BCS championship game fans put aside rivalry, mend fences
Times-Picayune (New Orleans) – Jan. 9
As the Tigers and Crimson Tide prepare to storm the field in tonight’s BCS championship game, close to 400 students, faculty and alumni from Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club in New Orleans on Sunday.
The Advocate (Baton Rouge) – Jan. 9
WWL-TV (New Orleans) – Jan. 8
Students help organize donations for tornado victims
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 10
Although they weren’t in New Orleans for the Allstate BCS National Championship Game on Monday, dozens of University of Alabama students donned crimson shirts to show their school pride. About 50 students volunteered through the UA Community Service Center to organize a warehouse filled with donations to Temporary Emergency Services. “We’re being our own volunteer champions,” said coordinator Rachel Edington. The group sorted piles of shoes, baby toys, toiletries and clothing by size and then loaded the items onto a truck.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Jan. 9
George Lucas thanks Nick Saban, congratulates Alabama on title
AL.com – Jan. 10
The film “Red Tails” became an instant must-see for Alabama football fans thanks to Nick Saban’s recent endorsement when he said the team watched it the night before they drubbed LSU 21-0 in the BCS championship game Monday night. So you can imagine producer and co-writer George Lucas’ excitement over the imminent release of the film about the Tuskegee Airmen. After the game in New Orleans, Lucas issued a statement thanking Saban for his remarks on the film and congratulated Alabama on its victory, according to USA Today.
National championship game to be bittersweet for UA football player Carson Tinker
CNN – Jan. 9
Tonight is going to be a very bittersweet one for Carson Tinker, the long snapper for the University of Alabama. April 27, a tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa killing more than 50 people. One of those who was killed was Carson’s girlfriend Ashley Harrison. She was a senior honors student bound for law school after graduation. Carson set up a scholarship fund at the University of Alabama for Ashley. There’s also a memorial fund and scholarship fund set up for her high school in Dallas.
Win in national championship game may help Tuscaloosa after tornado
WSFA (Montgomery) – Jan. 9
A win tonight would mean a lot, not just to the University of Alabama, but the entire city of Tuscaloosa. On April 27, a tornado devastated Tuscaloosa. Fifty-two people were killed including long snapper Carson Tinker’s girlfriend, Ashley. The entire Crimson Tide team knows what a win would mean for Tuscaloosa.
UA students spend time in Gulfport, Miss., before heading to New Orleans for game
WLOX ABC (Meridian, Miss.) – Jan. 9
And for these University of Alabama students, this trip to the BCS championship game gave them an opportunity to discover Gulfport. Taylor Bornhoft said, “It’s been good, the town’s really nice. I’ve never been here, I really enjoyed it.”
Survey: High-tech, high-need programs strain colleges
Community College Week – Jan. 10
Community colleges, at the forefront of the nation’s workforce development efforts, are being called upon to train new workers to toil in these burgeoning fields and help displaced workers develop new skills. But colleges across the country are feeling the strain in meeting the need, caught between shrinking public spending, increasing demand and growing pressures to devise short-term, non-credit training programs with quick and tangible payoffs. “Unemployment more than doubled in most states from July 2007 to July 2009, and has stayed persistently high since then,” said Steven G. Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama. “With state tax receipts down, states have cut their community college operating budgets at the precise time of great need for the unemployed to be retrained.”
Alabama grows in latest census estimates but lags behind many Southern states
Birmingham News – Jan. 10
Alabama continues to lag behind many other Southern states in both birth rate and attracting new residents, newly released Census Bureau estimates say. While the South is the fastest-growing region of the country, “Alabama is not the fastest-growing state in the South,” said Annette Watters, manager of the State Census Bureau at the University of Alabama. “As a whole, the South grew mostly because of people moving into the region from other states.” Alabama fails to attract as many domestic migrants as other nearby states, Watters said. Overall, Alabama grew by 17,340 people in the 15 months between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011, and it remains 23rd in population, with 4.8 million people.
Lincoln events coming up to mark his birthday
Woodford (Ill.) Times – Jan. 10
The Abraham Lincoln Association is celebrating President Lincoln’s 203nd birthday with two days of programs in Springfield on Feb. 11 and 12, with presentations centering on the theme of Lincoln and the Civil War…The Symposium luncheon…features speaker Howard Jones, who will discuss “Lincoln’s Forgotten Craft: The Art of Diplomacy”. Jones is a Professor at the University of Alabama and the author of more than a dozen books including “Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations.”