Students attend the NASW-Alabama chapter’s Advocacy Day

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Students attend the NASW-Alabama chapter’s Advocacy Day

April 16, 2019
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Seven undergraduate and graduate students attended the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Alabama Chapter’s Advocacy Day in Montgomery.

NASW 2019 Seven undergraduate and graduate students — Evelyn Nichols, Kelsey Allison, Joshua Sewell, Whitney Zeigler, Ashlee Lawler, Laura Sanders, and Joseph Abua — attended the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Alabama Chapter’s Advocacy Day in Montgomery on April 11, 2019. They learned about advocating for policy change with elected officials.

Students also had the opportunity to listen to the keynote speaker, Mildred "Mit" C. Joyner who is a Professor Emerita of Social Work at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She was named an NASW Pioneer in 2011.

Political Science and Public Administration faculty win national awards
Three faculty members in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration received organization-wide awards from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.
Three faculty members in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Dr. Nevbahar Ertas, Dr. Akhlaque Haque and Dr. Wendy Gunther-Canada, received organization-wide awards from NASPAA (Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration). NASPAA is the accreditation agency for schools of public policy and public administration, and is the primary organization for pedagogy and administration in those fields.
Ertas won the NASPAA Award for Outstanding Service, specifically for her role as Chapter Advisor of Pi Alpha Alpha, the honors organization in the area of professional public administration.
Haque and Gunther-Canada will be honored for co-authoring the 2019 Article of the Year in the Journal of Public Affairs Education (JPAE). JPAE is the flagship journal of NASPAA and is and is widely considered a top journal of pedagogy and program administration within the field. Their article, "Public Service For All: How a Global Ethic Prepares Public Administrators for a Transnational Century," was lauded for its “span of coverage, methods, and impact to the field.” The awards committee further cited the articles’ role in helping to “increase evidence-based instruction and administration of public affairs programs.”
They will accept their awards at the national meeting of NASPAA, which will be held in October in Los Angeles.
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Hurst-Wajszczuk named new associate dean of UAB Honors College
As Associate Dean, Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk will help lead the teaching and engagement mission of the UAB Honors College and facilitate the recruitment and academic success of a diverse student body.
Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., Dean of the UAB Honors College, announced today that after a university-wide search Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, DMA, will be the new Associate Dean of the college. Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk is an Associate Professor of Voice, and Director of Opera, in the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences.
As Associate Dean, Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk will help lead the teaching and engagement mission of the UAB Honors College and facilitate the recruitment and academic success of a diverse student body. She will contribute to the intellectual life of the Honors College and the University as an active faculty member, continuing to teach and engage in scholarly activity through the Department of Music.
Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk received both Bachelor of Music in voice performance and a Master in Music in voice performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in 1991 and 1994, respectively. She went on to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in voice performance and pedagogy.
As a soprano, Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk is a specialist in the lute songs of John Dowland, and her solo CD of lute songs was released in 2008 by Centaur. In 2018, she gave the world, European, and Canadian premieres of Lori Laitman’s The Secret Exit, composed for her and clarinetist Denise Gainey. A CD is under negotiation and is forthcoming. She debuted with the Boulder Bach Festival in 2004, Alabama Symphony in 2011, and the Tuscaloosa Symphony in 2016. In demand as a clinician throughout the United States and Europe, she has been featured at several national and international conferences and presents regularly at many universities and colleges. She teaches applied voice to music majors, minors, and musical theater majors, and has served as stage director and musical director for UAB Opera, which has won three awards through the National Opera Association under her direction. She began serving as Coordinator of Voice in 2018, previously has taught honors courses with the Honors College, and served as a 2018-2019 Honors Faculty Fellow.
“I am delighted that Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk is joining our leadership team as the first associate dean for the UAB Honors College,” says Dean Shannon Blanton. “She has already made important contributions to Honors education as both a professor of honors courses and as an Honors Faculty Fellow. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching, as well as her compassion, thoughtfulness, and organizational skills, will be a true asset for the Honors College as we continue to support a rapidly growing number of outstanding students in their journey to achieve their academic and leadership goals.”
