Dr. Margaret Peacock, Program Director
Associate Professor in the Department of History, Director of Pathways in the Office for General Education
Dr. Peacock has published four books and one critically acclaimed Digital Humanities project on the experience and legacy of the 2020 Covid pandemic. She has a Ph.D. in Russian History, a MSIS (concentration on information retrieval algorithms), and six years of experience in programming, data warehousing, and database replication. In addition to being an Associate Professor in the Department of History, she is the Director of the Pathways Program, which is a part of the new, Built by Bama general education core curriculum that rolled out in August, 2025. This Digital Literacy in the Core Initiative was conceived in part as a way to increase the number of available Humanities and Social Science core courses that will meet the eligibility requirements for the upcoming “Digital Literacy and Practice” Pathway, which is slated to roll out in the fall of 2026.
Dr. Richard Newton, Program Instructor, Digital Literacy Specialist
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Director in the Department of Religious Studies
Dr, Newton is a a scholar of religion in culture, specializing in the anthropology of scriptures and data significaton. His work takes a comparative approach to the cultural texts that people read and that also seem to read them back. He is the founding curator of Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture, and Teaching and an internationally-sought speaker on cultural identity formation and digital pedagogy. Newton empowers students to move from being consumers to producers of knowledge. Leveraging computational methods and social theory, he strives to facilitate generative reflections on how human beings make sense of their worlds.
Sara Whitver, Program Instructor, Digital Humanities Specialist
Digital Humanities Librarian at The University of Alabama Libraries.
Whitver’s academic background is in Digital Rhetoric. Their research examines the ways in which people engage in worldbuilding and create space for community on social media platforms. They are interested in reducing barriers to digital humanities by exploring a combination of out of the box and minimal computing workflows that allow scholars to produce quality projects without having to become experts in computer programming. They lead the Alabama Digital Humanities Center at The University of Alabama Libraries, which hosts web projects and supports skills-development through consultations, workshops, classroom instruction, and an annual DH Conference, “Digitorium.”
Dr. Claire Major, Program Consultant
UA Distinguished Teaching Professor, Higher Education, Faculty Director, UA Teaching Academy
Dr. Claire Howell Major is a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the College of Education and is the Faculty Director of the University of Alabama Teaching Academy at the University of Alabama. Her research and teaching interests focus on instructional methods, student engagement, and faculty development. She is also dedicated to exploring the role of leadership and policy in enhancing teaching quality and educational innovation. Claire’s teaching philosophy emphasizes balancing guidance and autonomy, aiming to create engaging learning environments that foster critical thinking and real-world application.