8 University of Alabama student plans vie for funds as tornado-recovery projects
AL.com – Nov. 6
Eight student-designed projects aimed at addressing long-term needs related to the city’s recovery from the April 27 tornado are finalists in a contest that will award up to $15,000 in seed money to help one or more come to fruition. As part of a service-learning course sponsored by the University of Alabama Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility, 81 Honors College students have worked on the projects.
Former UA professor Karen Steckol dies at 61 after cancer battle
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 5
Former University of Alabama Faculty Senate president and professor of communicative disorders Karen Steckol died Friday after a three-year bout with cancer. She was 61. The Memphis native left her position as dean of Cleveland State University’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2003 to head UA’s department of communicative disorders. She served as department chair and clinical director of UA’s Speech and Hearing Center. Steckol garnered a great deal of respect from her peers and was seen as an advocate for her department, her co-workers said. She lobbied successfully to move the communicative disorders department from the basement of Rowand-Johnson Hall to newly renovated facilities in the former Medical Center building on the UA campus in 2004, a move that greatly expanded access to services.
Crimson White – Nov. 7
Doubting Shakespeare
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 5
While virtually every thespian and educator ridicules those who believe anyone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Othello,” “Hamlet,” “Twelfth Night” and others, co-conspirators Roland Emmerich, director, and John Orloff, screenwriter, gasp another foul breath into the Oxfordian theory with the current movie “Anonymous.” “Aside from the nutjobs, among most theater professionals, actors and directors, there is no debate,” said Seth Panitch, associate professor and head of the MFA and undergraduate acting programs at the University of Alabama, who has acted, directed, studied and taught Shakespeare. “This theorizing comes from people who don’t study the text. We don’t have a snapshot of Shakespeare writing the stuff, and unfortunately we’re never going to, but to say there’s a debate because we don’t have the evidence, we could take half of science off the books.”
Ex-News editor named to University of Alabama college’s hall of fame
Birmingham News – Nov. 6
Former Birmingham News editor James Jacobson was one of four recent inductees into the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences Communication Hall of Fame. Jacobson joined the News in May 1959 after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from UA…Other inductees were cable television entrepreneur Joseph E. Gibbs, Hollywood producer Charles A. Gordon and library educator Ruth W. Waldrop.
St. Francis of Assisi breaks ground on new church
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 6
Members of the St. Francis of Assisi University Parish, alongside local dignitaries, broke ground on their new 16,000-square-foot church building Sunday. The building, which will feature an 800-seat worship space as well as an 80-seat day chapel, will more than double the church’s current seating. The church sits on the University of Alabama campus. . . . “We’re grateful to (UA President) Dr. Robert Witt and the UA board of trustees for making this piece of land available,” Baker said. “There are 900 new freshman Catholic students on campus this year, and we needed a new church to welcome them.” . . . Witt, alongside UA System Chancellor Malcolm Portera, also attended the ceremony.
UTC Holds Civil War Press Symposium Nov. 10-12
Chattanooga Times – Nov. 5
UTC’s Nineteenth Annual Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression will be held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Nov. 10-12…The symposium will feature 40 speakers from across the nation including distinguished historians and communication scholars such as…David Sloan of the University of Alabama.
Professor to talk on Civil War and religion
Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail – Nov. 5
While American soldiers have always turned to religion to make sense of war, “it was much more overt and public” during the Civil War than it is now, according to George C. Rable, professor of Southern history at the University of Alabama. “I can’t think of a war more openly interpreted in religious terms than the Civil War,” Rable said. “Soldiers on both sides adapted a providential view of war and the events of war into their everyday lives. Victories were seen as signs of divine approval, while losses were seen as chastisement for sin.”
UA holds 5K race for Beat Auburn/Beat Hunger
WVUA – Nov. 6
The race started at the University of Alabama’s recreation center, and circled around campus. Prizes were given out for the winners, and all the money raised through registration, went to West Alabama food bank. Organizers of the event say they made over $3,500 from today’s event.
UA students prepare for second annual Quidditch on the Quad
WVUA – Nov. 6
Although Harry Potter is unfortunately not real life, some students at the University of Alabama like to make it as real as possible. Today students were practicing and preparing for their second annual “Quidditch on the Quad” game. Spellcasters compete against each other in a race to catch something called a snitch. This game is not only played for fun, but also to promote literacy.
City of Angels hits the stage
Crimson White – Nov. 7
Two musicals in one, a Hollywood comedy and detective drama, come to the stage of the Allen Bales Theatre tonight in “City of Angels.” This suspenseful musical with a twist is filled with a flare of contemporary jazz styles, energy and comedy.
Poets to read at Green Bar
Crimson White – Nov. 7
A University of Alabama creative writing professor has invited poets Maureen Thorson, Anne Boyer and Shanna Compton to read selections of their work at Green Bar on Tuesday. Daniela Olszewska facilitated the event, which is part of a tour for Bloof Books, an independent poetry press started in 2007.
Tuscaloosa is rising
Washington Post – Nov. 5
One of the biggest games in college football this year – between LSU and University of Alabama – will be played in Tuscaloosa, a town which is still reeling from the April tornado that killed 40 people. CBS News reports on the bond that has formed between the sports team and the town. (CBS News)
Postcard From Alabama: Playing for the Stones, Rooting for the Tide
New York Times – Nov. 5
Chuck Leavell has traveled the world with the Rolling Stones, but he still calls Tuscaloosa home. And he still counts himself as a die-hard fan of Alabama football. “You can’t be from Tuscaloosa and not be a Crimson Tide fan,” Leavell said in a telephone interview Friday. Marquavius Burnett is a junior at the University of Alabama and an assistant sports editor at The Crimson White, the student newspaper.