UAB Briefs: Teachers' report cards, HEED Award, Gulf States Newsroom

In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

We also provide updates regarding UAB’s efforts to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, Gov. Ivey’s “Safer at Home” state order remains in effect and restricts visitors in state hospitals. UAB Hospital and UAB Medicine clinics have implemented and must enforce these visitation guidelines.

For information regarding how to plan your in-person UAB Medicine hospital or clinic visit, click here.

To read other UAB COVID-19 updates or find health information, go to uab.edu/coronavirus.

Let us know about people, events and programs on campus that deserve a mention in UAB Briefs. Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.

GOOD REPORT CARD

Teachers trained at the UAB School of Education scored significantly above the state average this year, continuing a trend from past years, according to UAB Media Relations.

The Alabama State Department of Education releases an annual report card that provides feedback for Alabama universities from K-12 school districts across the state. 

The feedback shows how well teachers trained by schools of education in the state are doing on the job. 

When compared to the state average of graduates from other schools of education, K-12 employers perceived that a larger proportion of UAB-trained teachers had a greater understanding of how learners grow and develop. 

UAB-trained teachers also scored at the Teacher Leader level more than twice as often as graduates of other schools across the state. 

“The accomplishments of our graduates in the K-12 classroom, particularly during this extraordinary time of the COVID-19 pandemic, are a point of pride for our faculty and professional staff,” said Autumn Cyprès, dean of the UAB School of Education 

RECOGNIZING DIVERSITY

UAB is the only institution of higher learning in Alabama to be honored with the annual HEED (Higher Education Excellence in Diversity) Award for 2020, according to UAB Media Relations.

The award recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their campus.

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, which gives the award, recognized UAB as a 2020 HEED Award recipient and a 2020 Diversity Champion.

UAB will be featured among other recipients in the November 2020 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. 

This is the fourth year the university has been named a HEED Award recipient.

For more information, go to insightintodiversity.com.  

RUNNING THE NEWSROOM

Award-winning public radio journalist Priska Neely will lead the Gulf States Newsroom, a joint regional news collaboration between National Public Radio and member stations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, according to UAB Media Relations.

Neely will be based at WBHM at UAB and will work with partner stations WWNO in New Orleans, WRKF in Baton Rouge and Mississippi Public Broadcasting in Jackson, as well as NPR.

As managing editor, Neely will build a team of regional beat reporters who cover health care, criminal justice, economic justice and more. 

“It is an honor to have the responsibility to build a team and shape coverage in a part of the country with so many important stories to tell,” Neely said.  

Most recently, Neely reported and produced long-form narrative stories with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. 

Before that, she was a senior reporter at KPCC in Pasadena, California.