Celebrating
2016 VOLUME 6 NO. 1
EXCELLENCE
MUSICIAN RECOGNIZED INTERNATIONALLY
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hen Cynthia Simpson was 10 years old, she had no intention of becoming a professional musician—and certainly not a professional French horn player. She was in fifth grade at the time, and her father was the band director at her school. He needed horn players, so she played horn. She couldn’t have guessed that 15 years later, as a graduate student at The University of Alabama, she would be ranked the second best French horn player in the Western Hemisphere. “The horn is not always a gratifying instrument to play,” Simpson said. “It’s very difficult, and, as a fifth grader, I didn’t have enough motivation.”
Cynthia Simpson, a graduate student in the School of Music, was named the Western Hemisphere’s second best French horn player.
For years she tried to quit, but her dad wouldn’t let her, reminding her that success would take time. In high school she made first chair, and by the time she was ready to apply for college, Simpson was finally a competitor. Her hard work and perseverance led to acceptance letters at some of the best horn programs in the nation—Boston University,
Northwestern University, and The University of Alabama. “I chose The University of Alabama in part because it was close to home and offered in-state tuition,” Simpson said. “But ultimately, it also had the program I wanted.” Simpson explained that at other universities, graduate students typically get the best experience. They play in the top ensembles, and they play in the best chairs. But at UA, the program is centered on undergraduates. “Undergraduates are held more accountable here,” Simpson said. “Consequently, they play in top ensembles at a much younger age.” Another reason she chose UA was the faculty—particularly the horn studio director Dr. Charles “Skip” Snead. “Skip isn’t just our teacher,” Simpson said. “He’s like our studio dad.” For decades Snead has been involved with the International Horn Competition, so when Simpson decided to participate in 2011, See
Horns, page 2
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
Not to Toot Our Own Horn, But... We’re Pretty Good Simpson is not the first UA student to reach the finals of an international competition. In fact, the University has a history of producing nationally recognized horn players. “The University of Alabama has been consistently in the ranks of finalists and winners—more than any other university in the country over the last two decades or more,” Snead said.
Cynthia Simpson, a graduate student in the School of Music, has played the horn since she was 10 years old. She is one of many UA students who have won or placed in international competitions.
Horns, from page 1
From April to August, her typical three-hour practices stretched to he was there the whole time, four-and-a-half to six hours a day, coaching her to success. and she began listening to dozens of recordings for the four pieces she “The International Horn Com- had selected for the competition. petition is the most prestigious competition for horn players in “I needed to know what level I this hemisphere,” Snead said. had to be playing at,” she said. “Success in that competition “And I had to consider everything essentially means you’re the top from the amount of sleep I got to rung on the ladder.” how hydrated I was.” Typically, the biennial competition has 70 to 100 competitors in two divisions, collegiate and professional. With Snead’s help, Simpson made it to the collegiate semifinals in 2011, but for her that wasn’t enough. Simpson felt that she could do better, so she took a four-year break from the competition to practice. In 2013 she graduated from UA and went on to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in order to pursue a performer’s certificate. There, she also played for the Kansas City Symphony as a substitute horn. In 2015, she returned to UA as a graduate student, and in April of that year, she was ready to try the international competition for the second time.
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“It’s one of those pieces that professionals perform their entire career,” Simpson said. “Each time you hear it or play it, you learn something or feel something more.” Her performance hit the mark, and in the end, she was awarded second prize, becoming the second best horn player in the Western Hemisphere.
“It was the longest 24 hours of my The three-day competition was whole life,” Simpson said. “But it held at the University of Nebraska was everything I could have asked at the end of August, and Simp- for and expected.” son’s hard work paid off. At only 10 years old, Simpson “My experience from four years wanted to give up. In high school, ago helped me to formulate a she wanted first chair. But now, plan,” she said. “I feel like it gave Simpson’s goal is no longer about me a little bit of an edge knowing herself. At 25 years old, she has exactly what to expect.” realized that music is not about the musician—and it’s not about Simpson floated through the pre- perfect performances either. It’s liminary round and the acapella about connecting with audiences semifinals, focusing on each and feeling something together. one in the moment. The judges chose her for the final round, and “Perfection is irrelevant,” Simpin front of roughly 200 people— son said. “I don’t need to have a including professional judges ‘perfect’ performance because my and horn players she’d always abilities don’t make people feel; it’s admired—Simpson played one the music that makes them feel.” • of the most challenging staples in horn repertoire, Strauss’s “Horn Concerto No. 2.”
