.

Born in England, Fagan studied archaeology at Pembroke College in Cambridge. He worked in the field for many years in Africa on multidisciplinary African history and monument conservation. He later went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has specialized in communicating archaeology to general audiences through lecturing, writing, and other media.

His many books include three volumes for the National Geographic Society, including the bestselling Adventure of Archaeology. Other works include The Rape of the Nile, a classic history of archaeologists and tourists along the Nile, and four books on ancient climate change and human societies. His recently published Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind extends his climatic research to the most vital of all resources for humanity.

This is the sixth year of the Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution (ALLELE) series that is supported by the College’s Blount Undergraduate Initiative, New College, and Departments of Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, English, Gender and Race Studies, Geological Sciences, History, Philosophy and Psychology, along with other UA sponsors.

Videos Used to Accelerate Diagnosis Time of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Alabama Children

A team of University of Alabama researchers received funding through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to build a video-based decision-support system aimed at improving diagnosis time for rural Alabama children showing signs of Autism Spectrum Disorders. The College’s Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Departments of Communicative Disorders and Psychology, will provide feedback to physicians on their assessment of videotapes of children being diagnosed.

“This study will identify children earlier who are at risk for autism or communication impairments, thereby significantly enhancing a child’s potential to have optimal communication, social and educational outcomes,” said Dr. Angela Barber, a professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders who will lead the team of professionals.

The project involves analyzing the videos of children to assist rural physicians with making appropriate referrals for those who demonstrate early red flags for autism. Doctors will be provided equipment to make recordings of patients showing signs of autism and will be able to securely send the videos to the Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic. The center will return processed versions of the videos with comments and red-flag indicators from psychologists, speech therapists and a University Medical Center pediatrician, creating an organized database of various types of behaviors to look for and further system support to diagnose and treat patients exhibiting them.

Barber also will train a staff member at each participating physicians’ office to collect a natural sample of the child’s communication and play skills to be observed at the clinic.

“This project creates a unique opportunity for physicians to observe typical social-emotional milestones as well as red flags of autism in their own patients,” Barber said. “Further, physicians can use the video feedback provided by the UA ASD Clinic as a framework to discuss a child’s individual strengths and concerns with families and to support the decision to refer a child for early intervention.”

Middle and High School Students Travel
to UA for Regional Science Olympiad

More than 500 middle and high school students in Alabama will get the chance to put their science skills to the test this month at the regional Science Olympiad competition to be held on Feb. 18 on The University of Alabama campus.

The regional competition, hosted by the College and UA’s College of Engineering, is just one of many that will take place around the country. Winners go on to compete in state and national competitions. There are over 12,000 schools from all 50 states who participate in Science Olympiad events each year.

Events scheduled for middle school students include “Awesome Aquifers,” where students learn about groundwater and build model aquifers; and “Crime Busters,” which prompts students to analyze crime scene evidence such as hair samples, DNA and fingerprints to solve a crime.

In the high school division, students can compete in a “Microbe Mission” event, where they answer questions, solve problems, and analyze data pertaining to various kinds of microbes and diseases. Another popular high school event is “Gravity Vehicle,” where teams design, build and test a vehicle and ramp that uses gravitational energy to reach a target point.

Alabama schools participating in this year’s event include Bankhead Middle School, Berry Middle School, Bragg Middle School, Hewitt-Trussville Middle School, Math and Science School, McAdory Middle School, Meek High School, Our Lady of the Valley School, Prattville Christian School, Prattville Junior High, Prince of Peace Catholic School, Holy Spirit Catholic School, Isabella High School, Lamp High School, Mortimer Jordan High School, Muscle Shoals High, and Oak Mountain High School.

For more information about the event, visit http://www.as.ua.edu/scienceolympiad/.

South Alabama Dean of Medicine Headlines McCollough Medical Scholar’s Forum

Dr. Samuel Joseph Strada, dean of the College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama, will be the featured speaker for the 10th annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholar’s Forum Feb. 24-25 in the Shelby Hall rotunda on The University of Alabama campus.

Strada joined USA in 1983 as professor and chair of pharmacology and became senior associate medical dean in 1994. Strada has served as acting director of the graduate program in basic medical sciences, assistant dean for admissions, and acting chair of psychiatry at USA. He is president of the South Alabama Medical Science Foundation and was faculty athletics representative from 1990-97.

Strada has national recognition for research on cellular signaling mechanisms and has published more than 200 articles and abstracts. He has been active in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Council of Academic Societies of the American Association of Medical Colleges. He has served as president of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs and the Southeastern Pharmacology Society.

Strada received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and master’s in pharmacology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and his doctorate in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He did post-doctoral training in neuropharmacology at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Washington, D.C. Before coming to USA, he spent 11 years on the faculty as the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

The McCollough Medical Scholars Forum was established by Susan and Gaylon McCullough as a way to give students an understanding of the importance of the scientific and humanistic aspects of healthcare. High school students, UA pre-health professions students, and past forum participants will join UA faculty representing diverse disciplines for the event.

Gaylon McCollough is an Alabaman physician, the president of the McCollough Plastic Surgery Clinic and the founder of the McCollough Institute for Appearance and Health in Gulf Shores.

A 1965 honors graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, he served as an offensive center for the Crimson Tide football team and was named to the All-American Football Team in 1964. Since entering practice, he has obtained recognition as a surgeon and teacher through his affiliation with the largest association of specialty plastic surgeons in the world.

Susan McCollough is a native of Dothan and a 1966 graduate of the College. While at UA, she received a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse Theatre and was a top five finalist for the Miss U.S.A. International Pageant in 1964. She has held leadership positions in numerous community and civic organizations and on advisory boards.

Noted Reporter and Documentarian T.R. Reid to Speak on Health Care Disparities

Nationally recognized reporter and documentary filmmaker T.R. Reid will visit the UA campus on Feb. 27 to speak on the topic of disparities in health care. He will lecture at 6:30 p.m. in Room 127 of the Biology Building on the UA campus. Reid’s visit is a part of the 40th anniversary of New College.

Reid’s latest book The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care looks at health care systems in other developed countries as a inspiration to improve health care in the United States. PBS Frontline made two documentaries following Reid as he did reporting for the book, Sick Around the World and India–A Second Opinion.

Reid is known for his work as a reporter for the Washington Post, where he covered Congress and four presidential campaigns. He later served as the bureau chief for the Post in Tokyo and London. He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” He has also made documentary films for National Geographic Television, PBS, and the A&E Network.

His next film, "U.S. Health Care: The Good News" will be broadcast nationally on PBS early in 2012.

Reid’s visit is just one of many events planned during the 40th anniversary year of New College, the College’s interdisciplinary program offering individualized majors and minors. New College includes 11 faculty members, 210 students in self-designed majors, 50 students in self-designed minors, 50 students in minors in civic engagement and interdisciplinary environmental studies, and nearly 400 students in New College Life Track, the adult education program formerly known as the External Degree program.