by Kayla Jenkins

Alumna Debbie Jo Severin remembers her days as a UAB undergraduate student as extraordinary.

Her time here was instrumental in molding many traditions for future Blazers, and she continues to invest in the future of UAB students.

“My freshman year was the year that they decided to bring the basketball program. And that was a magical time because we were defining what student life would be at UAB,” Severin said. “I was in the second group of ambassadors. I was the second Miss UAB. I can walk around the campus and see my own fingerprints here and what we as a group of students started to build.”

Having originally planned to complete her bachelor’s degree in just three years, Severin decided to spend four years on campus and fully enjoy the student experience she had helped create for herself and others. Severin earned her B.S. in 1981 and her M.S. in 1983, both in mathematics.

Her accomplishments, and the opportunities UAB afforded her, were instrumental in her later decisions and successes. “I look back and see that was really the start of the way I built my career, what I do today and how I think about life in general,” Severin said.

The guidance of her professors and counselors during her time at UAB was instrumental in helping her build confidence, take risks, and orchestrate future decisions in her life, she said. 

Years later, after building a successful career, Severin thought about the important role that UAB played in her life, from faculty who guided her to the experiences she had as a student. “I started hearing the voices of the professors and all the opportunities UAB gave me,” said Severin. “And I thought to myself, ‘I owe UAB.’”

Severin was also motivated by her family’s own financial circumstances. When she was a student, Severin’s parents could have used help in getting her through UAB. She said her parents worked hard to instill the importance of an education and when they didn’t have much, they gave what they could to help her finish her degree.

“My mom and dad didn’t have a lot of money. They worked hard to send us to UAB. After they passed away, it occurred to me to fund an endowed scholarship in their name,” remembered Severin. “So I love when I get the [thank you] letter every year because I know that my parents would be so thrilled that they not only put me and my sister through school, but in name they are helping somebody else go to school.”

In honor of her parents and their passion for education, Severin and her husband Lars Gunnar created an endowed scholarship in her parents’ names in 2011. The James C. and Carol Warner Endowed Scholarship has allowed numerous students in the Department of Mathematics to set aside their financial burdens and focus on their academic and career goals.

Five years after creating the scholarship in honor of her parents, Severin and her husband had a strong desire to play a part in helping UAB attract the best students and build its own prestige in the undergraduate ranks. The couple decided to create another endowed scholarship in the Department of Mathematics, this time in their own names.

When asked what she hoped would be the outcome of creating the scholarship, Severin said, “A student who may not have selected UAB (or had the chance to go to UAB) will make that decision.”

Our activity level in the College increased right alongside the spring and summer temperatures. From exhibits at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts to a Spring Commencement that is only growing in size and excitement, we had countless achievements to celebrate and numerous opportunities to come together as a campus community.

Our commitment to providing a world-class education to our undergraduates and graduate students is evident in our programming, our instruction, our advising, and our facilities. Everything we do is to ensure that our students are successful while they are here and long after they leave to pursue their careers. We encourage you to return to campus and be a part of today’s UAB. From lectures to music performances, from theatre productions to art exhibits, from films to cookouts, there’s something wonderful for you to experience.

Spring Commencement

Summer Exhibits at AEIVA

THINK LIBERAL ARTS MAJORS CAN'T GET A JOB? THINK AGAIN.

These commonly held opinions—that the liberal arts are a dead end—are more myth than fact. While we've made tremendous (and fruitful) investments in growing STEM education at all levels, graduates from the arts and humanities are critical to ensure our economy grows broadly. And there are good jobs available to them. Manufacturers need employees with cultural competency and language skills as more and more products are being built and assembled in countries all over the world. Insurance companies, real estate and investment firms, and banks need people who can explain their increasingly complex products and services. Healthcare organizations need people who can listen to patients and their caregivers, analyze information, and develop ways to communicate among the teams.

Even tech firms are suddenly scrambling for graduates who can communicate, problem solve, and market the products. Sure, computer scientists can build hardware and software. But someone has to think about the ethics of a given technology, view it in the context of different societies and cultures, design the product and packaging, write everything from the instruction manual to the script for the commercials, score the soundtrack for the viral ad campaign, shoot the video and photos, and sell it to a worldwide audience. There are a whole lot of people behind that iPhone you use, and they're not all computer science folks.

