A&S Receives Top Honors

From the April 2015 Desktop News | Students and faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences won five of the eight Premier Awards given annually by the University. The awards are UA’s top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service.

Jason Arterburn
Jason Arterburn

Jason Arterburn, senior, interdisciplinary studies in New College and economics

Jason Arterburn was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recognizing excellence of character and service to humanity. Arterburn has received the prestigious Harry S. Truman and David L. Boren scholarships as well as a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State.

Among his many service projects, Arterburn’s engagement with Birmingham to Beijing stands out. He and a partner taught Chinese language and culture classes to highly motivated high school students, and they helped raise $50,000 to cover program costs, which included a cultural exchange to Beijing. Arterburn has also participated in the University Fellows Experience, Black Belt Experience, Crossroads Community Center and Project Bright Side, for which he helped design a service learning course at the Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama.

Derek Carter
Derek Carter

Derek Carter, junior, mathematics and economics

Derek Carter received the John Fraser Ramsey Award, which includes a month-long trip to Europe and a $3,000 stipend. While at UA, Carter has worked extensively with 57 Miles, a program in which UA students engage with the community in Marion, Alabama, to improve its community members’ quality of life. Carter served as director of economic development and taught a three-week class at Francis Marion High School as part of the initiative. Carter has also moved to Marion and commutes twice a week to Tuscaloosa for classes.

Brian Goodell
Brian Goodell

Brian Goodell, senior, physics and chemical engineering

Brian Goodell received the Catherine Johnson Randall Award recognizing the most outstanding graduating senior at UA. Since his freshman year at UA, Goodell has wanted to promote sustainability by researching ways to provide alternative energy. He became involved with the Center for Materials for Information Technology and its studies of novel substitutes for rare-earth magnets. More recently, he is collecting and analyzing data involved in the study of nanoparticles. He is also a Goldwater Scholar.

Allison Montgomery
Allison Montgomery

Allison Montgomery, senior, biology

Allison Montgomery was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recognizing excellence of character and service to humanity. Montgomery has sat both as the chief justice of the Honors College Council and the University-wide Council and has helped promote UA’s Academic Integrity Week and other initiatives.

As vice president of academic affairs in the Student Government Association, she began the College Bound Initiative, which brought 90 third- and fifth-graders from Tuscaloosa to campus to see what college life is like. This year, she is participating in UA’s Rural Medical Scholars program and will enter The University of Alabama School of Medicine in the fall of 2015. She was elected homecoming queen in fall 2014.

Dr. Paul Houghtaling
Dr. Paul Houghtaling

Dr. Paul Houghtaling, associate professor, School of Music

Dr. Paul Houghtaling received the Morris Lehman Mayer Award recognizing one faculty member who exemplifies integrity, selfless service and leadership at UA and in the community. The award also recognizes significant contributions made to student life.

Houghtaling directs UA’s opera theatre program in the School of Music and also serves as the artistic director of the Druid City Opera Workshop, a weeklong young artist training intensive at UA. In January 2010, 2011 and 2012, Houghtaling and several student members of UA’s Opera Theatre represented UA as finalists in the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition in Atlanta, San Antonio and Memphis. The ensemble placed second and third in 2011 and captured third place again in 2012. In 2014-2015, two of his UA students were finalists in the Vann Vocal Institute’s Emerging Artists Competition; one won second place. Houghtaling was named the 2015 Music Educator of the Year by the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa County.