In addition to the International Horn Competition, UA has had more than 60 finalists and winners at the International Horn Society Sponsored Workshops, 11 winners in the Music Teacher’s National Association competitions, and 2 winners of the Yamaha Young Artists Awards. Graduates have found professional placements in more than 30 symphony orchestras and bands and hundreds of public schools throughout the nation. Many also teach at the university level—covering 19 institutions across the country. “I tell my students that when they go to a major competition, the same level of competition they face outside the University is the same level of competition that they see at UA every day,” Snead said. “Students come here with the knowledge that this is a nationally and internationally recognized program,” Snead said. “They come here with the knowledge that we have a long-established reputation of helping students be very successful in the professional world—and we intend to continue that legacy.”
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
WHEN FAME BREEDS INFAMY Shooters who want attention, a growing phenomenon
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ith at least two attentiondriven mass shootings in the last year, it has never been more important to accurately understand the minds of killers— especially those who kill for fame. Dr. Adam Lankford, an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, has been studying fame-seeking mass shooters since the aftermath of 9/11. In the past year, his research on the subject has been cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, along with many other national and international media outlets.
others because, in the shooter’s own words, “[My friend] said that my face and name would go across the world. He said I’ll become famous.”1 Another said in 2014, “I had to act weird in order to gain attention. I
them with other mass shooters, Lankford found that fame-seekers kill an additional 4.2 victims on average. Unfortunately, more victims usually means more publicity—driving these shooters to kill in increasingly unprecedented numbers.
“Young Americans seem to prioritize fame more than previous generations,” he said. “One study from the Pew Research Center, which does surveys, found that 51 percent of Americans age 18 to 25 said that being famous is one of their generation’s most important goals in life. By contrast, older generations put higher priorities on becoming spiritual, helping people, and being leaders in the community.”
“In places like Palestine, they get celebrity treatment. There are murals in the neighborhoods of previous suicide attackers.” Wanting to know more about these fame-seeking mass shooters—how many there are and the similarities between them—Lankford decided to start a catalog of all the shooters who had explicitly sought fame.
Consequently, Lankford limited his definition of fame-seeking mass shooters to those who explicitly said—verbally or in writing—that they were seeking the public’s attention. There may be others who were not so open about their intentions, but rather than speculating, Lankford wanted the study to be as accurate as possible. In all, he found 24. Lankford said one shooter from 1997 initially planned to commit suicide, but instead decided to kill
“To say that the culture in the United States creates a breeding ground for fame-seeking mass shooters is too strong,” Lankford explained, “because these shootings are still such rare events.” However, he added, the culture does create a context in which these events are more likely to occur.
“I was studying things like suicide terrorists,” Lankford said, “when I began to see psychological and behavioral similarities between suicide terrorists and some of these mass shooters. Not all, but a lot of suicide terrorists also want to be famous.
“It was like trying to figure out how many of the offenders like chocolate,” Lankford said. “I wasn’t going to know unless they said so.”
A striking 75 percent of the offenders who explicitly seek fame are from the United States. Only six of the 24 were from other countries.
Dr. Adam Lankford, an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, studies the similarities between fame-seeking mass shooters.
In the article, Lankford predicts three outcomes if the culture of the United States does not change: First, the number of fame-seeking shooters will continue to grow. Second, these shooters will attempt to kill more victims in order to distinguish themselves from previous offenders. Third, these shooters will find unprecedented places and methods of killing in order to generate more attention.