But still, the myths persist, and the pressures on high school students to find a high-paying job as soon as they graduate are tremendous. Here are the most common misperceptions of liberal arts majors and a breakdown of how valuable these degrees really are, as well as what UAB is doing to ensure our students find careers that are right for them.

While these myths (and the realities) apply to all of the arts and humanities, we've focused on English as a representative major. We talked to Dr. Daniel Siegel, Associate Professor in the Department of English, Elizabeth Simmons, Assistant Director in Career and Professional Development (Liberal Arts, Public Health and Nursing), and recent graduates Kayla McLaughlin and Brodie Foster.

MYTH 1:  THERE AREN'T ANY JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIBERAL ARTS MAJORS

Daniel Siegel: If English was ever an impractical major, it looks to me like those days are gone. English majors are a natural fit for jobs in media and communication, marketing, public relations, corporate training, and research and analysis. English is also great preparation for pre-professional programs, including medical school.

When I see lists of majors ranked by salary expectation—the average salary over the course of a career—English is usually somewhere in the middle. I assume this is because many English majors choose careers that they find meaningful.

On the other hand, for English majors looking for lucrative careers, my sense is that their degree positions them to succeed in many industries and professions. They have talents that every employer needs. They know how to read carefully, write forcefully, do research, work creatively in independent directions, produce polished documents, engage in discussion and debate, understand different points of view, analyze cultural trends, and hear what people are saying.


Elizabeth Simmons: Employers tell us every day that they need people who can communicate, who can think critically, and who can problem solve. They're looking for blended skills—people who can deal with more complexity.

We know that careers are not linear. Our professional journeys have lots of twists and turns. And a liberal arts major is not a vocational degree. It's important to spend time exploring your options in college to decide what is meaningful to you and find out what you're good at. We're here to normalize the fact that not everyone knows what they want their career to be. Students tend to feel like everyone else has it together, but in fact they really don't. Take lots of classes, do several internships, work with your professors, your academic advisors and with our career counselors, and a path will emerge for you. Our liberal arts majors are in demand. They just need to learn how to sell themselves.


Brodie Foster: This is the myth that I find the most nonsensical, to be honest. I switched from a pre-med psychology track to an English degree and ultimately found that the soft skills I had been developing throughout my undergraduate degree could apply to a number of different fields—particularly digital media and content strategy, which is where I found my post-college job.

The way I always approached my career search was that through my liberal arts degree, I learned to be teachable and to communicate well. I knew that whatever career I pursued would come with hard skills that I might have to pick up, but my skills would be the ones that made me stand out to employers. Particularly because I work in the digital media industry, technology changes every few months but my ‘soft skills' in communication and creative conception can be applied to anything.


Kayla McLaughlin: There are a lot of creatives out there, but creatives are in high-demand. Such high-demand, in fact, that getting the jobs they want is highly competitive. Experience and determination separates the hired from the rejected. Use what you know to get what you really want.

MYTH 2: IF YOU DO GET A JOB, YOU'LL NEVER EARN ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY THE TUITION YOU SPENT ON YOUR DEGREE

Elizabeth Simmons: If you go back to the original vision for a university education, these [liberal arts] majors were never designed to be vocational degrees. Our mission is to create whole human beings and citizens.

I think as the economic pressures have intensified, we have all—especially parents—shifted to a mentality that you should go to college to ensure a lucrative and stable career. That's certainly a part of it, but that approach can be detrimental to students who are not pursuing professional degrees. We encourage liberal arts students to start pinpointing their strengths and weaknesses early on, then we can help them start thinking about what they can do with their degree based on that assessment. We also encourage them to do as many internships as they can. It's being more self-aware and more intentional in their choices. Employers want to know they can come into a job and contribute immediately. When our students are able to do that, they are on track for a very successful career, regardless of their field.

 
Daniel Siegel: To students and parents, I'd say to choose a major based on what interests you and what you're good at. That's where you're going to make your contribution. Even if you want to be purely pragmatic in your decision about what to study, the most practical thing you can do is to build on your talents and talk to lots of people about how you can market and apply those talents. To those lucky enough to be good at different things, cultivate all of those talents in college. Get a double major, or at least take classes in different fields. It's that combination of skills, perspectives, and experiences more than your on-paper major that will set you apart in the working world.

