Special African-American history program at University of Alabama
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
The University of Alabama Crossroads Community Center invites the campus and community to participate in events throughout February during African-American History Month. This year’s campus celebration promotes recognition of the contributions of African-American culture to our communities and the nation. It will highlight moments in African-American history and the ongoing impact of the African-American experience. “The events scheduled for February present an exciting array of art exhibits, lectures, films and tours,” said Lane McLelland, Crossroads director. “Celebrating specific events and the insights of personal experience, they provide an opportunity to learn from the work of those who have come before us and to build understanding for the challenges of the future.” As part of the program, the UA School of Social Work will host an event at noon Monday, Feb. 11, to honor the late Dr. Ethel H. Hall, alumna and distinguished educator. The event will feature guest speaker Lecia J. Brooks, outreach director of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Her address, “Fighting Hate, Teaching Tolerance, Seeking Justice: The Southern Poverty Law Center,” will be in 223 Little Hall. Throughout the month, students also will have the opportunity to travel to two historic Alabama sites at no cost. On Sunday, Feb. 24, buses will take students to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to explore its exhibits, and on Sunday, March 3, students can travel to Selma to learn about the historic events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
UA hosting hovercraft race
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
The University of Alabama Hovercraft Team along with Hoverclub of America announced Tuesday that they will be bringing a hovercraft race to Tuscaloosa with a rivalry edge to it. The race will be held at Lake Lurleen State Park on March 16 and will include Auburn University’s hovercraft team, the Hovering Tigers. Hoverclub of America, a nonprofit organization that promotes the hover sport, sponsors races across the country, but has never held one in Tuscaloosa or the state of Alabama. Kent Gano, racing director for Hover-club of America, said he hopes the race will spark an entire collegiate racing league. “I hope it’ll turn into something even more, like a Southern challenge between Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,” Gano said. “It’s exciting.” The idea of a Tuscaloosa race began with UA senior Hisham Ali, an aerospace engineering major who wanted to create a UA hovercraft team, build a fully functional craft and host a race in Tuscaloosa. He, along with three other aerospace engineering seniors, got the project approved by the College of Engineering. The team is building the craft as part of their senior design project.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 29
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
UA partners with Pat Tillman Scholars program
Crimson White – Jan. 30
The University of Alabama has been named a University Partner with the Pat Tillman Military Scholars program for the 2013-2014 academic year, increasing UA student-veterans’ chances to win Pat Tillman Foundation scholarships. Alabama joins the ranks of 15 other U.S. universities, including three other SEC schools, as a University Partner, which ensures resources for veterans, service members and their spouses in addition to scholarship money, Alexandra Karagas, coordinator of Veteran and Military Affairs within the University’s Veterans Affairs office, said…The University’s partnership with the foundation increases chances for the selection of Tillman scholars on campus and ensures resources for veterans, service members and their spouses, Karagas, coordinator of veteran and military affairs, explained.
Tuscaloosa teen meets President Obama
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Jan. 30
A Tuscaloosa teen got the chance of a lifetime this week: to meet the President of the United States. Tyler Merriweather is the Boys and Girls Club of America’s Southeast Youth of the Year. He met President Obama yesterday to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing young people today. Among the top issues: education and job access. Merriweather says the Boys and Girls Clubs of West Alabama was a sanctuary for him over the past five years. Merriweather spent much of his youth helping his single mother and taking care of his sister who has medical challenges. He says the time he spent at the club helped him to develop into a caring and driven young man. Merriweather is now studying accounting at the University of Alabama.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 30
Sundance Film Festival trip lets UA students network, learn industry ropes (CW)
Al.com – Jan. 29
University of Alabama telecommunication and film students and instructors got recently got a taste of the country’s most famous film festival in Park City, Utah, reports The Crimson White. Taking film majors to the Sundance Film Festival is more than just a field trip. For young artists who want to seriously pursue careers in the field, a trip to Sundance can be life-changing in more ways than one. It can reaffirm one’s passion for the art, as it teaches valuable lessons on just how fast-paced and gritty the industry has become. The CW reports TCF assistant professors Kristen Warner and Rachel Raimist planned and attended the trip with students who learned those lessons in networking, distribution, marketing and others from industry professionals.
