Southern 2019 - The Birmingham Issue
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BIRMINGHAM<br />
Eats & Drinks<br />
MAKING THEIR MARK<br />
in <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
COMING HOME<br />
to the Hilltop<br />
’SOUTHERN<br />
A Publication for Alumni and Friends Fall/Winter <strong>2019</strong> | Volume 44, Number 1<br />
the<br />
BSC<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College
sc snapshots<br />
<strong>The</strong> Department of Art and Art History held its annual Iron Pour<br />
event Oct. 4. <strong>The</strong> event features food, music, and the chance to<br />
create a piece of art. <strong>The</strong> BSC Art Students League sells sand<br />
blocks so those who attend can make their own designs; then<br />
Sloss Metal Arts experts pour molten iron into the designs. Learn<br />
more about sculpture workshops in casting, welding and forging<br />
(no metalwork experience required) at slossmetalarts.com.
Letter from the President<br />
After more than a decade in Connecticut, Brooke and I moved home to <strong>Birmingham</strong> 10 years ago.<br />
We wanted our children to grow up in our hometown, and we were eager to become involved in ways<br />
that could make a difference.<br />
Brooke soon joined the boards of several nonprofits and, on a regular basis, she ran into graduates of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College. She would argue that no other institution is as well represented as BSC<br />
in nonprofit leadership positions in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
I soon understood what she was talking about. As I invested in <strong>Birmingham</strong> businesses and real estate,<br />
I encountered alumni at law firms, commercial real estate development firms, and start-up companies.<br />
All of the alumni we met seemed to have one trait in common: <strong>The</strong>y were purposefully engaged in<br />
our community. <strong>The</strong>re must be something about the BSC experience that is different because there is<br />
something different about BSC graduates. <strong>The</strong>y have an outsized impact on the world around them.<br />
It is unlikely that everyone shares the same sense of community engagement when they arrive, but<br />
there is something about learning, exploring, and growing on the Hilltop that inspires young people to<br />
become involved in the surrounding community even before they graduate.<br />
Even as campus traditions and culture have evolved for today’s world, they remain true to the mission<br />
of the College established by the Methodist Church and built on the teachings of John Wesley:<br />
“Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your<br />
families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and,<br />
indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind?”<br />
That fundamental mission is as strong as ever – more than 85 percent of our students participate in<br />
community service projects – and it will remain the lodestar of our educational process for the next<br />
100 years.<br />
In this edition of ’<strong>Southern</strong>, you will read about graduates, from many professions and backgrounds,<br />
who share a common sense of purpose: <strong>The</strong>y all strive to make <strong>Birmingham</strong> better.<br />
From what I see of our alumni and our students, the work they do and the efforts they make on<br />
campus and off, I am optimistic for their future as well as the future of my hometown.<br />
Daniel B. Coleman<br />
President<br />
BSC’s 16th President<br />
Daniel B. Coleman was appointed <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<br />
<strong>Southern</strong> College’s 16th president in November<br />
2018. Coleman, who was CEO of the global financial<br />
services firm KCG Holdings until its 2017 sale, has<br />
been a member of the College’s Board of Trustees<br />
and an adjunct professor of finance. Coleman earned<br />
his B.A. in English at Yale University and an M.B.A. at<br />
the University of Chicago. In his four years at KCG,<br />
he raised more than $1 billion of debt, cut costs,<br />
restructured businesses, and after four years sold the<br />
company with an 80% return for investors. Coleman<br />
and his wife, Brooke, a fellow <strong>Birmingham</strong> native, have<br />
three children. <strong>The</strong>y returned to <strong>Birmingham</strong> in 2009.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BSC Black Student Union hosted two voter<br />
registration events in September.<br />
’SOUTHERN MAGAZINE<br />
VOLUME 44, NUMBER 1<br />
Daniel B. Coleman, President<br />
Denson N. Franklin III, Chair,<br />
Board of Trustees<br />
’<strong>Southern</strong> magazine is published<br />
by the Office of Communications<br />
at <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College,<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>, Alabama 35254.<br />
Non-profit postage paid at B’ham.,<br />
AL Permit No. 2575.<br />
Postmaster: Send address<br />
changes to Alumni Engagement,<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College,<br />
900 Arkadelphia Road, Box<br />
549003, <strong>Birmingham</strong>, AL 35254;<br />
telephone (800) 523-5793; or visit<br />
www.bsc.edu/alumni.<br />
©<strong>2019</strong><br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College<br />
Editorial Offices<br />
10 Stockham Building<br />
900 Arkadelphia Road<br />
Box 549004<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>, AL 35254<br />
Phone: (205) 226-4922<br />
E-mail: communications@bsc.edu<br />
Virginia Gilbert Loftin<br />
Vice President for Advancement<br />
and Communications<br />
Executive Editor<br />
Amy Bickers<br />
Director of Communications<br />
Art Directors<br />
Traci Edwards<br />
Assistant Director of<br />
Visual Content<br />
Patrick Bradford<br />
Assistant Director of<br />
Visual Content<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Elizabeth Sturgeon<br />
Communications Coordinator<br />
Samantha Wallace<br />
Advancement Communications<br />
Coordinator<br />
Photography<br />
Cameron Carnes<br />
Photographer and Videographer<br />
Dustin Massey ’12<br />
Office of Alumni Engagement<br />
Jennifer Waters ’86<br />
Director<br />
Mackenzie Quick<br />
Assistant Director<br />
www.bsc.edu<br />
2 / ’southern
CONTENTS<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
2<br />
President’s Message<br />
4<br />
Campus Life<br />
10<br />
Office Hours<br />
11<br />
Off Hours<br />
12<br />
Panther Pride<br />
14<br />
<strong>The</strong> Next Chapter<br />
44<br />
Giving to BSC<br />
48<br />
Lifelong Learning<br />
FEATURES<br />
15<br />
Students in the City<br />
New BSC students tour<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>’s historic landmarks<br />
and attractions.<br />
16<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
<strong>Issue</strong><br />
Alumni work to better<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> through service,<br />
entrepreneurship, ministry,<br />
nonprofit work, and more.<br />
26<br />
Making <strong>The</strong>ir Mark<br />
in <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
A look at how BSC graduates<br />
have practiced engaged<br />
citizenship through the decades.<br />
32<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> <strong>Issue</strong><br />
‘SOUTHERN MAGAZINE // VOLUME 44, NUMBER 1<br />
14<br />
30<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> Eats & Drinks<br />
Treat your taste buds at alumni-owned<br />
eateries and bars across the city.<br />
32<br />
Downtown’s Original<br />
Farm to Table<br />
Chef Chris DuPont ’85 created a<br />
fine-dining destination in the heart<br />
of <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
33<br />
Coming Home to<br />
the Hilltop<br />
Scenes from BSC’s <strong>2019</strong><br />
Homecoming Weekend<br />
37<br />
Distinguished Alumni<br />
Awards<br />
Meet the <strong>2019</strong> Alumni Awards<br />
honorees.<br />
42<br />
BSC Across the Miles<br />
Alumni tell us about the cities they<br />
call home and how they connect with<br />
BSC from miles away.<br />
11<br />
15
campus life<br />
Examining Jim Crow<br />
In March, Associate Professor of History Dr. William Hustwit<br />
unveiled his new book, “Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and<br />
the End of Jim Crow Education.” He explores the often-ignored<br />
1969 landmark Supreme Court case and assesses its significance in<br />
integrating the South’s public schools.<br />
“Although Brown v. Board of Education has rightly received<br />
the lion’s share of historical analysis, its ambiguous language<br />
for implementation led to more than a decade of delays and<br />
resistance by local and state governments,” Hustwit says. “Alexander<br />
v. Holmes required ‘integration now,’ and less than a year later,<br />
thousands of children were attending integrated schools.”<br />
By combining a narrative of the larger legal<br />
battle surrounding the case and the<br />
story of the local activists<br />
who pressed for change,<br />
Hustwit offers an innovative<br />
account of a legal decision<br />
that reaches from the<br />
cotton fields of Mississippi<br />
to the chambers of the<br />
Supreme Court.<br />
PANTHER PARTNERSHIPS<br />
In October, BSC announced its <strong>2019</strong>-2020 class of Panther Partners,<br />
a cohort of 68 students – selected through a competitive process<br />
– and <strong>Birmingham</strong>-area professionals. <strong>The</strong> intensive, structured<br />
program matches students with mentors in their field of interest to<br />
help them achieve individualized educational and career goals.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>2019</strong>-2020 class of mentors includes 15 alumni:<br />
Carrie Beth Gantt Buchanan ’05, Instructional Specialist,<br />
Jefferson County Schools<br />
Brad Cherry ’01, attorney at Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.<br />
Hunter Craig ’00, Managing Director at Highland Associates<br />
Onna Cunningham ’08, Vice President of Operations at Devote<br />
Cristin Gavin, Ph.D. ’06, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology at UAB<br />
Casey Lambert ’15, Financial Analyst at BBVA USA<br />
Kathryn Cannon Lavender ’92, Chief Operating Officer at Porter<br />
White and Company<br />
Jonathan Prince ’02, Second Vice President and Actuary at<br />
Protective<br />
Matthew Penfield ’92, attorney at Bressler, Amery & Ross P.C.<br />
Elizabeth Gniadek Peters, M.D. ’94, pediatrician at Children’s of<br />
Alabama/Mayfair Medical Group<br />
Margaret Ann Renneker Pyburn ’84, Executive Vice President for<br />
Sales at Cobbs Allen<br />
Ashley Rhea ’11, attorney at Rhea Law LLC<br />
Erin Kendrick Stephenson ’01, Vice President, Client and<br />
Community Relations Director at PNC Financial Services Group<br />
Harrison Walker, M.D. ’97, Associate Professor of Neurology and<br />
Medical Director for Brain Stimulation at UAB<br />
Hanlon Walsh ’12, Public Relations Specialist at Peritus Public<br />
Relations<br />
To volunteer as a mentor, contact Katy Smith at (205) 226-3037<br />
or kesmith@bsc.edu.<br />
4 / ’southern
Service<br />
DOGS 101<br />
After an E-term class on the sociology of therapy and service<br />
animals, a group of <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> students were inspired to<br />
educate others on the different types of support animals, and now<br />
their work is being seen nationwide.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BSC students wrote, directed, and starred in a video, published<br />
and filmed by the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and<br />
Disability (NCHPAD). <strong>The</strong> final video, which explains the difference<br />
between service dogs and emotional support animals (ESAs), was<br />
released this September in honor of National Service Dog Month.<br />
After extensive training, a service dog completes tasks that assist<br />
and protect the handler, an individual with disabilities. This bond<br />
forms the long-term “team” of a handler and his or her service dog, a<br />
connection that can often be misunderstood and legally complex.<br />
Dr. Meghan Mills, assistant professor of sociology, developed<br />
her E-term class around the misunderstandings of support animals<br />
and the legal intricacies behind each type of animal. Her research<br />
focuses on these issues, and Mills herself is accompanied by her<br />
own service dog, Arrow.<br />
“I think it’s an important social issue as more people use service<br />
dogs and as more laws change,” she says. “I’d definitely say that the<br />
prevalence of service dogs is increasing. <strong>The</strong>re’s more interest in how<br />
they can help different disabilities.”<br />
When Mills first came to BSC, she pitched the idea for the class.<br />
She partners with Hand in Paw, a nonprofit organization that trains<br />
therapy dogs, allowing students to work with dogs in the class.<br />
Students take part in training exercises, observe therapy animal visits<br />
at Children’s of Alabama and <strong>The</strong> Exceptional Foundation, and hear<br />
more about Mills’ own research on the sociology of service dogs and<br />
disability law.<br />
For junior religion and sociology major Olivia Seckinger, learning<br />
the difference between the types of support animals was extremely<br />
impactful. <strong>The</strong> animals that college students have for emotional<br />
support in their dorm rooms do not have the training that therapy<br />
dogs and service dogs must have. <strong>The</strong>se differences are what she<br />
focused on as the student director of the NCHPAD video.<br />
“We wanted to create something that could benefit everyone<br />
outside of our campus, but this is also a huge issue on our campus,”<br />
Seckinger says. “Not many people know the difference between<br />
these kinds of support animals. We wanted the video to help<br />
students at BSC.<br />
Seckinger wrote the script for the video, which features two<br />
teams of handlers and service dogs: junior Austin Cooper with Fitz<br />
and Hannah Collier ’19 with Arrow. Collier worked as Mills’ TA<br />
and knew Arrow well enough to complete tasks with him. Amelia<br />
Guarino ’19 and her emotional support cat, Colby, are also featured.<br />
<strong>The</strong> video follows students and faculty who learn how to treat<br />
service dogs and presents the proper etiquette surrounding teams.<br />
Service dogs only complete tasks for their handler, and, unlike what<br />
most people believe, there is no legal registration that has to be<br />
shown for a service dog in a public place.<br />
“I was interested in the difference between service dogs and<br />
emotional support animals and how they help people, especially<br />
since some people lie and use it as an excuse to have a pet on<br />
campus,” Seckinger says.<br />
Dr. Meghan Mills<br />
and Arrow<br />
In her course and her research, Mills explores how the increase in<br />
handlers with support animals comes with an increase of people who<br />
lie about their needs. <strong>The</strong> false representation, in turn, leads to a greater<br />
amount of questioning towards service dog handlers and discrimination<br />
of those who truly need them.<br />
“I’m interested in visible versus invisible disabilities as a sociologist.<br />
Some people get more questions of legitimacy,” Mills says. “Falsely<br />
presenting pets as service animals because of convenience can be<br />
detrimental to real teams.”<br />
Seckinger says that she’s seen a noticeable increase in the amount of<br />
support animals on campus, especially ESAs who stay in residence halls.<br />
Depending on the disability, service dogs and ESAs can be helpful for an<br />
individual’s wellness, and more professionals are recognizing that.<br />
“When barriers exist in the campus environment that present<br />
challenges for students accessing academics, programming, activities,<br />
events, and living in the residence halls, then utilizing service animals<br />
and assistance animals may be valuable for students,” says Angie Smith,<br />
coordinator of academic<br />
accessibility services.<br />
Outside of the classroom,<br />
Mills continues to bring<br />
awareness to these social<br />
Watch “Service Dogs 101”<br />
at nchpad.org/videos<br />
issues due to this growing frequency of support animals. She leads<br />
professional development and legal education sessions through<br />
Children’s of Alabama and St. Vincent’s <strong>Birmingham</strong>, since medical<br />
professionals need to be aware of the facts but can sometimes be the<br />
least aware. Mills leads Arrow in a demonstration and speaks about her<br />
personal story, all as volunteer work to educate the community.<br />
“It’s harder because they’re dogs, but service dogs are medical<br />
equipment. You wouldn’t pet or greet a wheelchair,” she says. “You have<br />
to see the person before the animal.”<br />
To learn more about having a support animal on BSC’s campus, reach out<br />
to Angie Smith at awsmith@bsc.edu or accessibility@bsc.edu.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 5
LITTLE FOOT PROVIDES ANSWERS<br />
Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Jason Heaton served as the lead scientist in a study of<br />
an early human skeleton, Little Foot, which sheds light on the evolution of humans.<br />
In July, Heaton and an international team published their research on the nearly<br />
complete Australopithecus skeleton from Sterkfontein, South Africa. With a focus on<br />
movement, the research includes descriptions of the arm and leg bones that reflect patterns<br />
of locomotion.<br />
Nicknamed “Little Foot,” the Australopithecus human group moved upright on two legs<br />
like we do. This trait separates human lineage from modern apes and four-leg movement,<br />
and Heaton’s research now provides more insight into this evolution.<br />
“Because of its completeness, Little Foot will allow us to test hypotheses about the<br />
behavior of these early groups in ways that have been difficult to do to date,” Heaton says.<br />
<strong>The</strong> scientists considered the role of trees in the day-to-day movement of Little Foot and<br />
