Tag: faculty


Scientist Finds Historical Precedent for Warm Water Melting Antarctic Ice Shelves

Dr. Minzoni samples sediment cores

From the March 2017 Desktop News | In the last few decades, oceanographers have recognized that warm currents running underneath modern ice shelves in Antarctica are compromising ice sheet stability and contributing to rising sea levels, but there has been little evidence of historical precedent, until now. University of Alabama assistant professor Dr. Rebecca Totten Minzoni recently completed a study proving that the relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water Current caused melting on the underside of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea thousands […]

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French Professor Wins Excellence Award for Educators

From the March 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Isabelle Drewelow, an assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, recently won the Alabama World Language Association’s 2017 Alabama Educator of Excellence Award for post-secondary educators. Drewelow, a native of Bordeaux, France, began working at UA in 2010 and is also the French language program director. “I felt really proud when I received the award,” Drewelow said. “French is not just a subject for me; it’s who I am. To get […]

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Religious Studies Celebrates 50 Years

From the March 2017 Desktop News | Prayer in public schools has been a controversial issue for decades. But it was out of that very issue that religious studies departments across academia were birthed. On June 17, 1963, in the case of Abington School District v. the Schempp Family, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in the favor of Edward Lewis Schempp, decreeing that mandated Bible reading and prayer in public schools is unconstitutional. However, the judges said that it was perfectly sensible […]

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Preserving Cuban History

From the March 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Matthew LaFevor and his brother David are in a race against the clock as they seek to preserve Cuban archival records of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials that date from the island’s early colonial period (16th century) through the modern era. “The sources are decaying rapidly because of unfavorable weather, moisture and mold, insects, and other factors,” said LaFevor, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography. “Some books are too far gone […]

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UA Couple Wins Lifetime Achievement Awards

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Jim Knight, a professor emeritus of anthropology at The University of Alabama, and Dr. Judith Knight, a longtime editor at UA Press, were each awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southeastern Archaeological Conference for their decades of groundbreaking work in the field of archaeology in the South. The two are married. “I have known both of the Knights for almost 40 years,” said Dr. Ian W. Brown, professor and chair of UA’s […]

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Physicist Named APS Fellow

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Andreas Piepke, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, was recently elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in defining the nature of neutrinos, neutral subatomic particles and fundamental constituents of matter. Each year, only 0.5 percent of the 53,000 members of APS, roughly 265 people, can potentially be elected a fellow. “It’s a big honor and a welcome recognition for work done in the field,” Piepke said. […]

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Instructor Wins Award to Study Football in Cuba

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Michael Wood, an instructor in the Department of American Studies, recently received the North American Society for Sport History’s inaugural Joseph L. Arbena Award, which offers $1,000 to those pursuing research in Latin American sports history. Wood studies the history of American football in Cuba, and using the funds from the award, he traveled to Havana, Cuba, for eight days to search through archives at the University of Havana and the José Martí Cuban […]

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UA Professor Elected Fellow to American Physical Society

Dr. Andreas Piepke, a professor in The University of Alabama’s department of physics and astronomy, was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in defining the nature of neutrinos, neutral subatomic particles and fundamental constituents of matter. Each year, only 0.5 percent of the 53,000 members of APS, roughly 265 people, can potentially be elected a Fellow. “It’s a big honor and a welcome recognition for work done in the field,” Piepke said. To […]

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UA Scientist Named AAAS Fellow

Patricia Sobecky

From the January 2017 Desktop News | The world’s largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected a University of Alabama scientist to the rank of Fellow. Dr. Patricia Sobecky, UA associate provost for academic affairs and professor of biological sciences, was one of 391 people elected as an AAAS Fellow in 2016. Awardees are chosen because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. “We offer our enthusiastic congratulations to Patty […]

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Anthropologist Elected to Prestigious Antiquarian Society

Dr. Ian Brown

  From the January 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Ian Brown, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, was recently elected to The Society of Antiquaries of London—the oldest and most prestigious association for antiquarian studies in the world.   The society, which is roughly 300 years old, consists of distinguished archaeologists, art historians, architectural historians, and others who excel in the study of prehistory and antiquities. Though there are approximately 3,000 fellows in the society, only 5 percent are from […]

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