UA study: Travel near, not on, holiday when most accidents happen
Mobile Press-Register – Nov. 14
A recent University of Alabama study shows that the days preceding and following holidays — not the holidays themselves — pose the highest risk for serious crashes involving injuries or fatalities. UA’s Center for Advanced Public Safety’s recent study of 2008 Alabama crashes involving injuries or fatalities found that the typical holiday has a low serious-crash number because most people have already reached their destinations and tend to remain there. For this reason, for example, Thanksgiving Day in 2008 was the 13th lowest day of the year for serious crashes…”There are definitely times to be avoided, especially if bad weather is a possibility,” said Dr. Allen Parrish, professor of computer science and director of CAPS at The University of Alabama…
University of Alabama, Holt unite to promote reading
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 14
…For the past three weeks, freshmen members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority at the University of Alabama have been visiting and reading with third-grade students at Holt Elementary as part of the sorority’s Champions are Readers program. Aubrey Wood, 20, the new member coordinator for the chapter, said CARS is a month-long program held across the country by Pi Beta Phi sorority…
Guantanamo, USA: The Untold History of America’s Cuban Outpost
History News Network – Nov. 14
Stephen Irving Max Schwab is a former senior analyst for the CIA’s South America Division and now teaches history at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Guantánamo, USA: The Untold History of America’s Cuban Outpost (University Press of Kansas, 2009).
Economy could add to Democrats’ election-year challenges
Montgomery Advertiser – Nov. 16
…Much will depend on the state of the economy next year and how voters feel about President Barack Obama’s performance, said David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama. If unemployment remains high, “it’s going to be a bad Democratic year nationally,” Lanoue said. “And if it’s a bad Democratic year nationally, it’s going be a very bad Democratic year in Alabama.”…
Many lack knowledge to manage their personal finances
Tuscaloosa News — Nov. 15
Americans’ lack of understanding of personal finances, experts say, has contributed to the financial woes many are suffering in today’s economy. It has led many to make poor personal financial decisions. “That is absolutely part of the problem, and it goes with our education system,” said Gary Hoover, an associate professor of economics at the University of Alabama. “In state (Alabama) high schools, students are exposed to a broad overview of macroeconomics,” which deals with the economy as a whole. That’s useful, but it doesn’t help with personal finance or always help people grapple with the complex financial issues that will affect their lives, he said…Caroline Fulmer, an assistant professor in consumer science in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences and a certified financial planner, agrees there is a problem but said that solving it is not easy. “There is a much lower level of financial literacy than financial planners would like to see,” she said. “It begins because money and finances are not talked about in households,” Fulmer said. “And there is no requirement for teaching financial planning.”…
Trussville native Katy Montalto drivin’ toward Country Music Television video title
Birmingham News – Nov. 16
Katy Montalto, a native of Trussville, is competing in CMT’s Music City Madness Video competition using a video of a song she composed. She has made it to the top 16…the University of Alabama senior is hoping to parlay her sudden success in a video contest into a career…
Toys for local children will be collected at UA libraries
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 5
Starting Monday, locations of the University of Alabama libraries will become Toys for Tots drop-off points…
Student dancers put on professional performance
Crimson White – Nov. 16
…The Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre is making its fall debut Tuesday and continuing through Friday. ARDT is a faculty-choreographed production the dance department of Alabama presents each semester. Faculty members presenting pieces in the show include Cornelius Carter, artistic director of the Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre; Sarah Barry; Qianping Guo and Rita Snyder…
Professor discusses philosophy of matter
Crimson White – Nov. 16
The third annual lecture of the “Philosophy Today” series will host Amie Thomasson, philosophy professor at the University of Miami, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Smith Hall Room 205. Her lecture, “Do Tables and Chairs Really Exist?” will explore controversies surrounding contemporary metaphysics…H. Scott Hestevold, the department chairman of the UA philosophy department said he encourages the whole campus community to attend the lecture. “I urge students and faculty from other disciplines to attend to see a first-rate philosopher at work,” Hestevold said in an e-mail. “Professor Thomasson is interested in one of the important problems in contemporary metaphysics: what sorts of objects exist?”…
Students construct, donate to promote food drive
Crimson White – Nov. 16
…The contest, called CANformation, was held for the second year in the Ferguson Center game room…“CANformation is just a way for student organizations to have a little fun with the cans they have collected,” Johnson said…Four teams competed in the contest. Engineers Without Borders constructed a can version of Bart Simpson. A team composed of members from the Associated Builders and Contractors and the American Society of Civil Engineers constructed a hammer driving a nail into a wall. The student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers created a Starbucks cup, while the Alpha Tau Omega team made a large replica of an Etch-a-Sketch…
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 16
A contingent of graduate students and staff from the University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business paid a Halloween visit to the world headquarters of Mattel Inc. while in Los Angeles for the 2009 National Association of Women MBAs conference. Mattel executives and UA representatives discussed MBA and undergraduate internship opportunities, as well as what it’s like working at Mattel, the producer of toys and brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price, and one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”… — The UA Opera Theatre under the direction of assistant professor of music Paul Houghtaling, has been advanced as a semi-finalist in the National Opera Association’s 2009 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition…
For some, finding family takes years of searching
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 15
…University of Alabama theater professor Steve Burch… “I thought if I hadn’t heard anything by my daughter’s 30th birthday, it wasn’t in the cards for me to know her. I never felt like I had a moral right to impose on the family,” Burch said. A year into his job at UA, Burch received an e-mail from his daughter. From the subject line, Burch said he knew instantly who it was…Meeting his daughter for the first time, Burch said, changed his outlook on life…