their relatives. Primates that spend more time moving and climbing through trees reflect<br />
that mode of locomotion through longer upper limbs.<br />
Considering this question of movement, the scientists examined the skeleton’s upper<br />
and lower limbs, including the arm, forearm, thigh, and leg, and the bones’ proportions in<br />
relation to each other.<br />
“Broadly, these proportions are indicative of an individual that spent less time in the<br />
trees than modern chimpanzees and regularly moved around bipedally, or on two feet,”<br />
Heaton explains. “<strong>The</strong> degree to which the limb anatomy of Little Foot deviates from that<br />
of chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, may be a reflection of the latter’s evolution.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir conclusions are based on evidence of a shortened forearm and lengthened tibia<br />
and femur bones, as well as the knee’s placement more directly under the pelvis for<br />
improved bipedal balance. However, other evidence, like certain muscle attachments in the<br />
arm, suggests some reliance on behavioral climbing.<br />
Research will extend to other parts of the skeleton to address these conclusions and clarify<br />
if certain traits developed from behavior or were only retained from Little Foot’s ancestors.<br />
<strong>The</strong> study, titled “<strong>The</strong> long limb bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton from<br />
Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and proportions,” was published online in the<br />
Journal of Human Evolution on July 4. <strong>The</strong> research is featured in the special issue devoted<br />
to Little Foot.<br />
6 / ’southern
Impossible Rotation<br />
T. Morris Hackney Professor of Physics Dr. Duane Pontius ’81 and<br />
two recent <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> graduates have published research<br />
that significantly advances our understanding of Saturn.<br />
Though Saturn’s rotation period was measured in the 1980s as<br />
10 hours and 40 minutes, the 2004 measurement during NASA’s<br />
Cassini-Huygens mission was six minutes longer and varied for the<br />
remaining 13 years of Cassini’s orbit. <strong>The</strong> planet’s northern and<br />
southern hemispheres were also determined to rotate at different<br />
speeds. Like most other researchers, Pontius long assumed that there<br />
must be a problem with data interpretation.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> idea that a planet could rotate at a completely different speed<br />
over that short a period of time is too weird to actually happen,”<br />
he says. However, a presentation at a research conference in 2015<br />
convinced him that the phenomenon was real and worth exploring.<br />
Pontius, ready to explain this oddity, brought the discussion<br />
and research to his BSC students. During their summer research in<br />
2016, physics majors Christopher Fernandez ’17 and Eli Brooks<br />
’18 worked through the algebra and calculus to model the idea they<br />
developed with Pontius.<br />
“When you do research like this, you not only don’t know the<br />
answer. Sometimes you don’t even know the question. You have to<br />
fumble and generate ideas that have never been thought of before,”<br />
Pontius says.<br />
<strong>The</strong> summer before, he worked with other students to eliminate<br />
a lot of ideas without finding one that worked. However, Pontius,<br />
Fernandez, and Brooks settled on an idea, Pontius gave them a<br />
conceptual framework, and the students cranked through the<br />
mathematics in the BSC physics lounge.<br />
With guidance from Pontius, they developed a model to explain<br />
Saturn’s inconsistency in two months, described in the paper’s plain<br />
language summary:<br />
“As charged particles move through Saturn’s magnetic field (its<br />
magnetosphere), they change rotational speed, just as ballet dancers<br />
change speed by shifting their limbs. This puts electromagnetic stress<br />
on the planet’s atmosphere and causes a high‐altitude layer to rotate<br />
more slowly. <strong>The</strong> summer hemisphere is more directly exposed to<br />
solar ultraviolet radiation, which makes it conduct electricity better.<br />
Electrical currents go preferentially to that hemisphere which slows<br />
the atmosphere more than in the winter hemisphere. <strong>The</strong> result<br />
is a longer summer period compared to the winter. As the seasons<br />
change, the rotation periods should swap between North and South,<br />
as is observed.”<br />
With the research and proposed explanation, the three co-authors<br />
have opened the door for other questions and curiosities regarding<br />
the gaseous planet. Pontius now plans to study Saturn’s magnetic<br />
field, which has no tilt and is perfectly symmetric yet sends out<br />
periodic signals. He will again open up the process to BSC student<br />
researchers.<br />
“We solved one basic mystery, but there are other secondary<br />
mysteries that we can now go on and investigate,” Pontius says.<br />
“We now have a start to keep looking at Saturn.”<br />
DISTINCTION IN BLACK STUDIES<br />
Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Desireé Melonas has worked since 2017 to create<br />
a focused study on the Black experience. BSC’s recently established Distinction in Black Studies<br />
program introduces students to the political, social, economic, and historical dimensions animating<br />
the lives of Black people in Africa and the African diaspora.<br />
“Taking into account that BSC is situated in <strong>Birmingham</strong>, we need to have curriculum that reflects<br />
a broad set of interests as we make active efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive environment,”<br />
Melonas says.<br />
Faculty from departments of political science, history, and media and film studies came together<br />
in spring 2018 to develop course ideas and determine a direction for the transdisciplinary distinction.<br />
This fall, students quickly enrolled in and filled up the flagship introductory course.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> program was already something students needed. We just responded,” Melonas says.<br />
Turn to page 10 to learn more about Melonas.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 7
Connor Hansen and Allen Packwood<br />
When in Cambridge<br />
For five days in June, Connor Hansen lived the life of a<br />
true British scholar, studying historical documents by day and<br />
discussing big ideas over dinner by night.<br />
Hansen, a senior history major from Fort Collins, Colorado, is<br />
BSC’s inaugural Hardin-Churchill Scholar. He received funding to<br />
conduct research at the Churchill Archives Centre at the University<br />
of Cambridge’s Churchill College through the Hardin-Churchill<br />
Archives Centre Endowed Travel Award, established with gifts from<br />
numerous friends in honor of Edward L. Hardin Jr. ’62. <strong>The</strong> archive<br />
includes 2,500 boxes of papers produced between 1874 and 1965<br />
relating to Winston Churchill’s personal life and political career.<br />
Alongside the travel award, a gift from the late Robert B. Callahan<br />
’50 and his wife, Ginger Callahan, underwrote access to the digitized<br />
Churchill Archive and funded the Churchill Seminar Room in the<br />
College’s library. BSC is now one of only 20 colleges and universities<br />
in the United States with full access to the archive.<br />
Before taking up his research on British policy in the Middle<br />
East, Hansen toured London with his younger brother, visiting<br />
museums that further inspired his research interests. By the second<br />
week of his time abroad, he took on the life of a Churchill College<br />
student, surrounded by fellow scholars in the archives, at dinner,<br />
and in his residence hall.<br />
“You never knew if the person sitting next to you would be a<br />
Nobel Prize winner or not,” Hansen says, reflecting on the rich<br />
conversation in the Churchill College dining hall. He also joined<br />
Churchill Archives Director Allen Packwood at a High Table dinner, a<br />
formal occasion for Cambridge post-doctoral fellows and faculty. <strong>The</strong><br />
traditional meal brings the same sophistication and magic that Harry<br />
Potter readers find at Hogwarts’ opening feast.<br />
Hansen has been interested in the Middle East since he began taking<br />
history and Arabic courses at BSC. After recognizing this interest, his<br />
faculty advisor and W. Michael Atchison Professor of History and<br />
Law Dr. Mark Lester told him about the archives project and the<br />
opportunity to study in Cambridge.<br />
“I didn’t know much about Middle Eastern history before BSC,” Hansen<br />
says. “<strong>The</strong> sheer amount of history in the old centers of civilization interests<br />
me. And once you study a language, you bond with the people who speak<br />
it, gain insight into their world, and learn the soul of who they are.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> range of material in the archives allowed him to study Leo Amery,<br />
a lifelong friend of Churchill and a fellow politician. Amery helped to<br />
draft the Balfour Declaration, the British government’s 1917 statement<br />
supporting a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.<br />
“Churchill has been written about by everyone, but Amery is more<br />
obscure, especially in America,” Hansen says. “Because Amery had his<br />
own vision of the British Empire, he undertook measures in the Middle<br />
East that had very significant consequences. I had direct access to his<br />
correspondence, speeches, and war cabinet briefings.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Hardin-Churchill endowment will continue to send one student to<br />
Cambridge every summer, but thanks to the Callahans’ generosity, all BSC<br />
students can access more than 800,000 pages of documents digitally. <strong>The</strong><br />
contents range from letters between political leaders and popular celebrities<br />
to the report cards of a young Churchill and drafts of his most memorable<br />
speeches, complete with handwritten notes scrawled in the margins.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Churchill Seminar Room is located in the N.E. Miles<br />
Library on the BSC campus. For more information,<br />
visit library.bsc.edu or call (205) 226-4740.<br />
8 / ’southern
EVENTS CALENDAR 2020<br />
JANUARY<br />
January 13–19<br />
Biennial Southeastern High School Artists Competition<br />
Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center & Azar Studios<br />
January 23-26<br />
“Silent Sky”<br />
College <strong>The</strong>atre/<strong>The</strong> Underground<br />
FEBRUARY<br />
February 7–26<br />
BSC Faculty Exhibition<br />
Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center & Azar Studios<br />
February 9<br />
Faculty Recital: Margery MacDuffie Whatley, Piano<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
February 16<br />
Winners of the Frances & Dorsey Whittington Competition<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
February 18<br />
Provost’s Forum: Anticorruption Campaigns: Fight for What?<br />
Norton <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
February 23<br />
Faculty Recital Series: Lester Seigel, Organ<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
February 25<br />
Provost’s Forum: Inclusion Is Not Only a Choice, But a Requirement<br />
Norton <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
February 29<br />
BSC Opera: “Little Red Riding Hood” and “A Game Of Chance”<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
MARCH<br />
March 4<br />
Featured Speaker: Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Professor of Modern Jewish<br />
History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University<br />
Bruno Great Hall<br />
March 6-25<br />
Suffrage<br />
Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center & Azar Studios<br />
March 12-15<br />
“35MM: A Musical Exhibition”<br />
College <strong>The</strong>atre/<strong>The</strong> Underground<br />
March 31<br />
Provost’s Forum: You’re Growing on Me: Interactions between<br />
Western Mosquitofish and their Parasites<br />
Norton <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
APRIL<br />
April 2<br />
Forward Ever Day<br />
An Online Day of Celebration and Giving<br />
BSC<br />
April 3–22<br />
2020 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition<br />
Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center<br />
& Azar Studios<br />
April 7<br />
Provost’s Forum: Classroom Talk: When Culture, Teaching,<br />
and Learning Collide<br />
Norton <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
April 14<br />
Steven Hesla Piano Recital<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
Provost’s Forum: Experiential Business Education in the Liberal Arts<br />
Norton <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
April 19<br />
Concert Choir Homecoming Performance<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
April 27<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Southern</strong> Chorale<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
April 28<br />
Lizzy Borden, Rock Star!<br />
College <strong>The</strong>atre/Mainstage<br />
April 30<br />
BSC Symphonic & Jazz Bands Spring Performance<br />
Hill Amphitheatre (Hill Recital Hall in case of inclement weather)<br />
April 30-May 3<br />
“Lizzie”<br />
College <strong>The</strong>atre Mainstage<br />
MAY<br />
May 4–13<br />
Juried Student Exhibition<br />
Durbin Gallery, Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center & Azar<br />
Studios<br />
May 7<br />
Stravinsky’s Mass presented by the BSC Concert Choir<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
Honors Day<br />
May 11<br />
Hilltop Singers Season Finale<br />
Hill Recital Hall<br />
May 13 & 14<br />
Student-Directed One Acts<br />
College <strong>The</strong>atre/<strong>The</strong> Underground<br />
May 21<br />
Capping Ceremony<br />
May 22<br />
Commencement<br />
Visit www.bsc.edu for details and updates.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> // 11 9
Dr. Desireé Melonas<br />
Space and place – more than<br />
a political theory<br />
“<strong>The</strong> beginning is the most important part of the work.” - Plato<br />
When you walk into Dr. Desireé Melonas’ office on the third<br />
floor of the Harbert Building, you are greeted with this quote from<br />
Plato, thoughtful reading list suggestions, and pictures of prominent<br />
black figures, such as Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, all placed<br />
around the door frame.<br />
As a political theorist of space and place, Melonas, assistant<br />
professor of political science, often spends time contemplating what<br />
she has chosen to surround herself with.<br />
“I think about space a lot,” Melonas says. “I think about how<br />
space shapes us, at the level of identity. I think about what goes into<br />
constructing physical and social spaces.”<br />
Adapting her office into a place where she felt inspired was an<br />
important step when she arrived at <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College<br />
three years ago. A graduate of Saint Vincent College and Temple<br />
University, Melonas came to BSC from Swarthmore College, where<br />
she was a visiting assistant professor.<br />
One of her first projects was to change the lighting and add<br />
more comfortable seating, creating a softer, more humanized<br />
environment for students and colleagues to come visit and have<br />
office hours<br />
discussions. Pictures of the people most important to her hang right<br />
above her computer, as she wants to keep them in close proximity.<br />
Beside these pictures, many cards filled with kindness are pinned to<br />
a board.<br />
“I see these as really, really beautiful reminders of how I have<br />
been able to impact students,” Melonas says. “I appreciate their<br />
willingness to share that with me, and I don’t think they truly<br />
understand how meaningful their words are.”<br />
Above her desk hangs the Bob Whetstone Faculty Development<br />
Award that Melonas received in 2018 for excellence in teaching.<br />
Melonas hopes to exemplify excellence in teaching through her<br />
focus on a positive classroom dynamic. One way she does this<br />
is by taking 10 minutes at the beginning of every class to have<br />
conversations with students.<br />
“I aim to cultivate an environment where students feel connected,<br />
appreciated, and enabled,” says Melonas. “With this foundation, we<br />
are then able to learn and teach other people.”<br />
During her time at BSC, Melonas has focused on the development<br />
of a black studies distinction and the addition of a political theory<br />
focus in the political science department. Although both have since<br />
been established, she wants to continue improving future course<br />
offerings to students.<br />
Beyond working to create new classroom opportunities, Melonas<br />
is involved with the Black Women’s Union, the Mortar Board,<br />
Students Demand Action, and the Diversity Committee. She also<br />
helps with recruiting efforts for the BSC softball and football teams.<br />
10 / ’southern
off hours<br />
Pamela Grubbs-Lowery ’17<br />
While we always appreciate Pamela Grubbs-Lowery’s hard work<br />
welcoming transfer and nontraditional students to BSC, her afterwork<br />
hobbies might be just as cool.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BSC admission counselor dresses up as different movie,<br />
literary, and comic book characters for cosplay conventions and<br />
renaissance festivals throughout the year. Hela, the Marvel character<br />
and recent “Thor: Ragnarok” villainess is her current favorite look.<br />
“I love any reason to dress up,” she says, which she’s loved since she<br />
was a kid. “Whenever my siblings and I finished classes, we dressed up<br />
and played in the woods behind our house, usually as knights who’d<br />
sword fight, or as pioneers who’d go hunting for acorns.”<br />
In high school and especially as a student at BSC, Grubbs-<br />