Dr. Patrick Evans, Chair of the Department of Music, notes that Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk "brings a great deal of artistic, pedagogical, and administrative experience to the role, as well as those qualities of heart and mind that make her such a student-centered professor. We are grateful she will still be teaching some voice students in the Department of Music during her tenure as Associate Dean, and look forward to supporting her in this new and exciting role in every way we can."
“My teaching in the Honors College, its University Honors Program, and as an Honors Faculty Fellow has been deeply gratifying and has informed my work in the Department of Music,” says Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk. “I’m looking forward to working with Dean Blanton and my colleagues in the Honors College, and am excited to join such a creative team. Both my department chair, Patrick Evans, and Honors colleagues have been very supportive, and for that I am very grateful.”
Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk will begin her new duties as Associate Dean on August 12, 2019.
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Dr. Gregory Pence wins 2019 Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction
Dr. Gregory Pence, Professor in the Department of Philosophy, has been named the 2019 winner of the Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction.
Dr. Gregory Pence, Professor in the Department of Philosophy, has been named the 2019 winner of the Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction.
Dr. Pence graduated with a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, then received his M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University, where he studied applied ethics with renowned ethicist Peter Singer. He joined the faculty at UAB in 1976 and has not only been instrumental in developing our bioethics program within the Department of Philosophy, but also taught, for three decades, a required bioethics course to all UAB School of Medicine students. Dr. Pence served as chair of the Department of Philosophy from 2012-2018.
Now an acclaimed bioethics scholar, Dr. Pence's research and teaching interests include cloning and assisted reproduction. He also studies and teaches on other emerging issues in bioethics, including neuroethics, enhancement, the Ebola virus, and the Affordable Care Act.
Within his field, Dr. Pence is best known for his best-selling Medical Ethics textbook, now in its eighth edition (2017). He's also widely known for his defense of humane biotechnology—such as cloning and genetically modified crops—a position that has often put him at odds with his peers in the scientific community. His ideas on biotechnology have garnered him significant public appearances and media engagement, including testifying before the U.S. Congress and the California State Senate against bills criminalizing cloning. He has published more than 70 opinion essays in publications such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Wall Street Journal.
In addition to his seminal textbook, Dr. Pence has also published two books that have been influential not only in the field of bioethics, but within our broader society: How to Build a Better Human: An Ethical Blueprint (2012), and What We Talk About When We Talk About Clone Club: Bioethics and Philosophy in "Orphan Black" (2016), which references the blockbuster BBC America television program that ran from 2013-2017. He's also given nearly a dozen endowed lectures on bioethics at universities across the U.S. as well as in Brazil, Switzerland, China, Norway, Israel, and England.
As a UAB professor, Dr. Pence has won both the Ingalls and President's Teaching Awards; he also directs the Early Medical School Acceptance Program. Many of his students have won prestigious national scholarships and fellowships, including the Marshall and Fulbright; two students have won Rhodes Scholarships. More than 50 of his students have been awarded scholarships to medical school, and six have entered Harvard Medical School.
In addition, for many years Dr. Pence coached the UAB Ethics Bowl Team, which won the national championship in 2010. He continues to coach the UAB Bioethics Bowl Team, which won national championships in 2011, 2016 and again in April of this year.
Congratulations to Dr. Pence on this achievement.
The Ireland Prize
Charles W. Ireland and his wife Caroline P. Ireland established The Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Endowment for Scholarly Distinction, which today funds two annual Ireland prizes. The Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award is given to a distinguished intellectual outside of the UAB academic community whose work is groundbreaking and transformational in his or her field. While on campus, honorees give a public lecture and share their knowledge through informal meetings with students and members of the faculty.
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Rich Gere named new chair of the Department of Art and Art History
Print media artist Rich Gere comes to UAB from the Department of Art and Design at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Photo: Edgar De La GarzaRich Gere has been named chair of the Department of Art and Art History. He will begin his new position on August 15, 2019.
