Guy Bailey named president of University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – July 11
Two-time University of Alabama graduate Guy Bailey has been named the next president of his alma mater. Bailey, who has been the president of Texas Tech University since 2008, was interviewed this morning by the UA system’s board of trustees, which voted immediately after the meeting to hire him. Bailey was the top candidate for the position and the only one brought in to interview. The Montgomery native attended the Capstone from 1968 to 1974, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English. He also received a doctorate in English linguistics from Tennessee. “Part of my interest in this position is paying back the university for what it did for me,” Bailey said. “This is home and it’s great to be home.” “I think this is one of the best professional opportunities in the United States today.” He replaces former UA president Robert Witt, who was named chancellor of the UA System in March after the retirement of former chancellor Malcolm Portera. During Witt’s time as president, which began in 2003, the university’s enrollment grew from 20,000 to 31,747 students. Witt’s tenure also saw numerous major construction projects, including several suite-style dorms, the construction of the science and engineering complex and two additions to Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Al.com – July 11
UA helps veterans make transition to college
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 10
We spoke with veterans at the University of Alabama who say the transition is tough. UA will open a new Veterans Center on campus at the end of the month…The UA student veterans we spoke with say they haven’t known a classmate to drop out as a result of the challenges in coming back to school after serving.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – July 10
EDITORIAL: More cuts, patience as economy struggles
Mobile Press-Register – July 11
BRACE FOR more belt-tightening, Alabama. Even though the state is celebrating the announcement of an Airbus assembly plant in Mobile, the economy is still struggling to recover. Economists at the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research have revised downward their estimate for growth in the state’s real Gross Domestic Product, from 2.5 percent to 2 percent. The center’s report explained that Alabama is still struggling to boost output and employment. So, while the long-term prospects are promising, the immediate forecast is, well, tepid…The state cut about 7,200 workers between May 2011 and May 2012. Local governments cut about 2,100 jobs, not counting 4,700 education positions, according to the CBER report. The good news is that the state is still creating some jobs; the bad news is that it’s not creating enough of them. The best performing sectors were transportation equipment manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade and health-care services. These areas, along with exports in general, deserve even more attention in the future. Meanwhile, two other indicators — the state unemployment rate and the number of people on food stamps — both ticked higher in May, confirming the hard times faced by many Alabamians. It’s not clear whether the one-month increase is the beginning of a trend or merely an aberration. These numbers bear watching. The third quarter should be similarly bumpy, with business leaders indicating in a CBER survey that they will be more cautious about adding jobs or making capital investments. Here’s hoping that their confidence turns around in 2013, when a 1.5 percent increase in nonfarm employment is forecast.
Summer program shows students college life, benefits
Crimson White – July 11
Rising juniors and seniors attending Restoration Academy will have the chance to get a taste of college life while participating in a summer program here at the University of Alabama. Restoration Academy is a small, private Christian school, located in Fairfield, Ala., which aims to address the needs of students living in urban areas of Birmingham. “I believe it is very important to expose students to college life at an early age,” said Lowell K. Davis, assistant dean of students and assistant to the vice provost for academic affairs at UA, who will serve as director of the summer program. This summer camp will help Restoration Academy students understand what it takes to be successful in college and beyond, Davis said. The summer program, held July 8-13, will give students the opportunity to attend workshops on public speaking, financial aid, the college admissions process and career counseling. In addition to attending workshops, participants will go to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, rock climb, canoe and attend a pool party. “This camp is designed to whet the students’ appetites for college life,” said Molly Stone, director of student affairs, advancement and volunteer services at Restoration Academy. “We want to give them a taste of what it actually feels like to be on campus like the Capstone and to give them an extra incentive to finish high school strong.” Professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP is partnering with the University and Restoration Academy for this program. Ernst & Young also partners with Restoration Academy to serve as mentors to students at the academy.
