UAB Briefs: One great fiddle player, money talk, a cool art show

Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs, in which we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.

Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention?

Email Iron City Ink at sydney@starnespublishing.com or jchambers@starnespublishing.com.

He's back!

Acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman will perform at the Viva Health Starlight Gala at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center on Sunday, May 21, culminating the center's 20th anniversary season.

Perlman was the Starlight Gala’s first performer in 1999 and also appeared at the center in 2007.

He has played with every major orchestra in the world and has received many honors, including 16 Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Past performers at the annual gala, which supports the programs and education initiatives of the Stephens Center, have included Jay Leno, Steve Martin, Al Pacino and The Pointer Sisters.

Tickets are $150 and include a pre-performance cocktail reception.

Call 975-2787 or go to alysstephens.org.

To purchase a VIP dinner package with performance tickets, call 975-4012.

Money money money

The UAB Hill Student Center will be the scene of the annual Alabama Money Expo on Saturday, May 20, with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Presented by the Regions Institute for Financial Education, the expo offers free admission and provides attendees with the chance to get usable information on a wide variety of financial concerns, according to the event’s web site.

Workshops are to begin at 8:30 a.m., and the expo will conclude with prize giveaways beginning at 12:45 p.m.

The expo will offer workshops in about 15 subject areas, including taxes, credit, banking, retirement, entrepreneurship, home ownership and financial planning.

All services are on a first-come, first-serve basis, so attendees should register online as soon as possible.

For more information, call 934-8820 or go to uab.edu/business.

A big grant

Can people with multiple sclerosis get as much benefit from an exercise-based rehabilitation program delivered via internet and telephone as they do when the therapy is provided in a clinic?

That is the question to be explored in research by James Rimmer, a professor in the UAB School of Health Professions.

And Rimmer’s work over the next four years will be funded by a recently approved grant of $5.8 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, according to a UAB news release.

From Ireland to Alabama

UAB graduate and successful visual artist David Sandlin will present a major exhibit at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts on campus from June 2-August 20.

The exhibit will feature two major series of works by Sandlin – “A Sinner’s Progress: A Modern Moral Journey” and “76 Manifestations of American Destiny” – and will also include drawings, paintings and hand-printed books, according to a UAB news release.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, June 2, from 6-8 p.m. in the AEIVA. Sandlin will give a lecture prior to the reception at 5 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Born in Belfast in 1956, Sandlin moved to Alabama with his family in 1972, and the artist’s work draws on the rich history of each place, the release states.

Sandlin’s elaborate books, drawings and paintings present semi-autobiographical tales of morality, redemption and American exceptionalism.

“Sandlin is an incredible painter, printmaker and illustrator,” said AEIVA curator John Fields.

He was one of only a dozen art majors when he started at UAB in 1975, Sandlin told UAB Magazine in 2010. “I tried everything — painting, drawing, printmaking,” he said.

After graduation in 1979, he moved to New York, where he still lives.

A working artist for almost 40 years, Sandlin has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia and teaches printmaking, book arts and illustration at the School of Visual Arts.

Fidget toys are OK, but...

Fidget toys, including spinners, have been used for years by teachers, therapists, and parents to help people with behavioral and attention disorders.

Spinners have experienced a recent surge in popularity, with many of them turning up in classrooms.

And while that may be fine, teachers and parents should be careful how students use the toys, according to Robin Parks Ennis, an assistant professor at the UAB School of Education who teaches future teachers the best methods for working with learners with exceptionalities.

“Research shows that, if you have ADHD or trouble focusing, sometimes a minor activity can help occupy your brain, but it is important to make sure they are being used appropriately in the classroom,” Ennis said in a news release.

"We should be teaching students how to know what times are difficult for them so that they can use them at those target times,” she said. “As students with attention issues need help focusing, a fidget toy can be a good thing for fidgeting, but it can also become a distraction.”

Teachers should help kids identify the times when it becomes difficult for them to focus.

“I would encourage teachers to teach students how to use them,” Ennis said. “Ask them to identify a time during the day that is most challenging for them, whether it is during independent seat work or a writing test.

Once students have identified their most challenging time of the school day, they should be encouraged to use their spinners during those targeted times only.

Educators and parents should not think of the fidget toys as a “cure-all” for students with attention problems, according to Ennis.

Teachers also “need good classroom management strategies in place to support behaviors and keep them focused on the lesson,” she said.