Lowery realized how widespread cosplay conventions were and got<br />
more involved over time. She was immediately drawn to the tight<br />
community and inclusivity she saw. <strong>The</strong> events allow her to express<br />
her interest in comics, movies, and all things medieval.<br />
<strong>The</strong> creativity Grubbs-Lowery puts into each costume design also<br />
emerges in her crochet work. She’s been crocheting for 18 years, first<br />
teaching herself from library books and with help from her dad.<br />
While she’s participated in craft shows, crochet is mostly a hobby<br />
that keeps her hands busy and results in fun and meaningful gifts.<br />
Like her costumes, her crocheted pieces require the same<br />
attention to detail. Grubbs-Lowery makes shawls, blankets, hats,<br />
or other projects, often with her nieces and nephews in mind. But<br />
within the intricate detailing of her hobbies and the time poured<br />
into each piece, they provide a relaxing, fun escape.<br />
“It’s a way to wind down after school or work, the way some<br />
people watch sporting events or go to the beach a few times a year,”<br />
Grubbs-Lowery says. “Conventions and festivals are my beach.”<br />
BSC admitted a record number of transfer students in fall<br />
<strong>2019</strong>, and the College has signed 11 articulation agreements with<br />
community colleges in the region. Articulation agreements outline<br />
the course requirements for degrees and how credits will transfer,<br />
making the process more transparent. Once a transfer and<br />
homeschooled student herself, Pamela Grubbs-Lowery supports<br />
transfer and nontraditional students as they navigate the process<br />
of admission and transition to a four-year institution.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 11
panther pride<br />
A Cinderella Season<br />
After dropping its first two series of the <strong>2019</strong> season to ranked teams, <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<br />
<strong>Southern</strong> baseball rebounded in epic fashion. In May <strong>2019</strong>, the Panthers went on a<br />
13-game win streak across three weeks to improve to 15-4 overall, and thus begin their<br />
Cinderella season and wild ride to the national spotlight.<br />
BSC won nine of its last 10 regular season games, earning the <strong>Southern</strong> Athletic<br />
Association regular season title. Sweeping both Oglethorpe University and Rhodes<br />
College to win the tournament title and automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament,<br />
BSC hosted No. 14 LaGrange College in a grueling five-game regional May 17-19.<br />
Advancing to the Super Regionals for the first time in program history, BSC took<br />
advantage of the opportunity and, in the May 24-25 series, swept No. 17 Coe College to<br />
earn a spot in the College World Series.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> atmosphere at the regionals and super regionals was phenomenal,” says Head<br />
Coach Jan Weisberg. “<strong>The</strong> sendoff from the campus community when we came out<br />
to Iowa was completely unexpected and awesome. We had not only family — we had<br />
faculty, we had ex-players, we had fans. That support has been tremendous and it did lift<br />
us. It did carry us here.”<br />
BSC baseball finished the season second in the country, with two Rawlings Golden<br />
Glove Award winners, seven all-region selections, 11 all-conference nods, and a new<br />
program win record.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>se guys took us on a heck of a journey,” Weisberg says. “It’s been fun. This team<br />
peaked at the right time. I think this is the most fun team that we’ve had.”<br />
BSC’s Finest Enter the Hall<br />
<strong>The</strong> T. B. Pearson Sports Hall of Fame Class of <strong>2019</strong> was inducted<br />
over Homecoming weekend, honoring three student-athletes and<br />
one coach.<br />
Walter Arrington ’11 finished his football career with 2,495<br />
rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns. In 2007, he ranked second<br />
in all-purpose yards in the <strong>Southern</strong> Collegiate Athletic Conference<br />
(SCAC), which earned him Freshman of the Year honors and a<br />
spot on the all-conference second team. During his senior season,<br />
Arrington added a team and conference high of 1,185 yards and 11<br />
touchdowns. He was named first team all-conference and the SCAC<br />
Offensive Player of the Year.<br />
Ashley Bice Culliver ’12 is the most decorated softball player in<br />
program history. With a .455 batting average her freshman season,<br />
she helped BSC to a top 25 national ranking. Culliver earned first<br />
team all-conference honors both in her junior and senior seasons<br />
as the Panthers won their first SCAC and second Eastern Division<br />
titles as well as the SCAC Championship in 2012. She tied for first in<br />
conference player of the year voting.<br />
Drew Leachman ’11 helped jump start the newly transitioned<br />
baseball program to Division III in 2008. He earned first-team<br />
all-conference honors (2008, 2010, and 2011), first-team all-region<br />
honors (2011), and the SCAC Offensive Player of the Year award<br />
(2011). Leachman also received spots on the All-South Region First<br />
Team and the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America<br />
Team. During his freshman and junior seasons, the Panthers won<br />
the SCAC Eastern Division title. In his final season, with the third<br />
highest batting average in school history at .451, he led the Panthers<br />
with 73 hits and 105 total bases. When Leachman graduated, he<br />
12 / ’southern
MORE SPORTS NEWS:<br />
Women’s volleyball finished <strong>Southern</strong> Athletic<br />
Association play with a 13-1 record to claim<br />
its first-ever regular season championship. <strong>The</strong><br />
Panthers made their third consecutive trip to the<br />
NCAA Tournament Nov. 15-17. Head Coach<br />
Haven O’Quinn was named SAA Coach of the<br />
Year, and six Panthers earned all-conference<br />
honors, headlined by Newcomer of the Year<br />
Alyssa Coats. Named National Player of the Week,<br />
senior middle blocker Rebecca Erwin is second<br />
in the country for blocks and blocks per set. <strong>The</strong><br />
senior biology major also excels in the classroom<br />
with a 3.9 cumulative GPA, and she was named<br />
Academic All-District.<br />
<strong>The</strong> football team held on to the Wesley Cup<br />
with a 45-13 win over Huntingdon College,<br />
marking the first time since 2012 that the Cup<br />
remained on the Hilltop for consecutive years. <strong>The</strong><br />
Panthers won five of their last six games, including<br />
a 28-15 win over conference champion and<br />
nationally ranked Berry College on Homecoming.<br />
BSC (7-3, 6-2 SAA) finished the season one game<br />
away from a conference title. Helping lead the<br />
team was junior running back Robert Shufford,<br />
who was named a First-Team All-American by the<br />
American Football Coaches Association. He’s the<br />
first Panther to earn All-American honors since<br />
2011. Senior political science major Austin Lewter<br />
holds a 3.875 GPA, was named Academic All-<br />
District, and serves as SGA President.<br />
Under new head coach Katelyn Geddings,<br />
women’s soccer finished tied for third in the<br />
league. Five Panthers earned all-conference honors,<br />
led by Newcomer of the Year Gabby Bernal. Junior<br />
accounting major Abby Kay Choate has a 3.98<br />
GPA and was named Academic All-District.<br />
Men’s soccer had four all-conference nods,<br />
headlined by Newcomer of the Year Coleman<br />
Jennings.<br />
Cross Country made a splash at conference<br />
championships. Senior Marjorie Head placed<br />
seventh overall. She went on to place 22nd at<br />
the NCAA Regionals and was named both allconference<br />
and all-region.<br />
Indoor track and field hosted the BSC<br />
Panther Indoor Invitational Dec. 6.<br />
<strong>The</strong> swimming and diving teams had six<br />
Athlete of the Week honors before Nov. 1.<br />
Freshman diver Mallory Wilson set new<br />
program records in both the 1-meter and<br />
3-meter events. <strong>The</strong> men’s team is ranked No.<br />
24 nationally.<br />
Basketball season is underway. As of Nov.20,<br />
the women are off to a 3-0 start, led by senior<br />
Emilee Olsen and sophomore Derienne Black.<br />
Juniors Ben Spence and Christian Stewart<br />
earned the first two SAA Player of the Week<br />
honors of the season on the men’s side.<br />
It’s been a busy fall for the Panthers. BSC<br />
earned over 20 SAA Athlete of the Week<br />
awards, six national weekly awards, three<br />
SAA Newcomer of the Year awards, and<br />
three Academic All-District honors, all before<br />
Thanksgiving break.<br />
Rebecca Erwin<br />
Robert Shufford<br />
ranked second in program history with a .412 career batting<br />
average and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins.<br />
Ann Templeton Dielen is BSC’s winningest and longesttenured<br />
coach and the first coach of a reestablished program.<br />
Her 41-year coaching career brought 678 victories to the<br />
Hilltop for both men’s and women’s tennis teams. Dielen<br />
led BSC teams to 40 total NAIA national tournament<br />
appearances, four Division I winning seasons, and 10<br />
Division III winning seasons. She has been honored as the<br />
2016 <strong>Southern</strong> Athletic Association Coach of the Year, a<br />
seven-time NAIA District Coach of the Year, the 1992 ITA<br />
Women’s Coach of the Year, and as a member of the Georgia<br />
State Athletics and Alabama Tennis Halls of Fame. BSC’s<br />
tennis facility bears Dielen’s name.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 13
the next chapter<br />
Anna Marie Dobbins ’13<br />
When you curl up this winter to watch the<br />
newest made-for-TV Christmas movie, you may find<br />
yourself watching a BSC alumna. Actor, dancer, and<br />
model Anna Marie Dobbins starred in “Christmas<br />
Matchmakers” on ION, sharing the screen with Vivica<br />
A. Fox. And if you’re in <strong>Birmingham</strong> this holiday<br />
season, you could even spot her around town.<br />
Dobbins flies in from Los Angeles regularly to teach<br />
dance at her mother’s studio, Linda Dobbins Dance in<br />
Mountain Brook, which opened when Dobbins was<br />
four years old. She fell in love with dance early on and<br />
followed her passion for performance. As she grew up,<br />
Dobbins also began traveling to Atlanta and Los Angeles<br />
for dancing and acting opportunities.<br />
Through her role in the 2011 “Footloose” remake,<br />
which was filmed near Atlanta, Dobbins made<br />
connections in the industry, but she still chose to stay in<br />
Alabama and attend BSC.<br />
“Even though I knew I wanted to move to L.A. after<br />
college, I loved the programs at BSC,” she says. “In a<br />
way, BSC drove me to go for the entertainment industry<br />
because I wanted to be unique and set the bar.”<br />
In addition to acting, Dobbins works as a<br />
choreographer and dance instructor in Los Angeles.<br />
Last year, she worked with Eric Roberts in the Lifetime<br />
film “Stalked by my Doctor: Patient’s Revenge,” and has<br />
recently taken on other darker roles.<br />
“I never went for the devious role when I was<br />
younger. It’s cool to see where your age takes you,”<br />
Dobbins says. “I’m starting to play more nitty-gritty<br />
roles rather than the girl next door.”<br />
Her upcoming projects include the action movie<br />
“Cross: Rise of the Villains,” starring Tom Sizemore and<br />
Brian Austin Green, and the feature film “Women,”<br />
which will be released next year.<br />
In her busy schedule, packed with brand deals,<br />
modeling, filming, and taking classes herself, Dobbins’<br />
passion for what she does is clear through her dedication<br />
to coming back to <strong>Birmingham</strong> and devoting time to<br />
aspiring dancers like her younger self.<br />
“Being surrounded by people in the industry keeps<br />
you creative. Getting into different classes molds you<br />
and keeps you on your toes,” she says.<br />
Are you a graduate of the last decade? Tell us what you’re<br />
doing next! Email communications@bsc.edu.<br />
14 / ’southern
Students in<br />
THE CITY<br />
In August, BSC welcomed more than 385 new students to<br />
campus, from across town, across the country, and around the<br />
world. As part of orientation, students participated in Uniquely<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>, choosing one of 17 locations across the city to<br />
explore. <strong>The</strong> tourist destinations included the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Museum of Art, 16th Street Baptist Church, <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Civil Rights Institute, McWane Science Center, Sidewalk Film<br />
Festival, Sloss Furnaces, and <strong>Southern</strong> Museum of Flight.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 15
A city on the rise, BIRMINGHAM boasts historic theaters, AWARD-WINNING<br />
restaurants, URBAN parks and trails, CREATIVE start-ups, and world-class<br />
health care. And every element of today’s <strong>Birmingham</strong> is powered in part by a<br />
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN graduate. Meet nine of the numerous ALUMNI<br />
who are fueling growth and service across the MAGIC CITY.<br />
the<br />
16 / ’southern
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 17
If we have a strong<br />
community and metroarea,<br />
it is going to make<br />
it better for everybody.<br />
ASHLEY RHEA ’11<br />
As a reserved teen, Ashley Rhea never expected to be the incoming freshman<br />
volunteering to run for SGA. But, after being elected as a Freshman Representative and<br />
joining Chi Omega sorority, nothing could stop Rhea from being as involved as possible at<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College.<br />
Since graduating, Rhea has made strides professionally and in the community by<br />
continuing to push herself into action.<br />
With a law degree from Samford University and experience representing companies at<br />
Maynard Cooper & Gale, Rhea wanted to pursue her dream of practicing disability-related law.<br />
She quickly realized that if she wanted to live her dream, the only option was to open her own<br />
firm – so once again, Rhea took a chance and pushed herself into making a difference.<br />
In August 2018, Rhea opened Rhea Law LLC, with the motto “Your case shouldn’t be<br />
bigger than your disability.”<br />
“I just did it,” Rhea says. “I felt like there was no reason to keep delaying. If you’re not<br />
doing what you love, then you aren’t going to have motivation to work every day.”<br />
Before going out on her own, Rhea took the time to research and meet with solo<br />
practitioners. What she learned supported what she was already aware of from experience<br />
with her own disability: there was a serious need in the community.<br />
“If you have been discriminated against, your case is disabling and then you have your<br />
actual, physical limitations,” Rhea says. “I can’t take away your limitation, but I can help<br />
this disabling situation become less threatening to you.”<br />
Rhea sees her own disability as a way to<br />
connect with people and show them their<br />
options.<br />
“Often it gets to the point where the<br />
individual can’t negotiate anymore, so<br />
sometimes they just need someone as a<br />
third party to come in with additional<br />
resources,” she says.<br />
Rhea believes that the connections<br />
she has made through civic involvement<br />
have contributed to her firm’s success.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rotaract Club and Junior League of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> are just two ways that Rhea<br />
stays plugged into her community.<br />
Partnering with <strong>Birmingham</strong>-area nonprofits<br />
is another crucial element of Rhea’s<br />
community involvement. In order to stay<br />
up-to-date on the resources available to<br />
people in the community, she works with<br />
the Lakeshore Foundation, Disability<br />
Rights and Resources, and Alabama<br />
Disabilities Advocacy Program.<br />
Through her law firm, Rhea hopes to add<br />
one more service to the available resources<br />
for people with disabilities.<br />
From studies at BSC in history and<br />
political science, internships during law<br />
school, and partnerships with Alabama<br />
Possible, Rhea saw that statistically,<br />
people with disabilities are the most<br />
underemployed sector in Alabama.<br />
Children with disabilities are also<br />
affected, as they are routinely left behind<br />
and not pushed to the same level of success.<br />
Rhea has a lot of hope for the state’s ability<br />
to improve these issues, and continues to<br />
focus beyond her career on advocacy.<br />
“Whatever is happening now will affect<br />
future generations,” she says. “I live in<br />
Vestavia, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t<br />
pay attention to what is happening in<br />
West <strong>Birmingham</strong>. If we have a strong<br />
community and metro-area, it is going to<br />
make it better for everybody.”<br />
18 / ’southern
When Terrence Ingram decided to major<br />
in music at BSC, he didn’t know exactly where<br />
that would take him. He just knew music was<br />
his passion, and he was determined to fill his<br />
education with a subject he enjoyed.<br />
Music is now central to what Ingram does as<br />
the founder and CEO of LegacyWorks, a program<br />
that uses life coaching, engaging curriculum,<br />
and music production to support <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
urban youth and help them succeed.<br />
“When people think of excellence, they<br />
tend to point outside of urban areas. We<br />
want the urban youth in our city to reverse<br />
that,” Ingram says. “I believe that in 20<br />
to 40 years, we can see unprecedented<br />
growth and economic independence in<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>’s urban communities.”<br />
