Category: Stories of Giving


A Prominent UA Alumni Couple Contributes the Largest Arts and Sciences Endowment in More Than Two Decades

From the May 2017 Desktop News | Two prominent University of Alabama alumni, Dr. E. Gaylon and Mrs. Susan N. McCollough, have gifted the College of Arts and Sciences with its largest academic endowment in more than two decades – for the purpose of creating two unprecedented initiatives: The Dr. E. Gaylon McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars and the Susan N. McCollough Art Biennale. The Institute, which is slated to be considered by The University of Alabama Board of Trustees in June 2017 […]

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An Unexpected Anniversary Surprise

Drs. Michael and Milady Murphy.

From the November 2016 Desktop News | “To surprise someone after 30 years of marriage is no small feat,” said Dr. Michael Murphy, an emeritus professor and former chair in UA’s Department of Anthropology. But on Oct. 8, Murphy revealed a months-in-the-making anniversary surprise to his wife Dr. Milady Murphy, the Wellness Center director and division chair of health and wellness at Shelton State Community College. According to Milady, the couple had already exchanged gifts the evening of their anniversary when Michael […]

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Three UA Faculty Members Named Endowed Elmore Professors

In honor of Marilyn Williams Elmore and her husband John Durr Elmore, The University of Alabama Board of Trustees recently approved the establishment of The Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship, which is funded by the couple’s estate gift in excess of $300,000, provides stipends to recruit nationally and internationally distinguished teacher-scholars as well as to ensure the retention of mid-career faculty whose teaching and research skills are […]

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Piano Wing Named to Honor Alumna

The Frank Moody Music Building

From the November 2016 Desktop News |  According to alumna Gloria Narramore Moody, her “love affair” with The University of Alabama’s School of Music began while attending Girl Scouts camp between sixth and seventh grade. She was casually playing the piano—as she so often did—for a group of girls who wanted to sing when a man came up to her and asked for her name and the name of her father. She answered without missing a note, and later found out […]

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Recent Graduate Bikes across America for Culmination of Senior Project

Map tracking Gyurgyik's trip from Virginia to Oregon.

From the September 2016 Desktop News | After 76 days and 4,505 miles, recent New College graduate Julie Gyurgyik finally arrived in Astoria, Oregon—completing one of the longest coast-to-coast trails in the United States. Her trek across the TransAmerica trail was planned as a part of her holistic health and wellness senior project, with the intent to raise money for Tuscaloosa’s Good Samaritan Clinic, which gives free primary health and dental care to those who do not have health insurance. Together with […]

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Ellen Spears Wins Buford Peace Award

From the June 2016 Desktop News | Dr. Ellen Griffith Spears, an associate professor in New College and the Department of American Studies, is the 2016 winner of the Buford Peace Award. Tony D. Walker, a UA School of Social Work alumnus, established the award in 2002 to honor Lahoma Adams Buford, and each year it is given to a faculty member who has been highly involved in mediating human disputes, helping overcome prejudice, promoting justice, and establishing peace. “The Buford […]

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Scholarships Matter: David Dai Brings Math Education Home

From the March 2016 Desktop News | Scholarships Matter is a series of stories highlighting students in the College of Arts and Sciences who have received and been impacted by scholarships. The student featured in this story is the recipient of three university-wide scholarships and two College-wide scholarships, the Outstanding Junior Award and the Comer Foundation Math Scholarship. Scholarships like these are made possible by generous support from our alumni and friends. In high school, David Dai finished every math test […]

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Students and Faculty Forge for Charity

Allison Sloan's sculpture of a golf swing for the NUCOR Children's Charity Classic.

From the February 2016 Desktop News | For the second year in a row, students have joined with associate professor Craig Wedderspoon, of the Department of Art and Art History, in raising thousands of dollars for a local children’s hospital. Wedderspoon and his students, including BFA senior Allison Sloan and BFA graduates Ali Jackson and Eric Nubbe, have designed, created, and auctioned off sculptures for the annual Nucor Children’s Charity Classic—all the proceeds of which go to Children’s of Alabama. This […]

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Alumna Gives $250,000 to UA

From the August 2015 Desktop News | The late Brenda Voght Harrison, a 1963 alumna of the University and former member of the University Symphony Orchestra, has bequeathed a gift of $250,000 to The University of Alabama. It has been used to establish the Brenda Voght Harrison Endowed Music Scholarship for students in the School of Music. Two scholarships will be awarded from the endowment each year. Harrison, a native of Jackson, Mississippi, graduated from the University in 1963 with […]

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Halls Donate $1.5 Million Art Collection

From the April 2015 Desktop News | A selection of contemporary fine art prints from the William and Sara Hall Collection will be on display at The University of Alabama Gallery in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center April 10-June 10. The Halls donated the $1.5 million collection to UA’s Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, which is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, in 2014. The collection includes more than 475 signed, limited-edition artists’ prints that the Halls […]

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