Media Advisory: UA’s Summer Commencement Exercise

UA’s Summer Commencement Exercise

Saturday, Aug. 4: 9 a.m.

Coleman Coliseum

MEDIA CONTACTS

David Miller, 205/348-0825, dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu
Deidre Stalnaker, 205/348-4956, dstalnaker@ur.ua.edu
Shane Dorrill (Broadcast Media Only), 205/348-8319, sdorrill@ur.ua.edu

Saturday’s ceremony: All undergraduate and graduate diplomas will be awarded. More information can be found at http://ua.edu/commencement/ and http://registrar.ua.edu/degrees/commencement/.

Carmen J Hudson to serve as commencement marshal

The commencement ceremonies will be broadcast live over the Internet.The webcast will be archived on UA’s website, and it will be available for viewing through May 2012. Additionally, reruns of the commencement ceremony will be broadcast on local channel WOTM-19 from Aug. 11-18. The ceremonial mace will be carried by the Commencement Marshal for August, Carmen J. Hudson, assistant professor and internship coordinator in the department of human development and family studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Introduced at the May 1987 commencement ceremony, the 52-inch pedestal was lathed partially from wood saved from the Gorgas Oak, a campus landmark felled by a 1982 windstorm.

Inspiring graduates

Brittany Turner and Lamont Pearson (Masters of Library and Information Science)

While more and more people are discovering love online, it’s far from typical to find a soul mate during an online degree program. But for New Yorker Brittany Turner and Mississippi native Lamont Pearson, that’s exactly what happened when they began the MLIS program at UA. The pair attended orientation, including a tour of the studio used for the Book Arts program at UA. “Between group work, the Wimba chatroom, and Google video chat, our friendship really flourished, and we started communicating on the phone and by text message,” Turner said. “We were able to visit each other a few times during the Spring of 2011, with one of us flying to spend time with the other. The major turning point, Turner says, was the April 27 tornado in 2011. The pair helped coordinate relief efforts with classmates through blogs and eventually made the trip from their respective towns to distribute goods in Tuscaloosa. Turner and Pearson tied the knot this summer in New Orleans, and many of their SLIS classmates attended. They hope to find jobs in the northeast or southeast sections of the United States.

Amanda Cassity (Educational Administration, College of Education)

Like many in the Tuscaloosa area, Amanda Cassity was adversely affected by the tornado that ravaged the city on April 27, 2011. Her home was on Forest Lake Drive, an area that was essentially wiped out. Cassity’s family, including her husband and son, both of whom were at home when the storm hit, and her daughter, then on campus at UA, escaped unharmed. Aside from a few antiques, most of the Cassitys’ personal items were destroyed. Cassity, who had defended her dissertation proposal three months earlier, saw her quest to earn her doctorate delayed by three semesters. “To salvage belongings, deal with insurance, find a temporary place to live until we knew if we were going to build back or move, and just try to manage the emotional and physical impacts of such an event delayed me three semesters,” she said. Cassity, the director of secondary instruction for the Tuscaloosa County Schools, will earn her fourth degree from UA.