UA in the News: November 18, 2009

Debate to focus on race relations
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 18
Typically, students in the University of Alabama Honors College class “Heroes of Faith and Social Justice” will take a trip at the end of each semester to visit the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham. But this year, students decided to do something different. That idea has since turned into “Pictures of the South,” an event based on a discussion of the history of race relations in Tuscaloosa and the South. The event will be held at 7 tonight in Room 173 of Nott Hall and will feature a panel debate along with presentations by UA faculty and students. Hillary Moore, 20, is a junior at UA in the class and said a 15-minute multi-media presentation will be given during the event. The presentation includes a compilation of interviews with UA students about the South’s racial history as well as several images submitted by students after they were asked what picture comes to mind when they think of the South. Louise Cary of the UA Honors College, Joyce Stallworth of the College of Education and Bobbie Siegel, a board member at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, will make up the panel of experts and deliver a short presentation on their areas of expertise…

Cognitive scientist, best-selling author to discuss language at Bama Theatre
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 18
Cognitive scientist and best-selling author Dr. Steven Pinker will speak at 7 tonight at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa on ‘The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature…The lecture is part of the University of Alabama Blount Undergraduate Initiative’s 10th Anniversary Lecture Series. The lecture is free, open to the public and geared toward a general audience. Pinker will sign books following the lecture.

FIT Program prepares seniors for high-technology era
Crimson White – Nov. 18
…A new program started by a UA professor and several graduate students aims to help senior citizens along the way. Fluency with Information Technology is a free program that offers computer courses for senior citizens…Graduate students in the School of Library and Information Sciences, along with Bonnici, run the program. “The program was originally funded by a seed grant from the Center for Community Based Partnerships,” Bonnici said. “Students will work on a grant for it to help continue the program.”…

Organizations host toy drive for needy children
Crimson White – Nov. 18
…The UA chapter of the NAACP and the Omega Psi Phi fraternity are hosting a toy drive for needy children in the Tuscaloosa area for that reason…Parker said the donations would be distributed to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Benjamin Barnes YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of West Alabama…The Christmas toy ball will be held in Smith Hall at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Dec. 4.

Martha Cook: mother of 96 children
Crimson White – Nov. 18
…Cook, the director of The RISE School at the University, views all of her students as her own. In her 35 years at RISE, she has been able to devote all of her time to them because she has no children of her own, she said…

Thomasson discusses existence of tables and chairs
Crimson White – Nov. 18
A small group of students and faculty members gathered inside Smith Hall Tuesday night to hear Amie Thomasson, philosophy professor at the University of Miami, to discuss metaphysics and the theory of existence in her lecture, “Do Tables and Chairs Really Exist?” This was the second installment of the University’s “Philosophy Today” lecture series…

Katz lectures on religious acculturation
Crimson White – Nov. 18
Nathan Katz, professor of religious studies at Florida International University, lectured about Jewish communities in India Tuesday evening at Gorgas Library for the sixth annual Aaron Aronov Lecture. The lecture was hosted by the UA department of religious studies in conjunction with the departments of anthropology, Asian studies, English, history, New College, the Honors College and University Libraries…