UA expands overseas study opportunities
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
…As part of UA’s Capstone International Academic Program, UA annually sponsors a total of 45 international study possibilities, which included faculty-led programs, independent study, reciprocal exchange, community service, graduate research, internships and courses that include an overseas component. Jan Stanfield, UA associate provost for international education, and Angela Channell, director of overseas study, said more students are interested in studying abroad these days. “We’ve seen a yearly increase, Channell said.”More students have become aware of the need to become what I call globally confident. It gives them exposure to culture outside of their own…The new summer study programs include courses in Germany, Panama and Japan, as well as New Zealand, Bangladesh, Scotland, Spain…
WHNT.com – Jan. 31
UA offers students chance to get ahead
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 1
The University of Alabama added another part to the well-oiled machine of academic recruiting. This spring UA officially started Early College, a program that allows high school students to finish as much as their freshman year of college via the Internet before they graduate high school. Students who complete 18 hours with a 2.5 grade point average out of 4 possible points do not need an ACT or SAT score to be admitted into the university. “It’s a way of attracting the best and the brightest,” said UA President Robert Witt. Witt said he meets many high school students at recruiting functions ready for college, and Early College is an avenue for those students to challenge themselves and get ahead…UA’s program is distinctive because it offers online and classroom courses with a network or support staff including current UA students as mentors, said Cheree Causey, director of UA Early College. “We looked at some other areas, but we took it and put a University of Alabama stamp on it and said these are the things we feel like will make it a premier model for students not only in the state, but across the nation,” she said…
FOX6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 28
WPMI (Mobile) – Jan. 28
UA business school flourishes despite national drop
Crimson White – Feb.1
…Dave Heggem, associate dean of undergraduate programs at the University, said that the business school at UA, however, is seeing better days than the survey would suggest. Heggem said the University has been experiencing a rise in business school enrollment, as opposed to a drop. “Our numbers are going up,” Heggem said. “Our experience has been counterculture to the survey’s numbers. We’re not seeing a decline in numbers here. Enrollment has actually increased over the last five years.”…J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, said enrollment in the college has continued to grow despite decreasing enrollment around the nation. “The enrollment in the college has continued to increase each year and is up 35 percent from five years ago,” Mason said in an emailed statement. “Enrollment in fall 2009 was around 6,300, the highest in our history and the largest in the SEC.”…
Contestants praise portrayal of courage in ‘Mockingbird’
Tuscaloosa News – Jan 30
Pulitzer Prize-winner Rick Bragg filled in for Harper Lee at the ninth annual “To Kill a Mockingbird” high school essay contest awards ceremony Friday at Smith Hall on the University of Alabama campus. Bragg told an audience of 40 high school students from across Alabama about meeting Lee and how the book influenced his writing. Bragg, a former New York Times reporter and a bestselling author, now teaches at UA…To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” this year’s essay contest asked why students think Lee’s book remains an iconic work of American fiction and what parts of the book speak strongest to them. Winners from all participating schools were invited to the Friday ceremony and luncheon… This year’s essay contest also began UA’s 50th anniversary commemorating the book’s publication, with special events planned for September. “It’s been a very successful program that has highlighted ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and the association with Harper Lee to Alabama,” said Bob Halli, dean emeritus of the UA Honors College. Halli said when he last spoke to Lee, she said, “I hope that contest goes on forever.”…
Bob Jones graduate to compete Tuesday on College ‘Jeopardy!’
GoGuru (al.com) – Feb. 1
Will Warren, a Bob Jones High graduate and UA senior majoring in mechanical engineering, not only got to make an appearance on “Jeopardy!” during its annual College Championship in January, but also got to see Alabama’s BCS National Championship Game with Texas in the Rose Bowl. “That week was a series of good, memorable events after another,” Warren, 22, said by phone from Tuscaloosa.
You know how Alabama’s game turned out, but you’ll have to tune into “Jeopardy!” Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. (locally on WAFF-TV) to see how Warren does on the game show. The College Championships started Monday and go through Feb. 12, featuring 14 other undergraduate students from schools like Dartmouth, UCLA and others competing for $100,000.
UA students’ documentary raises veteran awareness
Crimson White – Feb. 1
…Two UA students are attempting to give a voice to the struggles of returning veterans’ as they assimilate back into society. Dick Powers, a veteran of the Iraq War and a former UA law student, and Elizabeth Jones, a senior majoring in economics, set out to document these stories in spring 2008 for a Documenting Justice film class by making a short film. Powers narrates the film, titled “Searching for Normal.”…Friedman placed a link to the short film on the Veterans Affairs Facebook page. The film can also be seen on YouTube.com. The film was also screened during Veterans Week at the University and the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham in fall 2008…
Riley, King trade words over bingo raids
Montgomery Advertiser – Jan. 30
… David Forde, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, estimates that the thwarted early morning raids on VictoryLand and Country Crossing cost taxpayers between $125,000 and $150,000. “That is a substantial amount of money over an issue where there is a legal ambiguity,” he said. “People are debating whether we should have done it.”…Forde said in raids that involve seizing illegal drugs and large sums of money, those items ultimately become state property. If the confiscated machines rely on a token system the state won’t get any cash that would help the state recover the costs of the raid. The governor’s task force did seize more than $560,000 in cash when it raided the White Hall gaming center in March 2009. “I believe it’s both political and moral and there are people on both sides of whether this should be done — spending large amounts of money (on raids) — when the results are so ambiguous,” Forde said. “There are well formulated opinions on both sides of this issue and it’s not going to go away anytime soon.”…
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FOX6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 30
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As Obama pushes green technology, West Alabama ponders its role
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
… James Cashman, a professor of management at the University of Alabama’s business school, said he thinks it would be a mistake not to go after some green technology industries now. Alabama has potential, although it lags behind other areas of the country, he said…Cashman said he sees potential for sustainable green industries to become major players in the area’s future industrial mix. The head of the honors program in UA’s business school, Cashman said he has made sustainability the theme for this semester’s project for the honors program’s juniors and seniors. One of the things the seniors are studying is the potential of having an industrial park site in Birmingham devoted to green industries tied to construction…Energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly construction is a growing industry, and there should be a push to center it in a metro area like Birmingham, rather than let it go to Nashville or Atlanta, Cashman said. “Like the automotive industry, it could help secure our future tax base and future jobs,” he said.