He also suggests that, with the global spread of American media was tired of being the invisible, Most disconcerting of all, however, and entertainment, fame may beshy kid. Infamy is better than is that these fame-driven crimes are come increasingly sought-after in total obscurity.” 2 on the rise. In the ‘60s there was other cultures—potentially leading only one—and the same is true of to a greater number of these types But those 24 stand out in more the ‘70s. In the ‘80s there weren’t of shootings worldwide. ways than their explicit fame- any, but in the ‘90s the number seeking. According to Lankford’s jumped to six, and since 2000 While the debate about how to destudy, they also tend to be younger. there have been 15. ter mass shooting largely revolves While the average mass shooter is around gun control, bullying, mental 34.5 years old, the average fame- “The United States has approxi- health, and responsible media covseeking mass shooter is only 20.4. mately 31 percent of the world’s erage in the aftermath of shootings, offenders,” Lankford wrote in Lankford adds his own thoughts What’s more, these young, fame- an article that was published in about resolutions to the mix. seeking shooters are also likely to Aggression and Violent Behavior kill more people. When comparing earlier this year. See Lankford, page 8
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CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
BEER IN YOUR BONES
Geologist reconstructs past civilizations using chemistry
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r. Fred Andrus says he would never do this to you, but if he pulled one of your teeth, took it to his lab, and dissolved it, he could tell you about where you lived as a child. How? By analyzing isotopes, or variations of chemical elements.
the women. Her first hypothesis “The beer is made in part by boilwas that they might have ingested ing water and corn paste in open different water sources. containers,” Andrus said. “So the water evaporates a lot, and when She contacted Andrus, knowing you evaporate water, you change he had analyzed water in Peru, and its chemistry pretty dramatically.” asked him if differences in water source—whether a well, a spring, In particular, the ratio of light an irrigation canal, or a river— oxygen isotopes to heavy ones might explain the difference. severely decreases.
“Isotopes are used to detect everything from steroid use to the paths that medicines and nutrients take in your body,” said Andrus, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. “They can help an ecologist learn how an element cycles through a wetland, or they can help the FBI figure out where a murder victim was born.” He points to marble samples on his desk. “We’re using those to detect forged works of art for a museum.” Most recently, Andrus and Celeste Marie Gagnon, a professor at Wagner University, used isotopes to deconstruct the chemistry of beer—Peruvian beer—in order to explain differences in bone chemistry. Their research was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports and was covered in an article in Forbes. For nearly 15 years, Andrus Dr. Fred Andrus, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, studied climate change in Peru, analyzed the chemistry of ancient Peruvian beer to learn more about bones. and in the process he conducted “She and I happened to have “It takes less energy to evaporate a research on water chemistry. some students in Peru, who light molecule than a heavy one,” Gagnon also studies ancient Peru, grabbed some additional water Andrus said. “So when you heat and in the process of doing a foren- samples,” Andrus said. “And we water, causing evaporation on the sic study on human skeletons, she found differences, but not any surface of the water, you’re removthat would explain the disparity in ing more of the light molecules and noticed something strange. the bones.” retaining more of the heavy ones.” Typically when two people grow up and live in the same area, After brainstorming, Gagnon and This is why, Andrus explains, beer they have a similar bone chem- Andrus thought that maybe water has such a different chemistry istry. But after analyzing the wasn’t the difference; maybe it from water even though it is oxygen isotopes in the teeth and was beer. In Peru, particularly largely made of water. Because bones of some skeletons in the ancient Peru, people drank chicha is boiled in an open conAndes, Gagnon noticed that the large quantities of a type of beer tainer, all of the light molecules bone chemistry of the men did called chicha, which is made that evaporate are lost, and the beer left over is isotopically not match the bone chemistry of from maize.
