Moundville museum reopens after $5 million renovation
Tuscaloosa News – May 16
…The museum’s reopening celebration marks the completion of a two-year, $5 million renovation that was 10 years in the making. Also included in the festivities were Native American storytelling, music, crafts and art demonstrations…University of Alabama Museums oversees the museum and Robert Clouse, the program’s executive director, said that Moundville offers a rare look into the lives of upper-class Native Americans. “One of the things that makes Moundville unique is the high status of the people which occupied the tops of these mounds here,” he said. “We have an incredible amount of high-status material wealth found here that is very rare in other archaeological sites.”…
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 16
UA honors students’ projects help Black Belt
Tuscaloosa News – May 16
Classes at the University of Alabama have been out for more than a week, but for nearly 50 students, the closest they have come to the beach so far is Monroeville. The students, all members of the Honors College’s University Fellows Experience, are participating in the Black Belt Experience, an 18-day program in which students explore the culture of the region while also implementing sustainable improvement projects in partnership with local residents…Jacqueline Morgan, the associate dean of the Honors College and the director of the University Fellows Experience, said the Black Belt Experience is a signature of the four-year University Fellows Experience, which selects incoming UA freshmen on the basis of excellence in academics, leadership and service. “We view the Black Belt Experience as the first immersion into a community for our freshmen,” she said. “They learn to understand the strengths and challenges of a community and region, and they use those lessons throughout their undergraduate careers and beyond.”…
UA offers 3-week course in art of glassblowing
Tuscaloosa News – May 17
…Smith is the University of Alabama’s glassblower. His days are spent in a glass workshop in the bottom of Shelby Hall creating and mending scientific beakers, tubes and flasks for university researchers. But this month, Smith is a teacher. A master, really, to five apprentices, all UA students who signed up for an intense three-week course to learn the field of scientific glassblowing… The course is part of UA’s interim term, the break between spring and summer semesters where students can cram a full, semester-length course into three weeks. While normal courses are offered, professors are allowed freedom in designing classes. “Interim is perfect. All day for three weeks,” Smith said. “That’s the way to learn it.”…
Plenty of choices with area summer camps
Tuscaloosa News – May 16
Creative Writing Camp, June 14-25- The University of Alabama will host a two-week creative writing camp for high school students…Community Music School, May 31-July 31 – The University of Alabama’s Community Music School is offering a two-month summer session that is open to students of all ages and abilities…Alabama Museum of Natural History Summer Field Trips – Participants will have the opportunity to visit the hidden wonders of Alabama’s rich natural and cultural heritage…Moundville Archaeological Park Indian Summer Day Camps – This weeklong program will teach children (ages 9-13) about the Southeastern American Indian lifestyles and includes different activities, tours, nature hikes, arts and crafts and tastings of American Indian foods… – Camp Cash, June 7-18 (Girls) and June 21-July 2 (Boys) – This two-week camp is for children ages 11-14 who are interested in developing money management and leadership skills…
Davis, Sparks race may be tight
Tuscaloosa News – May 15
…“Davis has been running for November and Sparks for June,” said David Lanoue, chair of the University of Alabama political science department. “Davis is hoping the African-American vote stays strong and he can thread the needle on some of these high-priority issues and come into November without having to explain himself.”…
Black Alabama groups endorse white candidate Ron Sparks
Mobile Press Register (Associated Press) – May 15
…David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said Davis expects African-American voters will vote for the first serious, well-funded black candidate for governor since Reconstruction, even though he lacks the traditional endorsements. “It’s a gamble, but it’s a gamble that makes a lot of sense,” Lanoue said. If Davis can win the primary, then he can position himself as a strong, independent candidate in November, Lanoue said…
Demopolis battles effect of losing New Era cap plant
Tuscaloosa News – May 16
… Sam Addy, an economist at the University of Alabama and director of UA’s Center of Business and Economic Research, said one concern many of the displaced workers face is how far they might be willing to move or travel daily for a job. Those with homes might find it difficult to sell them while housing prices are depressed, and with more people entering the unemployment rolls, that situation may worsen because there will be fewer home buyers, he said. Addy said he thinks getting trained in new skills will be the key for the displaced workers, even if their next job is in the apparel industry. The apparel industry is declining but not disappearing, Addy said. It has fewer workers in America because it is adjusting to a new strategy in the global marketplace. “It is becoming more cutting edge as it embraces new technology — technology that is more efficient and less labor intensive,” he said. “Things once done by hand are now done by machines and robots. As that occurs, the old school way in the apparel industry disappears or goes abroad to cheap labor markets.”…
Top BP exec can’t say if oil spill compensation will include recreational anglers
Mobile Press Register – May 17
… asked about a proposal from Philip Johnson, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Alabama, to use a common oil field technique known as “gas lift” to capture the leaking oil, Suttles said the company planned to see if the current effort works or not. He did not answer whether the method had been considered for the Deepwater Horizon spill. “We get about 400 or 500 ideas a day. Everyone wants to help,” he said. “I’ll make sure that gets looked at.”…
Tour showcasing local green thumbs benefits Arboretum
Tuscaloosa News – May 17
… the downtown property and its eclectic collection of blooming plants, vines and flowers will be open to the curious as part of the Friends of the University of Alabama Arboretum’s annual Garden Celebrations tour on Sunday… Profits from Sunday’s tour will help fund the arboretum’s education and children’s programs.
Riverbank historically a site of city hot spots
Tuscaloosa News – May 17
…It was a literal hot spot, because even though it was supplied by springs, the water was rather sluggish, warm and soupy. In a published study by University of Alabama zoologist William E. White about a fresh-water medusa (a two-celled hydrozoan) found in the lake in 1928, White wrote the lake never froze in winters, and “in the summer the surface may reach a temperature of eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit, due to the very slow turnover of the water.”…
Greensboro’s Rosenwald School building back in use
Tuscaloosa News – May 15
… Corinne Olsen, a worker at HERO, said that restoration was completed with the help of 150 volunteers from AmeriCorps, the University of Alabama and the Ultimate Black Belt Test group…