Darren Evans-Young

My name is Darren Evans-Young. I’m the freshmen instructor for the Randall Research Scholars Program and have been teaching the freshmen class for approximately 33 years. I am married to Katherine Dewees, who teaches math, computer science, and robotics at Bear Creek Academy in Tuscaloosa. We have a daughter, Ariana, who recently graduated from The University of Alabama in 3 years, majoring in Psychology, with a minor in RRS. She will be continuing her graduate studies in Forensic Psychology in the coming years.

We currently have 4 dogs in our “pack”. Ginger (German Shepherd), Atari (Lab), Pepper (Yorkie), and Ariana’s dog Kingston (Australian Shepherd).

I moved to the Birmingham, Alabama area from Maryland in 1977 where I finished my senior year in high school. The next fall semester, I started my freshmen year at UA as a Biology (Pre-Med) major. I was a volunteer firefighter/EMT in Maryland and transferred my EMT certification to Alabama where I worked part-time for an ambulance company while I was attending UA. I received my Paramedic certification the next year and became a clinical instructor, supervising paramedics in training at the local hospital. Some friends, who were CBH students, introduced me to The University’s computer systems and I decided switch from Pre-Med to computer science. My sophomore year, I was hired as a student programmer in the Business School, along with other CBH students. I suspended my undergraduate studies to take a full-time position at UA as a Computer Programmer. A few years later, I finished my undergraduate studies through New College with a B. S. in Applied Sciences with a depth study in Computer Science. While working for UA as a programmer, I started assisting Mrs. Batson teaching the freshmen CBH class and years later became the freshmen instructor. I retired from my full-time UA position and was then hired by a former CBH student of mine at Phifer, Inc. as a software engineer, allowing me to work full-time at Phifer and continue to teach the freshmen RRS classes.

When I’m not programming and teaching, my hobbies are playing tuba in a local jazz band and learning jazz banjo. I enjoy cooking/baking and working on my classic cars (1979 VW Bus and 1987 Porsche 911).