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heavier than the water that was used to make it. In modern Peru, women are responsible for manufacturing beer, and the researchers hypothesized that in the past this might also have been true, and maybe there were gender disparities in drinking beer as well—which would explain the variations in the bone chemistry. “It was a plausible hypothesis,” Andrus said, “but we didn’t know the chemistry of chicha. No one had ever bothered to measure it before.” Not ready to give up, Gagnon and her undergraduate students at Wagner took on the task of making chicha themselves. “First they tried to make it by mashing up corn and boiling it down in an open container,” Andrus said. “And as a control group, they duplicated the process with just water.” “They would send the water samples to me, and we would run it through the stable isotope lab,” Andrus said. “When the first waves of data came in, our hypothesis looked plausible: there was a pronounced difference between the plain old water and the developed beer.” However, in the process of making the beer, Gagnon realized that there might be a difference between her chicha and the real thing. Wanting to double-check her results, she went to Peru and made the beer with a traditional chicha maker. Again, she sent the samples to Andrus, and the results confirmed what they had already found. “Our analysis showed that the beer likely influences people’s skeletal chemistry—and people in Peru have been drinking beer for millennia,” Andrus said. “So anyone who does forensic research in South America needs to take beer into account when they are analyzing bones.” •
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
PROTECTING THE COOSA
New College graduate leads environmental nonprofit
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rowing up, Justinn Overton, a native of Birmingham, spent many of her Saturdays barely awake and fishing on Logan Martin Lake in the Coosa River system with her parents.
overflow and industries that don’t comply with their pollution permits are two of the main problems.
“Obviously if there is a sanitary sewer overflow or weak pollution permits,” Overton said, “that “I have a distinct memory of feel- compromises the integrity of the ing the wind on my face in this water that you’re swimming in.” little john boat we had at the time and learning how to bait my own The Alabama Department of Enhook,” she said. vironmental Management is not required to test inland lakes and Today, Overton, a 2010 New streams for E. coli, which is why College graduate, is the execu- the team at Coosa Riverkeeper tive director of Coosa Riverkeeper, took on the task themselves. and she spends every day helping to protect and raise awareness of Each summer, Overton and her the 220 miles of Coosa waterways team test 18 sites over the course she loves so much. of 18 weeks throughout the watershed, and with the data they Southern Living honored her collect, they create what they call dedicated work on the river in the Coosa River Swim Guide. November, naming her one of four “women of worth.” “We test every week during the summer months because the Coosa Riverkeeper was founded public should know that the water in 2010 and has only two staff that they are swimming in is not members, but together with the going to give them gastrointestihelp of interns and nearly 150 nal discomfort or ear, nose, and volunteers, the nonprofit organi- throat issues,” Overton said. zation covers 5,000 square miles of terrain, which makes up nearly If the tests ever indicate that water one tenth of the entire state. Its is not safe to swim in, the team main goal is clean water. sends out free text messages and email messages to those who have “There are about 500,000 people subscribed to the alert system. who live, work, or play in and Currently the system has more around the lakes and creeks that than 150 subscribers. we work to protect,” Overton said. “But water is something that I Monitoring the water, however, think we often take for granted. is only one of the many goals of Only once it’s compromised do Coosa Riverkeeper. Overton is you realize how many layers of also concerned with the river’s your life are influenced by your biodiversity and fish population. access to clean water. In 2013 the team removed a dam from Big Canoe Creek in Spring“For instance, when you’re swim- ville, Alabama, in order to restore ming in a lake or a creek, most of natural fish migration for the first the time you don’t think, ‘Could time in 130 years. Overton also there be E. coli in here?’ Most of helps inform fishermen about the the time, you just jump in.” 26 fish-consumption advisories on the Coosa River. Though there are systems in place to clean water, Overton said that Though it is not illegal to eat fish the population increase in various in advisory areas, it is discourparts of the watershed has made aged because the fish may be the infrastructure for keeping the contaminated with mercury and water clean inadequate. Sewage other toxic chemicals. And the
Justinn Overton, a New College graduate, is pursuing her dreams as the executive director of Coosa Riverkeeper. bigger the fish, the more likely it New College made me feel like my is to have been contaminated. goals were important and that they could come true. I wanted to work “I go out to the hydroelectric dams in an environmental nonprofit in Alon our river and actually interview abama and I get the opportunity to fishermen about what their knowl- do that now—on my home river.” • edge is of these advisories, so that we can hopefully work toward more consistent, reliable information that is not so difficult for people to find,” Overton said. COOSA CANOE & KAYAK FISHING TOURNAMENT: Overton’s work in environmental Each spring Coosa Riverkeeper advocacy is relatively unique, organizes a fishing tournament to but it is—and was—even more raise funds and promote fish conunique as an undergraduate servation. Competitors catch bass, course of study. measure them, and then release
Get Involved
“I feel very fortunate,” Overton said, “because I am one of the few people I know who went to college to do exactly what I do in the professional world.” As a New College student, Overton was able to tailor her degree to the exact goals she had for the future. She took courses on everything from environmental management and endangered species to paleoclimatology and cooperation and conflict, all of which culminated in her depth study in environmental advocacy and public health. “I changed my major several times before I found New College,” Overton said. “None of the majors I had gave me the freedom I needed in my coursework or the ability to cultivate real relationships with my professors and classmates, but
them back to the wild—saving the lives of many fish.
