UAB Briefs: UAB named America’s No. 1 Best Large Employer
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 COVID-19.
Let us know about people, events and programs on campus that deserve a mention in UAB Briefs. Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
And remember that the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Continue to follow all of the usual protocols and stay safe.
UAB IS NO. 1
UAB has been named America’s No. 1 Best Large Employer by Forbes magazine, putting it at the top of a list of more than 500 hospitals, universities and public and private corporations.
The school is the largest public employer in Alabama and has more than 23,000 people across working in its university and medical units.
“We often say our people are what make UAB special,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts. “What makes Forbes’ recognition so meaningful is that it is based largely on whether our employees would recommend UAB to friends and family."
To see the complete Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers list, click here.
To help compile the 2021 list, Statista anonymously surveyed 38,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees.
According to Forbes, respondents were asked to rate on a scale of zero to 10 how likely they would be to recommend their employer to friends and family, and then encouraged participants to nominate other organizations they do and do not recommend.
CELEBRATING BLACK ICONS
Celebrate Black History Month with “Dedication,” a free, live-streamed concert starring the Eric Essix Group and vocalist Tracy Hamlin on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m.
“Dedication” is presented by the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and is a tribute to African-American icons who have made their mark in civil rights, music, sports and American culture.
They include Aretha Franklin, Fred Shuttlesworth, Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, Marvin Gaye, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.
The concert is free and open to the public. To reserve your place, click here.
Eric Essix is an acclaimed jazz guitarist from Birmingham who has released 25 full-length albums over the last 30 years. His latest record is called “Songs From The Deep.”
Featured vocalist Tracy Hamlin is classically trained and has performed with such music legends as Carlos Santana, Marcus Miller and Chaka Khan.
HONORS FOR A POET
Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, an associate professor in the UAB English Department, is one of only 35 poets to receive a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, according to UAB News.
Around 1,600 people apply every two years for a fellowship, but fewer than 3 percent of applicants are selected.
The grant from the independent federal agency totals $25,000, which allows recipients to have time for research, writing and travel.
At UAB, Slaughter teaches creative writing, late American and British literature, and composition.
The recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Slaughter is author of two poetry collections and has published her writing in many journals.
She is also the editor-in-chief of NELLE, a literary journal published by UAB that celebrates and publishes writing by women.