More than 2,100 graduate at UA winter commencement ceremonies (photos)
Al.com – Dec. 15
The University of Alabama held its winter commencement ceremonies on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum on the UA campus. Commencement exercises for undergraduates and graduates were split between two ceremonies. Students from the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education, College of Human Environmental Sciences, Capstone College of Nursing and the School of Law will participate in the first ceremony, started at 9 a.m. Students from the College of Commerce & Business Administration, College of Communication & Information Sciences, College of Engineering and School of Social Work will participate in the 1:30 p.m. ceremony. More than 2,100 undergraduate, graduate and law degrees will be awarded. The photo gallery above shows the 9 a.m. ceremony in Coleman.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Dec. 15
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 14
Jessie Latten to earn Ph.D. from UA
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Dec. 14
One Birmingham man is exemplifying the saying, “you’re never too old to achieve your goals.” Jessie Latten wanted to continue his education at the University of Alabama at 56 years old. Tomorrow, he will toss his cap in the air at age 62. He’s receiving his PhD in counselor education. The soon-to-be professor hopes his zeal for higher education will rub off on young men. “Once I got accepted at the University of Alabama, I kind of put in my heart wild horses couldn’t drag me away. I mean, I was determined that I was going to complete.
Alabama ranks 7th out of top 25 for athlete graduation rates
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Dec. 17
When it comes to the athlete graduation rate, the new America Foundation ranks Alabama 7th out of its top 25 schools. For years, UA has been exceeding the acceptable standards for completing undergraduate studies. UA gymnast Geralen Stack-Eaton: “A huge part of your life, it’s going to take you, if you can’t go pro or if your sport doesn’t even have pro, it will take you to your next step like getting a job.”
Connecticut shooting: Horrifying has become normal
Denver Post – Dec. 14
The massacre in Newtown, Conn., Friday is another sign that something once considered almost unimaginable has become the terrifying norm in America…Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, wrote last summer in The Huffington Post that four of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history had occurred in the past six years. He mentioned Aurora, “Nidal Hasan’s attack at the Fort Hood Army base in 2009, Jiverly Wong’s attack at a Binghamton immigration center in 2009, and Seung-Hui Cho’s attack on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.”