UAB Briefs: Choir to sing at conference, honor for prof, steps to fight robocalls
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
The UAB Concert Choir will appear at a regional conference next spring.
A professor was honored by the College of Arts and Sciences after four decades of teaching and research.
And a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science offers some tips for fighting the current plague of telemarketing calls.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
CHORAL HONOR
The UAB Concert Choir has been selected as a performing ensemble at the Southern Regional Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Mobile in March 2020, according to UAB Media Relations.
UAB was selected to represent Alabama along with the choir at The University of Montevallo.
Under the direction of Brian Kittredge, an associate professor in the UAB Department of Music, the Concert Choir will perform in the mixed collegiate choir category.
“The program will feature a variety of repertoire including traditional choral selections, and new compositions written for the choir to premiere at the conference,” Kittredge said.
The choir features approximately 50 auditioned singers from many disciplines across campus, not just music.
The conference in Mobile will feature 20 choirs from numerous categories, including women’s and men’s choirs and collegiate and community choirs.
The Concert Choir tours annually and, in 2018, made its debut performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2017, the choir performed in festivals in England and the Netherlands.
DECADES OF SERVICE
Long-time UAB faculty member Gregory Pence has been named the winner of the 2019 Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction.
A professor in the UAB Department of Philosophy, Pence will receive $5,000 and an engraved Steuben crystal award.
“Coming after 43 years at UAB, it’s gratifying,” Pence said.
The award — made possible by The Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Endowment for Scholarly Distinction — is presented by the College of Arts and Sciences to a full-time faculty member for professional and academic achievements and contributions to the university and the community.
A bioethics scholar best known for his popular medical ethics textbook, now in its eighth edition, Pence is also known for his defense of such biotechnology as cloning and genetically modified crops.
Pence has also coached the UAB Ethics Bowl Team, which won the national championship in 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2019.
STOPPING ROBOCALLS
The frequency of irritating robocalls has escalated significantly in recent years, according to Nitesh Saxena, a professor in the UAB Department of Computer Science.
“It costs very little for a spammer to reach someone’s phone, and evading these calls is a challenge,” Saxena said in a UAB news release.
Cellular companies are working hard to prevent such calls, but it’s relatively easy for spammers to use caller ID spoofing and change the numbers from which they call people, according to Saxena.
Robocall blocking apps can help, but the marketers can use those spoofed numbers to make new calls, Saxena said.
And “Do Not Call” registries are mainly geared toward telemarketers, not toward political campaigns, surveys, charities, debt collectors and health providers, according to Saxena.
But there are steps consumers can take to protect themselves, at least to an extent, from robocalls.
“When a person concludes that a call was spam, they should add it to their list of blocked numbers,” Saxena said.
And Saxena recommends that people add their numbers to the “Do Not Call” registry — despite its limitations — to prevent telemarketing and spam calls.
He suggests installing an anti-spam app, such as TrueCaller, Hiya and RoboKiller.
Research is ongoing, and Saxena expects more help for consumers to emerge in the near future.