Twins Named Parker and Adam to Honor UA Program Where Parents Met

UA Alums name their twin boys Parker and Adam after the Parker-Adams Living-Learning Community where they met.
Two UA alums name their twin boys Parker and Adam after the Parker-Adams Living-Learning Community where they met. Photo Credit: Amy Kelley

From the July 2016 Desktop News Late one evening in the common room of the old Parker-Adams freshman dorm, Tracy Fowler sat struggling with her biology homework. It wasn’t her best subject, but, lucky for her, microbiology major Matt Hanserd was nearby and willing to help.

“Biology was by far the worst class I ever took in college,” Tracy said. “I just didn’t get it.”

“And I thought she was cute,” Matt added.

Five years later, the study partners got married, and, just two months ago, early on Memorial Day morning, the couple became the proud parents of twin boys—who they named Parker and Adam in honor of the program that brought them together.

“Parker-Adams was an amazing program to ease me into college,” Tracy said. “When I started at Alabama I didn’t know anyone, but some of my best friends to this day—like our maid of honor and best man—were also Parker-Adams kids.”

The Parker-Adams living-learning community was designed to be a segue between high school and college life, where students could take classes with the same people they lived with.

“It is a built in study group,” Matt said of the program. “And it ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve made.”

Though twins don’t run in either of their families, the Hanserds had a standing joke that if they ever had twins, they would name them Parker and Adam. Consequently, when the doctor surprised them with the news that their third child would be children, Tracy and Matt never hesitated about what the babies’ names would be—as long as at least one of the two was a boy, Parker fitting either a boy or girl.

“I just hope my boys aren’t sad when they get older and realize that the real Parker and Adams, who the program is named after, were actually both women,” Tracy said. “And I hope that when they start college the program will still exist because it meant so much to us.”