TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - University of Alabama College of Engineering student April Pitts of Muscle Shoals, Ala., recently received the Arthur E. Focke LeaderShape Award from the ASM International Foundation.

LeaderShape is a six-day leadership-training program provided through a partnership with The LeaderShape Institute and is held in Champaign, Ill. The Institute is nationally recognized as offering one of the premier leadership development programs for young adults.

Pitts, vice president of UA’s ASM student chapter, is one of six students chosen nationally by ASM International. She is a junior majoring in metallurgical and materials engineering. ASM International is the society for materials engineers and scientists.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.