After graduating from BSC, Ingram became<br />
a Teach For America corps member and took<br />
a position in Nashville, teaching seventh and<br />
eighth grade inner city students. <strong>The</strong>re, he<br />
also found his passion for education, another<br />
essential component of LegacyWorks.<br />
“I saw students’ gifts and talents but also a<br />
lack of direction,” he says. “It was in my blood<br />
to teach.”<br />
Ingram returned to <strong>Birmingham</strong> and later<br />
began working for Scantron Corporation,<br />
which led him to Martha Gaskins Elementary<br />
School in the Roebuck neighborhood in 2018.<br />
While he was there to explain new end-of-year<br />
tests, an instructional coach suggested he might<br />
be there for a deeper purpose.<br />
From there, Ingram and his team of<br />
friends developed a plan to invest in the<br />
community and <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s youth. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
launched a pilot program at Martha Gaskins<br />
last August and began to build relationships<br />
with six students. Most members of the team,<br />
including Ingram, work full-time day jobs yet<br />
spend their evenings focused on LegacyWorks<br />
and its growth.<br />
“It’s a people business, fueled by passion,”<br />
Ingram says. “I’m always energized when<br />
working to accomplish our objectives.”<br />
LegacyWorks soon expanded from in-school<br />
to after-school and weekend programs, held<br />
at Homewood Church of Christ. Students<br />
take classes on a variety of skills and trades,<br />
including speech, agriculture, and auto<br />
mechanics. <strong>The</strong> program also includes time for<br />
youth, ages 10 to 16, to be with mentors who<br />
they can “do life with.”<br />
Inspiring them to create, LegacyWorks<br />
includes a production course that allows every<br />
student to play a role in making and recording<br />
music and video. Mentorship and educational<br />
materials collide with expression and creating<br />
40<br />
BIRMINGHAM<br />
non-profit agencies are<br />
led by BSC graduates<br />
I feel strongly that<br />
my purpose is tied<br />
to this city.<br />
TERRENCE INGRAM ’09<br />
digital content, which can be found on the organization’s YouTube channel.<br />
Only in its second year, LegacyWorks has already expanded, with growing interest from<br />
parents and mentors like Ingram himself who are helping mold <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s community.<br />
“I feel strongly that my purpose is tied to this city. Something in the soil makes me feel<br />
at home when I’m here.”<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 19
CAMILLE SPRATLING ’98 (MPPM ’07)<br />
Before Camille Spratling joined Railroad Park as the foundation’s executive<br />
director, she was a <strong>Birmingham</strong> resident who shared the dream for an urban green<br />
space – one that could bridge the north and south sides of the city.<br />
Spratling saw the idea for a park move from this dream to a 19-acre landmark, and<br />
she grew with the process. First serving as her neighborhood association’s president,<br />
she soon became a Railroad Park Foundation board member before stepping in as<br />
director a few months after the park opened in September 2010.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re was a long history of people dreaming about the park, and so many different<br />
people in the community made this dream a reality. <strong>The</strong> hope was that it would<br />
be a place where all of <strong>Birmingham</strong> could come together — a tangible sign that<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> was on the move,” Spratling says.<br />
Her job involves a wide array of industries, from fundraising to event planning to<br />
landscaping, and Spratling says her BSC education prepared her to juggle these roles.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s no one track of study that could have prepared me for this role, but the<br />
liberal arts education did. I was constantly pushed to see things in a new way or to<br />
look at a problem from many different perspectives,” she says. “BSC also helped me<br />
see how important service in the community is.”<br />
As a student, Spratling was involved in service learning locally through Alpha<br />
Omicron Pi and honor societies and abroad in Zimbabwe on an E-term trip. She<br />
remembers experiencing what good service looks like as volunteers let go of themselves<br />
and focused on the heart of the project. Now a director of a nonprofit, Spratling<br />
frequently must do the same, and she encourages her volunteers to hold that mindset.<br />
Prior to her current position, Spratling worked at Children’s of Alabama and in<br />
the president’s office at BSC. She moved out of the city for a bit after graduation, but<br />
she recognized <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s potential and saw the way the city was digging into<br />
problems, working on issues, and growing rapidly.<br />
Spratling herself had a part in <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
revitalization through Railroad Park. Its<br />
opening marked a surge of energy in the city’s<br />
downtown. <strong>The</strong> green area, located between the<br />
I knew we were going to<br />
look back and see this shift<br />
in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
financial and health districts, introduced a new<br />
vitality through a diverse range of activities and<br />
events, from summer concerts to the holiday<br />
magic of a winter ice skating rink.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> park was a splash in the city. People<br />
were stunned by how top-notch it was,” she<br />
says, remembering the early days. “It caught<br />
hold in a viral way. I knew we were going to<br />
look back and see this shift in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.”<br />
20 / ’southern
BHAKTI DESAI ’16<br />
Bhakti Desai starts each day with the intention to<br />
“lead a life of significance,” advice from President Emeritus<br />
Gen. Charles C. Krulak that she will never forget.<br />
With those words in mind, Desai is already working<br />
toward improving life for people in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
At the end of her first year at the University of Alabama<br />
at <strong>Birmingham</strong> School of Dentistry, she applied for the<br />
Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF), a program intended<br />
to prepare the next generation to serve others and create<br />
healthier communities. She submitted an outline for<br />
implementing an oral health education program at<br />
Cahaba Valley Health Care.<br />
After her project was chosen to be funded, she spent<br />
one year teaching the community about preventative<br />
dental care.<br />
“I thought I would have to wait to make a difference, but<br />
realized that if I kept pushing it off it would never happen.<br />
I decided to intentionally put time toward giving back to<br />
others,” Desai says.<br />
She credits her BSC experience with preparing her to<br />
make a difference. Participating in the Harrison Honors<br />
Program, <strong>Southern</strong> Ambassadors, the orientation team,<br />
and Pi Beta Phi forced Desai out of her comfort zone.<br />
She specifically remembers the presentation skills she<br />
developed through the Harrison Honors Program.<br />
Desai appreciated how the BSC environment gave her<br />
room to grow, allowing her to voice her own opinion and<br />
think outside of the box.<br />
“It was the best four years of my life,” Desai says. “BSC<br />
cultivates potential, and the one-on-one environment<br />
helped me grow personally and academically.”<br />
While she experienced a shift in her reserved personality,<br />
one thing that did not change for Desai after high school<br />
was her focus on pursing pediatric dentistry.<br />
She was selected as a representative at the 2018 ASF<br />
National Conference, where she was able to recharge<br />
around other individuals fighting for something<br />
meaningful.<br />
Focused on serving her community while completing<br />
her degree, Desai is able to see issues in healthcare<br />
firsthand. This has piqued her interest in public policy,<br />
as a way to mitigate the problems she finds on a day-today<br />
basis.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> more I see, the more prepared I am to fix issues in<br />
the future.”<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 21
“It is important that we first acknowledge that this is a<br />
problem, and then that we deal with it,” Fry says.<br />
He has established a lawyer wellness committee<br />
for the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Bar charged with finding ways<br />
to incorporate activities that help manage the stress<br />
involved with being a lawyer.<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> is a diamond in<br />
the rough city. You can have<br />
a great quality of life and a<br />
sophisticated professional life.<br />
CHARLES FRY ’95<br />
As the fourth graduate of <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College to serve as<br />
president of the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Bar Association, Charles Fry is proud to have<br />
strong roots in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
“<strong>Birmingham</strong> is a diamond in the rough city,” Fry says. “You can have a great<br />
quality of life and a sophisticated professional life. Not many markets offer these<br />
things in the way we do, and we are still in the process of maturing and growing<br />
from the past.”<br />
BSC graduates Alan Rogers ’77, Bruce Rogers ’80, and Carol Ann Smith ’71<br />
preceded Fry in leading the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Bar as president, and he has continued<br />
their positive influence on the professional organization.<br />
As the current General Counsel of the University of Alabama Health Services<br />
Foundation, P.C., Fry often finds health at the top of his mind. He saw an<br />
immediate need for improvement in lawyer wellness, as the profession correlates<br />
with high levels of alcohol abuse and suicide rates.<br />
Fry is the first in-house lawyer to be elected president –<br />
something that he has not taken lightly. He has made<br />
recruiting in-house lawyers to the Bar a priority.<br />
Under Fry’s leadership, the UA Health Services<br />
Foundation has added about 300 physicians and has<br />
expanded throughout the state, opening locations in<br />
Anniston, Montgomery, Florence, and Mobile.<br />
One project that has been specifically meaningful to Fry<br />
is building the first proton therapy facility in the state at the<br />
University of Alabama at <strong>Birmingham</strong>, which can provide<br />
cancer patients with state-of-the-art, non-invasive treatment.<br />
Fry worked with the department of radiation oncology in<br />
developing the project from the ground up.<br />
Fry says that everything he has done in <strong>Birmingham</strong> was<br />
set in motion during his time at <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>.<br />
“I owe so much to attending <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong><br />
College,” Fry says. “It was a critical education for me; it gave<br />
me confidence in myself – which I sorely lacked. It was the<br />
challenge of learning that presented itself everyday by my<br />
professors that prepared the way for me to believe in myself.<br />
This ultimately led to me taking on leadership roles. ”<br />
After graduating from BSC in 1995 with a philosophy<br />
degree, Fry worked as a paralegal at Bradley Arant Rose &<br />
White LLP. He then attended the University of Alabama<br />
School of Law and was a clerk for Judge Arthur J. Hanes,<br />
Jr. Fry then worked at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP,<br />
where he became a partner.<br />
His work in <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
goes beyond the professional<br />
sphere. Fry has served on<br />
the board of the Youth<br />
Leadership Forum since<br />
1999. <strong>The</strong> organization,<br />
modeled after Leadership<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>, provides<br />
opportunities for high school<br />
students to learn about what is<br />
happening in the community.<br />
10%<br />
estimated percentage of<br />
THE BIRMINGHAM BAR<br />
who are BSC grads.<br />
Fry’s mindset on service is out of a genuine love for his<br />
community. “We as professionals owe it to the community<br />
to give back, as we have been blessed with important tools<br />
to provide the community with something that it didn’t<br />
have before.”<br />
22 / ’southern
Since they first met at BSC, John Boone and Hunter Renfroe have traded ideas. Whether<br />
they were planning Sigma Nu events – Boone was the fraternity’s president and Renfroe the<br />
social chair – or investigating problems in the city around them, the two quickly figured out<br />
how to work together.<br />
“John sees what’s wrong in the world, and I analyze and flesh out how we can tackle the<br />
problem,” Renfroe says. “We would put together the framework for changes we wanted to<br />
make in the future as we philosophized.”<br />
Through Orchestra Partners, their real estate development firm, Boone and Renfroe now<br />
invest their shared ideas into <strong>Birmingham</strong> and its historic buildings. <strong>The</strong>ir mission aims<br />
to create sustainable neighborhoods by redeveloping existing properties within charming<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> markets and communities like Five Points South, Avondale, Parkside, and<br />
Morris Avenue.<br />
Orchestra Partners projects have become some of <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s most popular and<br />
innovative destinations, including <strong>The</strong> Woolworth Recreation and Refreshment, a nostalgic<br />
and neon social house in Five Points South, and Founders Station, Morris Avenue’s first true<br />
mixed-use experience, featuring retail and Pilcrow Cocktail Cellar, a basement bar owned by<br />
Joe Phelps ’07, their Sigma Nu brother.<br />
“Hunter and I create neighborhoods where we want to live,” Boone says. “<strong>The</strong> bars and<br />
restaurants we design are places where we want to eat, and the office spaces we work on are<br />
places where we want to work.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> mindset behind Orchestra Partners emerged, ironically, once they left <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
After a few post-grad years in the city, Boone moved to Washington, D.C., where he became<br />
interested in education reform. Renfroe, with his wife Whitney Mayfield Renfroe ’09, moved<br />
to Boston to get his MBA. Both ditched their cars in the walkable cities and gained a new<br />
perspective on urban living.<br />
“I decided that the only way to change my lifestyle was to get out of the car,” Renfroe says.<br />
“Humans were designed to live in cities and to walk, but we hardly ever do it.”<br />
A few hundred miles south, Boone was experiencing the same lifestyle change in D.C.,<br />
where he walked 45 minutes to work every morning. He later moved to Florida to work for a<br />
charter school development company, which merged his interests in education and real estate<br />
development. However, he moved back to Alabama once Renfroe called him with an idea to<br />
build a walkable lifestyle in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
With parallel experiences in bigger cities, plus<br />
a solid friendship and shared idealism, the two<br />
launched Orchestra Partners in 2015 with a<br />
mission to develop within urban communities.<br />
Founders Station, one of their first projects,<br />
combines a variety of experiences in one of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>’s most compelling locations.<br />
“It blew our minds that nobody has ever<br />
done what we did in Founders Station because<br />
everybody who walks down Morris Avenue talks<br />
about what a cool street it is,” Boone says. “It truly<br />
speaks to what we’re trying to accomplish: making<br />
downtown a neighborhood that has everything<br />
you need for urban life.”<br />
Boone and Renfroe believe building<br />
connectivity – a core principle of Orchestra<br />
Partners’ business model – is essential.<br />
Alongside Tom Leader, the nationally renowned<br />
landscape architect who designed Railroad Park,<br />
Orchestra Partners recently unveiled a Parkside<br />
District master plan that features pedestrian<br />
pathways and mixed-use redevelopment concepts<br />
on the west end of Railroad Park, positioning<br />
Parkside as the central hub of connectivity and a<br />
vibrant entertainment destination.<br />
Particularly as the Parkside project further<br />
bridges the Hilltop to downtown, Boone and<br />
Renfroe hope to see BSC students connect with<br />
the city’s core and participate in the revitalization<br />
of <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
ORCHESTRA PARTNERS:<br />
JOHN BOONE ’06 AND HUNTER RENFROE ’08<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 23
10<br />
BSC ALUMNI<br />
HAVE LED THE<br />
KIWANIS CLUB<br />
OF BIRMINGHAM,<br />
the largest in the world.<br />
4<br />
6<br />
BSC<br />
GRADUATES<br />
(starting with Frank<br />
Spain, Class of 1910)<br />
have been president of<br />
THE ROTARY CLUB<br />
OF BIRMINGHAM,<br />
the largest in the world.<br />
BSC ALUMNAE<br />
have been president of the<br />
JUNIOR LEAGUE<br />
OF BIRMINGHAM,<br />
one of the largest<br />
Junior Leagues<br />
in the world with more than<br />
2,300 MEMBERS.<br />
11 in<br />
BSC alumni have led the<br />
BIRMINGHAM BAR<br />
ASSOCIATION<br />
since 1906, including three<br />
the last nine years.<br />
GRADUATES HAVE<br />
participated in every class of<br />
LEADERSHIP BIRMINGHAM<br />
since its inception in 1983,<br />
AND DOZENS OF ALUMNI<br />
have also participated in<br />
LEADERSHIP ALABAMA<br />
OVER ITS 30 YEARS.<br />
24 / ’southern<br />
Every senior minister<br />
of Canterbury United<br />
METHODIST CHURCH<br />
10graduated from BSC.