Gere comes to UAB from the Department of Art & Design at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his M.F.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
After starting a career in finance and marketing, Gere co-founded a graphic design firm in Knoxville in 1998. While working as a professional designer, he taught courses at community colleges in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia; he also helped develop an adult education program with fellow faculty members at Tusculum College in Knoxville. In 2001, Gere joined the faculty as a professor of foundations and painting in the School of Fine Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) at their Savannah campus; in 2002, he transitioned to professor and director of printmaking at SCAD, Savannah. From 2006 to 2013, Rich was professor and founding chairperson of print media, as well a director in the School of Fine Arts for SCAD's new Atlanta campus. In that role, he was responsible for developing the B.F.A, M.A., and M.F.A. programs in print and digital media. In 2014, he was named professor and chairperson of the Department of Art & Design at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
As a print media artist, Gere explores alternative photo processes; works of paper, sculpture, and installation; and his work is currently centered around border issues and the ecology of South Texas. As a lecturer, artist, and co-investigator, he has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including funding from the Rauschenberg Foundation and a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) which currently supports his research on integrating the visual arts as pedagogy into the nursing curriculum.
Gere has served on many national and international art boards and juries and appeared on a wide range of conference panels and councils. His recent conference activity includes presentations at SGCI (Southern Graphics Council International Conference); Southeastern College Arts Association Conference (SECAC); the College Arts Association Conference (CAA); and the Mid America Print Council (MAPC).
As an artist, he has appeared in more than 200 juried, solo, and group exhibitions, including recent exhibits at the El Paso Museum in El Paso, Texas; the Museo de Arte de Ciudad, Juarez, Mexico; SCOPE Basel, Switzerland; ArtHelix Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; and at the Toolbox Gallery, Berlin, Germany. His artwork appears in a number of public and private collections, and he is represented by Marcia Wood Gallery of Atlanta.
We look forward to working with Rich. We are also deeply grateful to Jessica Dallow, who has served as interim chair since 2017 and will return to the art history faculty.
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Amsler, Kempin Reuter receive mentorship award
The UAB Graduate Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes full-time regular UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.
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Pioneering Women in UAB Biology: Nancy Love
On June 5, 1971, Nancy Love became the first woman to receive a master’s degree from the Department of Biology.
First Woman to Graduate with a Master’s Degree

Nancy Love, a Gadsden, Ala. native, arrived at UAB in spring 1968. She had completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, at Vanderbilt University and was eager to delve deeper into biology. Under Dr. Patrick Dagg’s mentorship, Nancy joined the UAB Department of Biology graduate program and began research on early developmental events of mouse embryos. The program had just been established, and she was one of only a few female students. Even so, she recalls UAB feeling like a breath of fresh air after spending four years in Vanderbilt’s high-pressure environment. She enjoyed the opportunities UAB offered, particularly the graduate classes she took in UAB’s medical school and serving as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate introductory biology course. One special opportunity was provided by Dr. Dagg who arranged for Nancy to spend the summer of 1969 doing research at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. On June 5, 1971, Nancy became the first woman to receive a master’s degree from the Department of Biology.
Nancy went on to obtain a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and later joined the faculty at the University of Maryland’s Zoology Department. She spent thirteen years at the University of Maryland, eventually transitioning into an administrative role where she served as the Assistant Provost of Behavioral and Social Sciences and later as the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies. After relocation to Charlottesville, Virginia, and marriage to a University of Virginia faculty member, Nancy joined the faculty of the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, where she spent 10 years in research administration before retiring in 2000. Nancy and her husband Tom currently enjoy a calm life in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. In her spare time, she works away at a fiction book she’s writing – a murder mystery at a medical school – using all her experiences during graduate school to describe faculty and graduate students and their misadventures.
More Pioneering Women in UAB Biology
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Pioneering Women in UAB Biology: Janice Roberts
In August 1971, Janice Roberts became the second woman to graduate with a master’s degree from UAB’s Department of Biology.
One of the First Women to Graduate with a Ph.D.

Upon graduating from nearby Judson College, Janice Roberts took a research position at Birmingham’s Southern Research Institute. Confident in her desire to pursue a career in research, she enrolled in graduate school at the Extension Center for the University of Alabama (soon to become UAB) researching ribosomes under Dr. Donald Fattig’s mentorship. During that time, something unexpected happened: Janice developed a love of teaching. Since childhood, she declared she would never become an educator, but the teaching assistantship that helped fund her graduate studies sparked her passion for teaching and changed the trajectory of her career. In August 1971, Janice became the second woman to graduate with a master’s degree from UAB’s Department of Biology.
