THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA GRADUATE SCHOOL

Meet Some of Our Graduate Students of 2001
 
  

Erika Steele

After completing her B.S. degree in biology at The University of Alabama, Erika Steele entered the graduate program in biology to focus on cell and molecular biology. She has been a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Biology and is now pursuing her Ph.D. degree. She was selected to participate in the prestigious Alabama Commission on Higher Education/Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholars Program. Her graduate research focuses on expression of the swallow gene, which play an important role in fruit fly development. After graduation, she plans to pursue her love of science as a research scientist and university faculty member.

 
  

Sean Ford

Sean Ford, a Ph.D. student in the Department of English has studied American literature throughout his academic career. During his doctoral program at the University of Alabama, he has had several important publications and one publication forthcoming, has been a graduate teaching assistant of undergraduate composition and literature classes, and has served as an instructor at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. He has chosen the work of Herman Melville for his doctoral dissertation and was selected to receive a University of Alabama Graduate Council Dissertation Fellowship to assist with his research project. He plans to continue his research and college teaching after receipt of his degree.
  

Randall Stewart

Randy Stewart worked as a manager of personnel and finance, a bank auditor, and an accountant before entering the Ph.D. program in the Department of Management and Marketing. He is focusing on strategy and health care management during his doctoral studies. He was awarded a Graduate Council Research Fellowship for a project to survey physicians about the relationship between workplace characteristics and outcomes for patients. Following his doctoral studies, he plans to become a university professor and researcher and to develop policy and strategy for the most effective delivery of health care services.

 
  

Huateng Yang

Huateng Yang received his masters degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and then joined the University of Alabama as Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received a regular Graduate Council Fellowship for his first year of graduate studies at the University. He has considerable experience and published technical papers on electronic engine control systems. He is focusing on internal combustion engines during his doctoral studies.

 
  

Raminta Daniulaityte

Raminta Daniulaityte, a native of Lithuania, completed her master’s degree in the cooperative program in anthropology at UA and UAB. Currently a Ph.D. student in the School of Social Work, she is focusing on health care, especially with ethnically diverse populations, and has publications and presentations on family planning initiatives among the Highland Maya of Guatemala. She is pursuing a dissertation study in Mexico that investigates the relationship between gender roles and Type 2 diabetes and was selected to receive a University of Alabama Graduate Council Dissertation Fellowship to assist with her research project. Following graduation, she plans to work in the area of social and health service education and research and to contribute to improvement of health and social service delivery to ethnically diverse groups.

  

Daryl Harris

Daryl Harris is pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies. While taking coursework in English, theater, communication, and African-American Studies, he is focusing his studies on trans-cultural alternative theater and dramatic literature. He has received a Future Faculty Fellowship to assist with his doctoral studies. He has worked in the theater departments of UA and Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, is an active participant in Theater Tuscaloosa, and currently is a theater instructor at Stillman College. His goal is to continue college and university teaching of theater courses, to research the community building aspects of theater across cultures, and to establish a campus and community based educational theater company that concentrates on works by and about American ethnic groups.

  

Charlotte Horton

Charlotte Horton received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education from UA and worked for almost 20 years as a teacher in schools in Tuscaloosa. She has returned to UA fulltime to purse a master’s degree in Human Development and Family studies and in the future will pursue a doctorate. She also holds a graduate assistantship. Her years of teaching led to an interest in early cognitive learning theory and scientific findings regarding brain development, and she is pursuing her study of these areas during her master’s program. She hopes to translate scientific findings about children’s development into formal educational methods for young learners.

  

Sondra Yarbrough

Sondra Yarbrough distinguished herself as an outstanding mathematics educator in the St. Clair County schools for 16 years before enrolling at The University of Alabama. She earned an Ed.S. degree in Secondary Education in 1996 and a Ph.D. in 2001. During her UA career she earned the title of Graduate Teaching Fellow, working to prepare new graduate teaching assistants for their roles as instructors. She won the University’s award for Outstanding Teaching by a Doctoral Student in 2001 and currently is teaching in the College of Education and influencing the lives of many future educators for the State of Alabama.

 

Graduate School | University of Alabama | 09/26/02