Last year, Courtney French made an<br />
unconventional purchase that is now putting<br />
the voices of <strong>Birmingham</strong> on a global stage.<br />
French, a senior partner at Fuston, Petway &<br />
French LLP, purchased the radio station B 94.9<br />
FM WATV, returning it to local ownership for the<br />
first time since 2002.<br />
<strong>The</strong> station originally opened in 1946 and<br />
was known for iconic on-air legends such as<br />
“Tall Paul” and Maurice “Thin Man” King.<br />
During the mid-1970s, WATV was the leading<br />
radio station in <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
While French wants to maintain the station<br />
as an integral source of information for the<br />
community, he has also made efforts to expand<br />
its reach far beyond the city limits.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re is a three-prong reason to what we do<br />
with our station,” French says. “I look at having<br />
the radio station as a way to continue what I<br />
do as a lawyer, in service to the community,<br />
as an educational means, and also a way of<br />
entertaining the community.”<br />
A societal change that French has observed<br />
in millennials, Generation Z, and Generation<br />
Y inspired him to reevaluate how the station is<br />
disseminating their music and information. He<br />
recognizes that, although these generations still<br />
love music, the way they receive their music is<br />
different than it ever has been before.<br />
To address this, he has used technological<br />
advances to take the station outside of vehicles<br />
and onto phones and computers. <strong>The</strong> station<br />
has an app called V94.9, offers live streaming on<br />
its website, and is available through the virtual<br />
assistant device Amazon Alexa. In the past year,<br />
these additions have gained listeners from across<br />
the country and all over the world, including<br />
Europe, Africa, and India.<br />
French has been passionate about<br />
education in the community since his time at<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College. As a secondary<br />
education major, the skills he learned in<br />
school were beneficial as he continued<br />
his education at Samford University’s<br />
Cumberland School of Law, even taking the<br />
time to teach while he was there.<br />
As a founding partner of Fuston, Petway &<br />
French, LLP, French currently spends his days<br />
representing individuals and families who have<br />
suffered personal injuries and wrongful death.<br />
His devotion to the community is also seen<br />
in his service as president of the Alabama<br />
Association for Justice and as president of the<br />
Alabama Civil Justice Foundation. French is<br />
active with the nonprofit I See Me, Inc., which<br />
aims to increase literacy rates in children of<br />
color by engaging them in literature that reflects<br />
their culture and mirrors their image. <strong>The</strong>y have<br />
multiple programs that intend to help students<br />
of color read at or beyond their grade level.<br />
What I am doing now is to help<br />
others, to continue what BSC<br />
instills in students about service.<br />
COURTNEY FRENCH ’95<br />
He has also served on the Board of Governors for the American Association for Justice and<br />
on the Board of Directors for the Shades Valley YMCA. French joined the BSC Board of<br />
Trustees in 2018.<br />
Business Alabama has recognized French as one of the Top Attorneys of Alabama. He was<br />
named one of the “Top 40 Lawyers under 40” by National Trial Lawyers and “50 Future Leaders<br />
of America” by Ebony Magazine.<br />
“I truly believe in the saying that to whom much is given, much is required, and I have been<br />
blessed – largely credited to BSC for giving me the tools and education to be able to be where<br />
I am in my career and my profession,” French says. “What I am doing now is to help others, to<br />
continue what BSC instills in students about service.”<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 25
Valerie Abbott MPPM ’99 –<br />
As the current <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
City Council President, Abbott<br />
spends every day working to<br />
improve <strong>Birmingham</strong>. Her<br />
focus on neighborhood health<br />
and revitalization implemented<br />
two community gardens,<br />
receiving national recognition<br />
for the East Avondale project.<br />
She is also spearheading<br />
a rebirth of <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
recycling program, as a<br />
proponent for taking better<br />
care of the community.<br />
o<br />
n<br />
e<br />
25<br />
two<br />
Susan Beard Brouillette ’86 – Named “One of <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
Most Influential Executives for 2018” by the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Business<br />
Journal, Brouillette has led Alacare Home Health & Hospice, one of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>’s largest private companies, since 2002. She has also been<br />
recognized on <strong>Birmingham</strong> Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” list in<br />
2002, and one of the “Top Women in Business in <strong>Birmingham</strong>” in 2006.<br />
Alacare was acquired by Encompass Health Corp. in <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
MAKING THEIR MARK<br />
IN BIRMINGHAM<br />
For more than a century, BSC graduates have<br />
dedicated themselves to making their mark<br />
and making a difference in the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
community through philanthropy, medicine, media,<br />
government, business, and more. We’ve highlighted<br />
25 of these alumni here, but we know there are<br />
more. Please tell us about a BSC alumnus’s impact<br />
on the community, in <strong>Birmingham</strong> and around the<br />
world, by emailing communications@bsc.edu.<br />
26 / ’southern<br />
Dr. Alan Dimick ’53 – A pioneer for burn<br />
and trauma treatment, Dimick founded the<br />
UAB Burn Unit, which has been nationally<br />
three<br />
recognized as a leader in treatment for<br />
burn-related injuries. His professional life<br />
has been committed to improving pre-hospital emergency care, as he<br />
increased paramedic training throughout the state.
Joseph M. Farley ’48 – For<br />
20 years, Farley served as the<br />
president of Alabama Power,<br />
guiding the company through<br />
a time of political and financial<br />
difficulty. He began as a legal<br />
counsel to the company in the<br />
1950’s, with a background in<br />
private law. In 1989, he became<br />
CEO of <strong>Southern</strong> Nuclear<br />
Operating Company, that later<br />
named the Joseph<br />
M. Farley Nuclear<br />
Electric Generating<br />
Plant in his honor. He<br />
passed away in 2010<br />
at the age of 82.<br />
four<br />
five<br />
Cathy Rye Gilmore ’68 –<br />
Gilmore’s first stage role as<br />
a dancer was at the oldest<br />
theatre in <strong>Birmingham</strong> for the<br />
performing arts, the Virginia<br />
Samford <strong>The</strong>atre, where she is<br />
now president. After beginning<br />
her professional career in New<br />
York, Gilmore cofounded a<br />
Cabaret troupe called <strong>The</strong> Wits’<br />
Other End, which was based<br />
in Atlanta and <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
Today, she continues to create<br />
programs and productions that<br />
exemplify the transformative<br />
power of the theatre.<br />
W. Cooper Green ’25 – <strong>The</strong> Cooper Green Mercy Hospital was named<br />
in 1975 to honor the legacy of Green’s service to the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
community. He served three terms in the Alabama Legislature, presided<br />
over the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Post Office, and served as President of the<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> City Commission, where he helped spark the development<br />
of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Museum of<br />
six<br />
Art. Green died in 1980.<br />
Herschell Hamilton MPPM<br />
’96 – With a background in<br />
investment banking, Hamilton<br />
now is co-founder and chief<br />
strategic officer for BLOC Global<br />
Group. <strong>The</strong> leading southeastbased<br />
U.S. commercial real<br />
estate consulting services firm<br />
has offices in <strong>Birmingham</strong> and<br />
Washington D.C., contributing<br />
to the economic development,<br />
innovation, and revitalization of<br />
American cities. Hamilton also<br />
serves the community on<br />
multiple boards, including<br />
the Bank of Atlanta’s<br />
seven<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> Branch Board,<br />
the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Business<br />
Alliance, and Leadership<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
eight<br />
James Hatcher ’43 – Hatcher made incredible strides in<br />
the theatre community, bringing talent and opportunities<br />
to <strong>Birmingham</strong>. As the Miss Alabama pageant director<br />
for 36 years, two-time producer of the Miss America<br />
pageant, and founding director of Town and Gown <strong>The</strong>atre,<br />
Hatcher encouraged young talent to stay in-state. He<br />
received numerous awards, including BSC Distinguished<br />
Alumnus, the first Award of Excellence from the Alabama<br />
State Council of the Arts and Humanities, and the Marian<br />
Galloway Award from Alabama <strong>The</strong>atre League. Hatcher<br />
passed away in 1993.<br />
Kristi Tingle Higginbotham ’87 – Higginbotham spends<br />
every day in <strong>Birmingham</strong> doing what she loves: singing<br />
and acting. Her career has included roles from Velma in<br />
“Hairspray” to <strong>The</strong> Witch in “Into the Woods” and regular<br />
performances with symphonies such as the Winnipeg<br />
Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony, and the Las Vegas<br />
Philharmonic. She is also a vocal coach and a member of two<br />
local cabaret acts, <strong>The</strong> Hot Tamales, and Four For Time.
Robert E. Luckie Jr. ’40 – Luckie founded one of the<br />
top 50 ad agencies in the U.S., Luckie & Company.<br />
With clients including Little Debbie and Alabama<br />
Tourism, they have been able to make an impact locally<br />
and globally. After graduating from BSC, Luckie<br />
began working in advertisement for the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
News, and his career took off from there, with a short<br />
intermission during World War II, where he served as<br />
Assistant Pacific Fleet Press Officer.<br />
thirteen<br />
Katherine McTyeire ’41 – McTyeire<br />
was named “<strong>Birmingham</strong> Woman<br />
of the Year” by the Business and<br />
Professional Women of <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
in 1966, and was inducted into the<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> Business Hall of Fame in<br />
2000. In 1949 she founded Iron Art,<br />
a successful business she ran for 58<br />
years. Her service to the community<br />
included serving on the board for both<br />
the Better Business Bureau of Alabama<br />
and the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Area Chamber of<br />
Commerce. She passed away in 2013.<br />
ten<br />
Philip “Jack” Mann Sr. ’61 – A force in<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> theatre, Mann founded <strong>The</strong> Little<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre Players, <strong>The</strong> Wits’ Other End, appeared<br />
in dozens of theatre productions, and was involved<br />
with Town and Gown <strong>The</strong>atre. He was a founder of<br />
the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where he helped<br />
develop and oversee the Excellence Program for<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> City Schools. He served on the boards<br />
of ASFA, the Downtown YMCA, <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Boys Choir, and the Virginia<br />
Samford <strong>The</strong>atre. Mann<br />
passed away in December<br />
2018 at the age of 79.<br />
fourteen<br />
eleven<br />
Bernard<br />
Monaghan<br />
’35 – Under his<br />
leadership as<br />
executive<br />
vice president and then chief<br />
executive officer, Vulcan Materials<br />
Company grew to become a Forbes<br />
500 company. Before this, the<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> native served as<br />
General Counsel of the Army and<br />
became a partner at the firm that<br />
would eventually become Bradley<br />
Arant Boult Cummings LLP. As<br />
he remained active in the U.S.<br />
Marine Corps Reserve, he eventually<br />
attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.<br />
Monaghan passed away in 1987.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Monaghan Lecture at BSC was<br />
established in 1981 in his honor.<br />
twelve<br />
Margaret “Peggy” Spain<br />
McDonald ’39 – It all started with<br />
her work for the American Red<br />
Cross in Asia during World War II.<br />
Her dedication to service continued<br />
as she introduced community<br />
education programs to leaders in<br />
the <strong>Birmingham</strong>-Jefferson County<br />
Area, eventually establishing the<br />
Center for Community Education<br />
at the University of Alabama. She<br />
was the first director of the Greater<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> Foundation, which<br />
later was named the Community<br />
Foundation of Greater <strong>Birmingham</strong>.<br />
She passed away in 1996.<br />
fifteen<br />
six teen<br />
James Donald Patrick Jr. ’57 – A man with multiple groundbreaking roles, Patrick was the first<br />
person in Alabama to receive a Ph.D. in vocational rehabilitation. He then became the first<br />
vocational rehab counselor at the newly created Spain Rehabilitation Center at the University<br />
of Alabama at <strong>Birmingham</strong>. Later he helped found the Lakeshore Rehab Center and Foundation,<br />
which is well-known in the community as a highly successful rehabilitation facility. He died at the<br />
age of 83 in 2018.<br />
Martha Jane Patton ’64 – Patton’s career began as<br />
a coordinator for the Selma Inter-Religious Project.<br />
After receiving her law degree, she opened her own<br />
office in <strong>Birmingham</strong>. In 1998, Patton was named<br />
executive director of the Legal Aid Society of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>. She served the community for 18<br />
years as the heart and soul of the organization.