Program helps students start green businesses, sell products
Crimson White – July 11
Sixteen local students in six start-up companies presented sustainable products they developed through the Green Entrepreneurial Internship Program at Pie Lab in Greensboro. The new companies placed their products for sale, then gave poster presentations in which they explained the science behind their products and outlined their business plans. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this in my thirty years as an educator,” Dee Goldston, a University of Alabama professor of elementary science who served as an adviser to the program for the first time this year, said. “It’s a pretty phenomenal project.” The Green Entrepreneurial Internship Program brings together people from a variety of different fields, who then collaborate on various business ventures, Goldston said. Participants in the program include UA undergraduate and graduate students and faculty, students from Holt County high schools and private sector mentors who assist the students in their business ventures…Now that the companies have started up, the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business will assist the students over the next year in the development of their businesses in marketing their products and understanding the economic principles they will apply and encounter.
Campus hosts intensive for young dancers
Crimson White – July 11
If students haven’t already noticed, tights, buns and leotards have become the latest fashion trend at the University of Alabama. For the past two weeks, the campus has welcomed the nation’s most talented ballerinas ages 11-16 for a summer dance intensive from June 25-July 14 in collaboration with the prestigious New York-based American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Dancers are selected for the intensive through a nationwide audition tour held in 24 major cities. Selected participants will have the opportunity to strengthen and refine their technique for immediate and advanced levels of ballet with dancers from across the nation. “I loved how there were students from all over the United States in my hometown in Tuscaloosa,” said Mary Katherine Lake, former ABT participant. At Alabama, campers participate in a full day of workshops, group rehearsals and classes under the direction of Artistic Coordinator Rhea Speights, Director Sarah M. Barry, ABT faculty and local guest artists. The classes include: technique, Pointe, variations, Pas de Deux, acting, modern, jazz, yoga, Pilates, men’s class, dance history and repertory. Lake said the intensive was tiring, dancing from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but definitely worth it.
Smoking ban proposal fails in Mobile
Mobile Press-Register – July 10
After more than two hours of discussion that included a spirited debate on whether greasy fried chicken or second-hand smoke contributed more greatly to heart disease, Mobile City Council members failed to pass a new ordinance banning smoking in restaurants and bars…According to a poll by the University of Alabama last year, more than 70 percent of Mobile’s residents supported a citywide smoking ban. Opponents of such bans, however, warn that government oversteps its bounds with such bans, and that businesses have a right to decide whether to allow smoking, paying any free-market consequences.
Rick Bragg: ‘Any writing life I have, I owe in some way to The Anniston Star’
The Poynter Institute – July 11
Rick Bragg got his start at The Anniston Star. That’s where he first began telling his distinctively southern tales that eventually led him to The New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize. So it’s not surprising that Bragg reacted with wistful sadness when he learned that the Star will stop printing daily sometime this fall. “I fully understand the economics behind it,” he said in a phone interview from the University of Alabama, where he’s a professor. “I fully understand the technological and sociological reasons behind it. I understand all that. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. It doesn’t mean I have to like seeing a print paper fade.” He added, however, that “if this is a strengthening of the paper as a whole … then I’m for it. But you hate to see any change in things that have been part of your life forever.” The newspaper announced this week that, starting around October, it will stop printing on Mondays, among other changes. Circulation is lowest on Monday. The announcement makes the Star the fourth Alabama paper (and the first one not owned by Advance Publications) to recently announce plans to cut back on print. Bragg also worked at The Birmingham News, a much larger paper that is pursuing a more aggressive Web-first path. Bragg, who grew up near Anniston, came to the Star when he was 20, after dropping out of college and doing a short stint at The Daily Home in Talladega, Ala. He covered sports. “Any writing life I have, I owe in some way to The Anniston Star. It’s where I learned my craft,” he said. “It’s where, on a few hundred Friday nights, I wrote a deadline story about high school football. I learned how to write in a hurry.”
Alabama unemployment patterns studied in Fed report
Birmingham News – July 11
Unemployment rates in Alabama’s 11 metro areas varied widely in May, ranging from a high of 8.5 percent in Mobile to a low of 6.5 percent in Huntsville, reflecting a long-standing national trend that is getting new attention…Ahmad Ijaz, an economist at the University of Alabama, said Alabama has historically seen wide differences in unemployment rates across the state, an issue common in metros, small towns and rural counties. He said strong community ties are a major reason so few people relocate to where the best chances of finding jobs are. “When a textile or apparel plant closes down in a small town or rural community,” Ijaz said, “the federal government has a program under which if a person loses his or her job due to any trade agreements, they can qualify for retraining assistance, but they are required to move to some place where the jobs are. Few people take advantage of the program because it almost always requires a person to relocate and most people do not like to move, especially if they have deep roots in a community.”
