Dialog, UA Faculty and Staff News

Fred Gray to Speak at BFSA Honors Day Event
Spring and Summer Dates Available for Bay Point Condo
UA's Annual Rural Health Conference to Focus on Barriers to Culturally Competent Care
UA's CPT&R Showcases an Old Fashioned Newspaper for APT
UA Campus Mail to have Special Operations During Spring Break
UA's Award Winning Student Ad Team to Hold Rehearsal
Third Annual Wheels Across the Quad and Great Bama Bed Race Scheduled
Alabama Museum of Natural History Launches Changes

Fred Gray to Speak at BFSA Honors Day Event

Fred D. Gray

Distinguished attorney Fred D. Gray of Tuskegee will be the keynote speaker at the Honors' Day program sponsored by UA's Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA) on Wednesday, April 16. The 4 p.m. event in Morgan Hall auditorium is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Elva Bradley at 348-3921 or at ebradley@ctl.ua.edu.

Gray's legal career spans more than 45 years. He represented Rosa Parks after she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery City bus to a white man. Parks' arrest ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott and City of Montgomery v. Rosa Parks lawsuit. Gray was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s first civil rights attorney. The list of the civil rights cases that he has won can be found in most constitutional law textbooks.

One of the first African Americans to serve in the Alabama Legislature since reconstruction, Gray was a member of the Legislature from 1970-1974. He received the Capitol Press Corps Award for the Best Orator in the House of Representatives in 1972, and was a member of the National Society of State Legislators from 1970-1974.

A native of Montgomery, Gray was educated at the Nashville Christian Institute in Nashville, Tenn., Alabama State University and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Spring and Summer Dates Available for Bay Point Condo

University faculty, staff and retirees can reserve a stay at the University's Bay Point condominium in Panama City, Fla. The condo sleeps six adults and is located in the Marriott Complex on St. Andrews Bay. Club Meadows and Lagoon Legend Golf Courses may be used by four condo residents during their stay at no additional cost (except golf cart). Swimming is also available. There is a $30 cleaning fee per visit. Summer rates, from spring break through Labor Day, are $99 per night. To check policies, available dates, and other information, go to the Web site at www.baypoint.ua.edu. To reserve the UA condo, download and complete the Reservation Request Form and a Waiver Form. Sign and submit both to Margaret Keith in person at the Office of Land Management, 225 East Annex. A deposit equal to one-half the rental for your stay must be given by check made payable to Capstone Foundation. The balance is due before picking up the keys.

UA's Annual Rural Health Conference to Focus on Barriers to Culturally Competent Care

UA's fourth annual Rural Health Conference will address rural health care issues and their impact on the state of Alabama April 3-4 at the Bryant Conference Center. The conference, "Culturally Competent Health Care in Rural Alabama: Overcoming the Invisible Barriers," will bring together voices from rural communities, as well as professionals from a number of fields who have an interest in rural health. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Marcia K. Brand, director of the Office of Rural Health Policy in the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Brand has a long history of service to the health sector.

The conference will feature numerous speakers, including Dr. Angeline Bushy, a specialist in community health, nursing and rural health. Bushy has authored or edited several books on vulnerable populations and culturally competent health care in rural areas. Healthcare professionals, community business leaders, government officials, academic researchers, representatives of faith-based organizations, state and federal workers and others who have an interest in rural health have all made the conference a success in finding answers to Alabama's rural health care questions and needs. For more information and to register call 348-3375. Conference registration is $75. Registration for the pre-conference event also is $75. Updated conference information and an agenda are posted on the conference Web site: http://rhc.ua.edu.

UA's CPT&R Showcases an Old Fashioned Newspaper for APT

The University's Center for Public Television and Radio has produced a documentary on the state's largest non-daily newspaper, The Advertiser-Gleam, which will air Wednesday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. on Alabama Public TV. This Guntersville newspaper, the copy cranked out on a manual typewriter, covers stories like a family that keeps finding snake skins six feet long in their attic, a country store whose safe contained $110,000 when the owner died, the emu strolling in one of the nicest neighborhoods, and its unparalleled obituaries. The Advertiser-Gleam covers all the news that's fit to print in Marshall County. For more information about the production or CPT&R, contact Brent Davis at 348-8629.

UA Campus Mail to have Special Operations During Spring Break

UA's Campus Mail will provide limited service during spring break, April 7-11. Mail will not be delivered to departments, but each department may pick up mail from 9-11:30 a.m. from the mail center in the facilities complex, if arrangements are made by Thursday, April 3. Only authorized personnel may pick up departmental mail.

Outgoing mail processed before the break, but not picked up on regular mail routes, should be delivered to the mail center by noon Friday, April 4. Mail placed in the special drop boxes located in Rose Administration, Student Services Building, Gordon-Palmer and Alston Hall as part of Centralized Afternoon Pick-up Service (CAPS) will be processed before the break. For information about Campus Mail services, visit the Web site at www.campusmail.ua.edu and follow links. For information on the spring break schedule, click on "Announcements."

UA's Award Winning Student Ad Team to Hold Rehearsal

UA public relations and marketing students in the College of Communication and Information Sciences have been working since fall on creating a fully integrated marketing communication plan for a national competition put on by the American Advertising Federation. The team will give a dress rehearsal for presenting its package for the 2003 Toyota Matrix XR regional competition Thursday, April 3, at 6 p.m. in room 216 of Reese Phifer Hall. The rehearsal will last about 20 minutes and will be followed by a short question and answer period. Interested faculty and staff are invited to attend. For more information, contact Susan Daria, faculty advisor for the team, at 348-3103.

Third Annual Wheels Across the Quad and Great Bama Bed Race Scheduled

University Recreation is again teaming up with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of West Alabama for the third annual Wheels Across the Quad event scheduled for Saturday, April 19, from 7:30-11:30 a.m. This year's event will inaugurate First Federal Bank's Criterium Cycling Races, featuring all levels of riders. Family carnival events, food vendors, music, kids' activities, and wheeled "races" will take place from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The day will culminate with the "Great Bama Bed Race," open to all groups, organizations and teams. For more information on all the events, contact George Brown at University Recreation at 348-3994 or gbrown@sa.ua.edu. Also visit the Web site from the link at http://urec.sa.ua.edu/.

Alabama Museum of Natural History Launches Changes

The Alabama Museum of Natural History on the UA campus has initiated some changes designed to enhance communications with members, friends and donors by broadening its audience. A new logo, newsletter format and name, and membership levels are part of the changes. The new logo is a stylized rendition of Smith Hall, the Museum's home, and the words "Alabama Museum of Natural History." The newsletter, the Chronicle, will focus on member activities, programs, exhibits and events.

Membership levels are named for some of Alabama's important rivers: Alabama River ($40), Black Warrior River ($100), Cahaba River ($250), Coosa River ($500), Sipsey River ($1,000), and the Eugene Allen Smith Society ($5,000). For information, contact the Museum at 348- 7550 or visit the Web site at http://amnh.ua.edu/.