Category: Alumni

Alumni News


Summer Reading List 2017

As you enjoy your summer months, read through these books written by A&S faculty (and one alumnus) from several departments: Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, by E.O. Wilson Written by one of The University of Alabama’s most distinguished alumni, Half-Earth proposes a plan to preserve our planet’s biodiversity.  In order to solve a problem as seemingly insurmountable as extinction, Wilson suggests an incredible plan: dedicate half of Earth’s surface to nature. In order to be successful, Half-Earth explains, we […]

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A Prominent UA Alumni Couple Contributes the Largest Arts and Sciences Endowment in More Than Two Decades

From the May 2017 Desktop News | Two prominent University of Alabama alumni, Dr. E. Gaylon and Mrs. Susan N. McCollough, have gifted the College of Arts and Sciences with its largest academic endowment in more than two decades – for the purpose of creating two unprecedented initiatives: The Dr. E. Gaylon McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars and the Susan N. McCollough Art Biennale. The Institute, which is slated to be considered by The University of Alabama Board of Trustees in June 2017 […]

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Alumna Works to Establish Music BA Amidst Conflict in Myanmar

Ten Yeen accompanies her colleague Aung at a concert they organized for Dr. Joanna Biermann.

From the April 2017 Desktop News | According to UA alumna Ten Yeen Chong, the Kachin State of Myanmar is in the middle of a humanitarian crisis and civil war. Just months ago, in Nawng Nang, a village 30 minutes from Kachin’s capital Myitkyina, she said fighter jets with bombing missions flew overhead and government soldiers began appearing around the local college campus. “People flee their homes with no food, no shelter, no warm clothing, no access to medical attention, and nowhere […]

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Alumna Exhibits Video at Seattle Gallery

Withstandley's video installation

From the March 2017 Desktop News | UA alumna Elizabeth Withstandley began working on a multi-channel video of portraits called “You Can Not Be Replaced” in 2012, and the final product of her two-year labor was recently chosen to participate in the outdoor Electronic 4Culture gallery in Seattle, Washington. Only 17 U.S. artists were chosen to display their art this year in the street-facing venue at Seattle’s Pioneer Square, and her work will be displayed from May 2017 until March 2018. Withstandley […]

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Alumnus Bikes for Better Housing

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Alumnus Henry Downes didn’t take the traditional path after graduation. He took the bike path. Though Downes double-majored in political science and economics, he became a full-time Bike Adventure trip leader after graduation, working for the Fuller Center for Housing, a nonprofit organization in Americus, Georgia, that helps to eliminate poverty housing by working with individuals and communities to build and renovate houses for people in need. Each year, the Fuller Center hosts various cross-country […]

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UA Students Win First Environmental Research Competition

Winners of the Geosyntec Award

From the January 2017 Desktop News | Two students in the Department of Geological Sciences recently received $5,000 by winning the first University of Alabama Outstanding Research Competition. The competition funds theses and dissertations that perform cutting-edge research related to the assessment and treatment of chemical contaminants in soil and groundwater. The competition was created by Geosyntec Consultants, an engineering firm that works with clients to address new ventures and complex problems involving the environment, natural resources, and civil infrastructure. “Geosyntec is […]

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UA Professor Receives Highest Award in Geosciences

Dr. Nick Tew at Moraine Lake.

 From the November 2016 Desktop News | The American Geosciences Institute recently announced that Dr. Berry H. “Nick” Tew Jr., the state geologist of Alabama and the director of The University of Alabama’s Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies, has received the AGI Medal in Memory of Ian Campbell for Superlative Service to the Geosciences, the institute’s highest award. Tew is recognized for his role in bringing academia, government, industry and the public together to address major societal challenges in the geosciences. Tew […]

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Three UA Faculty Members Named Endowed Elmore Professors

In honor of Marilyn Williams Elmore and her husband John Durr Elmore, The University of Alabama Board of Trustees recently approved the establishment of The Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship, which is funded by the couple’s estate gift in excess of $300,000, provides stipends to recruit nationally and internationally distinguished teacher-scholars as well as to ensure the retention of mid-career faculty whose teaching and research skills are […]

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Piano Wing Named to Honor Alumna

The Frank Moody Music Building

From the November 2016 Desktop News |  According to alumna Gloria Narramore Moody, her “love affair” with The University of Alabama’s School of Music began while attending Girl Scouts camp between sixth and seventh grade. She was casually playing the piano—as she so often did—for a group of girls who wanted to sing when a man came up to her and asked for her name and the name of her father. She answered without missing a note, and later found out […]

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Digitizing Social Justice

“‘To See Justice Done’: Letters from the Scottsboro Trials,” is a new online database, showcasing primary resources from the Scottsboro Trials.

From the November 2016 Desktop News | Margaret Sasser, a 2014 alumna, spent one summer during her Master’s program digging through archives at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama. She had been hired by Dr. Ellen Spears, an associate professor in New College and the Department of American Studies, to sort through roughly 17 boxes of letters, postcards, telegrams, petitions, and resolutions sent to Alabama Governor Benjamin Meeks Miller regarding the 1930s Scottsboro Trials—and last month her work […]

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