Alabama honors icon with ‘Stallings Drive’
Birmingham News – April 23
The official reason for the celebration outside at the Stallings Center in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday night was to name the street outside the center in honor of the late John Mark Stallings…”It is a celebration of his life, his favorite things and his favorite people,” said Dr. Martha Cook, the director of the Rise School of Tuscaloosa, which is a preschool program that serves special needs children…. The dedication included performance by the Million Dollar Band, speeches by John Mark Stallings’ father, former Alabama head football Gene Stallings, and UA Director of Sports Medicine Bill McDonald and songs by John Mark’s sisters and the children of the RISE program…
The Rap Sheet: Alabama to name a street after John Mark Stallings in a ceremony tonight
Birmingham News – April 22
Tonight at 5:30 p.m., UA will have a ceremony to name the street in front of the Stallings Center on campus, “Stallings Street,” in honor of the late John Mark Stallings..The Stalllings Center, home of the RISE program, is a preschool program that serves special needs children. So the street in front of it will be permanent way to honor him…John Mark, who was born with Down syndrome, was a permanent fixture in the football world as he accompanied his father to virtually every practice and game during his father’s tenure in 1990-96. The Alabama athletic training facility is named in his honor, and so is the playground at the Rise School…
A lasting tribute to Johnny Stallings
Tuscaloosa News – April 23
The street in front of the Gene Stallings Center, home of the Rise program, a preschool program that serves special needs children, was officially renamed in honor of John Mark Stallings on Wednesday in Tuscaloosa. Stallings, who was born with Down syndrome, died in 2008.
Photo Gallery: A tribute to Johnny Stallings
Tuscaloosa News – April 23
CBS42 (Birmingham) – April 22
WSFA (Montgomery) – April 22
UA researchers win third place at competition
Tuscaloosa News – April 22
A team of University of Alabama researchers won third place and $25,000 in the Alabama Launchpad competition that promotes entrepreneurship. The team led by David Holt, a UA student who is working on a master’s in engineering and a law degree, has a plan to develop a small engine that will have increased fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. The engine offers a patent-pending alternative to carburetor-based and direct injection small engines. Eight teams from state universities competed in the finals Saturday at the University of Alabama at Birmingham…
A Boom for Tax Prep
Business Week – April 22
…In January, volunteers for Impact Alabama, a nonprofit activist group, secretly recorded meetings with employees at 13 outlets in that state, including one Jackson Hewitt franchise. Transcripts provided to BusinessWeek show that the volunteers posed as taxpayers seeking EITC refunds for which they were not eligible. Most of the tax preparers appeared willing to file false returns…Impact Alabama’s research is part of a campaign by its founder, Stephen Foster Black, director of the University of Alabama’s Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility, to persuade the state’s legislature to require licensing of all tax preparers…J.C. Snowden, who heads the tax preparers’ association, says the Impact Alabama investigation was sneaky and unfair. He favors a fine on preparers of up to $100 per tax-return violation. The legislation supported by Black would impose fines of $500 to $2,500 per violation…
Education briefs
Birmingham News – April 23
The University of Alabama’s department of theatre and dance presents “Thoroughly Modern Millie” until Sunday, in the Gallaway Theatre on Stadium Drive in the UA Theatre District… — Dr. Utz McKnight, assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama, has won the 2009 Last Lecture Series Award from UA’s Graduate School. McKnight will present his “last lecture,” titled “Why Apologize for What We Do,” at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, in 30 Alston Hall…
Summer classes still open
Crimson White – April 23
While some students will be going home for the summer, others will be staying in Tuscaloosa to take classes. Whether students need a class to fill a major requirement or just to as an elective, there are a few open classes that might be interesting. One American Studies class, Religion in America Culture, AMS 200, is still open…Practical Financial Planning for the Rest of Us, CSM 206 is still open…“An emphasis is placed on the practical application of setting and reaching financial goals, calculating future financial needs and using up-to-the-minute financial resources available on the Web, newspapers, magazines, etc,” Brakefield said…
UA Nursing partners with Southern Union
Crimson White – April 23
The Capstone College of Nursing recently partnered with Southern Union Community College for the Registered Nurse Mobility program, the University’s online program for nursing students in community colleges to obtain advanced degrees in the field…The two schools formalized their Internet-based agreement last week on Southern Union’s Opelika campus…