Our goal is to help our students learn about options they haven't thought of, find some clarity about their own priorities, connect with the resources that UAB and the community have to offer them, and leave with confidence about the next step.


Brodie Foster: To be honest, I never really considered salary when I was looking at job options. I found that my heart was in storytelling and digital media and never really considered what kind of salary situation I would be in, but haven't been disappointed by what I've found. I always had more of the mindset that once I found what I was good at and what I loved, the salary would fall into place. I always knew that no matter what happened with my primary career goals, I would always have a set of marketable skills that would get me where I needed to be.

 
Kayla McLaughlin: I know many students—myself included—were able to acquire scholarships and grants that helped lessen that cost. Although I'm in an entry level position right now, I'll only get paid more from here. That has already justified the hard work I put into finding scholarships and graduating with honors.

MYTH 3: PEOPLE IN THE LIBERAL ARTS ARE IMPRACTICAL, IDEALISTIC ROMANTICS

Elizabeth Simmons: UAB students have real opportunities to add value to their degrees, and they are pursuing them. We have liberal arts students who take classes outside their majors to give them a few more skills that will make them marketable. Analytics or accounting classes in the School of Business, for example. The new Bachelor of Arts in Computer and Information Sciences is a fantastic new degree that will be a boon to a lot of students, because that is really what employers are looking for—that mix of skills. Liberal arts students who can code are incredibly attractive to employers.

“This is your brain on drugs.”

Perhaps no other analogy has done as much to illustrate brain function as the now-famous 1987 public service announcement aimed at reducing narcotics use. But Dr. Rajesh Kana, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Cognition, Brain and Autism Laboratory at the Civitan International Research Center (CIRC), has a few metaphors of his own that explain how the brains of austistic people work.

“When I give talks, I often tell people to think about airports,” he says. “Our research findings indicate that so much about Autism Spectrum Disorder is about the quality of the connections between different regions of the brain. For example, it’s easy to get from Birmingham to Atlanta, Memphis, or Nashville. But it’s harder to get from Birmingham to Amsterdam. So, the local connectivity of the Birmingham Airport is pretty good; whereas its long-distance connectivity is rather poor. In the same way, those long connections in the brain, from the visual cortex in the back of the brain to the front of the brain, can be easily disrupted in people with ASD.”



“You can also think about the strength of those connections,” he continues.

“You don’t want a connection that is too high with too many signals, or one that is too low with too little input. It’s like your mobile phone,” he says. “If the connection is too weak, then you won’t be able to receive calls. It has to be optimum. For people with ASD, their connections may be too high, or too low, resulting in disrupted connectivity.”

Collecting Images

Dr. Kana, who came to UAB from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, was one of only a handful of neuroimaging researchers on campus when he arrived nine years ago. He was drawn to UAB for several reasons, including the opportunity to work with children with developmental disabilities, the interdisciplinary opportunities that were available between the Psychology department and the School of Medicine, the commitment to autism research by then-Civitan director Dr. Harry Sontheimer, and the availability of MRI scanners that could advance his research.

Within a short six months his operation was up and running, and within a few years, several other researchers working in neuroimaging had joined UAB. “I think there were three or four of us when I started, and today there are 20 or more,” Kana says.

Dr. Kana with his students. Front row, from left: Carla Ammons, Abbey Herringshaw, Haley Bednarz, Melissa Thye, Emma Sartin, Thomas DeRamus. Mary-Elizabeth Winslett, Niharika Loomba, Victoria Seghatol-Eslami, Rebecca DonnellyKana’s approach is to see the brain as a whole. “We’re looking at signatures, at those connections,” he says. “Traditionally, researchers in the field were looking for focal, isolated neural stamps or flags that one could identify as causes of autism. But there’s never been a consistent or clear focal marker. By focusing on parts, one may be addressing only half the story. We want to see parts as well as how the whole brain working together as a team—the crosstalk between regions and how those regions influence each other.”

Kana looks at a few key areas in people who are on the higher end of the autism spectrum: the function of the brain, particularly during a social tasks such as mindreading; the brain’s mass, including the thickness and volume of the cortex; the white matter of the brain measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI); and the chemical composition of the brain, as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

“For example, one way we measure the brain’s function—its connectivity and activity—is to ask children to infer emotion based on language or a scene from a movie clip,” he explains. “We will put them into a scanner and then show them a movie clip and ask them to tell us what the characters are feeling based on facial expressions and body language. Or we will run tests that challenge them to detect absurdity in language by giving them a series of sentences such as, ‘It is freezing cold outside. It may be a good idea to not wear a jacket while going out.’ Typically ASD individuals have a difficult time identifying those absurdities.”

