UAB Briefs: July 4 concert, LGBTQ honor, Callahan art exhibit
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
A UAB tradition will continue with a free concert on campus on July 4.
The university has received praise as an LGBTQ-friendly place.
And some UAB art majors are showing their work at Callahan Eye Hospital.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
TRADITION ON THE FOURTH
Thanks to the UAB Summer Band, attendees can enjoy a free Fourth of July concert on campus, then hang around to watch the annual fireworks show presented at Vulcan Park & Museum on Red Mountain.
The annual concert, to be held Thursday, July 4, at 7 p.m., is presented by the UAB Department of Music in front of UAB’s Bartow Arena at 617 13th St. S.
Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and picnics to enjoy during the concert.
The Summer Band will perform popular and traditional patriotic songs, including selections by composers Ira Gershwin and John Philip Sousa.
The fireworks show will begin at 9 p.m.
The band will also allow an audience member to conduct the band playing “Stars and Stripes Forever” for the grand finale.
The Summer Band consists of approximately 80 people, including UAB faculty, students and alumni, as well as other professional and amateur musicians.
Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and picnics to enjoy during the concert.
LGBTQ FRIENDLY
UAB is the best college for LGBTQ+ students in Alabama, according to a recent ranking published by BestColleges and Campus Pride.
The organizations partnered to name the college in each state that offers gay students the best combination of quality academics and a safe, inclusive atmosphere.
The recognition cited efforts made by UAB to create a safer campus that promotes the acceptance and empowerment of people with marginalized genders and sexualities
Those efforts included the following:
—Student counseling services that welcome learners of all sexual orientations and gender identities;
—An LGBTQ+ mental health and wellness clinic that offers outpatient psychopharmacology and therapy;
—Safe zone peer educators provide education and training on gender and sexuality and welcome LGBTQ+ students and allies;
—Multiple support and affinity organizations for LGBTQ+ students;
—Gender-inclusive restrooms in campus housing;
—A simple process for students to change their name on university records and documents.
In addition, each spring, Student Multicultural & Diversity Programs in Student Affairs hosts a Lavender Celebration to honor LGBTQ+ students for their contributions to campus.
THE EYES HAVE IT
UAB Callahan Eye Hospital will feature art created by students in the UAB Department of Art and Art History students in a series of rotating exhibitions.
The first exhibition, on display on the third floor of CEH, will feature work from students Caroline Myers and Emily Cox-Oldham.
The exhibition will be on view through summer and fall during regular business hours.
The works by Myers and Cox-Oldham offer sophisticated points of view that consider how light and line, color and texture can be captured by the camera, according to the release.
CEH founder Dr. Alston Callahan enjoyed visual art and was the driving force in acquiring “Complex Vision,” a large-scale installation by artist Yaacov Agam that has adorned the front of the building since 1976.
This legacy is why CEH has partnered with the art department “to build a relationship and keep original artwork alive in our facility,” said Jessica Martindale, the hospital’s communications manager.
A junior double major in studio art and psychology at UAB, Cox-Oldham is interested in the intersection of art and mental health and the possibilities of therapeutic creative expression. Her work is called “The Slide Project.”
A rising junior, Myers’ presents her work, “Chasing Light.” By capturing warm, dappled light and deep shadows across commonplace objects and domestic spaces, her photographs draw viewers into a series of contemplative yet fleeting moments, according to the release.