CHEERS TO THE COOSA: Coosa Riverkeeper’s recurring dinner fundraiser teams up with local farmers and breweries to showcase how, as Overton said, “It takes good rivers to brew good beer and grow honest foods.” The next dinner is Thursday, June 9 at Cahaba Brewing Company.
KEEP AN EYE OUT: The best way to contribute to local waterways is to report anything that seems unusual. If there are dead fish, strange smells, or unusual colors in the river, contact a local environmental organization. “A lot of the pollution that we address is reported by citizens like you and me,” Overton said. For more information, visit coosariver.org.
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CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
COMMUNICATING OVER COFFEE Coffee shop restores confidence after brain injury
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rior to her stroke, Nancy Taylor, a client at the Speech and Hearing Center at The University of Alabama, loved learning. She was social and vibrant, and then one day—the day she had her stroke—she lost her ability to talk.
clinicians to drink it; and have casual conversations.
“We’re hoping to help them gain the confidence to talk to lots of individuals and to do community activities that they had lost interest in doing—or even had a fear of do“I feel like I’ve had to do life over,” ing,” Ray-Allen said. Taylor said. “People treated me like I was handicapped, but I’m “We want them to be comfortable just trying to find my words.” enough to go to a restaurant and order something off the menu or go Taylor has aphasia, an acquired to a drive-through—the things that language disorder, and until re- clients tell me on a day-to-day basis cently she relied solely on individual that they struggle with,” she added. sessions with UA clinicians for her language therapy. But with the I feel like I’ve had to do opening of Bama Perks, a coffee house for aphasia clients, Taylor life over. People treated and many others are able to get me like I was handimore than just their language back; capped, but I’m just they’re getting their lives back.
trying to find my words.
“So many people with Aphasia become depressed and lonely,” explained Mary Ray-Allen, a clinical supervisor and instructor in the Department of Communicative Disorders. “They withdraw from society and the social activities that they used to do.” Bama Perks gives clients the opportunity to put the skills they learn in their therapy sessions into real-life practice. They order their own coffee; sit down with other clients, students, and
—Nancy Taylor Ray-Allen came up with the idea for Bama Perks after learning about the home-like clinic called the Aphasia House at the University of Central Florida. Her adaptation of the house was realized when UA clients and their visitors entered the coffee shop for the first time in February. The shop is open to clients and their visitors Tuesday through Thursday from 9-12, free of charge. It has two coffee pots, offering regular and
Bama Perks is a coffee shop at UA’s Speech and Hearing Center that is designed to help aphasia clients get their confidence back.
