New president Guy Bailey coming home to University of Alabama and to his 85-year-old ‘Bama-loving mom
Birmingham News – July 15
When Paul “Bear” Bryant returned to his alma mater to coach in 1958, he came, he famously said, because he heard Mama calling. He meant the University of Alabama itself. But new UA President Dr. Guy Bailey might say the same thing. The Texas Tech president, known for his love of students and his efforts to elevate Texas Tech as that state’s next national research university, now returns to his Mama, too. He will become president at the place he knew he wanted to attend even as a small child. And it doesn’t hurt that his real mama — Henryette Bailey of Montgomery — is close enough to call, too. “I’m thrilled to have him as president of Alabama,” said Mrs. Bailey, 85, a diehard Bama fan who calls plays from her seat in the stands and has attended the Tide’s last three national championship games. “I’m more thrilled to have him close to home.” The University of Alabama System board of trustees chose Bailey to be the 37th president of the Capstone on Wednesday after a public interview. He replaces Dr. Robert Witt, who trustees in March voted to become chancellor of the three-campus system that also includes the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. “Guy Bailey understands who we are and where we are going and will provide the leadership that will allow the University of Alabama to complete its journey to becoming one of the country’s top public universities,” Witt said in a Friday statement.
EDITORIAL: Bailey brings freshness, familiarity
Tuscaloosa News – July 15
While his tenure at the University of Alabama has just begun, one thing already known about Guy Bailey’s presidency is that he is stepping into some large shoes. President Robert Witt’s tenure at the university was one of the most successful in the school’s history. It closely mirrored that of George Denny, who oversaw a big increase in enrollment and first made intercollegiate athletics nationally prominent at UA. When he arrived at UA in 2003, it wasn’t even the largest university in the state. Within a few years, enrollment had swelled to more than 30,000, surpassing Auburn University as the state’s largest university for the first time in more than half a century. Meanwhile, it’s standing as an academic institution has continued to rise. Witt will likely best be remembered by the brick and mortar that sprouted prodigiously from the campus soil. Facilities expansion has left UA with some of the best academic and athletic facilities in the Southeast.
Grants to benefit University of Alabama projects
Associated Press – July 16
With more than $1.6 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, three University of Alabama instructors will study earthquake seismology and advance nanotechnology to improve MRIs and solar energy collection. The five-year project grants are known as CAREER grants, because they’re awarded to boost researchers who are still on the path to achieve tenure. “It says it in the name: It kind of helps jump-start your career,” said Samantha Hansen, an assistant professor in the Department of Geological Services, who will take teams to Antarctica with her $715,000 grant. “When you’re new on faculty and you come into the job without a lot of resources, it’s a nice way to get your research off the ground.” Hansen, who’s been to Antarctica twice before on a post-doctoral fellowship at Penn State, notes any substantial research comes with a high price: flights, gear, food and other support for the three trips to Antarctica chief among them…From the macro-scale of mountains and earthquakes, it’s far down to another world for the other two recipients, Yuping Bao, an assistant professor in chemical and biological engineering and Dawen Li, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering. Both are working on the nano scale, at sizes almost too small to picture. Bao is developing a nanowire that can be used as a substitute injection for MRI scans…Li’s $400,000 grant will be devoted to developing organic polymer solar cells that may replace inorganic silicon cells in at least some uses.
WVTM-ABC (Columbus, Ga.) – July 15
Grant will help Alabama businesses export products
Auburn-Opelika News – July 15
Small businesses in central and northern Alabama will receive assistance in selling their products abroad thanks to a $129,755 grant, Gov. Robert Bentley announced. The Alabama International Trade Center will use funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission to train up to 25 companies to market, sell and export products they manufacture. The goal is to help Alabama companies grow and increase employment opportunities. “As co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission this year, I am pleased by the support ARC programs offer to small businesses,” Bentley said. “These programs are providing Alabama businesses with the tools, know-how and guidance to expand and employ more people.” Located at the University of Alabama, the center works with small companies to determine the best foreign markets for their products and helps them to develop success strategies. As part of the grant agreement, the trade center also will provide up to 10 local banks with training on export financing services and government loan guarantee programs.
UA Gets $75,000 Grant to Boost Rural Businesses
100 WAPI (Birmingham) – July 13
Governor Robert Bentley has announced that $75,000 in grant money has been awarded to the University of Alabama to help entrepreneurs and boost rural businesses in the western part of the state. The Appalachian Regional Commission grant will go towards opening new centers in Hale and Lamar counties, as well as towards supporting existing centers in seven other counties. “Expanding business opportunities in low-income rural areas of Alabama is essential for creating jobs and improving the quality of life,” Bentley said in a statement. “I commend the university for partnering with local governments and chambers of commerce in west Alabama to help residents turn ideas into viable businesses.”
DON NOBLE: UA photographer captures Havana
Tuscaloosa News – July 15
Describing a book of photographs in words is a tricky and probably thankless task. So let me begin simply. This is an absolutely beautiful book. You could take any page in the book, have it framed and hang it proudly on your wall. Chip Cooper, University of Alabama photographer and arguably the premier photographer in the state of Alabama, as a part of the Alabama/Cuba Initiative, over many visits, teamed up with Nestor Marti, photographer for the Havana Historian’s Office. Working side by side, walking the same Havana streets, sometimes shooting the same subject from different angles and, of course, with different eyes, the two have chosen for this volume about 150 pages of colored plates, usually one plate to a page….
A cause close to Patterson’s heart
Tuscaloosa News – July 14
On a Friday afternoon, surrounded by the trophies and accolades of a 34-year career, University of Alabama head gymnastics coach Sarah Patterson wasn’t talking about her six national championships…Instead, she was talking about breast cancer awareness…Patterson recently was honored at the national convention of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority in Lexington, Ky., where she’d been lured under the pretense of giving a speech on how the Power of Pink program had benefited West Alabama. But at the end of her message, which left the convention’s 850 attendees in tears, the coach was given a surprise of her own. Not only was she named this year’s Convention Initiate by the ZTA national chapter, she was told that the national sorority, which has been championing and contributing breast cancer awareness for the past 20 years, would be donating $25,000 in her name to the Alabama Gymnastics/DCH Breast Cancer Fund at DCH Regional Medical Center.