eight<br />
teen<br />
s<br />
e<br />
v<br />
e<br />
n<br />
Sonja Smith ’03 – With<br />
bachelor’s and master’s<br />
degrees in music, Smith has<br />
taken on many roles in Alabama. She has<br />
worked as a teacher, a tennis coordinator for<br />
USTA <strong>Southern</strong>, and a project coordinator<br />
for Enroll Alabama. In 2017, she decided to<br />
run for office and now serves as a <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
City Schools school board member.<br />
Frank Spain 1910<br />
(<strong>Southern</strong> University) –<br />
Although probably most<br />
known for bringing Liberty<br />
National Life Insurance to<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>, Spain was a<br />
major leader in the community and contributed to many other projects until his<br />
death in 1986. <strong>The</strong>se local efforts included the Spain Rehabilitation Center, the<br />
Spain-Wallace Building, and the Alabama Heart Hospital. Spain was president<br />
of the Jefferson County Community Chest, the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Rotary Club, and<br />
served Rotary International as a district governor and as international president.<br />
He was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor, the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Gallery of Distinguished Citizens, the Alabama Business Hall of Fame, and the<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> Business Hall of Fame.<br />
nine teen<br />
Sharon Spencer ’79 – Recognized<br />
as a Distinguished alumna by BSC<br />
in 2012, Spencer has made notable<br />
accomplishments in the medical<br />
community. She currently is the chief<br />
of medical services at the University<br />
of Alabama at <strong>Birmingham</strong> the Ruby<br />
Meredith Outstanding Clinician<br />
Endowed Chair. Other awards she<br />
has received include Fellow of the<br />
American College of Radiation<br />
Oncology and the American Cancer<br />
Society Life Inspiration Award.<br />
teen<br />
Elton B. Stephens ’32 – After founding<br />
EBSCO Industries, one of the state’s<br />
largest private companies with close to<br />
6,000 employees, Stephens expanded<br />
his resume to include philanthropist.<br />
Stephens and his family have since<br />
donated significant amounts of money<br />
to charity, educational institutions,<br />
the arts, and many other causes in<br />
the community, often for little or no<br />
recognition. His efforts have included<br />
projects such as the Alys Robinson<br />
Stephens Performing Arts Center at<br />
UAB and the Elton B. Stephens Science<br />
Center at BSC. He passed away in<br />
2005. He was married to<br />
Alys Robinson Stephens ’32.<br />
twenty<br />
twenty-one<br />
Sandra Ross Storm ’68 – As a District Court<br />
and Circuit Court Judge in Jefferson County,<br />
Storm presided over child abuse and domestic<br />
violence cases. Beyond implementing the<br />
process that allows domestic violence victims<br />
to obtain protection from abuse orders without<br />
an attorney, she also developed 26 youth gun<br />
and drug court programs. At the August 2002<br />
opening assembly, Storm told students, “Give<br />
of yourself with no expectation of reward…<br />
learn to serve if you ever hope to lead.” Storm<br />
passed away in 2018.<br />
Vincent Townsend ’25 –Known to many as “Mr. <strong>Birmingham</strong>” for his<br />
civic and business leadership, Townsend was a journalist who worked at<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Birmingham</strong> News for more than 50 years, eventually becoming the<br />
executive editor. His role was instrumental in founding the Community<br />
Affairs Committee of Operation New <strong>Birmingham</strong>, which aimed to change<br />
community practices for the better. By initiating a “Design for Progress”, the<br />
Regional Postal Facility, Civic Center Complex, <strong>Birmingham</strong> Zoo, and many<br />
more locations important to the city were built. He passed away in 1978.<br />
twenty-two<br />
Marti Turnipseed ’65 – On April 24, 1963,<br />
as a sophomore at BSC, Turnipseed became<br />
the first white student to join in <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
lunch counter sit-ins. This combined with her<br />
participation in civil rights marches led to her<br />
expulsion. By her senior year, BSC allowed her<br />
to return to campus. Turnipseed continued<br />
her activism by initiating a phone campaign<br />
to get highly qualified African-American students<br />
to apply to the College. She graduated<br />
two months before the first African-American<br />
student was enrolled. Turnipseed was killed in<br />
an auto accident in 1972.<br />
twenty-three<br />
Historian, journalist, writer, professor – these are<br />
just a few of the titles held by Virginia Van der Veer<br />
Hamilton ’41, the second woman ever to earn a<br />
doctorate in history at the University of Alabama<br />
when she graduated in 1961. Her writings and<br />
historical research set an example of success for<br />
other women interested in the field of history. Upon<br />
Hamilton’s death in 2016, historian Leah Rawls<br />
Atkins said, “Hamilton changed the way history was<br />
taught in Alabama. She advocated for the equality<br />
of women in history...Young women in Alabama in<br />
2016 may not realize who influenced the greater<br />
professional equality they now enjoy. Virginia Van der<br />
Veer Hamilton played a large role in that history.”<br />
t<br />
w<br />
e<br />
n<br />
t<br />
y<br />
f<br />
o<br />
u<br />
r<br />
Kyle Whitmire ’02 – Whitmire has pursued<br />
his passion for writing and is currently<br />
a political columnist for the Alabama<br />
Media Group, as one of Alabama’s most<br />
listened-to voices. His career interests<br />
surfaced while at BSC, where he was editor<br />
of the student newspaper, but developed<br />
through both writing and editing jobs<br />
at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Weekly, <strong>The</strong> New twenty<br />
York Times, and<br />
al.com.<br />
five
FEATURES<br />
BSC alumni in the<br />
food and beverage<br />
industry are taking<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> flavor<br />
to the next level.<br />
BIRMINGHAM<br />
32 30 / ’southern
BISTRO TWO EIGHTEEN<br />
218 20th Street North<br />
BSC Connection: Chef/Owner<br />
Tom Saab is the father of Ashley<br />
Rhea ’11 (find out more about Rhea<br />
in our cover story). <strong>The</strong> restaurant<br />
offers a mix of French bistro and<br />
American bistro traditions.<br />
THE COLLINS BAR<br />
2125 2nd Avenue North<br />
BSC Connection: Manager Lauren<br />
Delashaw ’14 (daughter of Leigh<br />
Anchors Delashaw ’79) mixes<br />
perfect flavor combinations at one<br />
of the South’s best bars, as named<br />
by <strong>Southern</strong> Living Magazine.<br />
CAHABA BREWING<br />
4500 5th Avenue South<br />
BSC Connection: CFO and<br />
Partner Andrew Pharo, married to<br />
Elizabeth Featheringill Pharo ’00,<br />
helped grow the microbrewery into<br />
a major Avondale attraction,<br />
earning the title of Alabama’s<br />
2017 Silver Retailer of the Year<br />
in the Annual Sales $1 Million to<br />
$5 Million category.<br />
From top left clockwise: LeNell<br />
Camacho Santa Ana ’91, Edward L.<br />
Hardin Jr. ’62 and Chef James Boyce,<br />
and Laney DeJonge ’91<br />
LENELL’S BEVERAGE BOUTIQUE<br />
1208 32nd Street North<br />
BSC Connection: LeNell Camacho Santa Ana ’91<br />
Called “the first lady of liquor” by Garden & Gun<br />
Magazine, Camacho Santa Ana opened LeNell’s<br />
Beverage Boutique in June 2018 in historic<br />
Norwood. Bringing the same flair as her previous<br />
liquor store in Brooklyn, New York, Camacho Santa<br />
Ana stocks sustainable and organic beverages<br />
from a diverse range of producers. John T. Edge<br />
wrote that Camacho Ana brings the future of the<br />
American package store into focus: “In the hands of<br />
LeNell, a proselytizer of wine, spirits, and the spirits<br />
life, that future looks obsessive and playful and<br />
tastes flat out delicious.”<br />
GALLEY & GARDEN<br />
2220 Highland Avenue<br />
BSC Connection: Owner Edward L. Hardin Jr. ’62<br />
Housed in what was once the historic Merritt House<br />
on Highland Avenue, Galley & Garden serves<br />
American-French inspired, southern cuisine. Hardin,<br />
a local attorney who received an Honorary Doctor<br />
of Laws in <strong>2019</strong>, encouraged Chef James Boyce<br />
and his wife Suzan, of Boyce Restaurant Concepts,<br />
to bring their culinary expertise to the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
restaurant scene. Together, they have been sharing<br />
a seasonal menu since 2014, driven by the quality<br />
provided by utilizing local farmers and foragers.<br />
ROJO<br />
2921 Highland Avenue<br />
BSC Connection: Co-owner Laney DeJonge ’91<br />
In 2009, music legend Bob Dylan recommended the<br />
casual Highland Park bar and grill to his nationwide<br />
radio show audience. “That was a song about 12<br />
bars,” he said. “Here’s four more that I like. If you’re<br />
in <strong>Birmingham</strong>, Alabama, stop by the Rojo.” Dylan<br />
said what anyone who lives in <strong>Birmingham</strong> already<br />
knows – Rojo, opened in 2002 by DeJonge and Clark<br />
Lopez, is one of the city’s best spots (especially for<br />
outdoor dining). Rojo is also a good neighbor, winning<br />
the National Restaurant Association Educational<br />
Foundation’s 2018 Restaurant Neighbor Award<br />
for Alabama, given to restaurants dedicated to<br />
community service and philanthropy.<br />
GOOD PEOPLE BREWING<br />
114 14th Street South<br />
BSC Connection: Stefano Daneri<br />
‘12, sales team manager, has been<br />
taproom manager, assistant brewer<br />
and brewery sales rep in his nearly<br />
8 years at the popular<br />
microbrewery in <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s<br />
growing Parkside District, right<br />
across from Regions Field.<br />
HIGHLANDS BAR & GRILL<br />
2011 11th Avenue South<br />
BSC Connection: Pardis Stitt,<br />
co-owner and operator, who<br />
attended BSC, and Chef Frank<br />
Stitt III, who received an honorary<br />
Doctor of Laws from BSC in <strong>2019</strong>,<br />
run the award-winning Highlands,<br />
2018 Outstanding Restaurant by<br />
the James Beard Foundation, as<br />
well as Bottega, and Chez FonFon.<br />
PILCROW COCKTAIL CELLAR<br />
2015 1st Avenue North<br />
BSC Connection: Joe Phelps<br />
’07 opened the underground<br />
bar, serving craft cocktails and<br />
specializing in agave spirits, in<br />
Founders Station in 2018.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 31
Chris Dupont ’85<br />
a day in the life<br />
When Chris Dupont relocated his restaurant from Springville,<br />
Alabama, to <strong>Birmingham</strong>’s North End in 2003, the city was quiet. Yet,<br />
Café Dupont made downtown a fine-dining destination in the heart<br />
of a city that now takes serious pride in its award-winning restaurants.<br />
A day in the life of Dupont relies on a few things — the special<br />
events scheduled at the restaurant, the staff that’s coming in, and,<br />
most importantly, what seasonal foods are growing.<br />
Every Saturday morning begins with a trip to the Market at Pepper<br />
Place so he can stock Café Dupont with fruits and vegetables from<br />
Alabama farms. Dupont has always based his work around local<br />
growers, and the menu changes daily with the season.<br />
“Everything has a purpose, and the purposing behind it determines<br />
our days,” Dupont says.<br />
As the South gets a late start on colder weather, Café Dupont’s<br />
menu slowly shifts towards heartier meats, like braised rabbit and<br />
stuffed quail, as well as autumnal vegetables for squash pastas and<br />
pumpkin pie.<br />
To Dupont, each dish, representative of local farms and seasonal<br />
ingredients, tells a story, one further crafted by his diverse and<br />
skilled staff.<br />
“It’s a technical business as well as an inspirational and creative<br />
business,” he says.<br />
32 / ’southern
From reunions to open houses to a football victory for the Panthers, the BSC community celebrated big this<br />
Homecoming. On Oct. 18 and 19, we welcomed alumni, family, and friends to the Hilltop for the College<br />
traditions we enjoy every year. Take a look to see who you spot in the crowd. Forward, Ever!<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 33
Distinguished Alumni Awards<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College honored the <strong>2019</strong> Alumni Award recipients during the festivities of homecoming weekend. <strong>The</strong><br />
Distinguished Alumni, Outstanding Young Alumni, and Rising Star awards recognize graduates who have achieved outstanding success<br />
in their chosen professions. <strong>The</strong> awards were presented at the Alumni Awards Brunch on Saturday, Oct. 19, in Bruno Great Hall of the<br />
Norton Campus Center.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 37
Distinguished Alumnus<br />
Dr. Robert G. Bottoms ’66<br />
As the longest-serving president of DePauw University and a graduate of<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>, Dr. Robert Bottoms spent his life observing the importance<br />
of a liberal arts education.<br />
“It prepares people to think creatively, communicate, and to write well, which are all<br />
traits so important in any job,” says Bottoms.<br />
It all started with the relationship Bottoms developed with BSC’s 10 president,<br />
Ralph Tanner. His encouragement and advice helped Bottoms as he began his journey<br />
in the world of higher education.<br />
After working as BSC chaplain from 1973 to 1976, in addition to serving as<br />
assistant to the president from 1974 to 1976, Bottoms moved to Nashville, where he<br />
was assistant dean and assistant professor of church and ministry at the Vanderbilt<br />
Divinity School until 1978. He left Vanderbilt to accept the position of vice president<br />
for university relations at DePauw University. Bottoms was named president of the<br />
university in 1986. During his 22 years as president, Bottoms was able to make major<br />
impacts on the forward progression of the school.<br />
His efforts to improve diversity on campus stand out, as he strove to make<br />
the community more reflective of the world around it. <strong>The</strong> number of minority<br />
faculty members increased from just three percent to over 17 percent through his<br />
leadership. He also saw a need for a change in student diversity, increasing<br />
the number of students with culturally diverse backgrounds from 3.5<br />
percent to 16 percent.<br />
Bottoms was able to guide DePauw in raising more than<br />
$500 million in funds, tripling annual giving from the time of<br />
his arrival. <strong>The</strong> investments he made in campus infrastructure<br />
led to the development of more than six major additions,<br />
including the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics and the<br />
Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media.<br />
<strong>The</strong> dedication Bottoms has to making his community a<br />
better place did not stop when he retired from the presidency<br />
in 2008. He later began serving as director of the Janet<br />
Prindle Institute for Ethics, which allowed him to focus time<br />
on his family and serve his community.<br />
Serving on boards of Seabury-Western <strong>The</strong>ological<br />
Seminary in Chicago, the Posse Foundation, the Center for<br />
Leadership Development, and, most recently, Episcopal<br />
Divinity School at Union Seminary in New York, Bottoms<br />
has dedicated his time to causes close to his heart.<br />
For the years of care that Bottoms put into DePauw, the<br />
university has named the alumni building the Robert G.<br />
Bottoms Alumni and Development Building, honoring<br />
the positive changes he implemented across campus.<br />
“Take a wide variety of courses.<br />
Don’t decide too early what you want<br />
to do and what you want to major<br />
in, as exposure to new subjects can<br />
change your direction.”<br />
advice<br />
38 / ’southern<br />
SPRING/SUMMER 2018 / 40
Distinguished Alumna<br />
Sandy Barker Thurmond ’84<br />
In all areas of her work — whether it’s a project at Children’s of Alabama, a BSC<br />
alumni gathering, or an educational session for women in healthcare — Sandy<br />
Thurmond is constantly building up her community.<br />
She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees before entering an<br />
administrative residency at Children’s of Alabama. Now, with 32 years of<br />
experience, Thurmond finds herself within the same compassionate organization<br />
and around its dedicated team.<br />
As the vice president of primary care services at Children’s, Thurmond oversees<br />
the operations and development of Pediatric Practice Solutions, the hospital’s<br />
primary care network, and builds relationships with pediatricians around Alabama.<br />
“I bonded with the mission of Children’s from the start,” she says. “Our team<br />
has a meaningful impact on the care, teaching, and advocacy of the hospital.”<br />
Thurmond gained experience in operations, facilities, and strategic planning<br />
at the hospital before joining the primary care team in 1995. She moved into<br />
the VP position in 2004. With 13 Pediatric Practice Solutions offices in Alabama,<br />