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decaf each day, with a lot of differ- tion, communicate effectively, ask ent flavor options as well. questions, or use any other types of communication techniques—such To test how well the coffee shop is as gesturing or writing.” actually working as contextualized therapy for the clients, graduate While at the coffee shop, the student Marie Tucker has taken on students and clinicians talk to the Bama Perks for her master’s thesis. clients naturally, without out pen and paper, and then after their con“There are two sides to Bama versation, the clinicians move to an Perks,” Tucker said. “There is the adjoining room to transcribe their clinical side, which is all about mental notes about the interaction. making sure that clients receive good therapy, and then there’s the At the end of the semester Tucker research side where we’re proving will collect all the accrued data and the feasibility of this coffee shop.” then analyze it over the summer to make her conclusions. As part of her research, Tucker measures various aspects about the Dr. Angela Barber, the chair of the participants—their quality of life, Department of Communicative the amount of interaction that they Disorders, said “Bama Perks is have outside of therapy, and their absolutely an example of how language capabilities—but she we, as a department, can meet will also design protocols for how all of our goals: We can train Bama Perks and future aphasia our students. We can conduct coffee shops should be run. meaningful research. And most importantly, we can meet a critiOne of the many ways she gathers cal need for this population.” data is from the clinicians and research assistants. Bama Perks has received grant funding from the College Academy “Every time the participants come, of Research, Scholarship, and the undergraduate assistants and Creative Activity through the Colthe clinicians who interact with them lege of Arts and Sciences as well will grade the clients according to a as monetary support from the decompetency rating scale,” Tucker partment itself. Its student associaexplained. “Basically it’s a scale that tion, the National Student Speech looks at whether or not the participant was able to initiate conversa- See Bama Perks, page 8
Clients with aphasia come to Bama Perks to practice the skills they learn during therapy in a simulated real-life situation.
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
A LEADER’S LEGACY Bringing life to Renaissance literature
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our hundred years ago, at the age of 52, William Shakespeare died. He left behind a legacy of nearly 200 plays and sonnets, which students, scholars, actors, and directors have been reading, studying, and adapting ever since.
Stephanie Kirkland Director of College Relations Courtney Corbridge Editor Writer Designer Kathy Yarbrough Director of Development
Though answers to the question are numerous, O’Dair’s own career— from her scholarship to her leadership with UA’s endowed graduate program in Renaissance studies— is perhaps the best evidence for why Shakespeare studies continue Dr. Sharon O’Dair, the director of UA’s Hudson Strode Program in Renaisto thrive. sance Studies, is retiring from the University after 30 years.
“It seems to me that theatre is like life in a way that narrative and poetry aren’t,” O’Dair said. “I really like the way that characters on stage have to interact, and I am interested in the way research and theory in sociology or social psychology can mesh with theatrical practice; that’s been something I’ve been mulling in my head my entire career.” Consequently, O’Dair’s Shakespeare studies are often about much more than Shakespeare alone. While she has written traditional criticism on tragedy and character, she also has written pieces relating Shakespeare to queer theory, class structure, the environment, and more.
EXCELLENCE
Robert F. Olin, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
In anticipation of the anniversary of his death on April 23, Dr. Sharon O’Dair, a professor of Shakespeare in the Department of English and director of UA’s Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies, wondered why, after 400 years, Shakespeare is still one of the most well-known writers in history. In her words, she wanted to know why isn’t Shakespeare dead?
According to O’Dair, her love for Shakespeare grew out of an interest in social psychology and the ways in which society and social institutions both shape and empower people.
Celebrating
In 30 years, O’Dair has written Gary Taylor, she stepped up to be 49 articles—with the 50th on its the director. way—and worked on four books. The Strode Program provides But she contributed more than just enhanced stipends for students her scholarship to The University and allows the University to of Alabama. For the last 10 years, bring nationally and internashe has also led the Hudson Strode tionally recognized scholars to Program—and the students in the campus to participate in the biprogram—to success. ennial Strode seminars and the annual Strode lecture series. It ENHANCING RENAISSANCE STUDY also provides funds for students to attend workshops and semiWhen Hudson Strode and his wife nars at the Folger Shakespeare Thérèse died in the early 1990s, Library in Washington D.C. and they left behind a considerable has enabled the creation of the sum for the enhancement of the Shakespeare on Film Series and University’s teaching mission. the staged reading series ImO’Dair was at the University at probable Fictions. the time, but she was still what she called a “mere assistant “Under her expert guidance, the professor pup.” Strode symposia became mustattend events,” said Dr. Sugata For 20 years she worked in the Iyengar, a professor at the UniverRenaissance program, making a sity of Georgia. name for herself, and in 2006, following the departure of Professor See O’Dair, page 8
Photography Stephen Gross Bryan Hester Zach Riggins Matthew Wood
Celebrating Excellence is published in the spring by the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please send these to Courtney Cobridge, editor, at cacorbridge@ua.edu Visit us at www.as.ua.edu or scan this QR code:
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Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid The University of Alabama
OFFICE OF THE DEAN BOX 870268 TUSCALOOSA, AL 35487-0268
Lankford, from page
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“Sometimes people feel powerless after these attacks,” Lankford said. “And as individuals we are powerless to change the culture on our own, but we do have the power to influence our kids, our friends, and our friends’ kids.” Lankford advises people to remember that fame is not a magical elixir of happiness. In fact, pointing to various psychological research, Lankford said, “If your goals are things like fame or image or money,
O’Dair, from page 7
which are considered extrinsic goals, you are much more likely to suffer from things like anxiety, narcissism, and depression. “Healthier goals, things like personal growth or social relationships, are intrinsic.” Individuals can change a society bit by bit. • 1. Katherine S. Newman, Cybelle Fox, Wendy Roth, Jal Mehta, and David Harding, Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings (New York: Basic Books, 2004). 2. “The Manifesto of Elliot Rodger,” The New York Times (2014).
