Seven longtime faculty have been awarded emeritus status. They are Mary Flowers Braswell, Joseph C. Burns, Richard M. Gargiulo, John S. Gould, Raymond A. Mohl, Michael A. Morrisey and Sergio Stagno.
Mary Flowers BraswellMary Flowers Braswell, Ph.D., was named professor emerita of English in the College of Arts and Sciences after a career that spanned more than 40 years in the department. She joined UAB as an instructor and was promoted to assistant professor in 1978, associate professor in 1982 and professor in 1987. She retired June 30.
Braswell has made lasting contributions to her field of medieval literature by publishing numerous books and articles and delivering national presentations on the issues in the field. She has been active in many professional organizations during her career, including the Medieval Academy, New Chaucer Society, The Southeast Medieval Association’s Executive Board, South Atlantic Modern Language Association and the John Grower Society.
Braswell, known as a committed teacher and mentor who inspires excellence, commitment and professionalism, has received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Frederick W. Connor Prize in The History of Ideas.
Joseph C. BurnsJoseph C. Burns, Ed.D., was named associate professor emeritus in the School of Education after a career that spanned more than 30 years. Burns joined UAB in 1984 as assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and chaired the department from 1994 until 2002. He retired June 1.
Burns made a name for himself at UAB with his research and ingenuity. His Test of Integrated Process Skills II, a valid and reliable science process skill test for middle- and high-school students, has been translated into four languages and is used in more than 45 research studies. He helped establish the English as a Second Language master’s degree program during his tenure as department chair. He was the principal investigator for the Alabama Hands-on Activity Science Program grant that was funded for more than $1.8 million during a 10-year period.
Burns was instrumental in developing partnerships with Hueytown and Bryan elementary schools that provided university and school clinical placements for students in teacher education and a best practice for developing effective teachers. He was an author of the Recreating Teacher Education grant that led to funding for programs such as the Expert Mentor Teacher Program.
Burns was the only School of Education faculty member to receive the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, which he won in 2007. Other honors include the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, UAB Honors Program Faculty Teaching Award, Alabama Science Teachers Association Service Award and Sigma Xi Science Teacher of the Year.
Richard M. GargiuloRichard M. Gargiulo, Ph.D., was named professor emeritus of special education in the School of Education after a career that spanned more than 30 years. He joined the School of Education in 1982 as professor and chair of the Department of Special Education. He retired Sept. 1.
Gargiulo is a leading national author for special education. He has extensive and scholarly knowledge in special education, including universal design for learning, classroom inclusion, special education in early childhood, Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities.
Gargiulo has presented more than 100 scholarly papers and lectures to prestigious journals in the field of special education and has a history of exemplary service to the Council for Exceptional Children.
He has demonstrated his ability to successfully design and lead undergraduate- and graduate-level instructional programs and motivate students of diverse abilities with positive instruction. He is a highly sought teacher and mentor for special education students and faculty. He has mentored hundreds of students individually and been a member or chair of 12 doctoral dissertation committees.
He received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Jasper Harvey Award as the Outstanding Teacher Educator in Special Education from the Alabama Federation, Council for Exceptional Children, and he was a Fulbright Scholar at Charles University of Prague.
John S. GouldJohn S. Gould, M.D., was named professor emeritus of surgery in the School of Medicine.
Gould joined UAB in 1975 as assistant professor in the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and was chief in the Section of Hand Surgery from 1975 until 1977.
He is recognized as an international leader in hand, foot and ankle surgery and directed major training programs in these disciplines. He has authored four books, 64 book chapters, 77 articles in refereed journals and more than 100 editorials. He has presented more than 200 invited lectures at professional meetings nationally and internationally. He also served as editor-in-chief of Microsurgery and American Journal of Orthopedics.
He received the Southern Orthopaedic Association Distinguished Southern Orthopaedist award and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Achievement Award. He was listed as one of the top 23 foot and ankle surgeons in the United States by “Orthopedics This Week.”
Raymond A. MohlRaymond A. Mohl, Ph.D., was named distinguished professor emeritus of history in the College of Arts and Sciences.
After a decades-long career at other institutions, Mohl began his tenure at UAB in 1996 as professor in the Department of History and chaired the department from 1996 until 2002. Mohl distinguished himself with research activities including urban, ethnic and race-relations history and is recognized by academia, media and the legal community as an expert in his field. His work has brought national attention to UAB from professionals and major media outlets.
He has published 13 books, 165 articles, 113 book reviews and presented 129 invited lectures at professional meetings and to prestigious groups worldwide. He received Fulbright professorships in Israel, Australia and Germany, the Frederick W. Connor Prize in the History of Ideas, the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction, the Graduate School Mentor Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Florida Historical Society.
Michael A. MorriseyMichael A. Morrisey, Ph.D., was named professor emeritus of economics in the School of Public Health.
Morrisey joined UAB in 1985 as associate professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy and was a professor in the department from 1988 until 2014. He has distinguished himself as a prolific researcher serving as an investigator on more than 55 major grant-funded or contract projects. He was director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy from 1994 until 2014. He had appointments as a scholar within the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, Injury Control Research Center, Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education, Center for the Study of Community Health and Comprehensive Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Autoimmunity Center.
Morrisey has published six books, more than 164 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, more than 50 technical reports and has given more than 50 presentations since 2005 at professional meetings and to prestigious groups worldwide. He regularly contributed to the “Encyclopedia of Healthcare Management.” He also has presented testimony regarding health economics to Congress and state agencies and served on state and national advisory panels.
He received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and was a Fellow of the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., a faculty inductee of Delta Omega, the National Public Health Honor Society, and a visiting scholar for the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.
Sergio StagnoSergio Stagno, M.D., was named chair emeritus of pediatrics in the School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in perinatal infectious diseases at UAB in 1972 and became a research associate in the Department of Pediatrics the same year. He joined the faculty in 1973 as assistant professor.
Stagno was appointed chair of the department in 1989 and has played an instrumental role in its growth. His retention and recruitment efforts have more than tripled the department’s size to 200 members from 45. During his term as chair, the department established the Dixon Fellowship Program, established 11 endowed chairs, increased revenue to $100 million in 2014 from $18.3 million in 1990 and consistently improved its status as one of the top rated pediatric departments in the country as ranked by “U.S. News and World Report.”
Stagno is dedicated to the field of pediatrics and global child health and is considered a world leader on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection. He authored and co-authored 53 books chapters and 142 peer-reviewed articles in scientific and medical journals. His commitment to child health care reaches across international boundaries through the formation of the Child Health Foundation, a non-profit, private foundation that is responsible for the creation of pediatric departments in his home country at the Catholica University School of Medicine in Santiago, Chile, and the Universidad de La Frontera in Temuco, Chile.
Stagno stepped down as chair of the department in September, but will continue his work as an educator and physician at UAB and Children’s of Alabama.