Study: Gulf oil spill might have lasting impact
Associated Press – July 11
New research by an Auburn University professor and other scientists suggests that the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill may have affected microscopic life in ways that might not become apparent for years…Patricia Sobecky, who chairs the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Alabama, said the study adds details about a Gulf environment that many scientists say has received too little attention. “What they reported is completely in line with what you would expect,” said Sobecky. “How to interpret that is going to the tricky part.” Sobecky was not part of the research, but she was part of a team that expects to publish its own paper in PLoS ONE in the coming weeks. She said her work focused on the impact of the oil spill on microscopic life in salt marshes near Bayou La Batre. Sobecky said the work of Halanych and others is important in helping to establish a baseline to track changes over time. “I think it will ready us for future events,” she said.
Professor sounds off on Obamacare
Crimson White – July 11
Two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will expand health insurance to millions of currently uninsured Americans. Obamacare, as it is popularly known, is a bill that marks the culmination of decades of legislative attempts to reform America’s health care system. One of the most well-known and controversial features of the bill is the individual mandate, which requires that most Americans have health insurance. The mandate is the central provision of the bill. “In the short term, the decision will likely be noted for sustaining the mandate, and hence the lynchpin of the PPACA,” said Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., the John S. Stone chair, director of faculty research and a professor of law at the University of Alabama School of Law. “However, the longer-term implications of the ruling will likely relate to new and clearer limits on the federal government’s ability to use the commerce power to regulate individual conduct unrelated to commercial or economic activity and enhanced protections for the state governments that elect to participate in federal welfare programs.” The ruling could affect students at the University, as well. “For those students who wish to obtain their health insurance through UA, the University offers coverage to students for purchase through United HealthCare Student Resources,” John Kasberg, senior insurance administrator at UA, said. “For undergraduates who wish to enroll in this coverage, they must take a minimum of six hours on campus. Graduate students must take a minimum of three hours.”
Sophomore manages modeling career, studies
Crimson White – July 11
Sarah Edwards, despite being a typical student, manages to juggle transitioning to a new city, schoolwork and rugby practice, all while maintaining a professional modeling career based out of Nashville. Edwards, a sophomore majoring in elementary education, began her modeling career starring in a video for Billy Graham at the age 13. Since then, she has modeled in runway shows, been featured on the cover of EC magazine, and appeared in Jason Aldean’s music video “Dirt Road Anthem.” “My favorite [modeling job] was probably the Dirt Road Anthem video just because it was a bunch of kids my age and we were just hanging out, but getting paid to do it,” Edwards said. One of Edwards’ favorite aspects of professional modeling is the feeling she gets from walking on the runway. She has been in runway shows for up-and-coming designers such as Leona and Michelle Vanderpool as well as the department store Dillard’s. “The clothes are just ridiculous and super cool, so that is always fun,” Edwards said. “On the runway, you can’t see anyone around you with the lights shining, it’s a cool feeling.” Edwards decided to attend the University after her first time visiting her older brother. Since then, she has found multiple ways to get involved on campus through her sorority as well as the UA women’s rugby team, in addition to keeping up with her modeling.
UA kicks off Summer Tobacco Free Challenge today at University Medical Center
Al.com – July 11
Anytime is a good time to quit smoking and reduce your risk of lung cancer and heart disease. But why not the summertime? The Office of Health Promotion and Wellness will start the 2012 Summer Tobacco Free Challenge, designed to help faculty and staff give up tobacco, at the University of Alabama today. Starting today, group sessions will be set from 12:15 p.m. until 1 p.m. each week through the month of July at the University Medical Center. This program is meant to provide participants with helpful tools and resources, including supportive educational sessions, and tobacco cessation medication options available through your health care provider.