UA accounting program ranked 18th in country
Crimson White – Nov. 14
The University of Alabama’s undergraduate accounting program is ranked 18th in the country, according to Public Accounting Report’s 2012 Annual Professors Survey. The program jumped two spots from the 2011 survey. Peter Johnson, an assistant professor in the Culverhouse School of Accountancy, said he expects the University to continue to move up the list. “The School of Accountancy has been consistently ranked in the top 25, and, I believe, over the next 3 to 5 years, we will see our program reach the top 10,” Johnson said.
To the moon & beyond for research center on Big Island
Hawaii News Now – Nov. 14
Hawaii’s voyaging tradition continues on the Big Island, but this time, the trip isn’t by sea. It’s to the moon and beyond. The PISCES Space Center is putting Hawaii, not only on the global map, but a universal one, too…The state is providing $2.3 million to expand aerospace technology testing at the PISCES research facility. The hope is to someday help man land back on the moon, Mars, and even an asteroid…Robotic systems, like an excavator from the University of Alabama, could potentially be used to make air and water for survival on another planet. “It’s really neat to see how we fit in in the process of developing human interactions with other planets, and how we’re going to go live and move to other planets and set up bases and explore the universe,” explains Adam Melton, the university’s team leader on the project. Teams from around the world that build these robotic rovers are entering the Google Lunar X-Prize competition. The first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon will receive a whopping $30 million grand prize.
KFVE-TV (Honolulu) – Nov. 13
KGMB-CBS (Honolulu) – Nov. 13
KITV-ABC (Honolulu) – Nov. 13
UA to hold grand opening for Office of Veteran and Military Affairs on Friday
WAFF-NBC (Huntsville) – Nov. 13
The University of Alabama will hold a grand opening for its Office of Veteran and Military Affairs Friday. The program has been running since this summer. Its goal is to help student veterans succeed on campus. Laura Hurter is now a student at UA, but she was an Air Force logistics officer in Germany and Afghanistan. “I think it really helps to have someone who can understand what you’ve been through in order to progress in an atmosphere where you’re surrounded by students who haven’t had those experiences or who in my case are a decade younger than I am.” With a new GI bill that offers full education benefits for veterans and their children, and wars winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the university is expecting its veteran population to grow.
Crimson White – Nov. 13
Director of ‘Seinfeld’ episodes to teach spring TCF production class
Crimson White – Nov. 14
The Department of Telecommunication and Film is giving one student the opportunity to write, produce and direct his or her own original script with an Emmy award-winning television director— they just have to impress him first. Tom Cherones, a UA graduate and Tuscaloosa native, is a television director best known for directing more than 80 episodes of “Seinfeld.” He has also directed episodes of many other shows, including “Ellen,” “NewsRadio” and “Desperate Housewives.” The TCF department is accepting student submissions of a short drama or comedy script approximately 30 minutes in length. After the Dec. 7 deadline, Cherones will select the winning script to be used in Capstone Video Project 2013, a production class for TCF students.
Artificial limb powered by rocket fuel
Discovery News – Nov. 14
Just wait until Paralympian Oscar Pistorius gets his hands on this: A team of mechanical engineers has created an prosthetic leg that is powered by a special type of liquid fuel called a monopropellant — the same kind of fuel that gives rockets their thrust. The new device could usher in the next generation of prosthetics — powerful and lightweight artificial limbs that will look and function more like the real thing. The human ankle supplies more energy to the process of walking than both the hip and the knee. Yet most standard below-knee artificial limbs do not produce sufficient power to support an amputee’s walk. And indeed, today’s devices only dissipate energy, or store and reuse energy in walking. This means that amputees have to put greater stress on their joints and expend more energy when they try to walk or run. Looking to change this, University of Alabama’s Xiangrong Shen, along with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, has developed a prosthetic limb that uses monopropellant — an energy-storing medium that decomposes upon contact with certain catalysts (monopropellants don’t need to be mixed with other gases to be used as fuel). The resulting energy allows for the powering of a lightweight artificial leg that can be used on a regular basis.
New Zealand Herald – Nov. 13
Will U.S. go over the fiscal cliff?
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Nov. 13
You’ve probably heard about it, a series of tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts that economists say could push the U.S. into another recession. It is being labeled as the fiscal cliff…CBS 42 spoke with Dr. Stephen Borrelli, an expert from the University of Alabama… “Every income earner is going to be affected. Now as far as what difference the spending will make, it really depends on what government programs you might benefit from.” Borrelli says the U.S. faced a similar situation to the fiscal cliff in the ’80s. It didn’t work then, but he is hopeful that things can be settled by January.
Stewart: Moore will be kept in check
Crimson White – Nov. 14
Now that Roy Moore has been re-elected as chief justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court, some people at The University of Alabama are asking, “What comes next?” “[Moore] could alleviate some people’s concerns, depending on how he conducts himself starting in January,” said Bill Stewart, professor emeritus of the political science department. “Maybe he’ll surprise people and keep a low profile. I think it would be refreshing for him to not be the source of news.” Moore built his reputation as a judge on his belief that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of the United States Constitution.