Dr. Kana and his graduate students have collected a large database of about 150 children and adults with autism whom they’ve scanned. In two studies that he and his team have published, they used a computer algorithm to analyze the data. “We apply our findings to a technique called machine learning,” he says. “We taught the computer certain algorithms to see features in a data set, and the computer then classified participants into groups based on key attributes, such as brain connectivity patterns or cortical thickness patterns. We found that the computer could classify data from participants with autism from that of typical controls with about 95-96% accuracy,” he says.

Developing Interventions

Autism researchers in the Department of Psychology Dr. Frank Amthor, Professor • Interim Director, Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program • Research interests: neural computation, retinal physiology Dr. Fred Biasini, Associate Professor • Director, Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program • Research and teaching interests: ASD, effects of parent-infant interaction on development, social development, children of substance abusers Dr. Kristi Guest, Assistant Professor • Disabilities Services Coordinator for UAB Head Start Program • Research Coordinator for UAB Civitan-Sparks Clinics and UAB Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) • Research interests: ASD, developmental psychology, infant and child development Dr. Maria Hopkins, Associate Professor • Director of Undergraduate Studies in Psychology • Research interests: ASD, social-emotional development in children Dr. Rajesh Kana, Associate Professor • Co-Director, Undergraduate Neuroscience Program • Director, Cognition, Brain, and Autism Laboratory • Research interests: social, cognitive and affective neuroscience, neuroimaging, autism spectrum disorders, brain and language Dr. Sarah O’Kelley, Assistant Professor • Director, ASD Clinic at UAB Civitan-Sparks Clinics • Training Director, UAB LEND • Research and teaching interests: cognitive and behavioral phenotypes of children and adults with ASD, ASD screening and interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment outcomes Dr. Laura Stoppelbein, Associate Professor • Research interests: stress and coping among children, adolescents and families; stress and anxiety among ASD-diagnosed children

The question is, what are the impacts of these findings? One key long-term benefit is early diagnosis. Currently, an autism diagnosis is based on behavior, and those behaviors may not become evident until a child is age two or older. The earlier a child can be diagnosed, the better the outcome of intervention efforts since a young brain is extremely plastic and more receptive to therapy. “In 15-30 years we could be close to a clinical diagnosis during the first six months of a child’s life; and what we are trying to do is to investigate whether we can provide a biological index to help with this,” Kana says.

“We already know that clinicians and educators can use their intervention and instruction to address these connectivity problems,” he says. “For example, reading comprehension can be a challenge for many people with ASD. They can read the words very quickly, but they may not understand the meaning of the passage they just completed. In one of our recent studies, we brought participants from across the country to UAB to participate in our MRI scans. Then they went back home to participate in an intense training program called Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking, which includes 200 hours of face-to-face intervention on reading comprehension. For example, here in Birmingham, participants work with the Lindamood Bell Learning Processes Center to complete the program. After those 200 hours of training, they come back and we scan them again, and we can see changes in the brain in terms of activity and connectivity after the second scan.”

Building a Team

Kana’s lab also has close collaboration with Auburn University MRI center. This is facilitated by a statewide collaborative initiative called the Alabama Advanced Imaging Consortium (AAIC) that connects Auburn and UAB, and other major research centers across the state. Co-directed by Dr. Thomas S. Denney, Jr., professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Auburn University, and Dr. Adrienne Lahti, the Patrick H. Linton Professor in the UAB Department of Psychiatry, the consortium provides project management and support among scientists and enables them to share equipment. Dr. Kana has access to the Auburn MRI Research Center and its Siemens 7T MRI machine and Siemens Verio Open-Bore 3T scanner; Auburn scientists in turn have access to UAB’s Siemens Prisma 3T MRI scanner. “That is a very important partnership for us,” he says. “We can reach out to the larger neuroimaging community and ask deeper and broader research questions as expertise is always available at one center or another.”

Dr. Kana also has several Ph.D. students and three undergraduate neuroscience majors in his lab. “We have a lot of interest from students in what we’re doing,” he says. “We’re the only active lab at UAB doing neuroimaging research for autism spectrum disorders.”

