Media Advisory — UA’s Spring Commencement Exercises

Friday, May 16, 2003, Coleman Coliseum

• Morning Ceremony: 9 a.m.
• Afternoon Ceremony: 1 p.m.
• Law School Ceremony: 5 p.m.

CEREMONIES

Morning Ceremony (9 a.m.) — (bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D.): colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Human Environmental Sciences; and the School of Social Work.

Afternoon Ceremony (1 p.m.) — (bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialists, Ph.D. and Ed.D): The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, and colleges of Communication and Information Sciences, Education, and Nursing.

SPEAKERS

MAIN — Ransom Wilson, Flutist and Conductor

A native of Tuscaloosa, Wilson has long been recognized as one of the world’s leading instrumentalists and is equally esteemed as an outstanding conductor of orchestral and operatic repertoire. He has accompanied many internationally renowned artists from the podium, including Itzhak Perlman, André Watts, Frederica von Stade, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, Joshua Bell, Garrick Ohlsson, Jeffrey Kahane and Robin Sutherland. He is an Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he is professor of flute at Yale University. He has recorded 30 albums as both flutist and conductor and was three times nominated for the “Grammy” award. Other awards he has received include the Alabama Prize from the New York Times Foundation, and the Award of Merit in Gold, from the Republic of Austria.

LAW — David Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama

Bronner, who heads the largest financial organization in the state, has been featured in numerous business periodicals including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes Magazine, and The Money Manager. He holds both a law degree and a Ph.D. from the Capstone and served as assistant dean of UA’s School of Law from 1972-73.

AWARDS (9 a.m. Ceremony Only)

Hugo Black Award: Wayne Flynt

Flynt is a Distinguished University Professor at Auburn University and a renowned expert on Southern history, politics and religion. An outspoken advocate, Flynt has traveled the state of Alabama giving countless lectures on the plight faced by all Alabamians, particularly its poor citizens. In part, the interest grew from the federal war on poverty and his own Appalachian years in the mountains of northeast Alabama. His research led to his acclaimed book, “Poor But Proud: Alabama’s Poor Whites,” which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won the coveted Lillian Smith Award for Non-Fiction in 1990. The Black Award, named in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice and UA alumnus Hugo Black, recognizes distinguished service to the people of Alabama and the nation and is the highest award given by the University.

Julia and Henry Tutwiler Award: H. Pettus Randall III (Posthumous)

Randall, who served as chair of Randall Publishing before his death in 2002, will be the posthumous recipient of the Julia and Henry Tutwiler Award, UA’s most prestigious award for volunteer service to UA and the people of Alabama. A native Alabamian, Randall earned his bachelor’s in history and English from UA and his Juris Doctor from the UA School of Law in 1971. He became president of the family-owned Randall Publishing in 1976 and chairman and CEO in 1984. He remained active until his death on Sept. 7, 2002, following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. Randall’s involvement in civic, fraternal and religious organizations included the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce, the Tuscaloosa Arts Council, the Boys and Girls Club of Tuscaloosa, the Episcopal Church, the March of Dimes, the United Way and the Tuscaloosa Association of Retarded Citizens and more. In 2002, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama and was named Tuscaloosa County’s Citizen of the Year for 2002 by the Tuscaloosa Civitan Club.

NOTEWORTHY/INSPIRING GRADUATES

For more information on these graduates and other graduate story ideas, contact Suzanne Dowling in Media Relations at 205/348-8324 or sdowling@ur.ua.edu.

DAVID KIMANI: Wife to Accept UA Track Star’s Posthumous Degree — The wife of UA track star David Kimani will accept her late husband’s degree in commerce and business. Kimani had completed all degree requirements, and his wife, Chamis, will accept the degree during the May 16 ceremony. Widely regarded as the greatest distance runner in UA track and field history, the 25-year-old Kimani died of unknown causes April 17 after collapsing while eating lunch. A six-time national champion and 14-time All-American, Kimani helped lead Alabama to a second-place finish in the 2002 NCAA Indoor Championships and was considered a future Olympic contender. (1 p.m. Ceremony)

ADDITIONAL UA ATHLETIC GRADUATES — Some of the UA athletes scheduled to receive their degrees: Baseball: Brent Boyd (Fort Worth, Texas), Beau Hearod (Jennings, La.), Jeffrey Norris (Vestavia Hills); Men’s Basketball: Erwin Dudley (Uniontown), Terrance Meade (Scottsboro); Football: Waine Bacon (Ft. Washington, Md.), Lane Bearden (Helena), Hirchel Bolden (Dothan), Marico Portis (Mobile), Theodus Sanders (Bessemer); Gymnastics: Natalie Barrington (Mississauga, Canada), Andree Pickens (Houston, Texas), Raegan Tomasek (Mastic Beach, N.Y.)

