Category: Desktop News

Articles featured in Desktop News, a monthly e-newsletter of the College of Arts and Sciences


Rediscovering the Renaissance

From the November 2020 Desktop News | Most people head to the conference room to conduct business, but for actors and playwrights in Renaissance England, they headed to the bar. It has long been suspected that William Shakespeare and the playing companies he worked for did not confine their business of casting, buying plays, and more to the playhouse, but it has not been entirely clear where they would make those decisions. Dr. Elizabeth Tavares is working to uncover that. […]

Read More from Rediscovering the Renaissance

Physics Graduate Student Selected for Prestigious Department of Energy Program

From the October 2020 Desktop News | Casey Cartwright, a PhD candidate in physics at UA, was selected as one of 52 national awardees of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research program. This program allows graduate students in science, math, engineering, and technology to conduct research in one of the DOE laboratories. Here, students have the opportunity to use state-of-the-art resources and collaborate with esteemed scientists to further their knowledge in their field. Cartwright, whose research […]

Read More from Physics Graduate Student Selected for Prestigious Department of Energy Program

Professor Receives NSF Grant for Archaeological Work in Maya Settlements

Dr. Alexandre Tokovinine, an assistant professor in UA’s Department of Anthropology, was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for his archaeological project exploring the cultural and societal changes surrounding the shifting political and cultural allegiances of an ancient Maya settlement in Guatemala. The $143,000 grant will help Tokovinine and his colleagues excavate La Sufricaya, an ancient Mayan archaeological site that was a suburb of Holmul, the largest city in the region at the time. Like most ancient […]

Read More from Professor Receives NSF Grant for Archaeological Work in Maya Settlements

A&S Student Services Wins Sam S. May Award

From the October 2020 Desktop News | The College of Arts and Sciences Office of Student Services was awarded the Sam S. May Award for Outstanding Customer Service for their innovative and creative approaches to serving students throughout 2020. The advisors, registrars, and administrative staff helped prospective and current students navigate their academic and co-curricular experiences throughout the spring, summer, and fall semesters, answering thousands of questions and emails. Their commitment to students remained their first priority, addressing pressing concerns, […]

Read More from A&S Student Services Wins Sam S. May Award

A&S Dean Raising Funds for Scholarship Through Mask Sales

A red mask with a white elephant next to a sign

From the October 2020 Desktop News | When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Lisa Dorr knew she had to do something to help her family and her community. As someone from a long line of quilters, Dorr decided to put her hands to work and create a variety of masks. “I’ve been a quilter for many years, as has my mom—she runs a quilt store in Michigan,” Dorr said. “Quilters always joke about their fabric library, which is all the […]

Read More from A&S Dean Raising Funds for Scholarship Through Mask Sales

UA Professor Wins International Classics Award

From the October 2020 Desktop News | Dr. Kelly Shannon-Henderson, an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, was recently awarded the C.J. Goodwin Award of Merit for outstanding publications for her book Religion and Memory in Tacitus’ Annals. The award comes from the Society for Classical Studies, an international organization dedicated to the research of Greek and Roman antiquity. The society grants three Goodwin Awards of Merit annually, each going to a distinguished publication appearing within […]

Read More from UA Professor Wins International Classics Award

Exploring the Worlds of Work: Researchers Help Shape Career Fair for Eighth Graders

West Alabama Works logo

From the October 2020 Desktop News | Two Arts and Sciences researchers are working to study the future of West Alabama’s workforce through Worlds of Work, an event which helps eighth grade students in the area to explore different work fields, careers, and technical training programs through their schools. Dr. Joan Barth, a senior research social scientist in the Institute for Social Science Research, and Dr. Pamela Young, Director of Community Engagement and Economic Development, partnered with the West Alabama […]

Read More from Exploring the Worlds of Work: Researchers Help Shape Career Fair for Eighth Graders

A&S Grad Assisting With Saliva-Based COVID-19 Test

Anne working in the lab

From the October 2020 Desktop News | When Anne Watkins started her master’s of public health at Yale University, she never thought she’d work with any sort of sports team, let alone a whole league. Now, she and her colleagues are partnered with the National Basketball Association to create a new COVID-19 testing procedure that she hopes will make testing more accessible and affordable for all communities. Watkins, a 2019 graduate of UA’s Department of Biological Sciences, is working in […]

Read More from A&S Grad Assisting With Saliva-Based COVID-19 Test

Message from the Dean: Meet the A&S Diversity Committee

I am pleased to welcome the newest members of the A&S Diversity Committee. While the College has had a Diversity Committee since 2000, the service terms ended for many of its members this year. After receiving many thoughtful and solutions-oriented responses to my message from early June, I took the opportunity to expand the committee to encompass this eagerness and to better reflect the College as a whole. You’ll notice the addition of students and staff members to this group, […]

Read More from Message from the Dean: Meet the A&S Diversity Committee

Making a Polar Impact

A student standing in front of an iceburg.

From the September 2020 Desktop News | Asmara Lehrmann is deeply connected to all sides of her identity. A PhD student in geology at The University of Alabama with a passion for paleontology and climate change, her geologist father and Indonesian-immigrant mother both influenced the path she’s on today. “My mother’s family lives in Jakarta, which is a city on the coast that’s actually subsiding,” Lehrmann said. “The city is literally sinking, the sea level is rising, and I would […]

Read More from Making a Polar Impact