He also notes that a number of his recent graduates have gone on to secure high-level jobs at prestigious labs and institutions. Dr. Lauren Libero was the first author on a paper published last March in the journal “Cortex” that outlined the group’s multimodal approach. She is now a post-doctoral scholar at the University of California-Davis MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). “That is an excellent center for autism research and Lauren is on the right tracks for a promising career,” Kana says.

He adds that Dr. Amy Lemelman, who graduated recently, is now working in the lab of Dr. Catherine Lord, the director of the Institute for Brain Development at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Lord is renowned in the field of autism research and developed the tools that clinicians use to diagnose autism.

And Dr. Donna Murdaugh, who graduated last year from Dr. Kana’s lab, is now doing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric clinical neuropsychology through the Emory University School of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Professional Psychology. Another graduate, Dr. Heather Wadsworth is a clinical psychologist at the Glenwood Foundation for Autism in Birmingham.

Kana has two pending papers on the language intervention studies that will be published as soon as they finish the peer-review process. And he continues to scan the brains of participants to find new ways to understand, diagnose and treat autism. “We have excellent graduate and undergraduate students and hence the lab has been very productive,” he says. “Our work just rolls on. Our long-term goal is to expand the lab to a larger center for autism where research, clinical, and educational activities can be converged. We need all levels of support for achieving this.”

Local high school student raises funds for Dr. Kana’s lab Shanden Fifer, a student at Indian Springs School in Birmingham, learned about Dr. Kana’s work and was motivated to embark on a fundraising project to support him. We asked him a few questions about his experience and his passion for autism research at UAB. 1. How did you learn about Dr. Kana’s Autism Research Lab? My initial connection with Dr. Kana and his research was when my grandmother responded to an autism research study advertised in The UAB Reporter. My brother has autism and participated in Dr. Kana’s study.   2. Why did you choose to raise funds and awareness for Dr.  Kana’s Autism Research Lab? As an eighth grader at Highlands School, I completed a yearlong capstone project. My primary focus was on autism awareness. I decided to interview 10 autism researchers to try to learn more, and Dr. Kana was one of them. Through my research, I also learned that autism research is not funded as much as some other diseases, so I wanted to help.  In my final report, I indicated that my objectives were to continue to raise community awareness about autism and to conduct a two-year fundraiser to help support some facet of autism research. • Year One - Donated $1,190 to the Autism Society of Alabama. I also presented my comprehensive report at Highlands School and I developed a web page and flier that were made available to the community. • Year Two - Raised $1,135 to support Dr. Rajesh Kana, Autism Research Lab, UAB Department of Psychology.  I also presented an autism presentation to the Irondale City Council, and they made a very generous contribution of blue light bulbs to light up the community for National Autism Awareness Month. 3. What do you hope will come of his research? I have been acquainted with Dr. Kana for more than seven years.  He is very passionate about his work.  Each time I see him, he is excited about an autism research project that is in the works. I am convinced that one day he or someone else in the autism research field will solve the puzzle about autism.  A breakthrough will come… a breakthrough that will help my brother and many others.

In a paper recently published by the American Schools of Oriental Research, UAB archaeologist Sarah Parcak, Ph.D., and Christopher Tuttle, executive director of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, announced the discovery of a massive, previously unknown structure in Petra, a 2,500-year-old city in southern Jordan that was the capital of the ancient Nabataean kingdom.

Parcak is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is also a National Geographic Fellow and winner of the 2016 TED Prize.

The city of Petra is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, located in Jordan’s southwestern desert. Petra is half-built, half-carved into rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. In 1985 it was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage site and named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

The structure—a platform that is roughly the length of an Olympic-size swimming pool and twice as wide—is located about half a mile south of the center of the ancient city. Given its size, shape and prominent location, Parcak believes the site was a public structure and possibly had some sort of ceremonial function.

Cristin Gavin, Ph.D., co-director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program and assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology, has been selected as the recipient of a National Academic Advising Association award.

NACADA named Gavin the 2016 winner of their Outstanding New Advisor Award in the Faculty Academic Advising category. Gavin was nominated for the award by colleagues in the Department of Neurobiology and the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program and neuroscience students.

