UA Faculty to Discuss Alabama Greece Initiative Projects

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama faculty members who traveled to Thessaloniki, Greece, in May will participate in an Oct. 22 symposium in which they will discuss their ongoing collaborative projects with faculty at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The symposium is designed to inform and aid other UA faculty members in building relationships with potential collaborators at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The symposium will be held from 1:30-3 p.m. in room 205 of Gorgas Library and is free and open to the public.

Seven faculty members, led by Dr. Luoheng Han, senior associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, traveled to Greece earlier this year as part of the Alabama Greece Initiative, a long-term collaborative partnership between the two universities. They met with research partners at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, spending a day exchanging ideas about possible research projects with worldwide scopes.

The Oct. 22 symposium is a direct result of those initial conversations.

The following faculty members will present during the symposium.

• Juan Lopez-Bautista, professor in the department of biological sciences
• Ibrahim Cemen, professor in the department of geological sciences
• Andrea Cevasco, associate professor in the School of Music
• Andy Fitch, associate professor in the department of theatre and dance
• Luoheng Han, professor in the department of geography and senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences
• Trudier Harris, professor in the department of English
• Tatiana Tsakiropoulou-Summers, associate professor in the department of modern languages and classics

The Alabama Greece initiative began in 2010 when UA hosted its first Aristotle University student, Vaia Touna, for a semester in the department of religious studies and the department of modern languages and classics.

The initiative has continued to grow since then, continually expanding its student and faculty exchanges. Most recently, Dr. Spyros Pavlides, geologist and dean of the Faculty of Sciences at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, presented a lecture at UA during a weeklong visit this spring.

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is a public university in Greece’s second largest city. It is the largest university in Greece and in the Balkans with an enrollment of 81,000 students.

“Our hope is that these collaborative projects will produce new and groundbreaking research, as well as play a role in furthering the understanding and relationships between Greek and U.S. cultures,” Olin said.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, Truman Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.