Awards and Recognitions
The Division of Strategic Communications recently earned three Lantern Awards from the Southern Public Relations Federation for the work of its communications department: 2020-2021 Year in Review, Award of Excellence; Protect Our Herd COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Certificate of Merit; and Everyday Champions Internal Campaign, Certificate of Merit.
Designs by Jonathan Cumberland, assistant professor, art and art history, received the Award of Excellence by Graphic Design USA. The award was for Cumberland’s five Vaccine Confidence posters, at GDUSA’s 59th anniversary American Inhouse Design Awards™. The designs, reproduced on billboards and several sizes of posters, were part of a project funded by a grant from the CDC Foundation and distributed throughout four counties in the Alabama Black Belt.
Vice President for Community Affairs Samory T. Pruitt has been selected for the 2022 class of the Tuscaloosa County Civic Hall of Fame. Members are selected for having made significant, long-term contributions to the overall development of Tuscaloosa County.
Mark G. Foster Scholarship Winner
Susan Page, proposal development administrator and grant writer in UA’s Institute for Rural Health Research is the recipient of the Professional Staff Assembly’s Mark G. Foster Scholarship for 2022. Page is working on a master’s degree in advertising and public relations with an emphasis in marketing communication management. In her role, Page uses marketing skills to write project proposals for grant funding for health research and projects which benefit rural Alabamians. She plans to use her degree to continue to serve in the area of rural health, making a difference in the state and region.
Foster was a founding member of the Professional Staff Assembly, which awards the scholarship each fall to a professional staff member who is also currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate courses at UA.
Publications
Alexis Barton, adjunct professor, journalism and creative media, wrote the cover story for the Fall Home and Design issue of Washington Post Magazine: “The Finer Things: My family poured love and joy into entertaining. Now it’s my turn” (Sept. 18, 2022).
Deepa Das Acevedo, associate professor, Law School, published “Sweet Old-Fashioned Notions” [Symposium on Legal Anthropology], 73 Alabama Law Review 719-732 (2022).
Since 2018, Dr. Sara McDaniel, associate professor, department of special education and multiple abilities, served as a member of a large, nationwide research team that developed an educator intervention to improve racial equity in schools. This federally funded project culminated in the publication of an article — “Equity-focused PBIS approach reduces racial inequities in school discipline: A randomized controlled trial” — that was spotlighted by the American Psychological Association, and recently named “Article of the Year” by School Psychology.
Exhibitions
Jason Guynes, professor, and Holland Hopson, assistant professor, art and art history, and Sarah Bryant, assistant professor, book arts, were among 38 artists from around the Southeast whose work was selected for the juried B22: Wiregrass Biennial at the Wiregrass Museum in Dothan, Alabama.
Sarah Marshall, associate professor, art and art history, has a solo exhibition, “Crowded Air,” at the Hoover Public Library Friends Gallery, Hoover, Alabama.
Pete Schulte, professor, art and art history, has a two-person exhibition with Yevgeniya Baras at Margie E. West Gallery at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, in Athens.
Ashlee René Thompson, instructor, art and art history, had work juried into “Divulge: d’Art’s Second National Exhibition Featuring the Use of Art for Therapy & Mental Health Awareness,” Norfolk, Virginia. Her work was selected for the online exhibition “New Visions” at the Florence Contemporary Gallery in Florence, Italy, and featured on the catalog’s cover.
Other Recent Accolades
Interim Executive Director Named for Alabama Water Institute
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UA News publishes accolades for UA faculty and staff from the calendar year regarding publications in peer-reviewed journals, scholarly books or national publications; awards and elections; national and international fellowships; and art exhibits and performances. We do not publish conference papers or keynote addresses. To submit an accolade, use the online submit news form.