From the 2020 Collegian | Those who knew long-time history professor Dr. Helen Delpar describe her as a character. Voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her high school classmates, she never owned a car and instead walked to work nearly every day until she retired in her late 60s. Though she never married and enjoyed solitude, she loved the company of others and had a deep-seated drive to focus her intellect and abilities into not only improving herself, but also […]
From the 2020 Collegian | “It was an interesting time to be at the University,” says Ed Braswell, a 1967 graduate. George Wallace’s famous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” took place mere weeks before Braswell would arrive for freshman orientation. He was also a student during the tenures of three of his heroes—President Frank Rose; the legendary Colonel Carleton K. Butler, director of the Million Dollar Band; and Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. While at UA, Braswell studied math and played […]
From the 2020 Collegian | DP Lyle isn’t a man who makes decisions lightly. But when a decision is made, he doesn’t think twice about it—he sticks to it, and lets it shape the course of his life. While growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, Lyle says he was always working towards one thing: going to medical school. He’s known since a young age that he was destined to do medical work, but not because it’s what his family did, or […]
From the 2020 Collegian | On a January morning, 18 Central High School students sat around a circle of tables in their first period class. It’s silent, but it’s not tense—there’s an air of thoughtfulness, of students searching to find their answer to the question posed moments before. One by one, the students begin to raise their hands, looking at the professor leading the class. The question? “How does mass incarceration affect you personally?” Dr. John Giggie, a history professor […]
From the 2020 Collegian |This year has been one for the books. As COVID-19 changed major aspects of everyday life, faculty were faced with a unique challenge: how to adapt their classes to maximize safety and educational experience. “It was kind of an interesting intellectual challenge,” said Dr. William Keel, an astronomy professor at UA. “We had to think through the logistics: How do we do this? How do we preserve the core of the experience for students with all […]