SportsCenter Anchor and UA Alum Rece Davis to speak in Ferguson Center Theatre
Crimson White – Jan. 31
ESPN’s SportsCenter anchor and University of Alabama alumnus Rece Davis will speak at the Ferguson Student Center Theater today at 11 a.m. in an event sponsored by the University of Alabama Program in Sports Communication. Andrew Billings, director of APSC, said it is obvious why the program invited Davis to be a guest speaker. “Rece is one of those faces and names we invite into our living room during the year,” Billings said. “He is synonymous with football and culture in Alabama and the South.” Billings said just like our university wants to be the best in sports, our students want to be the best in the sports industry. “Jobs in sports are incredibly competitive, and I think hearing from people in the industry can provide a lot of insight to them,” Billings said…Even though the program in sports communication is in its first year, this is the second big name that they have brought in as a speaker. ESPN Executive Chairman George Bodenheimer spoke last October to more than 500 students, faculty and others. Billings said he hopes bringing in such big names will put the new program in sports communication on the map.
UA Hovercraft Team set to host race against Auburn on Lake Lurleen (photos, video)
Al.com – Jan. 30
Tuscaloosa better prepare itself for the Iron Bowl of hovercraft racing. If you thought such a thing didn’t exist, you were right. That is, until this spring when the newly formed University of Alabama Hovercraft Team will race Auburn’s squad on Lake Lurleen on March 16. Racing should start around 9 or 10 a.m. that Saturday, with three heats and a one-hour endurance race on Sunday. “It’s just like any racing,” said Hoverclub of America’s Kent Gano, who is currently advising UA’s club and has worked with Auburn’s in the past. “It’s watching guys take on each other, passing each other, once in a while making a mistake and going for a swim.”
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Jan. 30
2013 Middle east PR conference to focus on building sustainable communications industry in region
Zawya.com – Jan. 30
Building a sustainable PR and Communications industry in the Middle East is the theme of this year’s Middle East Public Relations Conference taking place 3 & 4 February 2013 at Zayed University’s Knowledge Village Dubai campus. The conference brings together international and regional experts from both the professional and academic worlds…A keynote address on Leadership in PR will be given by Dr. Bruce K. Berger, Reese Phifer Professor of Advertising & Public Relations for the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama, USA. An internationally renowned authority in advertising and public relations, Dr. Berger served as the director of The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations an organisation that works to develop PR students towards more active leadership roles within the industry.
UA announces dates for A-Day, 2013 homecoming
Crimson White – Jan. 31
The University of Alabama announced the dates for the football team’s 2013 A-Day Spring Game and the 2013 Homecoming game. A-Day is scheduled for 2 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, April 20, while Homecoming is set for Saturday, Oct. 5 when the Crimson Tide hosts Georgia State. The annual A-Day Game will be televised live to a national audience by ESPN2. A-Day is the 15th and final practice of the spring. Admission will once again be free to the public. More information on A-Day, including additional activities, traffic and parking, will be available at a later date on rolltide.com. Alabama leads the nation in spring game attendance over the last six years with a total of 516,536 fans and an average of 86,089 during that period. The largest A-Day crowd in school history came in 2011 (92,310). In head coach Nick Saban’s first year of 2007, the stadium was at full capacity prior to expansion (92,138). Further details about Homecoming weekend activities, including a kickoff time for the game, will be released as they are finalized.
Recorded by Students: Campus MovieFest finale to screen top 16 films
Crimson White – Jan. 31
The University of Alabama will host The Campus MovieFest Finale Thursday in the Ferguson Ballroom at 7:30 p.m., where 16 films created by UA students last month will be screened, judged and awarded. Forty-six films were submitted by UA students for last year’s competition, and J.R. Hardman, promotions manager for Campus MovieFest, said there was even more participation in 2013 from students at the Capstone…The 16 films that will be screened Thursday were chosen by an anonymous panel of student and faculty judges who deemed them the best in this year’s competition. CMF is the world’s largest student film festival and a premier outlet for future movie makers that allows students to create videos for either fun or to kickstart their careers in filmmaking.
