UA Preview

MONDAY, DEC. 10 – SUNDAY, DEC. 16, 2012

BEST BETS

COMMENCEMENT – The University of Alabama will hold its winter commencement ceremony Dec. 15 at Coleman Coliseum. The first of two ceremonies will begin at 9 a.m., while the second will start at 1:30 p.m. Commencement will be streamed live at http://www.ua.edu/commencement. For assistance, contact David Miller, communication specialist, at dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-0825.

CHRISTMAS COMES TO HAITI – UA social work graduate student Haley Heckman-Beech will make her third outreach trip to Haiti on Dec. 15. While previous trips to the country were to help run a medical clinic and conduct research for an independent study, Heckman-Beech will delivergifts and hygiene packets to more than 200 children at an orphanage this time around. Many families are still recovering from the devastating earthquake in 2010. For assistance, contact David Miller, communication specialist, at dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-0825.

CURRENT COMMENT

THE FISCAL CLIFF – Dr. Stephen Borrelli, UA professor of political science and expert on the U.S. Congress, offers his insights as President Obama and congressional leaders face legislation to prevent the “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to begin at the end of 2012: “To resolve the so-called ‘fiscal cliff,’ we have essentially the same set of players who brought us the debt limit fiasco last summer: Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, etc. The American people have, perhaps unintentionally, cast their collective ballot for the same divided government we’ve had since January 2011. So if the players haven’t changed, we can only hope the political calculations on all sides have changed because the election is now past, or the economic calculations have changed due to our credit downgrade and the continuing problems in Europe.” Borrelli can be reached at 205/348-3802 or sborrelli63@gmail.com. For assistance, contact Richard LeComte, at 205/348-3782 or rllecomte@advance.ua.edu

ABRAHAM LINCOLN – With the opening of Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Dr. George C. Rable, Charles G. Summersell chair in Southern History at UA, is available as a source about the 16th president’s life and the adoption of the 13th Amendment barring slavery. He is the author of “Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” andGod’s Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War.” Rable is researching the relationship between Lincoln and Union Gen. George B. McClellan. Contact Rable at grable@bama.ua.edu. For assistance, contact Richard LeComte, at 205/348-3782 or rllecomte@advance.ua.edu

EVENTS

PERMANENT COLLECTION – UA’s Sarah Moody Gallery of Art presents “Straddled: Selections from the Permanent Collection” through Jan. 18, 2013. ‘Straddled’ is a survey of works selected and installed so as to provoke a sense of visual unity. Artists represented in the exhibition include Pablo Picasso, Elizabeth Murray, Kara Walker, Chuck Close and Walker Evans. The gallery will feature more than 50 works of art belonging to its collection of more than 800 pieces. The gallery is at 103 Garland Hall on Woods Quad. Admission is free. Funding support for the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art comes from the department of art and art history and The College of Arts and Sciences. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays when the University is open. The gallery will close Dec. 21 and reopen Jan. 3. Contact the gallery at 205/348-1891 or go to http://art.ua.edu/site/galleries/sarah-moody-gallery-of-art/.