Category: Desktop News

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


Desktop News | November 2022

November 2022 Announcements & Accolades Arts and Sciences Faculty and Staff Recognized for Dedication, Innovation, and Commitment at Campus Assembly: Each year the University and UA National Alumni Association recognize faculty and staff across campus and Arts and Sciences is proud to boast six award recipients: Dr. Kyungyong Lee, Dr. Michael R. McKain, Professor Dominic Yeager, Tabitha Tuten, Dr. Margaret Peacock, and ICUE Connector. John Wingard, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, has accepted a new position as the Executive Director of […]

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Faculty Bylaws Adopted

Desktop News, September 2022 | The College of Arts and Sciences faculty vote in favor of adopting new faculty bylaws. Dean Messina’s Charge Dean Messina believes in both shared governance and academic freedom and in the notion that these cannot operate or exist independently. His goal in asking the FAC for a modernized set of college bylaws was to create a transparent process using agreed-upon language for guiding shared governance and decision-making within the college. The Process The newly adopted bylaws […]

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History Professors Publish Book About Pandemic Year and American Society 

From the August 2022 Desktop News | For most people, the events of 2020 may run together, becoming a long year of several major world events wrapped up into one another: a pandemic, a social justice movement, and more. But Drs. Margaret Peacock and Erik Peterson, both history faculty members at The University of Alabama, can pinpoint each day’s events in their new book, A Deeper Sickness: Journal of America in the Pandemic Year (Boston: Beacon Press).  The book explores […]

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UA Academic Advisors Study Abroad in South Africa

From the July 2022 Desktop News | In May, Dr. Pamela Young, Director of Community Engagement and Economic Development, and Dr. Lisa Pawloski, Associate Dean for International Programs, led a group of UA professional academic advisors and faculty on a study abroad capacity-building trip to South Africa.  The trip, the culmination of a faculty-centered skills-building initiative that began in 2019, had a two-fold goal of equipping advisors to better engage students seeking experiential learning opportunities and diversifying the study abroad participants […]

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Sculpture Class Creates Functional, Collaborative Community Art

curved wooden benches under pavillion

From the July 2022 Desktop News |Over the past semester, Craig Wedderspoon and his students in his Beginning Sculpture class installed uniquely designed benches at the Hill Hospital in York, Alabama.   Wedderspoon believes that the service-oriented, function-driven character of art is often amplified during the execution of collaborative, community projects.   Wedderspoon was introduced to the Hill Hospital through the work of Engage Alabama, who commissioned the bench project as a part of their 2022 initiative.   “I have always […]

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Modern Languages Professor Leads International French Professional Organization

From the July 2022 Desktop News | Dr. Cheryl Toman, professor of French and chair of the Department of Modern Languages at UA, recently led the Biennale de la langue française, an international meeting of French speakers and scholars. Every two years, this professional organization of researchers meets to discuss a number of issues and topics, facilitate diplomatic relations, and enjoy the study of the French language together.  “This group does include academics, but also includes linguists, literature scholars, cultural studies […]

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UA Physicist Awarded Prestigious Jefferson Science Fellowship

Tim Mewes

From the May 2022 Desktop News | The National Academy of Sciences has named Dr. Tim Mewes a Jefferson Science Fellow for 2022-2023. The year-long program allows U.S. citizens in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine to work with the Department of State or the US Agency for International Development on foreign policy issues both in Washington, D.C. and overseas.  “Dr. Mewes’ research on magnetic materials is world-class and his scientific achievements have been recognized on the national and […]

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History Professor Publishes Biography of Alabama’s Bankhead Family

Deep South Dynasty Cover

From the April 2022 Desktop News | Dr. Kari Frederickson, a professor of history at UA, recently published a biography about the Bankhead family, an Alabama dynasty whose influence spans generations of the state’s history. The book, Deep South Dynasty: The Bankheads of Alabama, explores over eighty years of history, and showcases the rise of one of the most powerful families in the South.   “If you start with the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction and go through the […]

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UA Math Award Honors Distinguished Alumnus

From the April 2022 Desktop News | The University of Alabama Department of Mathematics honored one of its most distinguished alumni during this year’s Honors Week with the addition of a new award, the Louis Dale Medal in Mathematics. The medal is awarded to an upper-level mathematics student who displays excellence in their work. Dr. Louis Dale was part of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and received a bachelor’s in mathematics from Miles College before teaching mathematics in Birmingham high […]

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