Football Gives Ailing Community Reason To Cheer
Alabama Public Radio via Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR) – Sept. 4
And perhaps this year nowhere is college football more important and long awaited than in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Back in April, a massive tornado ripped across town, killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of buildings. A return to football in this football town is almost a return to normalcy, as Alabama Public Radio’s Ryan Vasquez reports. . . . The quad is right in the center of the University of Alabama campus. It’s lush and scenic with towering oak trees and where students lounge between classes. But on the day before game day it takes on a different life.
Crimson Tide Fans Remember Tornado Victims
CNN – Sept. 4
Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama paid tribute Saturday to first responders who aided neighbors staggered by the April 27 tornado that cut a swath through the city and killed 47 people. The Crimson Tide’s first football game since the storm included a video, a musical program and a moment of silence for the victims, among them six university students. A hound’s-tooth ribbon painted on the field symbolized legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and a community still in grief.
Fox News – Sept. 4
WMTW-ABC (Portland, Ore.) – Sept. 4
WTOK-ABC (Meridian, Miss.) – Sept. 4
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 4
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 4
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Sept. 4
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 4
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 4
And many other stations
Fans say football’s return helps heal storm’s wounds
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 4
On the evening of April 27, the Quad on the University of Alabama campus was quiet, empty. Above it sat dark clouds that minutes ago had given birth to a tornado that gashed a six-mile path of destruction through Tuscaloosa. Ten blocks away, on the streets of Forest Lake and Cedar Crest, UA residents and UA students walked in a daze door-to-door calling out among the remnants of houses for friends and neighbors. Fast forward a little more than four months later and those same students, residents and neighbors and many more from across the country and state were on the Quad, walking from tent to tent with calls of “Roll Tide” in the hours before the Crimson Tide took on Kent State University on Saturday. Shortly before the Million Dollar Band struck up the first bars of “Yea Alabama,” members of the Italian Tailgaters lounged in the shade of their tent marked with an Italian flag on the Quad enjoying some Italian sausage, Italian potato salad and Italian cheesecake.
Reminders of tornado abound on game day
Associated Press – Sept. 4
Reminders of the April tornado that wiped out much of this college town and killed dozens were all around Saturday as the University of Alabama opened the football season against Kent State. Hundreds of fans wore white T-shirts with crimson letters that said “T-Town – Never Down.” City officials handed out information about their plan for rebuilding after the twister, which was blamed for 50 deaths and destroyed about 12 percent of the buildings in Tuscaloosa. The grass at Bryant-Denny Stadium was painted with a pair of hound’s-tooth-patterned remembrance ribbons.
After tornado, Tuscaloosa is ready for touchdowns
Associated Press – Sept. 2
It’s hard to imagine a place more ready for college football. After four months of bulldozing splintered homes and burying the dead from a tornado, Tuscaloosa is aching for a taste of life as it used to be. Around here, that means University of Alabama football and the hoopla that comes with it: Big crowds, tailgating and touchdowns. “We’re ready to get our minds off the storm and back on football,” said Arthur Paige, a worker who rummaged through the wreckage of an apartment complex still awaiting demolition. “I can’t wait. Roll Tide, Roll!”
Making new friends in tornado damaged areas
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Sept. 2
Several dozen volunteered to clean up debris in the Alberta City area today. The project is part of “Hands on Tuscaloosa,” which a college student started three years ago. She hoped it would encourage students to get more involved in the community, while also getting to know each other. Students volunteered in three other locations today.
UA honors those who helped during tornado
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 5
Saturday, the University of Alabama’s game opened with a touching video of players pitching in to clean up of what was left of the April tornadoes. And on the field a special ribbon serves as a sign of a day forever burned in the minds of many. Gov. Robert Bentley even paid a tribute to those who served on the front lines.
WTOK (Meridian, Miss.) – Sept. 5
University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band plans halftime tornado tribute
Crimson White (via Al.com) – Sept. 3
Senior drum major Brent Church of the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band takes time out of practice to explain their tornado tribute coming at halftime on Saturday and explain the work that members put into the band all season.
University of Alabama finds new business school dean a familiar face
Birmingham News – Sept. 6
For the first time in 22 years, the University of Alabama’s business school has a new leader. J. Michael Hardin began Aug. 16 as new dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, replacing Barry Mason, who remains on the UA campus as interim director of the Alabama Productivity Center. Hardin says it is a privilege to follow the footsteps of Mason, whom he describes as a strong mentor. Hardin worked under Mason since joining the UA faculty as a statistics professor in 2001. “One of the biggest lessons I learned from Dean Mason is that a true leader listens first, and then speaks second,” Hardin said.
Program promotes five-year MBA degree
Crimson White – Sept. 6
This spring, the University of Alabama’s business school encouraged incoming freshmen pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to graduate in five years with an MBA. UA’s STEM path to the MBA combines students’ technical strengths with the principles of business by having students take 1.5 credit hours of business honors courses each semester of their undergraduate career and a summer of MBA courses following their junior year, said Rob Morgan, executive director for Innovation Initiatives in UA’s College of Commerce and Business Administration.
