UAB Celebrates Community Week 2009

UAB will celebrate its diverse population with a week of events Jan. 25-31. “UAB Community Week 2009” activities are designed to challenge ideas related to diversity and spotlight various campus cultures.

   January 13, 2009

UAB Community Week 2009. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB will celebrate its diverse population with a week of events Jan. 25-31. "UAB Community Week 2009" activities are designed to challenge ideas related to diversity and spotlight various campus cultures. The events will include lectures, films, exhibits and more. The Division of Student Affairs and the UAB Office of Equity and Diversity sponsor the events, which are free and open to the public.

Community Week highlights will include the annual International Bazaar 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the UAB Campus Recreation Center, 1501 University Blvd. The event is free to the public. The UAB International Bazaar promotes international understanding and cultural awareness and features exhibits and entertainment representing nations around the world. For details, call 205-934-3328.

That evening, UAB's ESL Teacher Education Program will present a one-man, autobiographical play, "A Conversation With Alana: One Boy's Multicultural Rite of Passage," performed by its author, Carlos E. Cortés, 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the UAB Hill University Center, Alumni Auditorium, 1400 University Blvd. The event is free and open to the public. Call Susan Spezzini, program coordinator for ESL teacher education at UAB, at 205-934-8357 for details.

Cortés, a professor emeritus of history at the University of California Riverside, presents his story of growing up as the son of a Mexican immigrant father and an American-born Jewish mother in racially segregated post-World War II Kansas City, Mo.

Cortés is creative and cultural adviser for Nickelodeon's award winning children's television series "Dora the Explorer" and its sequel, "Go, Diego, Go!" His books include "The Children are Watching: How the Media Teach About Diversity."

Cortés will be the keynote speaker at the 2009 President's Award for Diversity Banquet on Thursday, Jan. 29. The award recognizes the importance of institutional diversity and honors those who nurture diversity of thought, culture, gender and ethnicity on the UAB campus and elsewhere. The award, named in honor of the first recipient, UAB President Carol Garrison, will be presented to individuals in five categories: undergraduate student, graduate student, professional student, staff and faculty.