When I was reading the Fall 2017 issue of our Arts & Sciences magazine, I was struck by how many successful women we had featured in news stories, alumni profiles, and longer features. But honestly, I wasn’t surprised. Since setting a goal in our Strategic Plan to increase the percentage of women faculty we recruit—as well as our commitment to attracting the very best students to our campus and better engaging with our accomplished alumni—I knew that adding more women to our College would result in more achievement.

So, I asked Julie Keith, our Director of Communications and editor of the magazine, to focus this Spring 2018 magazine entirely on women. While we have any number of outstanding male faculty members, students, and alumni who deserve recognition and are included, by and large this issue is about the women of the College of Arts and Sciences.

From student scholarship winners, to alumnae who have excelled in their fields, to women faculty members who have built outstanding academic careers in departments and disciplines that have historically been shaped by men, this issue is filled with an array of talented and successful women. As Julie pointed out, we would have to double or triple the number of pages to truly capture all of the stories of the exceptional contributions and leadership of our women colleagues, but this issue provides a window into the much wider world of the achievements of the women of the College of Arts and Sciences.

I am very proud of what we are doing at UAB, and I attribute a great deal of our success to the talent and dedication of our women colleagues—including our staff. I hope you enjoy this issue and I am confident that you will share my pride in the many contributions of the women of the College of Arts and Sciences at UAB.

R.E. Palazzo, Dean