Fundraising ongoing in honor of the late namesake of local restaurants
Florida Times Union (Jacksonville) – Sept. 2
Two local restaurants are part of a larger effort to raise money for the RISE Program at the University of Alabama. From now through Thursday, Sept. 15, Zoe’s Kitchen restaurants at 1661 Riverside Ave. in Jacksonville and 240 Florida A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach will donate $5 from every dinner for four they sell to the RISE School Program in honor of Zoe Bromberg, the late granddaughter of Zoe’s’ namesake. “Little Zoe,” as she was nicknamed, was a 23-year-old University of Alabama graduate when she died in a July 12 traffic accident. The RISE Program is a charitable program of her University of Alabama sorority, Kappa Delta.
UA student overcomes paralysis
Crimson White – Sept. 6
Kelle Thrash was relieved, as most UA parents were, when her daughter Chelsea Thrash called her shortly after the April 27 tornados ripped through Tuscaloosa. But relief changed to horror as Chelsea explained she was lying in a courtyard, paralyzed from the waist down. After hearing her daughter say those words, Kelle Thrash anticipated hospital and therapy visits with Chelsea spending the months ahead recovering from her traumatic injury at home in Pelham. But on Aug. 24, just shy of four months from that fateful day, Chelsea Thrash began her junior year by walking to class like any other student at the University of Alabama…Even if her physical therapy is difficult – and the stares a little awkward – Chelsea Thrash is glad to be back living the normal life of a college student, which even includes early morning classes. “Through all this, I am so happy I have the opportunity to go to class, even though I have an 8 a.m. everyday,” she said. “I love school and the friends I have made here, and I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else in the entire world.”
Book arts instructor wins award
Crimson White – Sept. 6
This past July, The Minnesota Center for Book Arts announced Sarah Bryant, UA book arts instructor and alumna, as the recipient of the MCA Prize for her book titled “Biography.” This prize is the first honor to recognize book arts across the field. “I submitted my work for the award and then found out a while later that I had been chosen as a finalist,” Bryant said. “They then flew the finalists to Minneapolis, which is where I learned I won, and I was very excited.”
Guest speakers fill Civil War Round Table series
Savannah Morning News – Sept. 2
The Lowcountry Civil War Round Table is inviting you to join us on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 6:45 p.m. at the Bluffton High School Auditorium on McCracken Circle off Buckwalter Parkway for a presentation on the “Republic in Peril: The Threat of Foreign Intervention in the Civil War” to be given by Howard Jones. Jones is university research professor and (former) chair of the department of history at the University of Alabama. He received his doctorate from Indiana University and was on the faculty at the University of Nebraska before his present position at the University of Alabama, where he teaches courses in American foreign relations.
New book tells state geologist’s story
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 5
After the Civil War, Alabama lay in tatters; farmers struggled to survive and poverty was widespread. Eugene Allen Smith, the state’s second geologist, believed Alabama could rise from a sinking agricultural economy to a thriving industrial one by utilizing her natural resources. NewSouth Publishers has just released “Eugene Allen Smith’s Alabama: How a Geologist Shaped a State,” by Brookwood author Aileen Kilgore Henderson. The Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama will hold a book signing for Henderson Sept. 20.
Alabama president’s list
Andover (Ma.) Townsman – Sept. 5
Jennifer Johnson was named to the University of Alabama Honors College president’s list for the 2011 spring semester. Full-time undergraduate students are named to the president’s list with an academic record of 4.0 (all A’s).
College news
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 4
The Rural Scholars 15th annual convocation honored Russell S. Lee Flooring and the Lee family for support of rural medical education efforts in the Rural Scholars programs in the College of Community Health Sciences. . . . UA students improved visitor access to a USDA Forest Service recreation site in the Talladega National Forest. Six students and one faculty adviser from the Honors College worked with Forest Service employees to repair an access path that leads to the Vick Shooting Range in the Talladega National Forest, Oakmulgee District in Brent. Volunteers reduced walking hazards to the shooting range by repairing the foundation and replacing railroad ties.
The freshman 15
Crimson White – Sept. 6
The freshman 15 has been said to follow freshmen into their first year of college, when many students reportedly experience weight gain due to a shift in their eating habits. To avoid bringing the unwanted luggage back home for the summer, incoming students can take advantage of resources the University offers to curb weight gain. . . . “Bama Dining has introduced multiple low-fat and healthy options this fall, including our brand new Fresh 2 Go line that emphasizes gourmet sandwiches, salads, wraps and healthy snacks,” said Kelsey Faust, marketing programs manager for Bama Dining, in an emailed statement. “In each of our meal plan locations we have whole stations dedicated to vegetarian options.”
ONYX rolls through UA
Crimson White – Sept. 6
After months of preparation, ONYX, the annual event sponsored by the National Panhellenic Council and the Black Student Union, hit the Capstone last week. Over 700 students participated in ONYX, as well as 20 student organizations. The event kicked off with the NPHC convocation and pancake eat-off competition at Lakeside Dining Hall. Marcus Ayers representing the Beta Eta chapter of Omega Psi Phi won the eat-off.
Hands on Tuscaloosa experiences high turnout
Crimson White – Sept. 6
The UA Community Service Center held the second phase of their Hands on Tuscaloosa volunteer program on Friday. Students volunteered at locations including the Salvation Army, Project Blessings, the Humane Society, Temporary Emergency Services and the Tuscaloosa Volunteer Reception Center. Participants of the program were able to choose between the five different locations in Tuscaloosa when they checked in unless a location was full, said Wahnee Sherman, director of the UA Community Service Center.