TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A University of Alabama microbiologist was recently elected secretary of the International Society of Protistologists.

Dr. Harriett Smith-Somerville, professor of biological sciences at UA, was elected to a three-year term. Protistologists study microscopic single-cell organisms.

Smith-Somerville, a faculty member in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences since 1976, is a Huntsville native. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Capstone and her doctorate from the University of Texas.

The UA professor earlier served three consecutive terms, from 1985-1994, as membership secretary for the international organization, then known as the Society of Protozoologists.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.