Local college news – new interim AD at Alabama A&M + STEM conference at UAH

This week’s news at colleges and universities in the Huntsville area includes a new appointment at Alabama A&M University, a STEM conference sponsored by the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a great community project at Calhoun Community College’s Huntsville campus.

Read more to get caught up on the happenings at local institutes of higher learning.

Alabama A&M names interim Athletic Director

Alabama A&M announced this week that Ka’Lisa Stanfield will serve as interim Athletic Director, serving in the post vacated by Bryan Hicks, who assumed a position at the Southwestern Athletic Conference this summer.

Stanfield joined AAMU last summer following a brief stint at NCAA Division II Arkansas-Monticello, where she boosted her experience in compliance and academics in her role as Assistant Athletic Director. In that post, she was responsible for softball and men’s and women’s golf, while managing the department’s efforts with transcript and initial eligibility evaluations, as well as review and approval of official and unofficial student-athlete visits. 

She also monitored progress to degree, generated progress reports, handled waivers, assisted with Title IX training and provided rules education for coaches and staff.

Prior to her role at Arkansas-Monticello, Stanfield rose from scholarship/tour coordinator to compliance/academic intern to academic counselorspecial events coordinator. As a compliance/academic intern, in particular, she completed APR transfer verifications forms, reviewed waiver documents and completed transfer evaluations for mid-year transfers.

Stanfield earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education with a focus on Exercise Science from Arkansas-Monticello in May 2014.  She completed the Master of Science degree in Sports Management from Southern New Hampshire University in December 2016.

UAH co-hosts ALSAMP conference

UAH recently co-hosted the 2022 Spring Research Conference for the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. ALSAMP is a program funded by the National Science Foundation as part of a project entitled “Alabama LSAMP: Sustainability of Best Practices for STEM Education and Research.”

The conference was planned on behalf of UAH by Dr. Sharifa Love-Rutledge in the College of Science and Christopher Smith in the UAH Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, working in collaboration with fellow north Alabama alliance members Alabama A&M University and Oakwood University.

The project aims to implement and study innovative, evidence-based, sustainable best practices in STEM education and research for undergraduates to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minority students in STEM educational experiences. Each spring ALSAMP participants from across the state meet to present and discuss research findings.

The alliance consists of four-year institutions, community colleges, high schools and industry, and it has been continuously funded by the LSAMP Program since 1991. Alliance program objectives include:

• Increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who earn STEM degrees, with emphasis on STEM undergraduate degrees.
• Enhancing the STEM educational experience for underrepresented minority students.
• Increasing retention and progression of underrepresented minority students to baccalaureate degrees.
• Enabling successful transfer and matriculation of underrepresented minority students from two-year to four-year institutions in STEM programs.
• Increasing access to high quality undergraduate research experiences.
• Facilitating seamless transition of underrepresented minority students into STEM graduate programs.

One Generation Away food pantry comes to Calhoun Community College

One Generation Away, a Tennessee-based nonprofit, will bring its mobile food pantry to Calhoun Community College’s Huntsville campus on Saturday. Anyone who visits from 9AM until 10:30AM will get a free load of groceries while supplies last.

Recipients won’t have to fill out paperwork or answer questions about their income or household to qualify.

OneGenAway partners with local agencies to bring food from groceries, restaurants, caterers and farms to communities in need before it can go to waste. The mobile pantry usually distributes between 20,000 and 30,000 pounds of food each Saturday.

Upcoming mobile food pantry events include:

• Aug. 6: New Hope High School
• Aug. 13 Hazel Green High School
• Aug. 13 Marshall Technical School, Guntersville
• Nov. 12 Milton Frank Stadium
• Nov. 12 VFW Fairgrounds, Ft. Payne
• Dec. 10 Milton Frank Stadium

Check back next week for more local college news. Follow Hville Blast on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss announcements on what’s happening in and around Huntsville.