Bama Perks, from page 6
“We’ve been through different things,” Taylor said. “But we are all Language Hearing Association, here getting helped, and it makes has also offered to purchase some me want to get up and come.” patio furniture to help expand the coffee shop into the outdoor atrium McNeil feels similarly. at the Speech and Hearing Center. “It gives us a chance to talk to “In the summer we may offer the people in similar situations other beverages like lemonade,” and learn about their lives,” he Ray-Allen said. “I can just see it explained. “I like seeing that I’m evolving each semester.” not alone.” • For clients like Taylor and Jason McNeil, the shop is already making a difference.
loosa at her symposia,” said Scott exposed to the wealth of early Newstok, founding director of the modern literary studies.” With topics ranging from Hur- Pearce Shakespeare Endowment ricane Katrina to American In- at Rhodes College. MENTORING YOUNG SCHOLARS tegration, O’Dair has managed to pull Shakespeare out of his elite He added that her commitment to Dr. Phil Beidler, who has been at canonized shell and push him bringing a wide array of scholars the University since the Strode back into the realm of the every- comes from her certainty that any- Program was founded, said of day, contemporary life. one could have something to say O’Dair’s leadership, “If there is a about works by Shakespeare and distinguishing feature, it is the heavy At the Katrina symposium in the other Renaissance authors. mentorship responsibility that she 2007, O’Dair brought in scholars takes on with her students.” who were directly affected by the The symposia are an excellent historic storm. They talked about resource for scholars—but also “She’s always got someone in the their experiences in relation to for her students. office sitting with her,” he said. Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Nic Helms, a 2015 Ph.D. gradu- O’Dair said that her mentorship is Her most recent symposia have ate, worked with O’Dair for five just a product of trying to do her job revolved around the 400th anniver- years as her student and as- well, but to her students it has been sary of Shakespeare’s death, and sistant. He explained that the the tipping point of their success. for the anniversary in April, poets symposia offered some of the from across the nation came to UA best scholastic exposure of his “She gave me meticulous pagenot only to talk about how Shake- university experience. by-page comments on drafts for speare influenced them, but also virtually everything I wrote while at to share poems that they wrote “The wide array of guest lectur- UA,” Helms said. “She urged me specifically for the occasion. ers she’s brought to the program, to write for a wide audience, valuboth in symposia and in our two ing clarity and concision and always “O’Dair has hosted faculty and lecture series, is simply stagger- upping the stakes for whatever isstudents from far beyond Tusca- ing,” he said. “In one place, I was sue I might be tackling in my work.”
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O’Dair’s enthusiasm for scholarship outside of the classroom led Helms to create UA’s Improbable Fictions, a group that performs staged readings of Shakespeare’s plays. “She was supportive of my work with Improbable Fictions every step of the way,” Helms said. “It’s been great to have a mentor who wants me to excel not only in traditional academic pursuits but in community outreach as well.” In May, O’Dair will be leaving her 30-year post at the University to return to her native California. She plans to research full-time for another year, after which she will retire from academia. “The challenge of the Strode Program going forward is to live up to Sharon’s legacy,” Helms said. “These past years under her directorship have been a perfect time to study the Renaissance at Alabama.” •