UA’s Human Environmental Sciences to Present Alumni Awards

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama College of Human Environmental Sciences will present the Jack Davis Professional Achievement Awards during upcoming homecoming activities on campus.

This year’s honorees include D’anne Cagle-Heckert, Brian A. Selman, Cynthia L. Gilley, Michaela J. Hayes, Jennifer L. Cremeens, Ramona L. Griffin, Mary Lynn Davis Farivari, Kirsten Evans, Sinan “Stanley” Hu, Bridget Thrower Younger and Robert Yarborough.

The awards are presented annually to outstanding CHES alumni for their professional accomplishments. The awards have been given out since 1986. This year, the College will have presented the award to more than 200 alumni.

Dr. Lewis Clifton “Jack” Davis, a well-known dentist in Tuscaloosa and the first male graduate of the College, was a pioneer in emphasizing nutrition and dentistry. Born in Gordo, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather represented 102 years of Pickens County physicians.

2013 Jack Davis Professional Achievement Award recipients

D’anne Cagle-Heckert

D’anne Cagle-Heckert, of Atlanta, Ga., is the group publisher for Modern Luxury Media’s four Atlanta-based publications: The Atlantan, JEZEBEL, The Atlantan Brides and Men’s Book Atlanta. Under her direction, Modern Luxury’s Atlanta market rapidly attained the number one position in media rankings. She has been routinely recognized among the highest earners in sales revenue and was invited to serve as the opening speaker for management and sales at the 2012 Magazine Association of the Southeast conference. Heckert earned her bachelor’s degree in fashion retail with a minor in marketing from UA.

 

Brian A. Selman

Brian Selman, of Washington, D.C., is the Mid-Atlantic supervisor for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is responsible for amateur scouting, including on- and off-field evaluations and information management, in preparation for the Major League Baseball Rule IV draft. As a member of the UA football team from 2005-2010, Selman earned the Paul Bryant Non-Scholarship Athlete Award and the Outstanding Senior Scholar Award. He was also named one of six distinguished undergraduates nationally by The Beta Theta Pi Magazine. Selman earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in management and his master’s degree in human environmental sciences, with an emphasis in sports management, from UA.

 

Cynthia L. Gilley

Cynthia Gilley, of Navarre, Fla., is the interactive technology consultant for Lightbridge Healthcare Research. She was instrumental in the build and launch of The Alzheimer’s Caregiver, a web-based, educational knowledge base for caregivers of patients who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. She writes a regular column that focuses on these conditions for the Northwest Florida Daily News and is often invited to speak on talk radio shows as an expert on the subject. Gilley’s master’s degree is in human environmental sciences from UA.

 

Michaela J. Hayes

Michaela Hayes, of Hampton Cove, is the health communications officer for the Grameen Foundation in Greater Accra Region, Ghana. She managed the creation and implementation of a cutting edge, internationally funded initiative to address Ghana’s critical information gaps in the area of adolescent sexual and reproduction health; the initiative affects some 2 million youth in the region. She has been published and sits on several professional boards. Hayes earned her bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from UA and her master’s degree in health behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 

 

Jennifer L. Cremeens

Jennifer Cremeens, of Greenville, N.C., is an associate professor in the department of health education and promotion at East Carolina University, where she is also the program director for the Masters in Health Education and Promotion. She has performed extensive research in her field, often with substantial grant funding. She has been heavily published, taught courses on a variety of public health topics and sat on numerous thesis and dissertation committees, as well as professional boards and associations. Her research has garnered several prestigious awards. Cremeens’ doctoral degree from UA is in health education and health promotion.

 

Ramona L. Griffin

Ramona Griffin, of Bessemer, is the owner and principal of G&G Interior Design, which serves clients in the commercial, residential and hospitality markets. She frequently blogs for the Sonoma Christian Home online magazine and her residential work, including that for the 2013 Birmingham Decorator Show House, has been featured in numerous publications, including the Over the Mountain Journal and the Birmingham Home and Gardens’ online blog. She has also designed student and multi-family housing and common areas for some 52 university and institutional projects. Griffin earned her master’s degree in interior design from UA.

 

Mary Lynn Davis Farivari

Mary Farivari, of Washington, D.C. is a registered dietician, author and the president of Parsley Publishing, whose cookbook, “Healthy Palate: Delicious and Simple Recipes to Enhance Meals with Fruits and Vegetables,” was a finalist in the health/alternative cooking category of USA Magazine’s Best Books 2011 awards. As an outpatient dietician with Kaiser Permanente, she helps patients improve their health, as well as prevent and treat disease, through diet-related behavior modification.  Farivari’s bachelor’s degree from UA is in dietetics.

 

Kirsten Evans

Kirsten Evans, of Bentonville, Ark., is the vice president of Walmart merchandising, where she is responsible for a large portion of the retailer’s dry grocery business and its critical supplier relationships. In her seven years with the company, she has functioned in crucial marketing roles in several departments. In 2012, she was named as recipient of the AWNY Quantum Leap award for executive women creating a change within an organization. Evans’ bachelor’s degree is in consumer affairs from UA and her master’s degree in business administration was earned from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Sinan “Stanley” Hu

Stanley Hu, of Putian, China, is vice president of global sourcing for TOMs Shoes, Inc., as well as the general manager of its representative office in China. He was instrumental in forming the office in order to achieve a global supply chain base for the company. He has also worked to expand TOMs’ One-for-One policy, which donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased, to products outside of footwear. Hu served as a sergeant and combat medic in the U.S. Army for some six years. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in human environmental sciences, from UA.

 

Bridget Thrower Younger

Bridget Younger, of Brighton, Colo., is the sports medicine program leader at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her contributions as a founding member of that program increased the number of annual average clinic visits by tenfold since its inception in 2006 and her web and blog plan to promote the hospital’s Orthopedic Institute earned the 2013 Internet Advertising Competition’s Best Healthcare Website. She has been frequently published and sits on numerous boards and associations in her field. Younger’s bachelor’s degree in athletic training is from UA and her master’s degree in sports administration was earned at Belmont University.

 

Robert Yarborough

Robert Yarborough, of Point Clear, is the co-owner of the Wash House Restaurant. His career in the hospitality industry began at the Hilton Hotel in Huntsville, where he worked as the restaurant and room service manager shortly after his graduation. He was then taken on as the club house manager at Highland Country Club in LaGrange, Ga., where he stayed for four years. While in LaGrange, he bought The Wash House Restaurant in Point Clear with his childhood friend, partner and chef Wade Selsor, and they have been there for the past 12 years. He and his wife, Casey, both work at the restaurant and are expecting their first son, and future restaurateur, in November.