Category: Distinguished Teaching Fellowship


Laura Reed

Laura Reed

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2021-2024 Laura Reed is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, having joined the University of Alabama in 2010. Her research focuses on understanding how evolutionary, genetic, and environmental factors interact to shape complex metabolic traits, including diseases like obesity and type-2 diabetes. Dr. Reed’s academic training prior to coming to Tuscaloosa included a BS in biology from the University of Oregon, followed by a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Arizona, and […]

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Sergei Gleyzer

Sergei Gleyzer

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2022–2025 Sergei Gleyzer is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Teaching Philosophy My goal is to inspire and encourage my students to think critically about the world around them and use science and technology as means of understanding it. This requires critical thinking and use of scientific methodology with real-world examples. I strive to teach students how to analyze the world around us and use modern tools, such as machine learning, to acquire new […]

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Lawrence Cappello

Lawrence Cappello

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2022–2025 Lawrence Cappello is an assistant professor in the Department of History. His focus is U.S. Legal & Constitutional History — particularly the right to privacy. He is the founder and director of UA’s Legal History Concentration, and author of None of Your Damn Business: Privacy in the United States from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age (University of Chicago Press). Among his course offerings are U.S. Constitutional History I & II, the Right to Privacy, and the Great […]

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Kaleb Heinrich

Kaleb Heinrich

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2022–2025 Kaleb Heinrich is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. His areas of research include biology education, active learning, and outreach in STEM, biology graduate student professional development, and freshwater ecology. At UA, he teaches Principles of Biology I and II, Biology Outreach, General Ecology Lab, and Pedagogy in the Biological Sciences. Teaching Philosophy Typical science courses emphasize memorizing facts when learning is actually driven by being observant, thinking, linking concepts, and asking good questions. […]

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Natalie Adams

Natalie Adams

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2021-2024 Natalie Guice Adams is a professor in New College with a joint appointment in Social and Cultural Studies in Education in the College of Education. Her research focuses on the intersection of extracurricular activities in school, gender, race, and sexual identity, and popular culture. Dr. Adams formerly served as the Director of New College and the Assistant Director of UA’s Graduate School. She is serving her second term as the Chair of the Board of Directors for […]

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Paul Reed

Paul Reed

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2021-2024 Paul E. Reed, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of phonetics and phonology in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Alabama. His research centers on sociolinguistic variation in varieties of English in the American South, with a focus on Appalachian English. His work highlights how a speaker’s connection to place, what he calls rootedness, helps to explain certain kinds of phonetic variation. He teaches courses on phonetics, the study of how humans produce speech sounds, […]

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Barbara Brickman

Barbara Brickman

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2020-2023 Barbara Jane Brickman is an Associate Professor of Media and Gender Studies in New College and the Department of Gender and Race Studies. Her areas of research include American Popular Culture, Youth Culture, Girls’ Studies, LGBTQ Studies, and Feminist Film Theory. She is also the founder and director of the Druid City Girls Media Program for girls in the Tuscaloosa area. Reflective of her research and community work, Dr. Brickman’s teaching focuses on cultural analysis and issues […]

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Matthew LaFevor

Matthew LaFevor

Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2021-2024 Matthew C. LaFevor is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography. His research explores agriculture, conservation, and environmental management in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He regularly teaches courses in World Regional Geography, Environment & Society, Geography of Latin America, and Research Methods & Traditions in Geography. Dr. LaFevor is co-Director of the semester-long study abroad program, UA in Costa Rica: Exploring Tropical Environments (Spring). He is the Director of UA in Mexico: Exploring Mountains & Agriculture (May), […]

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