UAB Briefs: Cool percussion, crisis talk, Colon on the Green
Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs.
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email us at jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
THE ART OF PERCUSSION
Third Coast Percussion -- a Grammy Award-winning quartet featuring composer and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche -- will perform in the Jemison Concert Hall at UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m.
TCP will perform Kotche’s “The Beautiful Confusion,” a new work commissioned by the Alys Stephens Center, according to a UAB news release.
Birmingham’s own Iron Giant Percussion, a UAB alumni percussion ensemble, along with UAB Associate Professor of Percussion Gene Fambrough, will join the band in performing the new piece.
Also on the program is a new work called "Paddle to the Sea," which was written by all four members of TCP, according to Caroline Heaney, a spokesperson for the group.
It was conceived as a live soundtrack to an Oscar-winning animated short film, also called "Paddle to the Sea," she said.
March 3 is the annual Day of Percussion sponsored by the Alabama chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, and TCP and Kotche are the headliners for this educational event, which will be held at the Alys Stephens Center during the day.
The Day of Percussion, hosted by UAB for the first time, is for percussion students of all ages, as well as professionals.
For concert tickets and information, call 975-2787 or go to alysstephens.org.
CRISIS TALK
Dr. Stephen M. Taylor -- the medical director of the Player Assistance and Anti-Drug Program of the National Basketball Association -- will deliver a lecture called “The Opioid Crisis” in Lecture Room E of Volker Hall on Friday, March 9, at 4 p.m., according to the UAB Libraries website.
Taylor's talk with be the 39th annual Reynolds-Finley Historical Lecture.
In his 11th year with the NBA program, Taylor has been a speaker, educator and presenter across the United States.
Volker Hall is located at 1670 University Blvd.
HOW LONG IS THAT COLON?
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and UAB Employee Wellness will host the second annual Colon on the Green event on the Campus Green from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday, March 2.
The event will feature information, raffles, photo booths, music from Blaze Radio and the 30-foot Inflatable Colon.
Employees are encouraged to educate themselves about colorectal screening options, and students are urged to learn their own family history.
“With early detection, colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable and treatable cancers, and this Colon on the Green event is a fun and engaging way to raise awareness,” said Anna Threadcraft, director of Employee Wellness.
In 2015, UAB, UAB Medicine and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center -- in conjunction with the American Cancer Society -- began the “80 by 18” campaign to get 80 percent of eligible UAB employees to get screened for colorectal cancer effort by 2018.
Colon on the Green is designed to keep the momentum going with employees and jump-start awareness among students.
FOOD DONATION
The Birmingham Lutheran Fellowship, a campus group of Hope Lutheran Church that reaches out to the university community, collected over 100 non-perishable food items recently and donated them to UAB’s Blazer Kitchen, a food pantry for faculty, staff and students, according to an email from the group to Iron City Ink.
In addition, the group matched those donations -- first with $1 for each item contributed, then with an additional gift -- for a total monetary donation of $400.
Birmingham Lutheran Fellowship meets on Thursdays at 11 a.m. at or near the UAB Hill Center.
For more information, check facebook.com/groups/bhamlf.