MLK honored with oratory; grad student gets big grant; UAB rated world-class

Students in Birmingham have a chance to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with their own stirring speeches. A UAB scholar is helping preserve LGBTQ history in the South. And UAB earned a prestigious national ranking.

Honoring Dr. King

On Jan. 17, America will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday that honors the late, legendary civil rights leader.

High school and college students in Birmingham, Jefferson County and Shelby County can honor King’s memory by entering the fourth annual “Word from the Mountaintop” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Contest at UAB.

The deadline is Jan. 7, according to UAB News.

The contest is sponsored by the UAB Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The quote for this year’s competition — “Where do we go from here?” — is taken from King’s speech at the 11th annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference Convention, where he challenged attendees to examine systemic conditions that cause inequality.

Contestants are asked to write a speech encouraging communities to keep fighting for social justice despite challenges.

Speeches can be submitted to inclusion@uab.edu with the subject line: 2022 MLK Speech.

Three finalists from each category (high school, community college and college) will perform their speeches Jan. 22.

For details, go to uab.edu/dei.

LGBTQ history

Maigen Sullivan, a doctoral candidate in the UAB School of Education and adjunct faculty in the Women’s and Gender Studies program, has received a $600,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study LGBTQ history in the South.

The grant will support Sullivan’s work with her nonprofit, the Invisible Histories Project, which researches and archives LGBTQ history in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida.

Since 2018, IHP has secured nearly 100 new LGBTQ collections across the Deep South.

The grant will support IHP operation costs and allow for the addition of an assistant director.

World class

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the top 10 percent of higher-education institutions globally based on global and regional reputation and academic research performance, according to UAB News.

In The Best Global Universities rankings for 2022, UAB ranked as the top institution in Alabama and No. 147 out of 1,750 institutions ranked from more than 90 countries. UAB placed No. 56 for schools in the United States.