NATALIE FLEMING: She Finds the Courage to Complete Her Degree After Her Mother’s Death — Although Natalie Fleming of Piedmont will receive her master of arts in journalism, the road to this graduation took more strength than she ever imagined. After an extended battle with diabetes and renal failure, her mother, Susan Fleming, died March 10. Natalie says her mother went through more than 60 surgeries and was taking more than 60 pills a day after her kidney transplant. “She was such an inspiration to me, and she wanted me to complete my master’s more than anything,” Fleming says. “She was sick for so long and in so much pain, but she never complained.” She says her mother’s strength kept her going when she wanted to leave school to help care for her. “I’m only here because of her,” she says. “She was in a coma at the end, and I missed four weeks of school. It seemed impossible to come back and finish, but I did it because I knew that’s what she wanted me to do.” To reach Natalie Fleming at her Gadsden home from May 6-8 call 256/492-0111. For all other times, call her mobile 205/242-6177. (1 p.m. Ceremony)

TERRY COLBURN AND LEROY GANT: B.F. Goodrich workers earn degrees — Over the past few years Terry Colburn of Tuscaloosa and Leroy Gant of Fayette have shared a few things in common: they both work at Tuscaloosa’s Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Manufacturing, raising kids as single parents, and have been full-time students at UA. Now they can add UA alumni to their common traits. On May 16, Colburn will receive his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering; and Gant has earned a bachelor’s degree in health studies. And despite all the pressures they faced, they will both graduate with honors. Colburn can be reached at 205/344-6649 or tcolburn10566@charter.net. Gant can be reached through Dr. Judy Taylor, Rural Alabama Health Education Center, 205/348-1017.

BLOUNT INITIATIVE: First Graduating Class — Four years ago, UA began its ambitious Blount Undergraduate Initiative that was to create a community of undergraduate scholars and be a benchmark for academic excellence at the Capstone. On May 16, UA will graduate the Initiative’s first class with 25 percent of the class being accepted to either medical school or law school and 35 percent planning to enter graduate school. Blount students have been accepted by some of the nation’s top graduate institutions including Yale, University of Virginia, Georgetown, Columbia, and New York University. The ranks of Blount seniors includes a member of the 2002 and 2003 USA Today All-Academic Team, two nominees for the prestigious national Rhodes Scholarship, and 12 members of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. The four year Blount program, established with a $14 million dollar private endowment provided by 27 Alabamians, including the late Winton Blount of Montgomery, his wife, Carolyn Blount, and the Blount Foundation, includes a residential freshmen year, a study abroad option, a public service component, and a senior Capstone Course. For more information, contact Becky Florence at 205/348-8663.

EMILY SMITH: Around the World in Four Years — In her four years as a UA student, Emily Smith, who has studied five languages and is fluent in Spanish, has spent time in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Germany, India, Mexico, England and Colombia. Smith, a Hoover resident, managed to work in the trips during holiday breaks from school and during the summers, all while keeping a 4.0 GPA, with a double major of journalism and Spanish. But her international lifestyle is not limited to off-campus activities. Smith was elected president of UA’s International Student Association, a first for an American and a first for any woman. Her post-graduate work will involve travel also. She’ll move to Caracas, Venezuela where she’ll begin work on a master’s degree in international relations at La Universidad Central, in Caracas, using her $25,000 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. During her stay, she’ll serve as a good will ambassador, visiting Rotary Clubs in Venezuela to make presentations on Alabama, its people and its top issues. Smith may be reached at 205/344-5756 or via zapato81@aol.com. Additional UA sources most familiar with Smith include: Dr. Jane Stanfield, executive director of Capstone International, (205) 348-5256 or jstanfie@bama.ua.edu and Dr. Ed Mullins, professor and chair of journalism, 205/348-8592 or mullins@jn.ua.edu. (1 p.m. Ceremony)

ELIZABETH WATSON: Six consecutive generations of UA graduates — When Mobile native Elizabeth Watson accepts her degree in communicative disorders on May 16, she continues a family tradition dating back to the 1920’s. Since then, the Watson family has had six straight generations enrolled at UA. Contact Watson at 205/292-7144 (cell). (9 a.m. ceremony)