Minerva statue against clear blue winter sky

Faculty and Staff Accolades for Winter 2024

College of Arts and Sciences

Award Winners

Dr. Lawrence Cappello, assistant professor, history, was named the NACADA Region 4 Excellence in Advising – Faculty award winner. NACADA, the global community for academic advising, is the leading association for the advancement of student success through excellence in higher education academic advising. 

Bethany Moody, instructor, art and art history, was awarded Best in Craft in the 2023 Robin Nance Metz Art Competition at Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana. Also, Moody is spring artist-in-residence at Studio By The Tracks in Birmingham, a nonprofit art studio that serves adult artists with autism spectrum disorder. 

Dr. Jennifer Feltman, associate professor, art and art history, was appointed by Christophe Besnier (Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives) to a three-year term in the research group, “Le jubé de Notre-Dame de Paris: nouvelles découvertes / The Choir Screen of Notre-Dame de Paris: New Discoveries.” Besnier is the archaeologist responsible for the recent archaeological excavations inside the cathedral of Notre-Dame. 

First Book

Dr. Alessandra Montalbano, associate professor of Italian, “Ransom Kidnapping in Italy: Crime, Memory and Violence” (University of Toronto Press). 

Publications

An illustration by Jonathan Cumberland, assistant professor, art and art history, was selected for the cover of “Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying” (Oxford University Press, December 2023). The book was by Dr. Luke William Hunt, associate professor, philosophy.

Allison Grant, associate professor, art and art history, had several photographs published in the Nov. 23, 2023, issue of the Wall Street Journal: “The Bank That’s Trying to Get Ahead of the Weather.”

Dr. Doris Sung, assistant professor, art and art history, published a monograph, “Women of Chinese Modern Art: Gender and Reforming Traditions in National and Global Spheres, 1900s–1930s” (De Gruyter, December 2023). She received four grants in support of the publication: the William R. Levin Award for Research in the History of Art (honorary mention), the College Art Association Millard Meiss Publication Grant, the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies Individual Grant, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Publication Subsidy Grant.  

Exhibitions

William T. Dooley, associate professor, art and art history, had paintings in a three-person exhibition, “Similar but Different,” at Vulcan Materials Gallery, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Birmingham.

Daisie Hoitsma Young, instructor, art and art history, has a solo exhibition in Martin Campus Cadence Bank Art Gallery at Shelton State Community College.  

Wade MacDonald, assistant professor, art and art history, had a solo exhibition of mixed-media sculptures and vessels, “Not a Time of Curves,” at Plough Gallery in Tifton, Georgia. 

Megan Moore, instructor, art and art history, had work in an ongoing exhibition, “First Person: Explorations in Printmaking,” in the Mendocino (California) College Gallery. 

Celestia Morgan, assistant professor, art and art history, has a solo exhibition at Cason McDermott Art Gallery, Auburn University at Montgomery. 

Charlotte Wegrzynowski and Tom Wegrzynowski, instructors, art and art history,  each have an artwork in the juried Fifth LaGrange Southeast Regional Exhibition, Lamar Dodd Art Center, in LaGrange, Georgia.  

Capstone College of Nursing 

Dr. Susan Appel, professor, received the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama’s 2023 Living Legend Award. Nurse practitioners who earn this honor have made exceptional and enduring contributions to the health care field and the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama by positively impacting society and leaving an indelible mark on patients and the nurse practitioner profession. 

Dean Julie Sanford is the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Chair-Elect. AACN is the national voice for academic nursing and is governed by a 14-member board of directors.

College of Community Health Sciences

Dr. M.N.V. Ravi Kumar, Distinguished University Research Professor, was selected as a fellow with the National Academy of Inventors. This is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors. Kumar earned international recognition for his contributions to nanoscience and nanomedicine research with applications for treating diseases. 

Olumayowa Azeez, a graduate student in the CCHS Master of Science in Population Health Sciences degree program, Drs. Randi Henderson-Mitchell, and Abbey Gregg, both assistant professors of community medicine and population health, co-authored “Socioeconomic predictors of access to improved water sources, sanitation facilities, and household water treatment in Nigeria,” 13 Journal of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene for Development 11 (2023). 

Dr. Pamela Payne-Foster, professor, community medicine and population health, received sponsorship from the UAB Center for AIDS Research to participate in an Op Ed Project workshop: “Write to Change the World.” The OP Ed Project works with universities, foundations, corporations and organizations to find experts for thought leadership positions in their fields and connect them with international networks of high-level mentors.  

Dr. Yuhui Yao, assistant professor, community medicine and population health, co-authored “Examining the existing usage gap of electronic health records in the United States: A Study of National Health Survey,” 25 Journal of Science Direct: SSM-Population Health (2024).

Capstone International Center

Dr. Teresa Wise, associate provost for international education and global outreach, received the 2023 Distinguished Service Award from the Association of International Enrollment Management. The AIRC champions the interests of international students, institutions and agencies through the development of professional standards and partnerships.  

College of Engineering 

Dr. Kalyan Srinivasan, professor, mechanical engineering, received the 2023 Dedicated Service Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was recognized for his many years of leadership and service to the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division. 

School of Law

Julie A. Hill, Alton C. and Cecile Cunningham Craig Professor of Law, published “From Cannabis to Crypto: Federal Reserve Discretion in Payments,” 109 Iowa Law Review 117 (2023). 

Other Accolades

Professor, Teaching Academy Leader Wins UA’s 2024 SEC Faculty Award

UA Paleontologist Discovers Rare Soft Tissue in Fossil