Children’s primary care division saw over 335,000 patients last year.<br />
Thurmond has always been drawn towards the medical field. In fact, her premed<br />
and biology studies were a big factor in why she decided to attend BSC. Those<br />
courses, along with the small size BSC offered, made her choice easy.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> friendships and people I met lasted. We chose to still spend time with each<br />
other after graduating,” she says.<br />
Many of her BSC friendships carried on long past graduation, sometimes in the<br />
form of supper clubs, birthday clubs, or vacations. Thurmond has also served as a<br />
dedicated member of BSC’s Alumni Board, including her term as president<br />
in 2018-<strong>2019</strong>, and now serves on BSC’s Board of Trustees.<br />
Among her many leadership roles and career successes,<br />
something Thurmond is the most proud of is her support for<br />
women, particularly women in healthcare. She mentors<br />
women under her leadership and offers work-life balance<br />
as an executive at Children’s, but her dedication also<br />
extends much farther than her own workplace.<br />
Thurmond was named by the UAB Commission<br />
on the Status of Women as the <strong>2019</strong> Outstanding<br />
Woman in the Community, honored for her<br />
work in many areas including with BSC, the<br />
Momentum Women’s Leadership Program, the<br />
American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women<br />
movement, the Ronald McDonald House<br />
Charities of Alabama, and the UAB Women in<br />
Healthcare Leadership Initiative.<br />
advice<br />
“College is exciting and meaningful, so<br />
be a part of all the activities and learning<br />
opportunities you can.”<br />
41 / ’southern
Outstanding Young Alumna<br />
Kelley Brooks Simoneaux ’07<br />
In 2018, after having dinner with an Alpha Chi Omega sorority sister in Washington D.C., Kelley Brooks Simoneaux<br />
called an Uber to get home. When the driver arrived, he took one look at her and refused to give her a ride. Simoneaux<br />
was in a wheelchair.<br />
<strong>The</strong> incident gave her a mission: Draw attention to how the world is moving forward at such a rapid pace that the<br />
disability community is being left on the curb.<br />
She has used a wheelchair since she was 16, when an accident involving a negligent driver and a faulty seatbelt<br />
left Simoneaux a paraplegic.<br />
She went on to attend <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science.<br />
She then graduated from the University of Tennessee Law School in 2010, where she was president of the<br />
Student Bar Association. Simoneaux is married to Bradlee J. Simoneaux ’08.<br />
One of Simoneaux’s proudest professional accomplishments has been starting her own law firm. <strong>The</strong><br />
Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm, PLLC focuses specifically on spinal cord injuries and fosters professional<br />
growth for people with disabilities. It is the only firm in the nation to be founded by a nationally<br />
recognized attorney who is able to share in the experience of being in a catastrophic event.<br />
In an effort to do more, she created an organization called Wheel2Ride. This advocacy campaign<br />
focuses specifically on directing policy changes regarding the inclusion of individuals with mobility<br />
disabilities in using ride sharing platforms.<br />
A survey created by Wheel2Ride found that 83 percent of the disability community has faced<br />
discrimination in transportation.<br />
“It is a slow process, but is one that I am continuing to work on,” Simoneaux says. “I want to build<br />
allies within every state to make changes in legislation.”<br />
In addition to her work and advocacy, she also serves on multiple boards, including the<br />
ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia.<br />
She sees reminders of BSC reflected in her day-to-day life, as the culture on campus emphasized the<br />
importance and satisfaction that can be found in helping others.<br />
“Absolutely take advantage of all the opportunities to get yourself<br />
off campus, engaged, and around people that are different than you.<br />
We live in such a homogeneous society, but BSC does a great job of<br />
allowing you to get outside of the classroom and engage with others.”<br />
advice<br />
Outstanding Young Alumnus<br />
Kindred Motes ’12<br />
Kindred Motes’ interest in a career focused on human rights was formed<br />
early on, but it began to take shape in a Hilltop classroom. In Dr. Ed<br />
LaMonte’s civil rights and justice course, Motes felt a responsibility for the<br />
communities he was part of and an urgency to advocate for social justice.<br />
His commitment to the field grew with the opportunities and discussions<br />
he had as a BSC student. Sometimes those took the form of debates in the<br />
English department, other times as conversations in the Alabama State<br />
House as BSC’s Collegiate Legislature team captain. He also participated in<br />
multiple study abroad trips, and his time in Europe ultimately led him to<br />
earn his master’s degree in international relations at the University of Essex<br />
in Britain.<br />
40 / ’southern<br />
“Don’t limit yourself too early. Give yourself time to<br />
learn, grow, and change your mind. What you do in<br />
college doesn’t determine the rest of your life.”<br />
advice
Rising Star Award Honoree<br />
Graham Spencer ’16<br />
With grandparents, parents, an aunt, three uncles, and a sister all being BSC alumni, Graham Spencer was the definition of a<br />
legacy student. After graduating from Homewood High School in 2012, Spencer made the transition to BSC, where he majored<br />
in political science.<br />
Political science professors such as Dr. Natalie Davis, Dr. Larry Brasher, Dr. Bob Slagter, and Professor Kim Lewis<br />
make up a short list of the people that meant a great deal to Spencer during his time at BSC. His educational interests<br />
were on the history of politics and the manifestation of policy in the day-to-day, as well as how data makes a<br />
difference and can be a predictor to the outcome of races.<br />
“BSC has a knack for selecting superb individuals, not only on the student side, but also the faculty and staff<br />
who are working with students,” Spencer says.<br />
While on campus, Spencer worked to connect with as many of these individuals as possible. Beyond<br />
his extensive involvement with Sigma Chi, he also was a member of the BSC Honor Council, a <strong>Southern</strong><br />
Ambassador, a member of Quest II, BSC’s student programming board, and enjoyed his time working in the<br />
president’s office. Spencer is engaged to Ashley Bice ’15.<br />
Following graduation, Spencer began working at the Education Advisory Board (EAB), a Washington, D.C.-<br />
based organization that provides best practice research and consulting for institutions across the country. Due<br />
to his big ideas and impressive work-ethic, he was quickly promoted from associate to director.<br />
This promotion allowed Spencer to co-found and launch EAB’s global research partnership, designed to<br />
serve tuition-driven institutions and help drive progress on institutional challenges, such as enrollment,<br />
student success, and operational efficiency.<br />
In the future, he is hoping to explore leadership opportunities, while making the most of<br />
his time.<br />
“I have learned that given how finite of a resource time is, if you are dedicating time to<br />
something, why not try to do it in the best way you can,” Spencer says. “Eventually, it<br />
would be a dream to come back to BSC and serve in some way.”<br />
advice “Choose what you want to succeed in, and then make<br />
sure you are having a good time and enjoying yourself. It<br />
should be a goal for each year to be better than the last.”<br />
“BSC is where I first started to realize that my career options were<br />
wider than I’d ever considered. <strong>The</strong> College pushed me to expand<br />
the limits of what I thought was possible when it comes to advocacy,<br />
policy, and human rights,” Motes says.<br />
As the award-winning director of digital strategy at the Vera Institute<br />
of Justice in New York City, Motes oversees digital media, impact<br />
partnerships, and social media campaigns and manages growth and<br />
engagement initiatives for the organization. He often travels across<br />
the country, building relationships with advocates, organizers, and<br />
public figures to highlight the work Vera does to fight pressing social<br />
injustices. His work has grown Vera’s audiences by more than 1,000<br />
percent in just three years.<br />
Since graduating from BSC, Motes has worked with peace, justice,<br />
and poverty initiatives and was recently nominated and confirmed<br />
to the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of<br />
Alabama. While in graduate school at Essex, he worked at human<br />
rights organization REDRESS and represented the organization at the<br />
Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, chaired by UN<br />
Ambassador Angelina Jolie and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.<br />
Among many of the specific social issues to which he’s<br />
dedicated his career, Motes has a deep personal interest in smaller<br />
communities that get left behind in the changing economy. He grew<br />
up on a family farm, which gave him a firsthand view of the lack of<br />
investment in small town America as well as the incredible people<br />
there who are too often overlooked.<br />
“Not everyone can move to New York or Chicago, or even to<br />
Atlanta or <strong>Birmingham</strong>,” Motes says. “I want to know how we can<br />
invest in a system that helps improve the lives of everyone. For me<br />
to be where I am today, quite a few people invested in me – and that<br />
allowed me to attend BSC.”
Vicki VanValkenburgh ’68<br />
REALTOR with Van Valkenburgh and<br />
Wilkinson Properties, Inc. Huntsville, AL<br />
“Huntsville has a can-do spirit that I have grown<br />
to appreciate more and more as I’ve grown older. To<br />
paraphrase Bobby Kennedy, some cities see things as they<br />
are, and ask why; Huntsville dreams of things that never<br />
were, and asks why not? It embraces new ideas and new<br />
people, and weaves them into the ongoing tapestry of<br />
its history. I feel incredibly lucky to have grown<br />
up here and to be living here now.”<br />
Shannon Cason, M.D. ’87<br />
Opelika, AL<br />
“Opelika, Alabama is a special place. It is just<br />
large enough to have everything a person really<br />
needs, but it retains much of the feel of a small town.<br />
We still have traditions in which most of the city<br />
participates, especially during the Christmas season.<br />
We gather in the summer for evening concerts in<br />
our municipal park. We have a safe, inviting, and<br />
successful downtown area that features<br />
small businesses, restaurants, and<br />
venues for the arts.”<br />
Ronald Johnsey ’71<br />
Founder/CEO ThinkWhy LLC<br />
Dallas, TX<br />
“BSC has been good about keeping alumni informed<br />
about the school’s progression and new milestones with<br />
publications and alumni events. More importantly, the personal<br />
relationships I made at BSC are still strong, but in a different<br />
way. As we have gotten older, we see each other less frequently,<br />
but we are able to follow each other’s lives via social media,<br />
alumni events, and trips to <strong>Birmingham</strong>. I know if I had to<br />
call on them for support, they would be there for me,<br />
and in turn I would be there for them!”<br />
Janie Asseff ’10<br />
Baton Rouge, LA<br />
“Baton Rouge is the capital city of Louisiana which<br />
makes it easy to stay abreast of state legislature. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
are often many opportunities to participate in advocacy<br />
groups that help make our community a better place. Lastly<br />
(but certainly not least), Baton Rouge has tremendous<br />
south Louisiana culture including great food and<br />
festivals.”<br />
42 / ’southern
Kindred Motes ’12<br />
Digital Strategy Director at the Vera Institute of Justice<br />
New York City, NY<br />
“Everyone knows that New York is a city with a ton of people and a never-ending<br />
list of things to do, and I think many people think of the busyness and envision subway<br />
cars, taxicabs, and Grand Central trains. But those are things that can really stress locals<br />
out! Fewer people from out of town appreciate New York as a walking city, but it really is. For<br />
me, some of my happiest moments in New York have involved really long, cross-borough<br />
walks, either with a friend or with a favorite podcast. A particular favorite is crossing<br />
the Williamsburg Bridge around sunset. It’s one of the few times I feel alone with<br />
my thoughts (or others’ thoughts), and the amazing thing about that is<br />
that you’re still in the middle of everything.”<br />
Webb Lyons ’06<br />
Senior Associate<br />
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr<br />
Washington, D.C.<br />
“People are often drawn to D.C. because they have a vision of how<br />
the world should work, and feel a real desire to work to achieve<br />
that vision. It’s a manifestation of many of the best values –<br />
service, collective action, caring for others – that we<br />
learn at BSC.”<br />
Ginger Gannon Myers ’93<br />
Pensacola, FL<br />
“Pensacola has a vibrant food scene for a<br />
town our size, and the water is beautiful – but<br />
my favorite thing about it is our Mayor and<br />
First Lady Grover ’92 and Jill Robinson ’92,<br />
fellow BSC grads.”<br />
Dr. Megan Snider Bailey ’12<br />
Tuscaloosa, AL<br />
“Now that I am a college professor, I constantly draw on the teaching styles that my<br />
professors used in our seminars. I try to be as gracious with my time as Dr. Cottrill and as willing<br />
to mentor as Dr. Levey. I also borrow from Dr. Lester’s tradition of writing a letter to students who<br />
get an A+ as their final grade. I wanted a letter from Dr. Lester so badly, but I never got one! It<br />
was a great motivator for me and continues to be for my students!”<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 43
giving to BSC<br />
Donated Pianos Continue <strong>The</strong>ir Stories at BSC<br />
<strong>The</strong> pianoforte has revolutionized music since its creation in the 1770s, largely because it<br />
was one of the first easily accessible instruments with the ability to be expressive in volume.<br />
Within the past year, two of these valuable instruments have been generously donated<br />
to <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College’s music department. While these pianos both hold the<br />
important quality of expression, they also have unique stories to tell.<br />
THE STEINWAY<br />
Jimmie Hess’s love for music ran in her family. Her father, Sidney Seidenman, was a<br />
well-known violinist as well as an orchestra leader for presidential inaugural balls and<br />
other major social events in Washington, D.C. Jimmie herself was an accomplished<br />
pianist who moved to <strong>Birmingham</strong> after World War II with her husband, Emil Hess.<br />
Together, they built the family’s <strong>Birmingham</strong> department store, Parisian, into a major<br />
retail force with stores throughout the Southeast. <strong>The</strong>y also became known as active<br />
and generous supporters of many good causes in <strong>Birmingham</strong>, including BSC’s fine and<br />
performing arts program.<br />
“We always had a piano in the house,” says her son, former BSC trustee Donald Hess.<br />
“I remember her playing all the time, usually Broadway show tunes or Frank Sinatra.”<br />
On her 65th birthday, Emil Hess<br />
gave her a Steinway Model L Grand<br />
Piano, for which she created an<br />
intricate needlepoint bench cushion<br />
in shades of black, gold, and green.<br />
After she passed away in 2013,<br />
Donald Hess inherited the piano,<br />
and in <strong>2019</strong> called family friend<br />
Dr. Lester Seigel ’79 in hopes of<br />
finding it a new home.<br />
44 / ’southern
Seigel, the Joseph Hugh Thomas Professor of Music and Department<br />
Chair, as well as the director of <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>’s Concert Choir,<br />
was overjoyed for the College to receive such a valuable gift.<br />
“What makes Steinways so valuable is their limited production,” says<br />
Jon McClaran, director of education and institutional sales at Alabama<br />
Piano Gallery. “It takes about 14 months to build a Steinway grand<br />
piano, which means it is built to a standard.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> walnut piano is currently housed in Seigel’s teaching studio, where<br />
it is being used for coaching and personal lessons, as well as the personal<br />
time Seigel spends playing. <strong>The</strong> needlepoint cushion crafted by Jimmie<br />
Hess is proudly displayed beside the Steinway.<br />
“Mrs. Hess had an unmatched enthusiasm for <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>,<br />
and a great love for music,” says Seigel. He hopes that she would be<br />
happy to see how the piano is currently being used and loved by the<br />
music department.<br />
“We have great satisfaction and great joy from giving it to somewhere<br />
that it would be used,” says Donald Hess on the family’s decision to<br />
