UAB will honor its six Outstanding Women for 2009 during a ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5 in the Bartow Arena Green and Gold Room.

Arnett

Striplin

The student winners are graduate student Kiya Hamilton and undergraduate student Sonja Brooks. Theresa Harper Bruno will be honored as the Outstanding Woman in the Community.

The UAB Women’s Center and the UAB Women’s Studies Program present the awards annually during Women’s History Month.

The awards are designed to honor female members of the UAB community and the Birmingham community at large who have mentored or served other women, taken a courageous stance or overcome adversity. Candidates for the award are nominated by Birmingham residents and selected by a committee of university women.

Arnett, chair of the Department of Epidemiology, also chairs UAB’s Commission on the Status of Women and oversees solicitation of concerns of women on campus through various subcommittees. In his nomination letter, Professor David Allison, Ph.D., praised Arnett for mentoring and advising other women scientists and for fostering collaborations between scientists of various disciplines, which he said has resulted in “fruitful collaborations and successful grant applications.”

Striplin is the senior director of development for the UAB School of Optometry. In his nomination letter, Dean John F. Amos, O.D., praised Striplin, particularly for raising funds for the renovation of the primary clinical teaching facility that today is UAB Eye Care. She also helped to increase the number of endowed scholarships in the school and has mentored other women on campus and in the community.

Bell is the financial associate in the Clinical Nutrition Research Center (CNRC). Bell manages the CNRC’s financial accounts, writes the budget sections for its members’ grant applications and provides administrative support. She also oversees the weekly seminar series that has featured world leaders in nutrition and metabolic disease research. Colleagues have credited Bell with having a strong work ethic, an eye for detail and a willingness to be a role model to her staff and a counselor to junior CNRC faculty members.

Hamilton, who is pursuing a doctorate in biostatistics, is being honored for her scholarship and her work as a representative to the School of Public Health’s student association.

In their nomination letters, faculty members praised Hamilton for mentoring new students in the department and her efforts to recruit other female and minority students to the program. She also has worked as a math tutor and as a peer mentor for the UAB McNair Scholars Mentor Program.
Brooks is a senior chemistry major and a student in the University Honors Program. She is president of the UAB Student Affiliate of the American Chemical Society, and she is a peer student leader.

In 2006, Brooks received a UAB Department of Chemistry Research Experience for Undergraduates Scholarship to carry out original research. In 2007 she was named as a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar.

Bruno, a film producer, has produced several documentaries for the YWCA about the organization’s work in other countries around the world. She also created a public service announcement for the YWCA highlighting new legislation related to domestic violence.

For her efforts, she has been designated as a World YWCA Ambassador. She also produced a film that chronicled UAB’s AIDS initiatives in Zambia. Bruno is a member of the Oasis Women’s Counseling Center’s Advisory Board and also has chaired fundraising events for the YWCA and for the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center.