Ramey Receives Top Honor

Craig Ramey, Ph.D., founding director of the Civitan International Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named recipient of this year's Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Award for Scholarly Distinction. UAB presents the award annually to a faculty member in the School of Arts and Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or Social and Behavioral Sciences, for professional and academic achievements and contributions made to the university and the local community.

April 26, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Craig Ramey, Ph.D., founding director of the Civitan International Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named recipient of this year's Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Award for Scholarly Distinction. UAB presents the award annually to a faculty member in the School of Arts and Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or Social and Behavioral Sciences, for professional and academic achievements and contributions made to the university and the local community.

A dinner and presentation to honor Ramey will be held Wednesday, May 3, at The Club at 6:30 p.m. As part of the award, Ramey will receive an honorarium of $5,000. The funds for this award are provided by an endowment established at UAB by Caroline Ireland and the late Charles W. Ireland.

"It is a pleasure to present this award to Dr. Ramey," says Peter V. O'Neil, Ph.D., UAB provost. "He is most deserving of this recognition and can take great pride in being selected by his colleagues."

Ramey is an internationally renowned developmental psychologist. His research and teaching focus primarily on educational and public policy factors affecting early childhood education, health and family support programs. He has authored more than 220 publications, including two recent books that he co-wrote with his wife, Sharon Ramey, Ph.D. — Right From Birth — Building Your Child's Foundation for Life and Going to School — How to Help Your Child Succeed.

During the last 30 years, Ramey has led research and development teams involving more than 500 professionals and 14,000 children and families in more than 40 states. This research and development has been supported by more than 100 grants from federal and state agencies and private foundations. He has won many professional and civic awards for his work, including the American Psychological Association's Award for Exemplary Prevention Research and the Chautaugua Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Developmental Disabilities.

Ramey currently serves on two National Academy of Science Advisory panels — one on minority representation in special education and the other on developmental promotion and early childhood intervention. He also serves on the National Advisory Panel for Head Start Research.

In addition to leading the activities of the Civitan Center, Ramey is a professor of psychology, pediatrics, maternal and child health, and neurobiology at UAB. The Civitan Center is a multi-disciplinary research center dedicated to the research, treatment and prevention of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

The Civitan Center's largest project is the Head Start/Public School Early Childhood Transition Demonstration Project, authorized by Congress in 1991. The project coordinates and evaluates 32 Head Start programs in 31 states and the Navajo Nation designed to assist students and their families with making a successful transition from Head Start into public school.

Included within the Civitan Center's research consortium are the clinical neurosciences division (the Sparks Clinics), the human development and social ecology division, the department of neurobiology, the Center on Obstetrical Research, the Epilepsy Center and the Alzheimer's Disease Center.