donate the piano. “<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>’s focus on liberal-arts is an<br />
important piece of the educational landscape in our state.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> previous Steinway housed in Seigel’s studio, which is<br />
speculated to be the piano <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> President<br />
Daniel B. Coleman practiced on as a child, has been moved<br />
to a different room in Hill Music Building, where students will<br />
use it for ensemble work.<br />
THE ANTIQUE<br />
Jay McKinney ’86 was attending an auction when something<br />
that no one else seemed interested in caught his eye. With the<br />
help of Terry Tindol, an Irondale piano restorer, McKinney was<br />
able to return the antique – believed to have been built in a<br />
small Austrian town in the 1840s – to its past glory.<br />
Original ivory and ebony keys, an ornate music rack with<br />
candle holders, and deer skin hammers are just a few of the<br />
details that make the piano unique. <strong>The</strong> softer, muted sound it<br />
creates is another indicator of its age.<br />
During a move earlier this year, McKinney made the difficult<br />
choice to part with the priceless piece, but knew exactly where<br />
he wanted it to go.<br />
“I was so incredibly happy when the College was interested,<br />
because it is something that needs to be appreciated and loved,”<br />
McKinney says. As a student, McKinney was impressed by the leadership<br />
and guidance of the faculty and staff at BSC as they helped students with<br />
figuring out their direction in life. Now, McKinney has been able to give<br />
back to the College in a big way.<br />
<strong>The</strong> piano sits in the lobby of Hill Music Building, directly in front<br />
of a wall filled with neatly hung photographs of notable musicians<br />
who have attended or graduated from BSC, including Seigel’s former<br />
teachers Joseph Hugh Thomas and Lois Greene Seals ’28. This wall is<br />
also home to photographs of composer Hugh Martin ’35, who wrote<br />
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and Edna Gockel-Gussen,<br />
owner of the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Conservatory of Music from 1920-1930, who<br />
is remembered for putting to music Julia S. Tutwiler’s poem “Alabama,”<br />
which is now the state song.<br />
Seigel uses the antique piano in music history classes to illustrate the<br />
evolution of the piano. Additionally, students use the piano to play period<br />
music, as the authenticity of the instrument deepens their experience.<br />
To make a gift to BSC<br />
Visit bsc.edu/give/southern<br />
or call (205) 226-4909.<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 45
giving to BSC<br />
DICKERSON AWARD DEVELOPS<br />
GLOBAL CITIZENS AT BSC<br />
Senior Devon Adams has been selected as the 10th Dickerson<br />
Award winner for her devotion to making a difference on a global scale.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Dickerson Award was established in 2013 to honor the memory<br />
of Shanon Dickerson ’96, a member of the first class of Leadership<br />
Studies graduates. His passion for international travel and hands-on<br />
philanthropy inspired the creation of this competitive scholarship,<br />
supporting BSC students who have a strong desire to study abroad.<br />
Twice a year, some of Dickerson’s closest friends, including Andy<br />
Armstrong ’97 and Laura Cammack Eanes ’96, meet back on the<br />
Hilltop to select a student who shares his ideals of adventure, travel,<br />
and service.<br />
“Shanon was a global citizen, a wonderful ally and friend. We look for<br />
people who remind us of him, of his intelligence and curiosity. We look<br />
for glimpses of his servant heart and open spirit,” Eanes says.<br />
In summer of 2018, Adams participated in a service-learning project<br />
in Belize focused on the African Diaspora.<br />
With the Dickerson Award, the <strong>Birmingham</strong> native will travel to<br />
Brazil in spring 2020.<br />
“It is close linguistically to a lot of other romantic languages that I find<br />
interesting,” Adams says. “I really enjoy the culture and feel like it will be<br />
a good fit for me.”<br />
She also has future plans to make a difference in the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
community through her experiences.<br />
Combining the skills she has learned in her Arabic classes, cybersecurity<br />
internship, and computer science major will allow her to put<br />
together a project uniting diverse <strong>Birmingham</strong> communities. Through<br />
a two-week coding camp developed to expose minority communities<br />
to future opportunities in STEM fields, she will introduce Python<br />
programming to Arabic speaking youth.<br />
Past recipients of the scholarship have studied in locations such as<br />
Chile, Ireland, Argentina, the UK, and Morocco.<br />
BSC RECEIVES SIGNIFICANT BEQUEST<br />
TO SUPPORT MUSIC AND FINE ARTS<br />
John Lovin Jr. ’52 had a successful career as the senior vice<br />
president of Torchmark Corporation, yet his community knew<br />
him for the constant service he gave to those around him.<br />
Lovin continued his legacy of generosity through a significant<br />
bequest to the Nina Rae and John W. Lovin Endowed Fund, a<br />
fund he created in 1986 in honor of his parents.<br />
This fund awards scholarships to <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong><br />
College students majoring in Fine and Performing Arts, and<br />
with Lovin’s newest donation, it has been expanded to include<br />
funding in support of the Music Department of the College.<br />
A true <strong>Birmingham</strong> native, Lovin grew up in the College Hills<br />
neighborhood directly beside <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>, where he<br />
was able to witness the growth of both the city and the College.<br />
Anne Morris Smith ’51, a close lifelong friend of Lovin,<br />
Camera Donation<br />
PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES<br />
Well-known <strong>Birmingham</strong> photographer Bob Farley has been<br />
interested in photography and the idea of journalism since<br />
childhood. In high school, he bought his first camera and worked<br />
for the yearbook and newspaper, which led to a photo journalism<br />
internship with the local newspaper his senior year.<br />
In an effort to provide photography experience to a new<br />
generation, Farley donated a considerable amount of camera<br />
equipment to the college.<br />
While speaking to the Trussville Photography Club in April,<br />
Farley brought in some old equipment to use as examples. One<br />
member of the club was the parent of a current BSC student who<br />
was interested in still-photography, and suggested that Farley<br />
consider donating the equipment to the College.<br />
Farley was familiar with BSC, from knowing multiple<br />
professors and working on stories with the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
Post-Herald, so he decided that giving back to educate future<br />
photographers was the right choice. Farley attended the Missouri<br />
School of Journalism before moving to <strong>Birmingham</strong> in 1988 to<br />
work for the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Post-Herald. He spent close to 20 years<br />
working as both an editor and a photographer.<br />
46 / ’southern
emembers playing on campus with Lovin as a child. “He was an<br />
only child, but he made friends quickly,” Smith says. “John always<br />
put others first, which was probably strongly influenced by his<br />
parents’ love of entertaining and taking people in.”<br />
She remembers Lovin’s parents looking out for <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<br />
<strong>Southern</strong> students who did not have family living nearby, making<br />
sure they felt at home.<br />
His parents were also influential in his passion for music and fine<br />
arts. Nina Lovin was an artist who encouraged her son to participate<br />
in organizations like the <strong>Birmingham</strong> Boys Choir. Lovin faithfully<br />
attended theatre performances and the Alabama Symphony<br />
Orchestra throughout his life.<br />
A math major at <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>, Lovin went on to obtain<br />
his master’s degree from Vanderbilt University. He began his career<br />
at Liberty National Life Insurance, where he eventually became<br />
executive vice president.<br />
Susan Anderson, whose husband Charles Anderson Jr., was a<br />
close friend and work associate of Lovin, considered him family.<br />
“He was always innovative,” Anderson says. “He brought in the first<br />
Amdahl computer to <strong>Birmingham</strong>, which completely modernized<br />
Liberty National.”<br />
She also recalls Lovin’s work ethic, as he would work night and<br />
day. Any free time he had was spent making a difference in the<br />
community he loved.<br />
“John had an incredible desire to make the world a better place,”<br />
says Canterbury United Methodist Church Associate Pastor Sam<br />
Williamson ’83. “He wanted to give back to the community that<br />
had given him so much. He gave unconditionally to many people<br />
and never did it for the recognition.”<br />
Williamson came to know Lovin through Canterbury, where Lovin<br />
was a member his entire life. He was able to witness the committed,<br />
In 2005, he decided to become a full-time photographer. His<br />
specialization is in people and events for corporate, advertising, and<br />
editorial clients.<br />
“No one gets to where they are by themselves,” Farley says. “I was<br />
given opportunities from people I didn’t have personal connections<br />
with that allowed me to do things I otherwise wouldn’t have been<br />
able to do. It is part of being included in a community.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> media and film studies department received a Lowell light kit.<br />
Department chair Teddy Champion says the light kit will be housed<br />
in their new studio and used for interviews, student exercises, and<br />
occasionally out in the field.<br />
Farley also donated several 35mm film cameras, digital SLR<br />
cameras, and lenses to the art department.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> equipment will become part of the collection of cameras<br />
and lenses that are available to students for use when enrolled<br />
in photography courses,” says Pamela Venz, chair of the art<br />
department. “<strong>The</strong> collection allows students to experience<br />
professional-level photographic equipment if they do not have<br />
access to that equipment themselves.”<br />
Senior art major Mary Beth Yaeger has already benefitted from<br />
using this collection of equipment. While taking Venz’s intro class<br />
on basic camera mechanics, part of the course required possession<br />
of a film camera, which costs about $500. Yaeger, who is paying<br />
her own way through school, says purchasing even a used camera<br />
was not a viable option.<br />
“can-do” spirit possessed by Lovin during his time spent volunteering<br />
with the Beeson Trust, established at Canterbury by the late Lucille<br />
Stewart Beeson (whose husband, Dwight Beeson, was also a Liberty<br />
National executive) to help senior citizens in the community.<br />
Lovin used his intellect to assist low-income families with their<br />
taxes, receiving multiple medals from AARP for his service. “People got<br />
an extra service with John that I know other volunteers didn’t provide,”<br />
Smith says. “If they were unable to leave their home, he would<br />
personally go to their house, pick up the needed paperwork, and return<br />
it to them finished.”<br />
Williamson recounts multiple instances when an individual’s<br />
need, for items such as a refrigerator or groceries, would be brought<br />
to Lovin’s attention, and he would have it delivered to their house<br />
anonymously.<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> College remained important to Lovin<br />
throughout his life. Many of the items that he chose to surround<br />
himself with were representative of the College. His favorite chair was<br />
black with the BSC emblem proudly displayed, a gift he received when<br />
he was recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1996.<br />
In addition to providing future students the opportunity to receive<br />
the quality liberal arts education of which Lovin was so proud, the<br />
Nina Rae and John W. Lovin Endowed Fund will also allow the music<br />
department to make necessary updates in the Hill Music Building.<br />
“John was a mentor, encourager, believer, hard worker, and giver,<br />
who gave not only monetarily, but also of his time,” Anderson says.<br />
Are you 70 1/2 or older?<br />
An IRA charitable rollover gift, or Qualified Charitable<br />
Distribution (QCD), is a smart and easy way to make a gift<br />
to <strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong>. Individuals age 70 1/2 and older<br />
with a traditional IRA can distribute funds annually from<br />
their IRAs to their favorite nonprofit organizations.<br />
Reduce your tax bill while supporting a meaningful cause –<br />
providing educational opportunities to BSC students.<br />
Visit freewill.com/QCD/<strong>Birmingham</strong>-<strong>Southern</strong> to<br />
explore our online tool that makes it fast and simple.<br />
“Donations like this are so necessary for students like me,” Yaeger<br />
says. “It really means a lot more than just a dollar amount.”<br />
Being able to use a film camera from the collection allowed Yaeger<br />
to learn about the basics of motion and light and how to manipulate<br />
a camera, helping her develop a new skill.<br />
Sara Jones, a senior political science major, became infatuated with<br />
photography after taking her first intro class. She is now in Venz’s<br />
more advanced photography lab course.<br />
“I’ve tried other art mediums before, but the thing with<br />
photography is that it is hard to get started because you need a<br />
quality camera,” Jones says. “If this collection had not existed,<br />
I would never have been able to try out something so new, just<br />
because of a lack of equipment.”<br />
FALL/WINTER <strong>2019</strong> / 47
lifelong learner<br />
classical, romantic, and contemporary<br />
styles, and always feels like there’s more<br />
for her to explore and master.<br />
Her late husband Dr. Andy Rowell ’61<br />
encouraged her to take up lessons again,<br />
having always loved music himself.<br />
When he served as the Midfield Board<br />
of Education superintendent, he hired a<br />
church choir director to teach the high<br />
school music class when the program<br />
lost funding.<br />
For their 50th wedding anniversary,<br />
Rowell’s husband bought her a baby<br />
grand piano. She often practices on it,<br />
though she sometimes goes back to the<br />
1947 Baldwin Acrosonic spinet piano<br />
I didn’t have the<br />
confidence to play as<br />
much prior to taking<br />
lessons again.<br />
Marilyn Rowell ’60<br />
In 1991, more than 30 years after completing her last class at BSC, Marilyn Rowell<br />
took her first class at BSC’s Conservatory of Fine and Performing Arts.<br />
“I just had that yearning inside to come back. It had been that way for a couple of<br />
years,” Rowell says. “I knew the reputation of the Conservatory was excellent, and I felt<br />
that I would get excellent training and begin to learn again. I wanted to truly learn the<br />
notes, the composers, and the dynamics.”<br />
Even after taking lessons each fall and spring semester since she began at the<br />
Conservatory in 1991, Rowell is driven to learn more. She took piano for eight years<br />
as a child, but the lessons didn’t challenge her. At BSC, she works through baroque,<br />
that sits in her “room of antiques.” <strong>The</strong><br />
spinet, a gift from her parents, was the<br />
one she played as a child.<br />
Rowell used to play often at Westwood<br />
Baptist Church, and still does every now<br />
and then. If she had not taken lessons<br />
at the Conservatory, she says she never<br />
would have sought out the opportunity<br />
to play piano at her church.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BSC Conservatory, which has been<br />
a part of the music department for more<br />
than 120 years, makes college-level music<br />
lessons available to students of all ages.<br />
No matter the experience level or musical<br />
interest, Conservatory Director Lucy<br />
Victory can pair students with the right<br />
teachers and performance opportunities.<br />
“I didn’t have the confidence to play<br />
as much prior to taking lessons again,”<br />
Rowell says. “It didn’t satisfy. I wanted to<br />
get back into it, but I needed the nudge,<br />
inspiration, and patience from a teacher.”<br />
For more information about BSC’s<br />
Conservatory of Fine and Performing Arts,<br />
call (205) 226-4960.<br />
48 / ’southern
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NEW YEAR!<br />
NEW LOOK!<br />
BSC 2020<br />
BSC’s Driven to Succeed, a scholarship for Alabama residents, is funded by proceeds from sales and renewals of BSC car tags.<br />
When you purchase the BSC specialty license plate, the College receives $48.75 as a charitable contribution, you share your<br />
pride in BSC, and you contribute to the education of deserving students. LEARN MORE AT bsc.edu/cartag.