February 6, 2006

McKinley Award Winner George Brown - October 2005

George Brown
October 2005 Winner

George Brown, director of University recreation, was named the McKinley Employee Award winner for October 2005. Dr. Margaret King, vice president for student affairs, nominated Brown for the award. King nominated Brown for his work during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“When the Student Recreation Center was designated a Red Cross shelter, no one imagined that more than 500 people would need to make it home, some for as long as three weeks. George quickly pulled the SRC staff into the task, thinking ahead about the needs of the evacuees, the care of the facility, and the service provided to patrons – then acting on all three,” King said. Even with an unprecedented population on non-students, the Rec Center was unavailable for student use only one day. After that, Brown negotiated the needs of both regular users and visitors, constantly looking for “win-wins.”

“It worked,” said King, “because he and his staff thought through the tasks at hand, listened intently to concerns and ideas, worked long hours, and buoyed the spirits of people around them. Instead of focusing on the difficulties they faced, they problemsolved how to make it work. George has truly created a can-do team.”

However, King pointed out that Brown’s care and diligence following the hurricane was typical of his performance on ordinary days.

“He constantly sells the activities of University Recreation,” she said. “He encourages his staff. He teaches a class. He is making headway toward his doctorate. He makes constructive remarks in our directors meetings. He is always, always positive. His energy and inclination to thinkoutside- the-box make him the perfect candidate for an award recognizing enterprising employees who contribute to the University’s mission of teaching, research and – especially in his case – service.”

The McKinley Award was established by Helen H. and John K. McKinley of Darien, Conn., and Tuscaloosa in honor of John McKinley’s father, Vergil Parks McKinley. The award recognizes enterprising employees who, by action or idea, contributed to the University’s mission of teaching, research and service. The monthly award carries a cash prize. Vergil Parks McKinley came to UA in 1918 and retired as head of the College of Education’s trade and industrial development department in 1945. If you would like to nominate an employee for future awards, contact Human Resources at 348-6690.

New Book Highlights Ancient Footprints

“Pennsylvanian Footprints in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama” is a new book that outlines the discovery, documentation, classification and interpretation of rare fossil animal tracks discovered in a surface coal mine near Jasper.

The book – co-edited by Dr. Ronald J. Buta, UA professor of astronomy, along with Drs. Andrew K. Rindsberg and David C. Kopaska-Merkel of the Geological Survey of Alabama – discusses the unusual fossil tracks that were discovered by Oneonta High School science teacher Ashley Allen in 1999.

The tracks and various kinds of traces were made by early amphibians, primitive reptilians, fish and a variety of invertebrates that lived on and near a tidal mud flat that was part of the Jasper area some 310 million years ago.

The book was published by the Alabama Paleontological Society and sponsored by the Geological Survey of Alabama Education Committee, the McWane Science Center, and the Alabama Geological Society in July 2005. It represents something unique in Alabama paleontology – an amateur-professional collaboration that led not only to research and documentation of a rich fossil site, but also to the preservation of that site by the State of Alabama.

Many of the fossil specimens are now housed in the collection of the Alabama Museum of Natural History located in Smith Hall on the UA campus. Others are housed in the McWane Science Center, the Anniston Museum of Natural History, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque.

Interested readers can purchase the illustrated book from the APS Web site www.alabamapaleo. org or at the Geological Survey of Alabama’s Publication Office at 420 Hackberry Lane in Tuscaloosa.

Designed for amateur as well as professional paleontologists, the book is accompanied by the Web site http://bama. ua.edu/~rbuta/monograph/ where more than 2,500 photographs of fossil tracks are included.

Kim Boyle

Boyle Named Educator of the Year

Kim Boyle, hospitality management instructor, was recently named Educator of the Year by the Alabama Hospitality Association and the Alabama Restaurant Association. Each year, the two organizations come together to present this award and others such as Restaurateur of the Year, Hotelier of the Year, and Tourism Promoter of the Year

State Farm Insurance Presents Grant to College of Human Environmental Sciences

The College of Human Environmental Sciences has received a $76,000 grant from the State Farm Companies Foundation for its financial planning education program.

The grant was announced recently during a ceremony at HES’ Child Development and Research Center. Among those attending were UA President Robert E. Witt, UA Provost Judy Bonner, Dr. Milla Boschung, dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences, and State Farm Agency Field Executives Michael McGuire and Butch Wear.

The grant will provide for undergraduate and graduate scholarships, support the Financial Legacy Institute – held for K-12 teachers in Alabama – and provide funds for the Capstone Financial Planning Association to host seminars and various activities.

“State Farm, the largest insurer of cars and homes in Alabama, is a continued supporter of higher education and is dedicated to helping students prepare for their future,” said Boschung. “The University of Alabama College of Human Environmental Sciences and State Farm partnership will help students receive a sound education in preparing for their future."

Two Designated as Certified Physician Investigators

Dr. Karen Burgess

Two physicians who are faculty members in UA’s College of Community Health Sciences have been awarded the prestigious Certified Physician Investigator designation.

Drs. Elizabeth L. Cockrum and Karen Burgess, CCHS faculty within The University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa campus, were awarded the certification by the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians. Certification as a CPI signifies a physician possesses the knowledge and experience necessary to conduct clinical trials in accordance with the required ethical, medical, scientific, legal and regulatory standards. Certification is awarded based on a physician’s education, training and experience as a primary or co-investigator, or monitor, supervisor or designer of clinical trials.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Cockrum

Clinical research trials are designed to evaluate the safety, efficacy and effectiveness of a drug, biological or medical device, or procedure or other intervention. The University of Alabama conducts clinical trials through its Division of Clinical Investigations, part of UA’s Institute for Rural Health Research.

Cockrum is associate dean for clinical affairs at the School of Medicine and a professor in the department of pediatrics. Burgess is an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics, director of the University Medical Center Pediatric Clinic and is also director of the department’s residency affairs.

Two Professors Named Life Sciences Fellows by National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Kim Caldwell

Two UA assistant professors of biological sciences – Drs. Kim Caldwell and Juan Lopez-Bautista – were among some 39 educators nationally to be named Education Fellows in the Life Sciences by the National Academy of Sciences.

Caldwell and Lopez- Bautista received the honor after completing a NAS Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology, held in August at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The summer institute was aimed at fostering innovative approac hes to teaching undergraduate biology.

The Education Fellows in Life Sciences are members of teams from 20 researchintensive universities who were selected to attend the NAS summer institute based on the teams’ ideas for enhancing undergraduate biology education and a commitment by their universities to support teaching innovations. Admission to the summer institute was highly competitive. Caldwell and Lopez-Bautista are currently employing their new-found teaching approaches in general biology courses, impacting more than 320 combined students in large lecture biology classes.

Dr. Juan Lopez-Bautista

Caldwell is director of the UA Howard Hughes Medical Institute Rural Science Scholars Program and a fellow of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative where she teaches a course on the societal impact of the Human Genome Project. She is a past recipient of the NIH National Research Service Award Fellowship. Her research interests are centered on the molecular understanding of human brain diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and epilepsy.

Lopez-Bautista is the curator of algae at the University Herbarium and marine science co-adviser and liaison for UA. He has participated in more than a dozen symposia across the country and overseas. His research interests focus on molecular systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of algae. His current NSF-funded research on terrestrial algae is being carried out across the Amazon forest in French Guyana, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the southern United States.

Major funding for the NAS summer institute was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, along with support from the host university and the NAS.

UA Home | Dialog Extra | UA News | Faculty/Staff Links | Legislative Updates