Major shakeups in the middle ranks of U.S. News law school list
Law.com – March 12, 2013
U.S. News & World Report’s latest law school rankings are out, and Yale Law School has maintained its stranglehold on the top spot … While most of the major moves happened outside the top 50, there were few notable changes among the highest-ranking schools. The University of California, Berkeley School of Law dropped two spots from No. 7 to No. 9, while the University of Michigan Law School gained one spot to tie Berkeley. Washington University in St. Louis School of Law moved up four spots to No. 19 – cracking the top 20. The University of Alabama School of Law moved up eight spots to land at No. 21.
UA hosting state technology conference
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – March 12
The University of Alabama is hosting the 34th Annual Alabama Technology Student Association State Conference involving competition for 500 middle and high-school students Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bryant Conference Center. Students from schools throughout the state are will participate in more than 40 events including computer-aided design, carbon-dioxide-powered dragsters, inventions and innovations, flight endurance, structural engineering and a Jeopardy-style technology bowl…UA’s College of Engineering is hosting the event.
UA researchers receive grant to study obesity in the Black Belt
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 11
Alabama has one of the highest rates of obesity in the country. In some Black Belt counties, almost 50 percent of adults and 20 percent of preschoolers are considered obese. University of Alabama researchers have received an $800,000 grant to study the problem. It’s from the National Institutes of Health for colloborative research with those rural communities. “Trying to find a way to find a process that will work for the long term, that will bring groups together that are sustainable over years, not just to come in, do our project, and leave.” A pilot program has already started at the Sunshine School in Hale County. The Druid City Garden Project is helping to build a vegetable garden.
Aurora mass shooting suspect’s expected plea a rarity
USA Today – March 12
Today’s arraignment of James Holmes, accused of mass murder in Colorado, is a rarity among massacre suspects. Holmes, scheduled to enter a plea for the July 2012 murders of 12 patrons in a suburban Denver movie theater and the attempted murder of nearly 60 others, is just one of a handful of suspects to face legal proceedings in a case involving no prior connection to murder victims. Since 2006, there have been 200 mass killings — defined by the FBI as four or more victims … “In the vast majority of these cases, these are people who never have killed before,” notes University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford, author of The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers. Random mass killings appear to provide instigators both compensation for failures in their lives and a way to act out, Lankford says. “These people feel they’re victims of conspiracies or persecution. In that moment (of a killing rampage), they have more power and status than they ever had before. People are literally bowing down to them, ducking the bullets,” he says.
AZCentral.com – March 12
UA to host director of Center for Gifted Education
Crimson White – March 12
The College of Education is hosting a lecture Tuesday by Joy Lawson Davis, the director of the Center for Gifted Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, titled “Culturally Diverse Gifted Students: Coming out from Under.” “Her audience would be anyone who interested in the gifted education of a culturally diverse student population,” Rebecca Ballard, Capstone Education Society coordinator, said. “That would include teachers, students, educators, administrators [and] counselors.” Davis is an assistant professor of education in curriculum and instruction. She will be the Curtis Distinguished Lecturer for the 22nd James P. Curtis Lecture as part of the University’s “Through the Doors” celebration of the 50th anniversary of integration. Ballard said the lecture will be based on Davis’s award-winning book, “Bright, Talented, & Black: A Guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners” published in 2011. This lecture is a part of a series created to discuss contemporary education issues in honor of James P. Curtis, a professor of administration and educational leadership as well as assistant dean of the bureau of educational services and research.
Office of Disability Services helps nearly 4% of student population
Crimson White – March 12
It took three years for Haley Schlotman to work up the nerve to walk into the Office of Disability Services. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed; she just wasn’t sure if Attention Deficit Disorder was a serious enough disorder that she should go. “I always knew about [ODS] because my mom was always trying to get me to go,” Schlotman said. “I didn’t want to receive a service that I didn’t necessarily need. A lot of people have ADD, and a lot of people just go to the doctor to get Adderall. I guess I just didn’t want to be seen as one of those people.” She said she is glad she took the step, though. She was diagnosed with ADD around age seven and now, in her junior year of college, she has become weary of the struggle to stay focused…Schlotman is just one of many students struggling with a learning disorder. Judy Thorpe, director of ODS, said 3.7 percent of enrolled students at the University have registered for their services, many of whom suffer from ADD or ADHD. “We carefully review documentation and then meet with each student to plan accommodations on a case-by-case basis,” Thorpe said. Thorpe said accommodations are based strictly on the student’s needs. Common services include testing accommodations like extended time, reduced-distraction testing and scribes or readers for exams as well as books in alternative formats, note takers, real-time and a verbatim written transcript of what is presented orally in class and captioned videos.
