UA Researcher Publishes Article in “Nature Scientific Reports”

From the February 2021 Desktop News | In the Amazon rainforest, the Brazil nut tree is an invaluable resource. Towering over their harvesters’ homes at over 160 feet tall, the tree produces fruit that contains the famous Brazil nut, which economically sustains the thousands of people who live there. But the Brazil nut tree’s yield varies from year to year–sometimes it’s bountiful and sustains the harvesters financially, but sometimes, the trees don’t provide a single fruit. UA biology professor Christina […]

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Dance Alabama! Tour Brings Art to Alabama Schools

From the February 2021 Desktop News | From year to year, one of the most anticipated productions from UA’s Department of Theatre and Dance is Dance Alabama!, a program choreographed and performed entirely by students. Hundreds of people flock to Tuscaloosa to watch as dancers perform a wide variety of genres and styles. But this isn’t the students’ only chance to perform. Over the past six years, Dance Alabama! has taken its show on the road, performing at elementary schools […]

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UA Percussionists Earn Top Placements at International Convention

From the February 2021 Desktop News | After taking home the top award for university concert snare players at the 2020 Percussive Arts Society International Convention Individual Competitions, graduate student Nathan Rearick looks forward to seeing UA’s percussion program evolve into a powerhouse. “The UA percussion studio is a thriving family that keeps pushing the boundaries of proficiency,” Rearick said. His claim holds true, with three of his classmates also placing in the competition, making UA’s the only percussion program […]

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Remembering Shelia Washington

From the February 2021 Desktop News | The late Shelia Washington, founding director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, will be remembered by the UA community for the strong partnership she built between the institution and UA scholars and students. Washington opened the Scottsboro Boys Museum in 2010 to honor the nine young African-American men who were falsely accused of rape and subsequently imprisoned in the 1930s. Since it opened its doors, Washington and colleagues […]

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UA Professor Receives Prestigious Grant to Create Digital Dance Archive

From the February 2021 Desktop News | Dance is one of the most challenging art forms to teach because there is no widely-used form of notation, no scripts to read or music to transcribe. Instead, dance technique and choreography are most often passed down orally, from teacher to student, making it difficult to share with those outside this chain. While the invention of film, then video, and now digital recording has created an alternative means of sharing dance, public access […]

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UA Grad Named to International Literacy Association’s 30 Under 30 List

From the February 2021 Desktop News | UA graduate Candace Chambers was recently named among the top 30 young leaders globally working to improve literacy. Chambers, who received a master’s degree in English at UA, has always wanted to use her gift of writing to help others. As a tutor in the writing center, instructor for first-year students, and community outreach volunteer, her goal was to teach her students how to advocate for themselves through their writing. Now a PhD […]

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Digital Slavery Archive Receives $750,000 Grant

From the January 2021 Desktop News | Dr. Joshua Rothman, professor and chair of the department of history, is part of a team of researchers that was recently awarded a $750,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant for a project, “Freedom on the Move,” which works to collect and digitize advertisements for runaway slaves that appeared in American newspapers before the Civil War. This is the second NEH grant for the project, which also received $300,000 in 2017. The most […]

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Criminal Justice Professor Raising Awareness of Human Trafficking

From the January 2021 Desktop News | Dr. Brittany Gilmer and students from her class on human trafficking are hoping to make a difference in their communities by raising awareness throughout Tuscaloosa about human trafficking. Gilmer, an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, first became interested in and started studying the issue of trafficking through her research on Somali pirates. Because of her expertise in the area, Gilmer was asked to create and teach a class […]

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Leaving a Legacy

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 […]

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Paying It Forward

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 […]

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