Creative Writing Club enables high school authors
Crimson White – Jan. 30
Alyssa Hubbard thought she would study history, perhaps at the University of Chicago, and she was almost certain she wanted go to law school afterwards. It was not until her junior year at Brookwood High School, when an AP English teacher suggested she take part in a creative writing program offered to high school students at The University of Alabama, that she finally began to second guess her plans. She loved to write and did so often, but she had long since given up any serious aspirations. With an air of indifference, she followed the teacher’s advice and joined the Creative Writing Club, figuring if nothing else it would at least be worth checking out. “It was an eye-opening experience for me,” Hubbard said. “Writing was what made me happy. Thankfully I was able to get on campus with the CWC and fell in love with the University.” After graduating last year, Hubbard enrolled at the Capstone and chose an English major and creative writing minor. Since then she has also submitted a few manuscripts for journal publication. “I can thank the CWC for many of the manuscripts I sent out – their workshops and topics led to the manuscripts’ creation and inspired me to work on them further,” she said. Stories like Hubbard’s are exactly what University of Alabama professor of English Robin Behn, hoped to inspire when she created the CWC in 2004, and she hopes to inspire more when the spring component of the program begins Wednesday, January 30.
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
Druid City Arts Festival now calling for artist, musician registration
Al.com – Jan. 30
Going on four years now, the Druid City Arts Festival is calling for artists and musicians to participate in the April 6 event. This year’s fest is presented by the Tuscaloosa Tourism & Sports Commission and Creative Campus Campus at the University of Alabama. The event will be held at Government Plaza on Saturday, April 6, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. The festival is rain or shine event. Registration is currently open for visual artists and musicians. You can sign up now at dcaf.ua.edu. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome. The event offers a family-friendly atmosphere with children’s activities.
UA Theatre to premiere comedy ‘Design for Living’ on Feb. 4
Al.com – Jan. 29
The University of Alabama Theatre and Dance department is ready to kick off its 2013 season with a play by British playwright Noel Coward. “Design for Living” is a British comedy about a complicated three-way romance between Otto and Leo and the object of their desires, Gilda. They’re content with their bohemian ways until English art dealer Ernest has them reconsider the way they’ve been living. This performance will run from Feb. 4-10 with all productions in Allen Bales Theatre in Rowand-Johnson Hall on UA’s campus. The Feb. 4-9 performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., while Feb. 10’s matinee will take place at 2 p.m.
OPINION: Our Economy Profits From All Undocumented Workers
Huffington Post – Jan. 30
With President Obama ready to unveil parts of his immigration reform measures this week, he is likely to call for increased visas for graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math. Obama advocated immigration reform in his inauguration speech…Yet Obama must also cease the deportation of laborers in low-wage sectors, who he has deported in record numbers…University of Alabama research economist Samuel Addy estimated Alabama’s GDP reduction ranging from $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion following the exodus of most of the state’s undocumented immigrants. The economic effects that resulted were a loss of state income and sales tax collection ranging from $56.7 million to $264.5 million and a
reduction of local sales tax revenues estimated between $20 million and $93.1 million.
Revived UA equestrian team thriving
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
They are a group of young women who share a passion for horses and a passion for competing. That’s how the University of Alabama equestrian team’s president, Taylor Templin, best sums up the makeup of the relatively new club team that has already made its mark in the collegiate equestrian world. “Most of us have been showing competitively all of our lives,” said Templin, a junior from Americus, Ga., who started taking formal lessons when she was 4. “I just love it. These girls on this team are so amazing. Everyone is working toward a common goal. You make friends who have the same goal, have the same passion. “It started my freshman year, in the fall of 2010. There had been a team years and years ago, and I think they were waiting for it to accrue more interest to have a team again,” Templin said. “The university has been wanting a new women’s sport to eventually become an NCAA sport, so I think that was another factor.”
University students chase tornadoes across the region
Crimson White – Jan. 30
When reports of possible severe weather began breaking Tuesday, members of The University of Alabama Meteorological Society immediately tweeted their own forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Including a weather map and specific breakdown of what the forecast could mean for Tuscaloosa, UAMS pushed out their information to inform their 3,000 Twitter followers and reached out to even more members of the UA community via hashtags, like #UAchat. In addition to informing the UA community of weather alerts, UAMS has been known to deploy its “storm spotter” teams, comprised of FEMA-certified and National Weather Service-trained spotters, to chase storm systems in the region. Now, thanks to $11,000 worth of upgrades and equipment, the group is poised to produce live-streaming weather coverage and updates during the coming storm season. The group, which self-identifies as weather enthusiasts, received donations of money and equipment from family and friends in an effort to update and intensify their weather reporting for the University and West Alabama communities.
