Dialog, UA Faculty and Staff News

September 7, 2004

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Carl Wieman to Lecture at UA
UA Leader in Higher Ed Honored
Kacmar Named to Chair of Business Ethics

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Carl Wieman to Lecture at UA

Nobel Prize winning physicists Carl Wieman will present a public lecture and meet with faculty and administrators at The University of Alabama Sept. 21-22. Wieman was the first physicist to achieve a new form of matter called the Bose-Einstein condensate, a discovery that won him the Nobel Prize in 2001. (Photo by Ken Abbott/University of Colorado at Boulder)

Nobel Prize-winner and internationally renowned physicist Carl E. Wieman will be at The University of Alabama on Sept. 21 and 22. Wieman will give a presentation on the work that won him the Nobel Prize, "Bose-Einstein Condensation: Quantum Weirdness at the Lowest Temperature in the Universe," on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in 107 Shelby Hall on the UA campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Wieman was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics for his landmark creation of the world's first Bose-Einstein condensate, a new form of matter that is created when a laboratory apparatus is used to chill a group of atoms to just a few hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero. The atoms within the condensate obey the laws of quantum physics and are as close to absolute zero — minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius — as the laws of physics allow. The creation established a new branch of atomic physics that has provided a treasure-trove of discoveries. Wieman won the Nobel Prize along with collaborator and fellow University of Colorado at Boulder physics professor Eric Cornell.

A staunch supporter of undergraduate education, Wieman will also speak to UA faculty. His lecture, "Using the Tools of Science to Teach Science," will deal with efficiently using technology that is available today in the classroom. It will be held on Sept. 22 at 4 p.m., in 107 Shelby Hall on the UA campus.

While at UA, Wieman will also meet with UA President Robert E. Witt, Dr. Judy Bonner, provost and vice-president for academic affairs, and other members of the UA administration, as well as hold informal seminars with physics faculty and with students in the Blount Undergraduate Initiative and the UA Honors College.

Physicists Carl Wieman (right) and partner Eric Cornell with the apparatus used to achieve the Bose-Einstein condensate, research that won them the Nobel Prize in 2001. Wieman will present a public lecture and meet with faculty and administrators at The University of Alabama Sept. 21-22. (Photo by Ken Abbott/University of Colorado at Boulder)

Wieman has received numerous other honors and awards, including the 1993 E.O. Lawrence Award in Physics, the 1995 Einstein Medal for Laser Science, and the 2000 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Wieman, a 1973 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also holds a doctorate from Stanford University and an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Chicago.

Wieman's visit is hosted by UA's College of Arts and Sciences and is part of the University's Excellence in Teaching Initiative.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University's largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.

UA Leader in Higher Ed Honored

Dr. Cathy Johnson Randall

Dr. Cathy Johnson Randall, director of the Computer Based Honors Program and former director of the UA Honors program, has been inducted into the prestigious Alabama Academy of Honor. Randall was nominated for the honor by Harper Lee, UA alumna and author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Both Randall and Lee had earlier been named among the University's "XXXI Most Outstanding Women Graduates of the Century."

Chairman of the Academy, Thomas Carruthers, said that recipients make up a select group who have been chosen based on their significant contributions to the state of Alabama and the nation. The Academy is limited to 100 living Alabamians plus living governors, and vacancies occur at the death of a member. Randall joined four other 2004 inductees: Bill Cabaniss, American Ambassador to the Czech Republic and Birmingham businessman; Hall Thompson, chairman of Thompson Realty in Birmingham and retired chief executive of Thompson Tractor Co; Cameron Vowell, Birmingham leader in environmental issues; and Mike Warren, CEO of Energen Resources Corp. in Birmingham.

Randall has been director of the Computer Based Honors Program since 1978, during which time the program has become one of the most highly acclaimed undergraduate honors programs in the nation. She has earned a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees and two doctoral degrees at the University. She served as national president of Mortar Board honor society, national executive committee member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, president of the Alabama Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors, and president of the UA chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. In 2002, she was awarded UA's E. Roger Sayers Distinguished Service Award.

Randall was named chairman of Randall Publishing Company after the untimely death of her husband, Pettus Randall. She has also been very active in civic volunteerism and has been honored for her service with numerous awards.

Kacmar Named to Chair of Business Ethics

Dr. K. Michele Kacmar

An internationally recognized professor of management, Dr. K. Michele Kacmar, has been named to the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Business Ethics in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration.

"We are extremely fortunate to have a scholar of Dr. Kacmar's stature aboard as the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Ethics," said Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the UA business school. "While we infuse the importance of practicing good business ethics into all of our courses, we realize that there is an increased sensitivity among business leaders and industry recruiters to the importance of responsible corporate governance, and this is an important step in recognizing that sensitivity."

Kacmar comes to UA from Florida State University, where she served as the Charles A. Rovetta Professor of Management and director of the Center for Human Resource Management.

Kacmar will lead faculty and students in developing research agendas in ethics, provide expertise to the University's public constituencies on various issues related to ethics, teach ethics-related courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and give guest lectures.

Kacmar received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Illinois State University and her doctorate from Texas A&M University. Her research interests include ethics, impression management, and organizational politics. She has published more than 60 articles in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Journal of Business Ethics. She co-authored a textbook titled "Human resource management: A strategic approach." The book is currently in its 4th edition.

Kacmar has received numerous teaching awards, a variety of research awards, several best paper and best reviewer awards, and was selected as one of five Developing Scholars at Florida State University for 1998. She served as the associate editor for Human Resource Management Journal from 1996-1999 and as the editor of the Journal of Management from 2000-2002. She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Managerial Issues, Human Resource Management Journal, and Organizational Analysis. She is active in the Academy of Management having been elected to the executive committee for the HR Division, served a three year term as the HR division newsletter co-editor, and is currently fulfilling a five-year rotation that will culminate with the presidency of the division.

UA's chair of business ethics was funded by $1 million in gifts from Durr-Fillauer Medical Inc. and key former Durr-Fillauer executives.

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