Grad Tales is Back!

Interviewed by Kim Davis (BA 2003), Jennifer Alfano Nelson (BA 2007) was the Department’s guest at the first Grad Tales of the new year, held in the Ferguson Student Union last night. Now hosted by the Department’s recently-formed Alumni Liaison Committee (of which both Jennifer and Kim are members), Grad Tales is an ongoing series that dates to 2013-14 when alums were first invited back, to meet with current students and to discuss their careers and how, in hindsight, they now saw their time at UA — the courses they took, the choices they made, and the relevance of it all now that they’re out in the so-called real world.

Jennifer, a former middle school teacher and now software developer in Birmingham, had plenty to say on all this, as did Kim, our host, who is herself a French teacher here in Tuscaloosa County (and who was in the first Blount class). The student association, which went to dinner beforehand, was live tweeting the event, so you can get a taste of the evening’s topics by visiting their page.

Prof. Touna, who is in charge of events in the Department, is already planning our next Grad Tales, so stay tuned.

The evening, which attracted about 40 students in various REL courses and degrees, ended with the student association’s exec presenting those members of the AL Committee able to attend the event with a book each — one being used in several of our classes, in fact. There might have been a homework assignment discussed as well.