UAB Briefs: Commencement, tribute to Lucy's, MLK oratory contest
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, UAB Hospital and UAB Medicine clinics have implemented and 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.
To learn more about UAB’s COVID-19 safety procedures, visit uab.edu/uabunited.
Let us know about people, events and programs on campus that deserve a mention in UAB Briefs. Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
FALL COMMENCEMENT
UAB will host two virtual commencement ceremonies with nearly 1,800 graduates on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11-12, according to UAB News.
The graduate ceremony, with almost 900 graduating master’s and doctoral students, will take place Friday at 6 p.m. on UAB’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
Jazmine Benjamin, Graduate Student Government president, will be the graduate student speaker. She is pursuing a doctoral degree in biomedical sciences.
The undergraduate ceremony, with 882 students, will take place on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 9:30 a.m. and will air on UAB’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
Tyler Huang, student body president and past executive vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government Association, will be the undergraduate student speaker.
The virtual ceremony will feature messages from campus leaders and a selection of video messages from graduating students.
Complete information for graduates is available online at uab.edu/commencement.
To access a virtual commencement kit, which includes music, stickers, Class of 2020 Zoom backgrounds and other items, click here.
LOVING LUCY’S
Lucy’s Coffee and Tea, formerly located at 2007 University Blvd., was a popular hangout for UAB students, staff and faculty for nearly 25 years.
Owner Lucy Bond’s operated a coffee cart on the UAB campus beginning in 1993 before opening her own brick-and-mortar shop in 1995.
Lucy’s Coffee and Tea was a warm, friendly, welcoming place that became part of the social fabric of the university.
When COVID-19 struck, Bonds provided hot meals to UAB frontline health-care workers.
But Bonds announced in March that she was closing her shop permanently due to the uncertainties of the pandemic
Now her friends and customers are raising money for a UAB student scholarship in her name, according to UAB News.
A dedication ceremony will livestream on the UAB Facebook channel on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at noon.
Bonds will be given a commemorative plaque and an honorary UAB pin, in a small, socially distanced event.
The community is invited to share their memories and thoughts at uab.edu/welovelucys.
‘WORD FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP’
The UAB Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is taking submissions for the fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Word from the Mountain Top” Oratory Contest, according to UAB News.
Local high school and two-year and four-year college students can honor King’s legacy by connecting his message to issues facing 21st-century America.
The deadline to submit speeches is 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8, 2021.
Inspired by King’s “A Time to Break Silence” speech, students are asked to identify and analyze a social problem requiring systemic change and develop a plan to ameliorate the problem
The top three written speeches from each division, high school and college, will be ranked as finalists, and their writers will be invited to participate in the oratorical portion of the competition.
Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Prizes will be awarded to all finalists, and a monetary grand prize will be given to the overall winner from each division at the finalist competition, to be held virtually on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021.
Other competition sponsors include UAB Student Diversity and Multicultural Programs, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Urban Impact Inc., United Way of Central Alabama and the city of Birmingham.
For more information, visit www.uab.edu/dei.