News – Page 100 – College of Arts & Sciences

Make This Site Better — Complete Our Usability Test

June 25, 2014

Since launching the new College of Arts and Sciences website in February 2013, the Office of Educational Technology (eTech) has made numerous changes in response to surveys, informal requests, and users’ comments. Now, a little over a year since the site went live, we’re seeking more formal, data-driven feedback via online usability testing. “Usability testing” is a broad term that encompasses many means of evaluating a website’s user-friendliness — the speed and ease with which visitors find the information they’re looking for. […]

Anthropologist Awarded Fulbright Grant

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | A UA researcher will spend the next year examining the resurgence of interest in Jewish culture in Poland with the goal of understanding the space Jews fill in Polish history. Dr. Marysia Galbraith, associate professor in New College and the Department of Anthropology, will spend the 2014-2015 school year teaching and conducting research in Poland as a Fulbright scholar. The grant supports nine months of research and teaching in Poland, though Galbraith will remain in […]

UA Delegation Travels to Greece

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | When someone is truly confused by something, they might say “It’s all Greek to me,” but The University of Alabama Greece Initiative is just the opposite; it’s all about furthering understanding and collaboration between UA and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. A group of faculty members from the University recently traveled to Greece to meet with representatives from Aristotle University to discuss potential projects on which faculty from both entities could cooperate. “The Alabama Greece […]

Pain at the Dentist

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | How can doctors make patients more comfortable during dental and other medical procedures? A University of Alabama alumnus recently received an award for exploring just such a topic. Dan McNeil, a New College alumnus who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from UA, and a current faculty member at West Virginia University, was named a Claude Worthington Benedum Distinguished Scholar, an award that recognizes excellence in research at WVU. McNeil examines the pain that […]

Practicing Public Service

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | Twenty-nine UA students are spending the summer in Washington, D.C., in internships at the White House, the Smithsonian Institute, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and offices of congressmen. Dubbed the Washington Experience, which is coordinated annually by Dr. Michael New, an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science, the internships offer students the chance to try out a career in public service and gain practical experience. Cari Grace Lutkins, a UA junior majoring in […]

Psychologist Receives $573,000 Grant

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | A University of Alabama researcher is seeking to identify the factors creating growing disparities in mental health care across the country. Dr. Giyeon Kim, assistant professor in the Center for Mental Health and Aging and the Department of Psychology, has received a $573,000 career development grant from the National Institute on Aging/the National Institutes of Health to pinpoint the geographic factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care. The grant period runs […]

Gulf Shores Is “All Shook Up”

June 6, 2014

From the June 2014 Desktop News | In its 11th season, SummerTide Theatre will be shaking things up this summer in Gulf Shores, where The University of Alabama’s professional summer theatre company will present All Shook Up by Joe DiPietro. Performances will run June 6-July 4 Tuesdays through Sundays beginning at 8 p.m. at the George C. Meyer Performing Arts Center. Inspired by and featuring well-loved tunes from Elvis Presley, the production centers around a mysterious stranger who rides into a small […]

Biology and Classics Graduate Finds Home in Oil Industry

May 27, 2014

From the 2014 Celebrating Excellence | What do Colombia, Gabon and Brazil all have in common? For one thing, Lauren Wilder, a UA graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology and classics, helped negotiate exploration rights for oil and gas in all three places. Wilder’s first trip abroad as a land negotiator with Hess Corporation was to Lima, Peru. She traveled with two other Hess employees, “experienced professionals” she calls them, who had been to Peru dozens of times. “I […]

From UA to Antarctica to the White House

May 27, 2014

From the 2014 Celebrating Excellence | Dr. Samantha Hansen spent Thanksgiving 2013 – and several weeks on either side of it – shoveling snow in Antarctica, and she’s likely to spend the next two Thanksgivings doing the same. But shoveling snow in more than 30-degrees-below freezing temperatures is the beginning of her labors. She now has more than 200 gigabytes of data that she will painstakingly anaylze over the next year to try to map a massive subsurface mountain range […]

Professors Share Their Philosophies and Practices

May 27, 2014

From the 2014 Celebrating Excellence | Between teaching classes, conducting researching, sharing their work off-campus and working with students outside the classroom, professors often don’t have time to consider the impact they’re making. For Sarah M. Barry, associate professor of dance, receiving the University’s highest honor for excellence in teaching did just that – it forced her to slow down and made her realize that she is, in fact, doing what she set out to do. “I was so honored […]