UA’s third annual Skin and Bones concert tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Al.com – Jan. 30
The University of Alabama School of Music will host its third annual Skin and Bones concert tonight featuring trombones and percussion tonight at 7:30 p.m. The trombone studio is led by Jonathan Whitaker, who has been at UA since the fall 2009. Tim Feeney, who has been an assistant professor of percussion since fall 2012, will lead the percussionists tonight…Can’t make the live performance? Don’t worry, UA is streaming it live at www.rollslide.com. Tonight’s Skin and Bones performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Moody Music Building concert hall. The performance is free and open to the public.
Art collective ‘Raudelunas’ to close exhibition with concert
Crimson White – Jan. 30
The 70s art collective “Raudelunas” will be returning to The University of Alabama on Saturday, Feb. 2, to close out the Raudelunas Exposition in the Ferguson Center Gallery with a free concert. The Raudelunas’ Pataphysical Redux Concert will bring original members back to the very place of their 1975 recording. “Raudelunas ‘Pataphysical Revue,” one of their original recordings, was recorded at the Ferguson Theater in 1975 and listed in The Wire magazine’s “100 Records That Set The World On Fire While No One Was Listening.” “I’m not exactly sure what can be expected myself,” Craig Nutt, a UA alumnus and original band member, said. “There are some new and different versions of things but some will be familiar.” Nutt said their music had a lot of experimental values as well as a focus on improvisation, which they plan to bring to the stage Saturday. “We really explored some discreet musical ideas,” Nutt said. “That’s how this show will be, newer versions of ideas we explored then.”
Campus Movie Fest to screen films at Thursday finale in Ferguson Center
Al.com – Jan. 30/span>
Campus Movie Fest, the world’s largest student film festival, is wrapping up their time at the University of Alabama. The five-minute student films are complete and were turned in on Monday. The UA student and faculty panel are busy judging all the contestants to find the winners of the CMF Elfenworks Social Justice category, Best Picture, Best Comedy and Best Drama. They will also select the top 16 films that will be shown at Thursday night’s finale, which will take place in the Ferguson Center Ballroom at 7:30 p.m. According to the CMF website, most of the prizes will be handed out to the winners at the finale. The doors to the Ferguson Center Ballroom will open at 6:30 with the screening kicking off at 7:30 p.m.
‘Bloodlines’ opening reception Thursday at Paul R. Jones Gallery
Al.com – Jan. 30
The University of Alabama is holding an opening reception for a new exhibit at the Paul R. Jones Gallery that will feature work from the permanent Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art. Jones donated 1,700 pieces of art in 2008, mostly by African-American artists, to UA. With this art, the College of Arts and Sciences curates different exhibits featuring various art from Jones’ collection. “Bloodlines” is an exhibit focusing on relationships between family members,” Katie McAllister, director of the Paul R. Jones Gallery told us. The exhibit opened on Jan. 9 and will be on display through Feb. 22. The opening reception will take place Thursday at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, located on 2308 6th Street, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
AdTeam making crafts for schools as part of campaign
Crimson White – Jan. 30
The University of Alabama Advertising Team is organizing artistic projects to benefit local Tuscaloosa schools Wednesday and Thursday in the Ferg Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. UA AdTeam is currently working on their integrated marketing campaign for their client, Gildden Paint, that they will use to compete in the National Student Advertising Competition in April. The FergFest event Wednesday and Thursday is part of that campaign. “FergFest is a way for AdTeam to research our company, Glidden, while giving back to the community,” Myreete Wolford, president of UA AdTeam, said. Wolford said all of the crafts they are doing will not only be fun but will be donated to the Tuscaloosa city schools that were affected by the April 27, 2011 tornado. The projects will include painting classroom items and doing Valentine’s Day themed crafts. “It will go to schools that may still need a little color in their rooms,” she said.
Moody band festival to feature variety of music groups
Crimson White – Jan. 30
Moody Music will be hosting the Honor Band Spectrum Concert in the Concert Hall at Moody Music Building Friday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Spectrum is usually a free, biannual concert that brings together a collection of student and faculty ensembles at the School of Music for a night of “Best Of” performances. This spring Spectrum event will be kicking off a weekend full of band concerts targeted for attendees of the Honor Band Festival. “The Honor Band Festival is our largest on-campus recruiting event for high school musicians,” Dr. Kenneth Ozzello, director of bands and professor of music at the University, said. The Festival will be held this weekend. High school participants are seated into four different bands and work with UA music faculty and guest clinicians throughout the weekend. These high school musicians also will have the opportunity to be awarded Alabama Concert Ensemble Participation and Million Dollar Band Participation scholarships. The event will be comprised of several different band concerts, starting with the Alabama Symphonic Band Concert on Thursday night and Spectrum on Friday night. The Alabama Wind Ensemble will perform Saturday night, and the high school honor bands will perform Sunday afternoon.