Freeman Hrabowski to kick off UAB's black history celebration - Prominent educator Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, Ph.D. - named one of America's "10 Best College Presidents" by Time magazine - will give a free, public lecture at noon Feb. 1, 2011, in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hill University Center Alumni Auditorium.  Hrabowski will discuss "Preparing African-Americans for Careers in Science and Technology" during this opening celebration of Black History Month sponsored by the UAB College of Arts & Sciences and its African-American Studies Program.

Hrabowski grew up in Birmingham during its civil unrest in the 1960s. He became a child-leader and spoke of his experiences in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary, "Four Little Girls." Today, Hrabowski is the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The Yellow Wallpaper, a traveling exhibit about changing gender roles - The Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences will present "The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Yellow Wallpaper," a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine. In the late 19th century, at a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts drew on notions of female weakness to justify inequality between the sexes.

Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected these ideas in a terrifying short story titled "The Yellow Wall-Paper." The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities. The exhibit runs from Feb. 14 - March 25, 2011, at the museum in the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences, 1700 University Blvd.  The library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and admission is free.

Carolyn Conley, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of History and Anthropology at UAB, will present an accompanying lecture titled "'In Such Cases There Was a Predisposition to Kill the Child': Mothers, Homicide and Insanity in Victorian Britain. The lecture is at noon Tuesday, March 8 in the Lister Hill Library Ireland Room.
Media Contact: Bob Shepard: 205-934-8934 or
bshep@uab.edu.

Quality measures for health care - When booking a hotel room or making a restaurant reservation, consumers can turn to rating services or consumer reports for information to help them make good choices. Not so with hospitals and health-care facilities; but that's changing.  

The topic of high-quality health care will be discussed during the annual Quality Symposium, co-sponsored by the UAB Department of Health Services Administration and UAB Medicine, from 8 a.m. - noon Friday, Feb. 18, 2011, in the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover. Tickets are $50 and include a continental breakfast.

Health-care expert Greg Carlson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Health Services Administration, says ratings of hospitals for clinical outcomes for consumers are in the near future. "The need for transparency in health care is coming," said Carlson. "Transparency will breed competition, which will improve the value proposition for health-care consumers."
Media relations contact: Bob Shepard, 205-934-8934 or bshep@uab.edu

Calling all clarinetists: UAB Clarinet Symposium March 5-6 - Clarinetists of all ages and performance levels are invited to participate in the ninth annual UAB Clarinet Symposium March 5-6, 2011, presented by the UAB Department of Music. The weekend will feature workshops, master classes, clarinet choir, recitals and clinics by some of the nation's finest clarinetists. The symposium is led by UAB Associate Professor of Music Denise Gainey, D.M.A., who also will perform. Guest artists for the symposium include Anne Watson, D.M.A., of Northeastern State University; Morrie Backun of Backun Musical Services; Diane Barger, D.M.A., of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; London Silas Shavers, M.M., of Northwest Mississippi Community College; Robert Janssen, D.M.A., of Alabama School of Fine Arts; Christy Banks, D.M.A., of Millersville University; and Jessica Lindsey, M.M., of Concordia University and Doane College. Performances by state university professors Lori Ardovino, D.M.A., of the University of Montevallo, Tim Phillips, D.M.A., of Troy University, and Osiris Mollina, D.M.A., of the University of Alabama also will be featured. The cost for the symposium is $40, and the deadline for registration is Friday, March 4. For information or to register, contact Gainey at clarinet@uab.edu or 205-975-0558. Visit the department online at http://www.uab.edu/cas/music.
Media contact: Shannon Thomason, 205-975-8858 or Thomason@uab.edu

Brain Awareness Week at McWane - Want to gain some insight into how your brain works? UAB neuroscience graduate students will celebrate Brain Awareness Week with educational activities at the McWane Science Center. The students will demonstrate brain function through dissections of animal brains and various activities that illustrate the way the senses work. The activities are varied and suitable for children of all ages.

Brain Awareness Week is 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. March 14-18 in the McWane Science Center, 209 19th Street North. Last year's event drew more than 1,600 attendees.

Sponsors include the UAB Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, UAB Neuroscience Graduate Program, Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and Birmingham Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience and the UAB Center for Community Outreach and Development.
Media Contact: Bob Shepard: 205-934-8934 or bshep@uab.edu.