28,000 goal is within reach
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
The University of Alabama is closing in on President Robert Witt’s enrollment goal of 28,000 students, coming within 1,000 students of its goal this fall. A head count places 27,052 students at UA this fall, a 5.75 percent increase from a year ago and 41 percent more than fall 2002, the semester before Witt was hired… ‘The academic reputation and stature of the university is steadily increasing,’ Witt said. ‘That makes the university a more attractive option for potential students.’ The sixth straight year of record enrollment came through the largest freshman class in UA’s history. With 5,116 students, it’s the first time a UA freshman class topped 5,000 students, according to UA data.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 16
Downtown route added to UA transit
Crimson White – Sept. 17
Beginning Thursday, CrimsonRide will add an additional route to downtown Tuscaloosa in the evenings, in the hopes of providing students a safe, alternative form of transportation. The new route will be called the Entertainment Bus Route, and it will run from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Thursday and Saturday nights and from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Friday nights. The route will go from the Hub, down the Strip and to downtown before going back down Bryant Drive and Wallace Wade Avenue to the Hub. E-Bus, as the SGA calls the new route, will cost $2 payable in Bama Cash only, and with that students will be allowed two guests. “The SGA has been working with Gina Johnson and the Office of Auxiliary Services for years to develop a system to provide students with safe and reliable transportation downtown on weekends,” said SGA President Cason Kirby…
Price-gouging harder to fight in Alabama?
Mobile Register – Sept. 17
…Prices shot up in Friday amid fears that Hurricane Ike would do serious damage to refineries along the Texas coastline. Peter Clark, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Alabama, said that was the first time he could remember gasoline prices increasing based on fear of refineries being damaged, rather than actual damage. “They might have survived anything short of Katrina just fine,” he said. “Katrina was an exceptional storm. Ike could have been, but it chickened out by the end.”…
UA Finance Professor Discusses Investments in the Volatile Market
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 16 (Live interview)
The volatile situation on Wall Street may have you wondering about your investments, or just about what’s going on. Dr. Robert McLeod is a professor of finance at The University of Alabama. (Followed by a live interview with Dr. McLeod)
Alabama river basins contain imperiled fish
Birmingham News – Sept. 16
…“Because we have so many aquatic resources, humans use those aquatic resources extensively,” said Bernie Kuhajda, collections manager for the fish collection at the University of Alabama. “Through those modifications we’ve really altered the aquatic habitat extensively, primarily through damming the rivers and channelization.”…
Hospitals experience rise in patients who can’t pay bills
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
…A study released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 45.7 million people were uninsured in 2007, a drop from 2006. But experts said the report did not include the economic downturn that started in late 2007. Because of the current economic climate, there will likely be an increase in the number of uninsured in 2008, said Marilyn Whitman, coordinator for the health-care management program at the University of Alabama…
Groups that want to put the ‘Bama’ in Obama rally at UA
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
…more than 50 people who attended a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on the front steps of the University of Alabama’s Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. ‘The polls are tight, and it’s a scary time for everyone,’ said Hollars, president of UA for Obama. ‘But we’re here to uplift Obama, and not bash [Republican presidential nominee John] McCain…
Crimson White – Sept. 17
Davis to deliver keynote address at banquet
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
U.S. Rep. Artur Davis will headline the Tuscaloosa County Democratic Party’s biennial election-year banquet…Stephen Black, the director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama, will be the master of ceremonies…
IFC provides tutors for new fraternity members
Crimson White – Sept. 17
The Interfraternity Council, or the IFC, has implemented a new tutoring program designed to help freshmen members attain academic success…Tutors from the Center for Teaching and Learning will support the program, which starts this week. The sessions will focus primarily on freshman courses, such as English 101, lower level math and economics…