“This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of students and who have served as an advisor for a period of three (3) or fewer years,” the NACADA said in a news release. “The Faculty Academic Advising category includes those individuals whose primary responsibility is teaching and who spend a portion of their time providing academic advising services to students.”

Gavin, who is also co-director of the UAB Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), teaches for the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, the Science and Technology Honors Program, and the Graduate School.

Julie Locher, Ph.D., director of the UAB Translational Nutrition and Aging Program, received the Gerontological Society of America 2016 M. Powell Lawton Award for her contributions in gerontology research.

Locher received her doctorate in Medical Sociology in 1999. Her current research focuses on how social support and community and health care practices and policies affect eating behaviors and nutrition-related health outcomes in older adults and in cancer patients and survivors.

This distinguished award recognizes a significant contribution in gerontology that has led to an innovation in gerontological treatment, practice or service, prevention, amelioration of symptoms or barriers, or a public policy change that has led to some practical application improving the lives of older persons. It is sponsored by the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life’s Polisher Research Institute and is named in memory of M. Powell Lawton, Ph.D., for his outstanding contributions to applied gerontological research.

Akilah Dulin Keita, Ph.D., who received her doctorate in Medical Sociology in 2007, has been named the Manning Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Brown University School of Public Health.

Dr. Dulin Keita came to UAB as an undergraduate in 2000 with plans to study political science, but finished with majors in sociology and Spanish and a minor in criminal justice.

In her four years at Brown, Dr. Dulin Keita has worked on identifying and exploring the community dynamics that affect diet and health, including how urban revitalization policies and public health efforts impact behaviors and outcomes. She also continues to work with her UAB colleagues. “UAB is a powerhouse,” she says.

Endowed University Professor of Polar Biology James McClintock, Ph.D. and fellow professor Chuck Amsler, Ph.D., both of the Department of Biology, have published a paper in the journal “Organic Letters” with their colleague Bill Baker, Ph.D., professor at the University of South Florida. In it, the researchers explain that the defensive mechanisms of Antarctic marine algae, sponges and other invertebrate species hold promise for humans, too. The scientists isolated a compound from Dendrilla membranosa that is remarkably effective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

In lab tests, the compound, which the researchers named “darwinolide” after the sponge’s family name, Darwinellidae, killed 98 percent of MRSA cells. “It’s a defensive compound against microbes with some very interesting properties,” McClintock said, adding that the next step is to synthesize darwinolide in the lab.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 80,000 invasive MRSA infections are diagnosed in the United States each year, and more than 11,000 patients die from MRSA-related complications.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Bliss Chang, who graduated in 2015 with degrees in biology and biochemistry, has won a 2016 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship. This award, worth $5,000, is one more accomplishment in a long line of achieve­ments by the Montgomery native that include his undergraduate education at UAB, a fellowship in Germany, and now, the joint M.D./Ph.D. program at Harvard Medical School.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Chang is among 57 students nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship this year.

Since its creation in 1932, the Fellowship Program of Phi Kappa Phi has become one of the Society’s most visible and financially well-supported endeavors, allocating $345,000 annually to deserving students for first-year graduate or professional study. Currently, 51 Fellowships of $5,000 and six of $15,000 are awarded each year.

Dr. Robert E. Palazzo The fall semester is always an exciting time as our returning students come back to campus and our freshmen experience our dorms and classrooms for the first time. The energy is palpable from the hallways of our academic buildings to the bookstores, coffee shops and dining areas across campus. The students are happy to be back, and our faculty have worked hard to prepare courses that will be rewarding, challenging and fulfilling.

This fall is especially exciting as we welcome the largest freshman class to ever enroll at UAB. In fact, total enrollment in the College is up 10% over last year—a remarkable achievement. Thanks to the efforts of our colleagues in Enrollment Management, University Relations and senior administration, we have been able to tell the powerful story of UAB to more potential students than ever before—and they have responded in spades. We are drawing a talented and committed group of young people to our university from area high schools and from across the nation and the globe. They see what we already know: students can get a world-class education here for an affordable price. And with a UAB degree in hand, their opportunities are boundless.

Please continue to support the College as we work to educate more young people than ever before. Your gifts and your time are so valuable to us. Learn more about our opportunities. And if you’re an alumnus, be sure to join us during Homecoming Week, October 17-21. I look forward to seeing you on campus. We appreciate your attention and your support!

Go Blazers!
R.E. Palazzo, Dean