Later that year, Janice accepted a position as an instructor in the Biology Department at Jefferson State Community College (known then as Jefferson State Junior College). She thrived in the classroom, teaching courses in microbiology and freshman biology, as well as the interdisciplinary honors science course. In 1980, Janice took a leave of absence from JSCC to return to UAB to pursue her Ph.D. Janice’s doctoral research, performed under Dr. Patrick Dagg’s mentorship, studied caffeine-urethane interactions in mouse embryos. She was happy to be back at UAB among the close-knit group of graduate students. In 1983, Janice received her doctorate from UAB’s Department of Biology (only the second woman to do so) and then returned to her teaching career at JSCC. During her time at JSCC, Janice received many local, regional, and national accolades, including a Fulbright Teacher Exchange Fellowship in England, as well as the state of Alabama’s first ever Outstanding Junior College Faculty Award.
Janice retired from Jefferson State Community College in 2010 after 38 years of service. A long-time supporter of Birmingham’s arts scene, Janice is a docent for the Birmingham Museum of Art and leads tours of the museum. As a lay member of the Board of the American Pulmonology Medicine Institute, she helps promote scholarship programs for medical students. Since retirement, Janice has indulged her love of travel and has visited six of the seven continents. In her down time, she enjoys playing bridge and spending time with her family, especially her great nieces and nephews.
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Pioneering Women in UAB Biology: Dr. Vithal Ghanta
In 1986, Dr. Vithal Ghanta joined the Department of Biology as an Associate Professor, making her the department’s first female tenured faculty member. In 1989, she was promoted to full professor. Dr. Ghanta has spent the past 33 years advancing the department’s research and teaching.
First Female Tenured Faculty Member
In 1986, Dr. Vithal Ghanta joined the Department of Biology as an Associate Professor, making her the department’s first female tenured faculty member. In 1989, she was promoted to full professor. Dr. Ghanta has spent the past 33 years advancing the department’s research and teaching.
Prior to joining the Department of Biology, Dr. Ghanta worked in the Department of Microbiology for 15 years as a postdoctoral fellow and an Assistant Professor researching immunology and cancer in mouse models. Over the span of her career, Dr. Ghanta’s research has primarily focused on tumor immunology, the immunology of aging, and regulation of the immune system by the central nervous system. Several years ago, she ceased her research efforts to focus on teaching.
Since her early days in the department, Dr. Ghanta has been a staple in our classrooms, teaching courses such as Immunology, Biology of Aging, and Evolutionary Medicine. She is known and beloved by many students, going above and beyond to help them grow—not just as students, but as people. One student says, “Dr. Ghanta is a fantastic professor. She consistently makes herself available for questions and goes out of her way to ensure students understand the material if they approach her. She has definitely become one of my favorite teachers at UAB.”
After almost 50 years at UAB and more than 30 years in the Department of Biology, Dr. Ghanta reflects back on her career with affection. She has cherished her time at UAB and says she is appreciative to have worked in a unified department with colleagues who were always supportive, respectful, friendly, and caring. Outside of work, Dr. Ghanta can be found tending to her garden and spending time with her husband of 43 years, Dr. Subbarao Vadlamudi.
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Pioneering Women in UAB Biology: Mary Shepherd
In June 1970, Mary Shepherd received her diploma from UAB, making her the first woman to ever graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Biology!
First Woman to Graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree

After graduating from Birmingham’s Samuel Ullman High School (known today as UAB’s Ullman-Bell Complex), Mary Shepherd packed up her belongings and headed to Tuskegee University to pursue a degree in the sciences. During her junior year of college, she found out she was eligible to attend a state-supported school due to her husband’s status as a disabled veteran. In 1969, Mary and her husband moved back to Birmingham, and Mary transferred to UAB for her senior year. Adapting to UAB’s environment and academic requirements proved challenging. Being one of only a few African-American women in the program, she felt isolated and excluded, a far cry from her experience at Tuskegee. When her professor, Dr. Charles Crispens, saw her struggling, he stepped in to offer support—something Mary says she will never forget. Dr. Crispens inspired her stay in the program and encouraged her to focus on her course work and matriculation. In June 1970, Mary received her diploma, making her the first woman to ever graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Biology!
