BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Two University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) professors, Sheri Spaine Long, Ph.D., and Lourdes Sánchez-López, Ph.D., received special recognition earlier this month from the University of Jaén in Spain.

The awards were presented by University of Jaén President Luis Parras Guijosa in a ceremony to recognize outstanding individuals, who with their institutions, have helped establish international education at the University of Jaén. Long and Sánchez-López were among 21 individuals honored by the university.

The UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the University of Jaén created a study abroad program for UAB Spanish language and business students. Each May UAB students travel to Spain to study at the University of Jaén. Last year, more than 30 students participated in the program.

Long has helped in situating an international conference, Improving University Teaching (IUT), that is scheduled for July 2007 in Jaén. Long is an associate professor of Spanish and chairwoman of the UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

UAB faculty and the UAB Study Abroad Program also teamed up to develop the UAB-Jaén Program, an exchange program in which UAB hosts students from the University of Jaén. This semester, UAB sophomore Blake Samper, 19, of Alabaster will study Spanish at the University of Jaén.

Sánchez-López, a native of Jaén, founded the UAB-Jaén Program. She is an assistant professor of Spanish in the UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.