University’s homecoming pep rally attracts crowd
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 17
…Saban welcomed all alumni back to the university and thanked the fans for the constant support he’s experienced since arriving on campus in 2007…Ben Shurett, UA National Alumni Association president, then took the podium and stressed the importance of everyone associated with the university feeling like a family…The last speaker of the night was Richard Todd, the former UA quarterback and this year’s homecoming grand marshal…Later in the pep rally, UA senior Sarah Geiger was named the 2009 homecoming queen.
Bama fans remain faithful on both sides of the Atlantic
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 18
… He got in touch with Andrew Brock, another Alabama transplant and president of the London chapter of Alabama Alumni…While traveling for work, Vaughan said he has run into fans decked out in Alabama fan gear in Algeria, Egypt, Norway, Russia, Turkey and New Zealand. On a family cruise to New Zealand and Australia, Vaughan recalls listening to the Alabama-Auburn game on a computer while passing through a scenic national park in New Zealand…Brock, who organizes meeting times on game days for Alabama Alumni in London, said the chapter helps transplants keep track of Alabama football and helps its members feel more at home. “We wanted to provide a support network for new arrivals overseas,” he said…Voted the official spot for the Chicago Area University of Alabama Alumni Association, the Houndstooth Saloon resembles many bars in Tuscaloosa, with Alabama pictures and memorabilia…When Marc Brafman, president of the alumni chapter in Chicago, heard that the bar was opening a few blocks from the historic Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs since 1916, he knew it was the perfect fit for the chapter… “The Chicagoland area is such a large area, and there are probably over 1,000 alumni here.” The Chicago alumni chapter also raises money for local charities and hosts a yearly SEC flag football tournament…
Graduate student wins science award
Crimson White – Oct. 19
Third time is always the charm, or at least it was for third-year chemistry graduate student Melody Kelley, who won the top National Science Foundation fellowship…UA professors also encouraged Kelley to apply for the NSF fellowship. Viola Acoff, head of the department of chemical and biological engineering and a director of NSF bridge doctorate program, was one of those professors. From the professor’s perspective, Kelley is a well-rounded student and deserved the award. “I was ecstatic,” Acoff said…
UA Helps Entrepreneurs
WSFA (Montgomery) – Oct. 16
The University of Alabama business school has set up what it calls the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network. The program targets rural areas with high unemployment…
Experts predict job losses
Birmingham News – Oct. 17
Alabama’s economy is due for a turnaround in the last three months of the year but job losses will continue to mount, according to experts at the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research. They believe the state’s economy will contract by about 3 percent before staging an expansion next year that could approach 2 percent. But they say job losses will continue into 2010, suggesting more pain ahead. “Although the output of goods and services produced in the state is expected to grow, the rebound may not seem like much of a recovery to most Alabamians,” the UA economists said in a statement…
Alabama unemployment rising
Birmingham News – Oct. 18
…Ahmad Ijaz, an economic forecaster at the University of Alabama, said that although he agrees the state’s economy resumed growing in the fourth quarter, he now believes state employment could fall another 1 percent, or 18,000 jobs, by late 2010. He now says he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the state’s unemployment rate reached 12 percent sometime next year. “I didn’t think we’d get to 11 percent this quick,” Ijaz said…
Top five banks in state lose market share in area
Mobile Press-Register – Oct. 19
…Compass, Wachovia and Colonial lost market share locally, reversing a growth trend in 2007 and 2008. Benton Gup, a banking professor at the University of Alabama, blamed bad real estate loans…
College briefs
Mobile Press-Register – Oct. 19
…University of Alabama Parents of University of Alabama students are invited to campus Tuesday for an interactive seminar led by Tim Elmore, founder and president of Growing Leaders. The seminar, designed to teach adults how to better relate to their students, will be held in Room 33 of the UA Child Development Research Center from 6 to 8 p.m…
Education briefs
Birmingham News – Oct. 18
The University of Alabama has a drive going to collect books for children in the state’s 12 Black Belt counties. The goal is to collect more than 30,000 new or gently used classic and award-winning books frequently found on school reading lists for K-12 children. The Books for the Alabama Black Belt campaign will continue through Nov. 15. To donate books, call the University Center for Economic Development at 205-348-7058… — Dr. Walter Enders, professor and Lee Bidgood Chair of Economics and Finance at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, has been named to the Committee on Developing Metrics for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Research: A Study… — Dr. Heather Pleasants has been named director of community education at the University of Alabama Center for Community-Based Partnerships.
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 18
The University of Alabama recently selected 14 students as 2009-10 Ambassadors of the College of Engineering…created the ACEs student ambassador program in 1996 to promote professionalism and enthusiasm for the College. The group consists of 14 members that are selected each academic year through a competitive interview and application process… — Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that this year’s recipients have been chosen for the firm’s University of Alabama School of Law merit-based scholarships…
Authors hold book signing
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 19
Authors Rick Bragg and Sonny Brewer will appear at the Ferguson Center game room 5-7 p.m. Tuesday. Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and professor in the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences, will sign his new book, “The Most They Ever Had.”…