Focus on base divides Iran watchers
NTI.org – Jan. 30
A yearlong push by international nuclear investigators to visit a military base in Iran has divided issue experts between defenders of the effort and critics who warn it could undercut a wider probe into the nation’s atomic activities. Iran has rejected multiple requests by the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Parchin military complex since late 2011, when the organization highlighted suspicions that the site had at one point hosted a tank capable of facilitating nuclear-related explosives tests as well as development of a “neutron initiator” for activating atomic detonations…Daniel Joyner, a nuclear law expert at the University of Alabama, has questioned the agency’s authority to keep watch on assets not declared by Iran. That interpretation prompted a counterargument by Albright, Heinonen and Arizona State University academic Orde Kittrie.
A tale as old as time: Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ comes to Montgomery Performing Arts Centre
Montgomery Advertiser – Jan. 30
You know the classic tale: the cursed prince and the innocent beauty brought together by fate. And though the story has survived for ages, chances are you probably know it best as told by Disney. On Wednesday, the national touring company of “Beauty and the Beast” brings the magic to the local stage…This “Beauty and the Beast” is the eighth-longest-running musical on Broadway (from April 1994 to July 2007), and it includes additional songs and surprises you won’t find in the film … William Martin, an assistant professor and director of vocal instruction for the University of Alabama’s Musical Theatre Program, plays Maurice, the father of Belle, in the national touring production. Stepping back out onto the boards of the stage has been eye-opening and energizing, Martin said in a recent phone interview from Baltimore, where the show was having a two-week run.
AMS to host cookout for tornado-impacted Mobile community
Crimson White – Jan. 31
The Alabama Management Society, along with Kappa Alpha and several other greek organizations from The University of Alabama, will host a fundraiser to benefit the Mobile, Ala., community impacted by tornadoes on Christmas Day 2012. Greek organizations Alpha Chi Omega, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Chi Omega and Alpha Phi are co-hosting the event along with Kappa Alpha. “I think there’ll be a great turnout,” John Stassen, KA philanthropy chair, said. “I want to raise as much money as I can for this cause.” Stassen, who is from the Fairhope/Daphne, Ala., area across the bay from Mobile, Ala., said he took initiative on adapting the original AMS plan of having a cookout for victims of Hurricane Sandy both because of his personal connection to the area and because of what he sees as an opportunity to network within the greek community. “I started out with two fraternities that had a lot of currently active members from the Mobile area,” he said. “I wanted to provide an opportunity for us to come together for a greater cause.”
Increased local school security could impact volunteers
Crimson White – Jan. 31
Following the Dec. 14 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Tuscaloosa school and city officials began reassessing school safety plans. Although many of these changes have not been put into place, they could affect student groups on campus that volunteer in Tuscaloosa schools. Many student-led mentoring programs on campus go into schools weekly and work with local children of all ages. In many cases, these programs require an application process and background check before UA students able to get involved … Although the safety changes could make it harder for UA mentors to access the schools and their students, READ director of community relations Laurel Reeves said she thinks the changes will underscore the importance of the work the UA students are doing. “If anything, I hope that [the safety changes] will make the volunteers take being in the schools a little more seriously and understand that they are not here for a play date,” Reeves said.
Rec Center offering deals for spring break preparations
Crimson White – Jan. 31
The University Recreation Center is offering a special edition of its Achieve More Together program to help students meet their goals of getting in shape by spring break. Achieve More Together, or AM2, is a program designed to help students get the maximum fitness experience with a licensed personal trainer, while also providing the benefit of training alongside their peers. Jason Casey, coordinator of fitness at the Rec Center, said the personal training staff tries to meet the demands of so many students wanting to get in shape for spring break. “We are offering the AM2 specials to allow clients the ability to work out with friends and receive expert personal training at a low cost to the client,” Casey said. With the AM2 spring break programs, students can pay $200 per person for training twice a week from Feb. 4 to March 21. This package also includes a before and after BodPod Body Composition Test. Through another program in partnership with Outdoor Recreation, students can pay $115 for training twice a week from Feb. 5 to March 7, ending with a two-day backpacking trip March 8-10.