University of Alabama’s adapted athletics program an example to emulate
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 12
Brent Hardin started a decade ago with a vision and no budget. Hardin, who had just arrived as an assistant professor in adapted sports at the University of Alabama, wanted to start a women’s wheelchair basketball team. “I didn’t ask permission to do it,” Hardin said. “I just did it.” Hardin came from West Georgia with Margaret Stran, an assistant professor in the kinesiology department, where Hardin was teaching and Stran was coaching wheelchair basketball. They married shortly before arriving at UA, and pursued the startup program together. They applied for a grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which supplied $5,000 in startup money and secured a place to practice at Foster Auditorium, which had fallen into disrepair before being refurbished a couple of years ago. They raised more money to buy equipment and help fund trips to away games. Now, 10 years later, the UA women’s wheelchair basketball team has won three national championships.
Coach puts passion into University of Alabama’s adapted golf program
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 12
Ford Burttram was a good enough golfer to finish 14th in the state of Florida’s high school championship when he was a sophomore. The Pensacola, Fla., native also played varsity basketball before an automobile accident sent him through a windshield at age 16, forever changing his life…Burttram spent a year home schooling as he adapted to his new life and returned to graduate on time. He discovered wheelchair basketball and played at a college in Wisconsin and later at the University of Alabama. Now, at age 33, Burttram works part-time in the UA Adapted Athletics program as an assistant coach with the UA men’s wheelchair basketball team, but he found a new calling as head coach of what he believes to be the first adapted golf program in the world.
Students organizing to give back to Hattiesburg
Crimson White – Feb. 12
An EF4 tornado struck Hattiesburg, Miss., Sunday, damaging the town and the University of Southern Mississippi campus and leaving over 60 people injured, according to a report by the Associated Press. This is a scene all too familiar for the residents of Tuscaloosa and students at The University of Alabama. Those who lived in Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011 when a similar tornado tore through town know better than anyone the emotions being felt in Hattiesburg, Miss., during the aftermath of Sunday’s storms. These emotions are what led freshman Michael McFillin to want to take action to aid those being affected in Hattiesburg, Miss…McSillin immediately started calling around to different UA student leaders. He got in touch with Paige Bussanich, director of civic engagement for the UA Community Service Center, and she agreed to help organize a relief effort just hours after the storm hit in southern Mississippi.
Is Lonnie Strickland UA’s toughest professor?
Crimson White – Feb. 12
Professor Lonnie Strickland doesn’t have students. He has customers. “It costs about $250,000 to get to 21, and if you take that and divide it against 30 classes, that’s about $3,800 a class. It comes out to be $133 a minute that you’re paying me to teach you,” Strickland said. “So it ought to be good, and besides that, it ought to be beneficial.” Strickland teaches General Business Administration 490, a strategic management class for graduating seniors at The University of Alabama, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. GBA 490 has a reputation for being one of the hardest classes at the University. The course is known for its heavy workload and Strickland addresses this part of the “local folklore” to be true in his 14-page syllabus. The requirements for customers entail preparing for class discussion about cases, or business stories, playing a management simulation game known as The Business Strategy Game and other assignments. The minimum time spent on the work requirements should be no less than 11 hours, Strickland says in his syllabus, not counting reading the course textbook and preparing for exams and quizzes.
SPLC official speaks on social equality (print edition only)
Crimson White – Feb. 12
Southern Poverty Law Center director of public outreach spoke on campus Monday afternoon about the modern day issues surrounding racial equality. Lecia Brooks said Black History Month is a time to think about the past injustices, progress that has already been made, and change that still needs to occur. “Black History Month provides an opportunity for us to reflect back and see where we’ve come from, the things we’ve fought for relative for justice and equality,” Brooks said…Brooks came to speak at Alabama on Monday afternoon as a part of the Dr. Ethel H. Hall Twenty-Fourth Annual African-American Heritage Month Celebration which is sponsored by the School of Social Work.
UA colleges hope health care doc screening generates positive dialogue
Al.com – Feb. 11
Several University of Alabama colleges will sponsor a free community screening of “Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare,” a film they hope will generate a positive dialogue on the figure of the U.S. health care system. The screening will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 3 at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa. The event is sponsored by The UA’s College of Community Health Sciences, Capstone College of Nursing, School of Social Work, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion to focus on health care issues and concerns and possible ways to improve the health care system. Panelists will include health care providers, hospital and clinic administrators and representatives of business and government.
UA’s Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre returns Feb. 19
Al.com – Feb. 11
The University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance’s Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre returns next week with a dance concert featuring nearly 50 students. ARDT is choreographed by UA faculty including Cornelius Carter, Assistant Professor Qianping Guo, Rita Snyder, Sarah M. Barry and John Virciglio. Guo’s piece begins the show. He adapts Leon Minkus’ “Don Quixote” through classical and contemporary ballet. Carter’s performances pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of integration at UA and Whitney Houston, James Hood and Vivian Malone.
