College of Arts and Sciences to Host Academies Conference in April

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences 2010 Academies Conference will take place April 6 in the Bryant Conference Center’s Rast room.

The conference is free and open to all UA faculty. The purpose of the conference is to acquaint the University’s faculty with projects funded during the 2008-2009 academic year by the College’s two academies and to encourage dialogue and development of future project proposals.

Five faculty who have received grants from the College Academy to Improve Student Success, which fund projects to achieve excellence in these areas, will give presentations from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Click here for more information on College Academy to Improve Student Success, known as CAISS.

The aim of this academy is to improve the performance of UA students in two vital areas – rates of freshmen retention and rates of overall graduation.

Seven faculty who have received grants from the College Academy of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, known as CARSCA, will give presentations from 1-3 p.m. Faculty projects funded by this academy may include conferences and faculty seminars, seed funding for pilot studies for larger grant applications, and individual scholarly work including books and creative activities.

Click here for more information on CARSCA.

Each academy consists of faculty representatives from the College’s three divisions, and each funds annually up to $100,000 in faculty projects.

Presenters for the College Academy to Improve Student Success are as follows:

 

Kevin Shaughnessy, Department of Chemistry

A Pilot Study of Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry

Carmen Mayer-Robin, Department of Modern Languages and Classics

Living and Learning in French: The UA French House and Camp McDowell Language Immersion Retreats

David Ainsworth, Department of English

Edifice Project

Andrea Cevasco, School of Music

Promoting Student Collaboration, Professional Development and Research in Music Therapy

John Giggie, Department of History

Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa: Recovering the History of Hunters Chapel AMEZ Church, 1910-2010

Presenters for the College Academy of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity are as follows:

Brian Evans, Department of Art and Art History

Composing Visual Music

Andrea Cevasco, School of Music

The Effects of Music Therapy on Mood and Physiological Measurements of Older Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Related Dementia (ADRD): A Pilot Study

Ian Brown, Department of Anthropology

Documenting Historic French and Native American Sites in Natchez Mississippi: A Study of Private Collections

Rainer Schad, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Solving the Mystery of Electromigration

Patricia Parmelee, Department of Psychology/Center for Mental Health and Aging

Building Community Partnerships for Research on Long-Term Care Quality

Katrina Ramonell and Perry Churchill, Department of Biological Sciences

Biofuels from Algae

Silas Blackstock, Department of Chemistry

Solar Energy Capture and Storage in Molecules: Development of New Renewable Fuels