Dance Alabama! choreographers speak out on UA’s must-see show
Al.com – March 11
Dance Alabama!, the student-produced dance concert, will return to the University of Alabama Tuesday night. Student choreographers are busy preparing their performers and putting the finishing touches on their routines before the show begins. DA! was voted a top 10 activity to see before you graduate begins. Ashley Tripp, a UA double major in both dance and journalism, is excited for the high-intensity jazz piece she choreographed. Her piece, “First Dance,” sets the scene at a wedding reception where a couple is about to embark on their first dance together. Tripp was inspired by the music she chose. “Shaun Leary, my duet partner, introduced me to the song ‘Sing With a Swing’ by DKS,” Tripp explained. “I instantly felt inspired to choreograph. The song has a taste of the big band jazz swing style with a twist of an upbeat remix.” Ashley Smith is also busy getting her piece “Kingdom Come” ready. The routine will open the show. “It was partially inspired by the image of a poignantly beautiful cathedral rising up out of the ruins of a war-torn city, a symbol of overwhelming hope in the midst of sorrow and destruction,” Smith said.
Two local Tide students receive school honor
Sand Mountain Reporter – March 11
Hanna Roberts and Jessica Cobb, both of Boaz, were recently chosen for participation in the University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Sciences Crenshaw Leadership Academy on Feb. 15. The leadership retreat, held at North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa, is a highly competitive collegiate honor with only 16 students throughout the University. Students were chosen by their teachers based on scholastic merit in their major and an outstanding degree of personal character. In working through discussions, seminars, poster and team activities, CLA was formed in 2005 to allow high-profile student leaders a time to gather together for fellowship and to share ideas on how to make the UA experience better. As well as scheduling events throughout the day that provide a solid base on which to build valuable communication skills, the academy, through its exclusivity, is intended to bolster a strong network of young, like-minded achievement-oriented peers.
Tuscaloosa’s One Place to host Spring Fling 2013 on Sunday
Al.com – March 11
Tuscaloosa’s One Place is hosting a family-friendly Spring Fling for Tuscaloosa families to come and enjoy their weekend. Spring Fling 2013 takes place Sunday at Jaycee Park from 2-4:30 p.m. The carnival is a fun way for families to come together and spend time with their children…The University of Alabama Honors College will get in on the Spring Fling action by hosting a water balloon toss at the event. They will also have a Fruit Loop bracelet station where kids can make their own edible jewelry. There will be food available at the carnival. For more information on UA Honors College’s involvement with this Sunday’s Spring Fling, email Christie Talley. For more information on Spring Fling as a whole, visit the Tuscaloosa’s One Place website.
Exchange students eligible for in-state tuition
Crimson White – March 12
As a student at California State University, Northridge, Haley Holston said she always felt like something in her college life was missing. “I always had an itch to travel and go to new and exciting places,” Holston said. Today, Holston, a senior majoring in public relations, studies full-time at The University of Alabama through the National Student Exchange program. NSE is a network for inter-university exchange within the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to nse.org. “It’s kind of like studying abroad, but not,” said Stacy Jones, assistant dean of students and UA campus coordinator for NSE. “It’s like getting a cultural experience without going abroad and doesn’t cost as much.” Jones said approximately 200 colleges around the United States, in territories and in Canada exchange students, and 50 percent of students who do the program through The University of Alabama end up transferring here.
McClung lecture series kicks off Thursday
Knoxville News Sentinel (Tenn.) – March 12
The McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, on the University of Tennessee campus, will kick off a lecture series this week to celebrate the museum’s 50th anniversary…The first lecture will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the McClung Museum. Vernon Knight, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama, will speak on Native American mounds. His lecture, titled “Excavating and Interpreting the Mounds at Moundville,” focuses on the Moundville archeological site in west-central Alabama.
Foundry Educational Foundation annual meeting
Foundrymag.com – March 12
This year’s Foundry Educational Foundation Annual Meeting will be held in Tuscaloosa, AL, at the University of Alabama on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 23 and 24. The New Board Orientation meeting will be held on Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., at the Hotel Capstone, on the University campus. At 11:00 a.m., there will be a tour of the metalcasting facilities at the University, followed by a brief presentation by the Key Professor and some school administrators.
Henrietta Lacks’ son’s speech at UA canceled
Tuscaloosa News – March 12
An appearance by David “Sonny” Lacks, the son of the woman from whom the world-famous “HeLa” cells were drawn, scheduled for today at the University of Alabama has been canceled. An email from UA officials said that Lacks would be unable to attend. Rebecca Skloot’s best-seller, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” details how researchers in 1951 drew cancerous cells from the then-30-year-old tobacco farmer, and the cells became the first immortal human cells ever grown in a culture. The cells were later used to develop the polio vaccine, went up in space missions and have been used in cloning, in-vitro fertilization and gene mapping.