Trussville council approves paying $142,000 for archaeological study at site of stadium project
AL.com – Nov. 14
The Trussville City Council tonight approved paying $142,577 for the third phase of an archaeological studyat the site of a planned new football stadium for Hewitt-Trussville High School…The University of Alabama Office of Archaeological Research has completed two phases of the study. Researchers have determined the site contains evidence of occupation more than 2,000 years ago and a later occupation more than 1,000 years ago.
Lt. Gov Kay Ivey speaks highly of Dr. Bonner
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 13
Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey paid a visit to Tuscaloosa today. She was the guest speaker at the joint meeting of the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Tuscaloosa. . . Ivey took time to congratulate her former high school classmate and new president of the University of Alabama. Their two families have always been friends and their entire hometown of Camden wishes Dr. Bonner well.
UA not too serious with comedy
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 14
The only way to take a Shaw comedy seriously is not to, and that’s what Edmond Williams, directing “Misalliance” for the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance, has done. Or not done. This production of the century-old play, expounding on marriage, sex, socialism and the “new woman” — who still seems pretty hip — rips along at screwball pace, bouncing from riff to riff as if there were doors to be slammed somewhere. Like Shakespeare, with whom he’s often compared, Shaw has a lot to say, and though he says it smartly, the speechifyin’ can get tedious at full length. But this is close-shave Shaw, with deep cuts in the text so it clocks in at a tidy, belly-laugh-filled two hours.
Banquet to explore world hunger issues
Crimson White – Nov. 14
A random ticket drawn from a hat could get you either a feast or a meager portion at the Community Service Center’s fifth annual Hunger Banquet this Wednesday. At 7:30 p.m. in the Ferguson Center ballroom, the CSC hopes to put state, national and worldwide hunger issues into perspective for students who participate. “Many of the students at the University of Alabama are extremely fortunate to have access to an adequate amount of food, as well as the privilege to choose what we eat, and it is easy to take this for granted,” Lisa Bochey, director of hunger and homelessness at the CSC, said in a press release. “I think the Hunger Banquet is the perfect event for students to gain a new perspective on these issues and hopefully become motivated to do something to help.” At the banquet, students will be given a ticket that divides the attendees into different groups that represent worldwide income levels. The income levels will determine the the makeup of the meal students receive, communicating what people who live in a certain income bracket can afford to eat.
Freed activist to discuss life after death row
Crimson White – Nov. 14
In a lecture to The University of Alabama community on Wednesday, Nov. 14, activist Gary Drinkard will convey his personal experience with a place most people hope to never even think about – death row. The University will host exonerated state death row survivor Drinkard in a lecture titled “The Death Penalty from a Social Justice Perspective” on campus in ten Hoor Hall, Room 111, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Drinkard was sentenced to be executed in 1995 for the murder and robbery of a Decatur, Ala., automotive junk dealer. He was a member of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty while incarcerated at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala. During his lecture, he will be accompanied by Joanne Terrell, a death penalty mitigator and School of Social Work faculty member, to speak to the UA community about his case, life on death row, life after death row and the effects of the death penalty.
AL.com – Nov. 13
DiET to host diabetes awareness event
Crimson White – Nov. 14
Fall on the campus of The University of Alabama means that attention is solidly fixed on the Crimson Tide football team, but another team of students, the Diabetes Education Team, will vie for attention and awareness today with several on-campus events held to observe World Diabetes Day. “[The] Diabetes Education Team’s mission is to raise awareness about diabetes prevention in under-served areas,” Koushik Kasanagottu, the president of UA’s Diabetes Education Team, or DiET, said. “We are very involved in Tuscaloosa County, as well as the campus, in promoting a healthy and active lifestyle.” Kasanagottu’s team is working to raise awareness today with an event on the Quad from noon to 4 p.m.
St. Jude organization to host awareness week
Crimson White – Nov. 14
Up ’til Dawn, a student-run organization at The University of Alabama that raises money for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., will raise awareness for its cause through many fundraisers throughout the week. Up ‘til Dawn began on campus in 2006 to raise awareness and funds for the pediatric hospital that searches for cures for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. The organization has raised $113,303.86 in the six years since it has been established on campus.
Artists express personalities in new showcase
Crimson White – Nov. 14
For the next month, the master of arts thesis work of two UA graduate students will be showcased in the University’s Sella-Granata Art Gallery in a new exhibition called “Face Value.” The two students, James Davis and Andy Pruett, said the name of the exhibit came from the work within, as well as from the pair of artists. “We arrived at the title based on our general personalities– what you see is what you get,” Davis, a second year master’s student studying ceramics said. The show approaches art in a formalist manner, which emphasizes a piece’s overall appearance rather than other aspects, such as content.