UATD presents Shakespeare tragedy ‘Othello’ Feb 18-24
Al.com – Feb. 11
The University of Alabama Theatre and Dance department will premiere William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy “Othello” on Feb. 18. The classic tale features themes of jealousy, love, betrayal, temptation, murder and racism. “This production will be singularly theatrical, using dance, movement, and broad design strokes to fully explore the nightmarish world of the play: a dark marriage mating the virulent jealousies of Iago and the creeping insecurities of Othello,” director and head of the UATD acting program Seth Panitch said in a recent release. This performance will run from Feb. 18-24 in the Marian Gallaway Theatre in Rowand-Johnson Hall on UA’s campus.
UA presents ‘Amalgam’ graduate students joint exhibition March 7
Al.com – Feb. 11
The University of Alabama department of Art and Art History are presenting “Amalgam,” a joint exhibition featuring art work of two graduate students with an opening reception on March 7 at 5 p.m. Anne Herbert and Darius Hill will display their art work in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery. Although they are different stylistically, both artists work with the concept of time in their art. Herbert is a third year MFA candidate at UA who explores certain moments of recognition in her work. Hill uses images of the past and present and pop culture in his artwork. He is a chair of the Visual Arts department at Birmingham’s Alabama School of Fine Arts. “Amalgam” will help both artists fulfill requirements for their Master’s Degrees at UA. The opening reception is March 7 from 5-7 p.m. in the Sella Granata Art Gallery. The art will be displayed from Feb. 22 to March 15. Sella Grana Art Gallery is located on UA’s campus in 109 Woods Hall.
State bill to increase tax incentives for rural doctors
Anniston Star – Feb. 11
Some health industry experts say more Alabama physicians are choosing lucrative practices in urban areas, while many rural doctors are aging and facing retirement – resulting in a void of quality rural health care. However, one local lawmaker wants to help reverse that trend and keep more physicians…in rural areas through a new tax credit bill…Dr. John Wheat, professor of community and rural medicine in the college of community health sciences at the University of Alabama, agrees. “It’s going to get worse,” Wheat said. “The doctors out there, many are getting older and are about to retire.” To Wheat, the bill is a good idea, but will likely only work in retaining rural physicians, not enticing them to move to rural areas. “Unless we raise them and train them in rural areas, they’re not going to come here,” Wheat said. “It’s mainly a cultural issue … money is a part of it, but it’s just not enough to buy the heart and soul of an urban kid.” Wheat said the rural medical scholars program at the University of Alabama is designed to break that cultural barrier and show students the benefits of practicing in rural areas. “About 60 percent of our graduates are practicing in rural areas,” Wheat said.
Tax season gives accounting students chance for real-world experience
Crimson White – Feb. 12
As all working people know, tax season is upon us. But for some UA students, this potentially stressful time of year gives them an opportunity to expand their professional horizons and get on-the-job experience that can prove invaluable. Accounting professor Peter Johnson said his department encourages its students to get an internship during this rush so they can gain experience during what is known as the “busy season.” Johnson said this has been the name given to the period between Jan. 1 and April 15, and it has been traditionally associated with taxes, but is also a busy time for auditing as well. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that many firms now perform over 60 percent of their work during this period, obviously this places a burden on the firms and their employees,” Johnson said. “In an effort to partially alleviate the problem, firms have searched for methods of increasing their staffs for this period of time followed by a return to ‘normal’ for the rest of the year. Increasingly, a source for additional help during busy season has been fourth-year accounting students serving as interns.”
Never mind New Orleans’ Mardi Gras parades, Mobile’s party was first
MSN – Feb. 11
When it comes to Mardi Gras, New Orleans gets all the attention — and most of the tourists. But people in Mobile, Alabama, where the U.S. tradition of pre-Lenten parades got its start, said they are too busy enjoying their own raucous Carnival season to worry that they celebrate in the shadow of their fellow Gulf Coast city. …Spending for the weeks-long Carnival season totals about $408 million, according to a 2005 University of Alabama study.
Winnipeg Sun – Feb. 11
Sen. Richard Shelby celebrates growth of UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 11
…the Chamber breakfast. Shelby celebrated the growth of the University of Alabama and the expansion of Mercedes-Benz … The economy and immigration were the main topics.
UA dean Carolyn Dahl talks about Hattiesburg tornado
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 11
Carolyn Dahl is the dean of the College of Continuing studies at the University of Alabama but grew up in Hattiesburg and attended USM. Dahl says her family and friends are OK but it’s painful to see such devastation in a place called home. Dahl says she knows the town will be better in the end.
Chamber Banquet set for Feb. 21
Greenville Advocate – Feb. 12
The Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet will be held Feb. 21…This year’s speaker will be former First United Methodist Church minister Gorman Houston. Houston served as the senior minister at FUMC in Greenville from 1992-98. He is now a professor of management and marketing in the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Alabama.