UA commencement to include memorial service for tornado victims
Al.com – Aug. 4
The University of Alabama will award more than 4,000 degrees in three commencement ceremonies on Aug. 5 and 6, including May graduates, and will hold a candlelight memorial service on Friday night for the six UA students and others who died in the April 27 tornado…UA President Robert E. Witt, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, current SGA President Grant Cochran and 2010-2011 SGA President James Fowler will speak at the remembrance…UA will award posthumous degrees to the students who died in the tornado at Saturday’s 9 a.m. ceremony in Coleman Coliseum. Scott Atterton, Danielle Downs, Ashley Harrison, Melanie Nicole Mixon, Morgan Marlene Sigler and Marcus Smith attended the University of Alabama when they were killed in the storms that hit Tuscaloosa on April 27…
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Aug. 3
Retiring University of Alabama business dean to head Alabama Productivity Center
Birmingham News – Aug. 4
J. Barry Mason, the longtime dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama who is retiring, has been named the interim director of the Alabama Productivity Center. Mason is stepping down as dean on Aug. 16, succeeded by J. Michael Hardin. The center is a nonprofit organization that works to improve Alabama companies’ quality, productivity and competitiveness through the use of the university’s research and resources. “Dean Mason is exceptionally well-fitted for this assignment,” Hardin said in a statement. David Miller, the center’s outgoing director, will return to teaching in the department of information systems, statistics and management science.
FOX 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 3
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 3
UA engineers say homes can be rebuilt safer after tornado
WSFA (Montgomery) – Aug. 3
…Engineers with the University of Alabama spent weeks looking at homes in and outside the tornado’s path…”It’s obvious what’s happened to this house. It’s lost its roof. That’s typically due to insufficient connection between the roof and the wall.” Professor Jim Richardson, a University of Alabama civil engineer, calls homes like this an unnecessary casualty of April’s tornadoes. He believes a study by fellow UA engineers that looked at the range of tornado damage in Tuscaloosa could make new homes more storm ready…
Don’t Forget: A tornado’s aftermath is captured in award-winning film by former Columbian
Columbus (Miss.) Dispatch – Aug. 4
…Xavier Burgin…Now 21, the University of Alabama senior is eager to be a force behind the camera. To be a visionary who captures stories worth telling. In April, no story seemed more important to tell than that of the devastating tornado that bored through Tuscaloosa, Ala. The resulting five-minute documentary, “Portrait of the Storm,” capsules the early aftermath. It also earned Burgin the 3D Movie Award and a $5,000 prize at the Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale in Hollywood, Calif., June 23-26…One of the most powerful and personal motivations for the project, however, was Xavier’s own experience. “I really thought, ‘I might die from this,'” the telecommunication and film media production major admitted. He remembers in detail where he was April 27, as the monster funnel plowed ever closer. “I was at the university when all this happened. I saw it coming toward me. I was there; we watched it….”I’m a residential advisor at a dorm, so I was carting in other kids, telling them they needed to get inside,” he recounted…”I felt like, ‘Oh, my God, I have friends out there,” he shared. “I couldn’t call them, and I couldn’t get out. I had a job to do: I couldn’t leave the kids that were already in the dorm. I had them to watch over.” When he finally did leave campus, “we came to the realization that it was so much worse than anything we could imagine.”…By layering personal voice-over narratives with striking images and a haunting soundtrack composed by UA student Sumerlin Brandon, he produced a poignant commemoration. Dr. Rachel Raimist, UA assistant professor of telecommunication and film, said, “The fact that this project was the first-place winner, out of 50 Campus MovieFest teams selected to compete, is not surprising. Xavier told a compelling story with beautifully shot imagery.”…
Lower Leg Submersion Viable for Cooling Suited Responders
Occupational Health and Safety – Aug. 4
A new study suggests lower leg submersion may be a better way than forearm submersion to cool firefighters effectively and prevent hyperthermia during training exercises and emergency incidents. Charles P. Katica of the University of Alabama’s Department of Kinesiology and five colleagues from there or Central Washington University (Ellensburg, Wash.) published their results in the August issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene…
Back to School Shopping Event
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 4
Anthony Grant, head coach of the Alabama Men’s Basketball team, and his wife, Chris, talk with students in grades K-8 at Academy Sports and Outdoors in Tuscaloosa Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011. The Grants participated in a back to school shopping event at Academy during which a selected group of 25 students picked out uniform items, as well as a backpack and were given a drawstring backpack, and a signed picture and basketball from Coach Grant. The Sweet Home Alabama fund provided a donation for the students to receive the items.
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Aug. 3
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 3
One UA student does his part to help after tornado
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Aug. 3
…one University of Alabama student, Nathan Corder answered a desire to help those in need. He called Convoy of Hope, and linked them up with his church to set up a relief distribution center…A student turned community leader who linked up the non- profit disaster relief organization with those in the area, collecting needed water, food, supplies and even praying for those hit hard by the storms
UA student hopes to change healthcare in Ghana
WTVY (Dothan) – Aug. 3
She hopes to one day return to her hometown and change the lives of other students. “I see me to be one of the teachers who will be transforming Ghana, especially the healthcare to be one of the best in the west African region,” Eunice is pursuing her master’s degree in nursing at the University of Alabama She will graduate next year.