UA notebook

Literary prize given for translation work

FAYETTEVILLE — A $10,000 literary prize has been split between a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville graduate student and the French author whose work he translated.

The Albertine Prize, a new award for English translations of contemporary fiction written in French, has been given to the novelist writing under the pseudonym Antoine Volodine and to translator J.T. Mahany for Bardo or Not Bardo.

The award is presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels.

Mahany is a master of fine arts student in UA’s Program in Creative Writing and Translation.

“We’re tremendously proud of J.T.’s accomplishment and excited for the spotlight that it shines on literary translation,” Dorothy Stephens, chairman of UA’s English department, said in a statement.

Mahany, 27, said that when he was growing up, his family spoke only English.

He said he began learning French in high school, then enrolled as a master’s student at the University of Rochester in New York and worked as an intern for Open Letter, a part of the university and publisher of Volodine translations, among other works.

“He’s very talented and has an ear for the language,” said Chad Post, the organization’s publisher.

Mahany said he received $2,000 of the prize and traveled to New York in June to receive the award.

Pryor Center offers new speaker series

FAYETTEVILLE — A new speaker series will be launched by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville as a center devoted to preserving the state’s history becomes part of the school’s arts and sciences college.

The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, founded in 1999 as a part of UA, includes archived video interviews with notable Arkansans and news footage from Little Rock TV station KATV going back more than 50 years.

The downtown Fayetteville center since 2009 had been overseen by the chancellor’s office but now is part of UA’s J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the university announced.

“Our hope is that in joining Fulbright College, the Pryor Center will be able to continue growing, enhance its community and academic outreach through new partnerships with faculty and student researchers, and receive expanded support through the college,” Fulbright College Dean Todd Shields said in a statement.

Shields said a goal of the new speaker series is to “build stronger connections between the public and the Pryor Center.”

Grant for $198,940 looks at food picks

FAYETTEVILLE — An economics professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has won a $198,940 grant to study healthy food choices, according to UA.

Andrew Brownback and other researchers will recruit low-income shoppers for the study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The foundation’s Evidence for Action program website states that the study will examine decisions made by those enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides assistance to low-income people.

The study will examine whether “waiting periods” before making choices can lead to healthier decisions, according to UA.

Brownback is working on the project with Alex Imas, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, and Michael Kuhn, a researcher at the University of Oregon.

Award funds study

of muscle atrophy

FAYETTEVILLE — An exercise science researcher at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has received a three-year, $412,668 federal grant to study the prevention of muscle atrophy.

Nicholas Greene is the recipient of a grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

“If a person with cancer can maintain the rest of the body health, including preventing muscle wasting, their chance of survival is better,” Greene, a UA assistant professor, said in a statement.

Greene will work with other researchers on the project at UA and elsewhere. The project will involve the study of mitochondria, a part of human cells that converts substances like glucose into energy.

“It’s our idea that mitochondria might degenerate before muscle wasting begins,” Greene said. If mitochondria health can be preserved, muscle wasting might be prevented, he said.

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