Work of Tuscaloosa’s first black architect shines in churches
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
… “Wallace Rayfield is arguably one of the most important architects in Alabama,” said Amber Baker, a University of Alabama graduate assistant who helped write the introduction to Durough’s book “The Rayfield Architectural Legacy.”… Rayfield was unhappy at Tuskegee, according to Kari Frederickson, UA associate history professor and director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South, but worked to re-establish himself in the South and eventually opened an architecture firm, W.A. Rayfield & Co…“To put him in perspective, Rayfield graduated to become one of the only African-American architects in Alabama at the time,” Baker said… Frederickson said that Rayfield’s success could be attributed to the fact that Rayfield didn’t advertise himself as a black architect. Rayfield never included pictures of himself and used only his initials in his advertisements. He also adhered to a “mail-order” approach in which he sold designs from afar. “Wallace Rayfield worked quietly and under the radar. Building buildings is not controversial. His contributions have lasted over a century because his buildings are still standing,” Frederickson said…Rayfield’s accomplishments only adds to his significance as a historic figure, given the racial attitudes of the time, according to UA Director of African American Studies DoVeanna Fulton Minor. “As a black professional, despite his education, he was still subject to the racial climate but also to the threat of lynching,” Minor said. “There is evidence that proves that often times, the business threat due to competition with whites, caused for an escalation.”…
Alabama unemployment fund sinks deep into debt
Birmingham Business Journal – Feb. 1
…Sam Addy, director of the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said the magnitude of the unemployment reserve’s deficit is “alarming” and will primarily affect businesses that will have to dish out more money to help shore up the trust fund during tough economic times…
T-TALK: UA presents guest dance lecturer
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 1
The University of Alabama’s department of theatre and dance will present the lecture “The Crisis in Criticism: The Internet, the Economy and the Death of Dance Writing,” by Elizabeth Zimmer, dance editor for the Village Voice from 1992 to 2006. The event will be 5 p.m. Tuesday in Morgan Auditorium on the UA campus. The event is free and open to the public. Zimmer will be a guest lecturer on campus Tuesday to Thursday and will visit dance, theatre and journalism classes, sharing her experiences as a writer and dance critic. Her lecture will be a mix of art and the economic and technological forces that influence it…
UA to host its first PRSSA regional event
Crimson White – Feb. 1
“The Eth-x Factor,” hosted by the UA chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the first PRSSA regional event held in Tuscaloosa, will be held Feb. 9, said Regina Peña, president of UA PRSSA. The event will host PRSSA members from the University and other universities across the region from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bryant Conference Center…Subjects ranging from sports PR to business etiquette to tourism and travel will be addressed by the speakers, according to Tracy Sims, faculty advisor for the UA PRSSA…
Conference puts focus on kids’ needs
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
John Croyle, Linda Tilly and Stephen Black will be among the many children’s advocates addressing the fourth annual Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa’s Children conference Monday…Black is director of the University of Alabama Center of Ethics and Social Responsibility…
51 UA athletes make SEC academic honor roll
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
A total of 51 University of Alabama student-athletes, representing football, soccer and volleyball were named to the 2009-10 Southeastern Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll, the SEC Office announced Friday. The Crimson Tide football team had 30 players earn the conference honor. Alabama finished the season a perfect 14-0 en route to earning its 13th National Championship. The 30 honorees was the third most in the conference. Coach Judy Green’s volleyball team had nine selections. The soccer team had 12 members of the Academic Honor Roll under head coach Todd Bramble…
Mardi Gras: MCA Queen Louise Vass McClure
Mobile Press-Register – Jan. 31
Louise Vass McClure…was chosen queen of the Mobile Carnival Association… currently a junior at the University of Alabama…majoring in restaurant hospitality management…
Ten employees named Hospital Heroes
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
The West Council of the Alabama Hospital Association has honored 10 area hospital employees as “Hospital Heroes” for their dedication to patients, co-workers and the health care profession.… Jeff Beans, a registered nurse, has been a nurse in the medical intensive care unit at DCH Regional Medical Center for more than 23 years and has 33 years of experience in the health care field…Beans is also a clinical instructor for nursing students for the University of Alabama…Beans is also involved in the community as a contributor to the scholarship program of UA’s Department of Theatre and Dance.
Business Buzz
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
… Lambda Chi Alpha received the Club of the Year Award, which is presented to a club that supports Easter Seals through volunteer work, leadership and financial support. The University of Alabama fraternity has supported Easter Seals for more than seven years…
Free tax service a popular option for residents
WSFA.com – Jan. 30
…The center partnered with the University of Alabama and an organization called Project Impact–giving certified college students the tools to help folks properly file their taxes…
WCOV (Montgomery) – Jan. 30