Media Advisory — UA Winter Commencement Exercises

UA TO BROADCAST COMMENCEMENT LIVE VIA INTERNET — The ceremony will be broadcast live over the Internet. Those who wish to view the ceremonies on the Internet can go to the main UA Web page at http://www.ua.edu/ to find the web cast link. The web cast will require the free Windows Media Player and a broadband connection. The web cast will be archived on UA’s website and will be available for viewing until Jan. 17, 2006.

SPEAKER – Dr. Richard M. Myers, professor and chair of the department of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine as well as the director of the Stanford Human Genome Center. Myers, a UA alumnus and native of Tuscaloosa, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. A world renowned geneticist, Myers and his laboratory was one of the major contributors to sequencing the human genome, helping to produce the sequences of three of the human chromosomes. Myers’ group also has contributed to discoveries of genes that cause epilepsy and skin cancer, and currently works on Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, bipolar disease, hypertension and atherosclerosis.

AWARDS – Beverly Clarkson Phifer, president and chief executive officer of Phifer Wire Products, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Based in Tuscaloosa, Phifer Wire Products is the world’s largest producer of aluminum and fiberglass screen products. Phifer, a daughter of UA alumni, the late J. Reese Phifer and the late Sue Clarkson Phifer, graduated from UA in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She serves as a member of the UA President’s Cabinet, the UA Museums’ Board of Regents, and the Board of Visitors of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. As a trustee with the Reese Phifer Jr. Memorial Foundation, she has worked in establishing several scholarship funds, endowed professorships, and fellowships at UA in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Commerce and Business Administration, Communication and Information Sciences, and the School of Social Work, the School of Library and Information Studies, and the School of Law.

NOTEWORTHY/INSPIRING GRADUATES

DEMECO RYANS: UA Football Player Excels on the Field and in the Classroom – While Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans has earned national recognition for his performance on the football field including the Lott Trophy, given to the nation’s outstanding defensive player; his classroom performance has garnered national attention as well. Ryans will graduate cum laude (3.55 GPA) with a degree in business management, and he did it in just three and one-half years. Ryans is one of eight Division I-A scholar-athletes awarded $18,000 postgraduate scholarships by the National Football Foundation. No Crimson Tide player has won that scholarship since quarterback Steadman Shealy in 1979. As a scholarship winner, Ryans was a finalist for the Draddy Trophy, the “academic Heisman.” “I’ve been working with football programs for 20 years, and he is by far the best student-athlete I’ve ever dealt with,” said Jon Dever, UA assistant athletic director for student services.

TOMMY HESTER: 72-year-old retired banker earns his degree – Tommy Hester of Tuscaloosa can now add another title to his long list of accolades from his distinguished career in banking and civic leader: college graduate. Although he had a 55-year career in banking, Hester lacked 30 hours in completing his degree. When he retired a year ago, he said his first priority was getting that long-awaited degree. Beginning as a runner for First National Bank of Tuscaloosa, Hester rose through the ranks to become a senior vice president. In 1988 he joined First State Bank of Tuscaloosa as executive vice president. By 1990, he had been appointed president and CEO at First State. In 2000, he was named chairman of the board of the bank, which by that time had become part of the Mississippi-based NBC. His longtime commitment to civic organizations led to such awards as the United Way Volunteer of the Year in 1974, Tuscaloosa County Citizen of the Year in 1976, the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, and membership in the Tuscaloosa County Civic Hall of Fame.