Kaye Cochran Nail, instructor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of History, is finding innovative ways for her History of Alabama (HC-116 2C) students to craft and share public history stories with audiences across the state.

Prior to the Fall 2021 semester, Nail connected with Rebecca Minder, director of Alabama Heritage magazine, to co-create a new learning opportunity for undergraduate students at UAB. Minder quickly noted that the magazine—which is officially co-published by UAB, the University of Alabama, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History—has a popular blog that regularly needs well-researched and engaging content. Together, Nail and Minder decided the students were well-positioned to support this valuable storytelling effort.

“It has turned out to be a great way for our UAB students to join with other students to publish blogs on interesting topics related to Alabama history,” said Nail.

So far, her students have published eight blogs on topics including the Tuskegee syphilis study, the Battle of Mobile Bay, and Lewis Smith Lake. Throughout the remainder of the semester, students will continue to author and publish pieces for the website.

"We are honored and excited to be working with the young scholars in Kaye Cochran Nail's Alabama history course this semester,” said Susan E. Reynolds, Ph.D., editor of Alabama Heritage magazine. “Their contributions to our blog have been valuable to our readership, and we think it is wonderful that these students are taking an interest in our state's history. We hope to continue this partnership in the future so that more students will be able to engage in the Alabama history community.”

Moving forward, Nail hopes to deepen the partnership with Alabama Heritage magazine and create more opportunities for students to obtain hands-on experience with public history.

According to Jonathan Wiesen, Ph.D., chair of the Department of History, “It is inspiring to see our students so engaged in Public History with these blog entries. This is exactly the kind of community engagement that I love to see at UAB—students using their knowledge of history in service of educating our fellow Alabamians.”

Read the Alabama Heritage blog.

This fall, all tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-earning College of Arts and Sciences faculty were invited to submit proposals for a new grant titled, “Building a Multicultural Curriculum.” The goal of these awards is to support faculty in developing new courses or revising existing classes in order to expand the College’s offerings that will support students’ diversity awareness and build their multicultural competence.

Congratulations to the winning proposals for the 2020-2021 academic year.

• Dr. Erin Borry, Department of Political Science and Public Administration: “Isms in Public Administration”
• Dr. Olivio J. Clay, Department of Psychology: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research and the Workplace”
• Prof. Michele Forman, Department of History: “Our Histories: Documentary Film and Public History in Birmingham”
• Dr. Reginald Jackson, Department of Music: “African American Music from 1619-Present”
• Dr. Dione Moultrie King, Department of Social Work: “The Health and Well-being of Black Americans: A Social Work Approach”
• Dr. Angela Lewis-Maddox, Department of Political Science and Public Administration: “Social Justice and Pop Culture”
• Dr. Samiksha Raut, Department of Biology: “Building a Multicultural Curriculum”
• Prof. Ana Maria Santiago, Department of English: “Themes in Lit with a Latina-o-x American Identity Focus”

The 2020 UAB Excellence in Business Top 25 event was a little different this year, but the celebration, held via Zoom on Thursday, June 25, was just as meaningful as previous award ceremonies. Nine College of Arts and Sciences alumni were honored as members of the 2020 class—we are very proud of their achievements.

These deserving graduates were among 25 UAB alumni recognized for their success at a company they founded, owned, or managed. The UAB National Alumni Society has ranked and verified the nominated companies based on the annual growth rate for the three most recent reporting periods.

Companies being considered for an Excellence in Business Award must meet the following criteria:

1. The company must be owned, managed or founded by a UAB graduate (or group of graduates) who meets one of the following:
   • Owned 50 percent or more of the company during the most recent eligible period.
   • Served on the most senior/division leadership team (chairman, CEO, president, partner, vice president, broker, etc.) during the eligible period.
2. The company has been in operation for a minimum of three years prior to December 31, 2019.
3. The company has verifiable revenues of at least $150,000 for its most recent 12-month reporting period.

Congratulations to our deserving graduates!

Andrew S. Baer, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of History, has published a new book entitled, “Beyond the Usual Beating: The Jon Burge Police Torture Scandal and Social Movements for Police Accountability in Chicago,” (University of Chicago Press).

Baer studied the Civil Rights Movement early in his career, but over time he began to focus on cities in the northern United States, including Chicago.

“My research interests lie on the intersection of race, policing, and social movements,” Baer says. “While this book focuses on Chicago from the 1970s to the present, these issues are timeless, and I hope my arguments are transportable to other contexts. I decided to study police torture in Chicago and social movements for police accountability because I wanted to join scholars who have pushed research on the Civil Rights Movement into new directions, namely by focusing on the period after 1970, on issues other than voting rights and desegregation, and locations beyond the South.”

Baer says the book is applicable beyond a specific city or time frame. “The Chicago police torture cases remain relevant for both abstract and concrete reasons. On an abstract level, many of the general themes of my work—racial disparities in law enforcement, police violence, and grassroots resistance—remain prevalent in cities across America today. Activists and policymakers might draw lessons from this history to improve policing and ensure accountability in the present day. On a more concrete level, the survivors of police torture in Chicago continue to suffer the effects of their abuse.”

Baer is now working on his second book, “Black and Missing,” which explores the intersection of race, law enforcement, and missing persons.