August 23, 2004

• 2004-05 Black Faculty and Staff Association Officers Meet During Summer
• Former UA Colleagues Publish Book Detailing Diversity of State's Fish
• Dixon Appointed to Ramsay Chair in Chemistry
• UA Historian Awarded Grant to Complete Bay of Pigs Book
• Faculty Senate Steering Committee Works through Summer
• UA Student in Iraq Supports Country and Tide

2004-05 Black Faculty and Staff Association Officers Meet During Summer

New BFSA officers, L-R: Dr. Bobby Wilson, Greg Singleton, Felicia Linton, Brenda Elliott, Carlton McHargh and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz. (photo by Laura Shill)

New BFSA officers held their 2004 orientation meeting this summer. The new officers are Dr. Bobby Wilson, professor of geography, parliamentarian; Greg Singleton, engineering student services, vice president; Felicia Linton, School of Law administrative assistant, treasurer; Brenda Elliott, Center for Athletic Student Services, secretary; Carlton McHargh, education student services, past president; and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, assistant professor of African American Studies, president.

BFSA's mission is to serve as an advocate for educational equity, with emphasis on African-American students, and the professional needs of its members. The organization promotes and provides opportunities for networking among individuals and groups to articulate mutual concerns and advance educational opportunity. For information, go to the website at http://bama.ua.edu/~bfsaua/mission.html.

Former UA Colleagues Publish Book Detailing Diversity of State's Fish

L-R: Joseph Tomelleri, Jack Warner, Dr. Herbert Boschung, Dr. Richard Mayden. (photo by Rickey Yanaura)

Dr. Herbert Boschung, professor emeritus of biological sciences at UA, and Dr. Richard Mayden, former UA professor of biological sciences and current chairman of the department of biology at Saint Louis University, and widely recognized fish artist Joseph Tomelleri recently held a book signing for Fishes of Alabama. Published by Smithsonian Books, with a foreword by twotime Pulitzer Prize winner and UA alumnus E.O. Wilson, the book details, with stunning illustrations, each of the state's known freshwater fish species. The 960-page book documents the diets, growth rates, reproduction, sizes, distribution and status of Alabama's fishes. The 300-plus original prismacolor pencil art illustrations on 100 percent rag museum board were bought by local art collector and businessman Jack Warner. For a copy of the book, contact the UA SUPe Store at 348-6126.

The idea for the book originated with Boschung, who has spent more than 50 years studying fishes and who taught in UA's College of Arts and Sciences from 1950 until his retirement in 1987. Boschung said he remains fascinated by fish, their life history, their biology, their courtship process, the tenacity to which they cling to life, and their diversity. The book focuses on the state's 341 freshwater species and, during the course of producing the book, the researchers located every one of those species, except two that are documented as extinct. "The state of Alabama is, by far, without any doubt, the most species rich state in the United States when it comes to fishes," Mayden said. Combining the state's freshwater and marine species gives the state nearly 1,000 fish species, he said.

Dixon Appointed to Ramsay Chair in Chemistry

UA's Board of Trustees has appointed Dr. David A. Dixon to the Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Ramsay Chair was established in 1956 with gifts from Erskine Ramsay of Birmingham, made in memory of his late father, Robert Ramsay. The chair is designated for a nationally and internationally recognized teacher-scholar with an excellent track record for publishing, external funding and teaching.

Dixon comes to UA from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he served as a Battelle Fellow. His area of expertise is in the application of the techniques of numerical simulation and high performance computing to the solution of complex chemical problems, with a focus on catalysis and environmental science including actinide chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, hydrogen storage, biochemistry, and fluorine chemistry.

"Numerical simulation and high performance computing are critical areas of expertise for any advanced research program," said Dr. Robert Olin, dean of the College. "Professor Dixon brings the highest credentials to the College and the University."

Dixon's work has been recognized with numerous fellowships and awards including the 1989 Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award of the American Chemical Society given for outstanding accomplishment under the age of 40, the 2003 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry, as a 2002 Fellow of the American Physical Society, and as a 1994 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research has resulted in the publication of more than 400 research papers in prestigious journals and the presentation of more than 200 invited lectures at major universities and public and private laboratories throughout the world, and three significant patents.

Dixon received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1971 and a doctoral degree in physical chemistry from Harvard University in 1976.

UA Historian Awarded Grant to Complete Bay of Pigs Book

Dr. Howard Jones

The Earhart Foundation in Ann Arbor, Mich., awarded the grant to Dr. Howard Jones, University Research Professor in UA's department of history, to complete his book on the JFK administration, the Bay of Pigs and the 1961 attempt to overthrow Cuban ruler Fidel Castro. Jones is under contract with Oxford University Press in New York to produce a book-length manuscript on the topic for its "Pivotal Moments in American History" series. In One Day in April: John F. Kennedy, The Bay of Pigs, and the Attempt to Overthrow Castro, Jones will detail the failed attempt by Cuban exiles, armed by the CIA and trained by U.S. military experts, to overthrow the leader and win a battle against Communism. He'll also write of the impact the event had on the administration and how Kennedy's approach to battling communism changed in the final portion of his short term.

"In particular, the Kennedy administration became involved in an ongoing clandestine operation begun in the Eisenhower years that linked the CIA and the Mafia in several bizarre attempts to assassinate Castro," Jones said. "Everything went wrong," Jones has written about the fateful April day. The episode dealt a staggering blow to the fledgling Kennedy administration that greatly shaped its reaction to international events throughout most of the president's abbreviated term in office."

Some two years later, Kennedy's attitude toward both Cuba and military action, as a way of stamping out Communism, had shifted dramatically, Jones said. "Recent revelations show that, as part of a broad effort, he secretly worked toward an accommodation with Cuba and approved a plan to withdraw all special military forces from Vietnam."

Jones joined UA's history department in 1974. He authored Mutiny on the Amistad, a 1987 book which received wide critical acclaim. He was a special consultant on Steven Spielberg's movie production of "Amistad."

Faculty Senate Steering Committee Works through Summer

L-R: John Vincent, Karen Steckol, John Mason, Mathew Winston, Linda Knowles. (photo by Rickey Yanaura)

The steering committee of the UA Faculty Senate continued its work through the summer preparing to address the 2004-05 Faculty Senate goals. Committee members are John Vincent, chemistry, secretary; Karen Steckol, communicative disorders, financial affairs committee; John Mason, accountancy, president; Mathew Winston, English, vice president; and Linda Knowles, administrative assistant to the Senate.

The first fall meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 31, in Ferguson Forum. For complete information, go to the website at www.facultysenate.ua.edu.

UA Student in Iraq Supports Country and Tide

Corporal William M. (Billy) Howard II, 3rd Civil Affairs Group, U.S. Marine Corps, Fallajuh, Iraq, a junior at UA, makes a UA statement on his Humvee. As a UA student he continues a tradition set by other family members: He is the son of David K. Howard (UA '71) and Markie Lott Howard (UA '75) and the brother of Kirby Howard (UA '02).

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