With her degree in hand, Mary had her heart set on teaching, so she returned to UAB to get a master’s degree in education. After receiving her certification, Mary spent 29 years teaching science in the Alabama public school system. Her longest tenure was at Hewitt-Trussville High School. In 2000, with her first grandchild on the way, Mary retired so that she could focus on her family. Nineteen years later, she and her husband are the proud grandparents of 10 grandkids. Outside of family time, Mary enjoys participating in her church, traveling, and serving her community.
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Michele Forman profiled in Harvard alumni magazine
Michele Forman, director of the UAB Media Studies program, was recently profiled in Harvard University's alumni magazine. Forman graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in 1993 and then received her M.A. from UAB in 2009.
Michele Forman, director of the UAB Media Studies program, was recently profiled in Harvard University's alumni magazine. Forman graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in 1993 and then received her M.A. from UAB in 2009.
Forman is well-known for a number of short films and documentaries, including Alabama Bound, which she produced in 2017. The documentary, which tells the story of lesbian families in Alabama, was an official selection at the prestigious Frameline 41 San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival; Out on Film Atlanta LGBT Film Festival, and NewFest, New York's LGBT Film Festival, where it also received the Grand Jury Award.
Forman is the immediate past-president of Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival, where she remains an advisory board member. She co-founded the Media Studies program in 2003.
Read the profile in Harvard University's alumni magazine.
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Biology Faculty Secure NSF Grant to Investigate Dwindling Macroalgae Community
UAB Department of Biology professors Dr. Charles Amsler and Dr. Jim McClintock, along with co-PIs Dr. Katrin Iken (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), Dr. Aaron Galloway (University of Oregon), and Dr. Andrew Klein (Texas A&M University), secured a $880,000 NSF grant to investigate brown macroalgae in the northern portion of the western Antarctic Peninsula region.
UAB Department of Biology professors Dr. Charles Amsler and Dr. Jim McClintock, along with co-PIs Dr. Katrin Iken (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), Dr. Aaron Galloway (University of Oregon), and Dr. Andrew Klein (Texas A&M University), secured a $880,000 NSF grant to investigate brown macroalgae in the northern portion of the western Antarctic Peninsula region.
Brown macroalgae form extensive undersea forests in the northern part of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and play a key role in providing both physical structure and energy sources in shallow water communities. Further south on the WAP, these macroalgae become markedly less abundant and diverse, presumably because increased sea ice to the south reduces light available to the algae. This creates a fundamental change in ocean floor community processes and organization which impacts nutrition and food chain levels. As climate change has resulted in drastically reduced sea ice coverage in the southern WAP over the past 30 to 50 years, macroalgal communities typical of the northern part of the region should be expanding southward. In an effort to identify the extent and ramifications of the impact of this shift on the seafloor communities, a nine-person field team will travel to Antarctica in April and May 2019 to document the macroalgal communities and test hypotheses about the cause and consequences of the alteration of macroalgal communities. The field team consists of 3 UAB researchers - Dr. Charles Amsler, Maggie Amsler, and Sabrina Heiser, - as well 2 researchers with academic roots at UAB – Dr. Julie Schram and Dr. Katrin Iken. They hypothesize that increased sea ice cover along the region from north to south plays an important role in decreasing light available to the macroalgal communities. The team will use satellite data to choose study sites where variation in light due to differences in annual sea ice cover will be a major environmental variable. Their research should ultimately allow them to predict what community-level impacts might result from further changes in sea ice cover as a result of global climate change, which is already having other major impacts in the region.
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Faculty honored at 2018 Fall Awards Convocation
President Ray Watts and Provost Pam Benoit honored faculty across UAB during the annual Faculty Convocation on October 22.
Award winners Scott Phillips, Ph.D., Cassandra Ellis, Ph.D., and Michael Sloane, Ph.D., with Robert Palazzo, Ph.D., dean of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences.President Ray Watts and Provost Pam Benoit honored faculty across UAB during the annual Faculty Convocation on October 22.
Scott Phillips, Ph.D., director of the UAB Center for Teaching and Learning and associate professor of Music Technology, received the 2018 Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award for his deep and abiding commitment to collaborating across campus that enhances the research and teaching activities of the University.
Michael Sloane, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology and director of the University Honors Program, is the recipient of the 2018 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. This award is presented annually to a full-time regular UAB faculty member who, throughout his/her career at UAB, has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching.
The President's Award for Excellence in Support of UAB and Shared Governance was presented to Professor Mike Wyss, Ph.D., immediate past chair of the UAB Faculty Senate. Dr. Wyss also directs UAB's Center for Community Outreach Development and has been a longtime champion for interdisciplinary collaboration across campus, as well as developing strong partnerships with the City of Birmingham.
The President's Award for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Cassandra Ellis, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of English. Ellis has a long history of high scores on her evaluations from students and was honored with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching in early 2018.
Congratulations to our College of Arts and Sciences faculty!
Dr. Michael Wyss (right) with Dr. Brad Yoder, Chair of the Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology in the School of Medicine
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Laurel Hitchcock receives Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Learning
The 2018 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Learning goes to Dr. Laurel Hitchcock, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work.
The 2018 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Learning goes to Dr. Laurel Hitchcock, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work.
Dr. Hitchcock deservedly receives this award for:
- She has worked to incorporate service learning activities for the online and face to face courses in her area to enrich the experience of her social work students.
- She organizes activities within the service learning opportunities to help her students reach out to the community and to help her students experience authentic social work challenges as part of their studies.
- She also works to assist other faculty in her department to have the same activities and online resources to be successful in their sections as well.
- She has collaborated with people across campus to gather the most effective resources for her students.
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Keeping Halloween safe: Tips from UAB experts
UAB experts offer ways to keep your little ghosts and goblins safe this Halloween.
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Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield named Norma J. Lang Fellow
Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, was selected as the 2018 Norma J. Lang Early Career Fellow from the Phycological Society of America.
Dr. Stacy Krueger-Hadfield, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, was selected as the 2018 Norma J. Lang Early Career Fellow from the Phycological Society of America ($10,000) for her proposal "Spatiotemporal adaptation in the rocky intertidal: evolutionary responses of intertidal Chondrus crispus populations to climate change." Dr. Krueger-Hadfield is only the second Lang Fellow and was chosen from a very competitive pool of 31 applicants.
"Seaweeds are critical ecosystem engineers in near-shore marine ecosystems worldwide, and form the basis of lucrative aquaculture," says Dr. Krueger-Hadfield, summarizing the project. "Yet, these diverse eukaryotes have received collectively less attention, despite their ecological and economic importance. With the Norma J. Lang Early Career Fellowship, I will investigate genome-wide patterns of divergence and genetic diversity at small spatial scales across a gradient of rapid change in the red seaweed Chondrus crispus." Her research will allow her to see if there are changes between time points (which was also associated with several degrees Celsius temp increase) and along the French Atlantic coastline as they have spatial sampling in 2008 and 2018.
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Online communities see large growth in anti-Semitic comments, memes
Large-scale quantitative analysis details the rise of anti-Semitism and how anti-Semitic content flows across mainstream and fringe web communities.
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New study looks at how educational culture impacts emotional stability
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Dione Moultrie King appointed to diversity council
Dr. Dione Moultrie King was recently appointed to a three-year term on the Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity.
Dr. Dione Moultrie King of the UAB Department of Social Work was recently appointed to a three-year term on the Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity through the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). This council promotes expanding the knowledge base for educators, students, and alumni through education and research about members of historically and emerging underrepresented groups.
Dr. King is honored to serve the profession and work collaboratively with this council in the challenging times that lie ahead. Dr. King asserts “it is critical that social work educators demonstrate our commitment to social justice, service, dignity, and competence ensuring social work professionals understand these are truly the core values of our profession.”
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Faculty receive honors for their commitment to disability support
UAB Disability Support Services (DSS) named this year’s winners of the Spring 2018 Faculty Awards. They are Mickie Powell (Ph.D.) and Robin Lorenz (M.D., Ph.D.).
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Study reveals misuse of archive services by fringe communities on the web
In a large-scale analysis, Jeremy Blackburn, Ph.D., and collaborators found that the misuse of web archive services cause loss of ad revenue for popular news websites.
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