UA to honor one of first black faculty members on March 12
Al.com – March 5
The University of Alabama will honor Archie Wade, one of UA’s first black faculty members, for his 30 years of service next week. Wade, a retired kinesiology professor, began teaching at UA in 1970. He spent two years as a recruiter for Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant while teaching and earning his doctorate at the university. The university will honor Wade with a plaque in a ceremony at Graves Auditorium on the UA campus from 4-5 p.m. on March 12. UA president Judy Bonner and James McLean, retired dean of the College of Education, will speak at the event. Following the ceremony, which is part of UA’s “Through the Doors” events celebrating the 50th anniversary of integration at the university, the plaque will be placed in Moore Hall, where Wade had an office and taught classes before his retirement in 2000. “I had no idea there’d be something like this ceremony,” Wade said, according to a UA release. “When it’s all happening, you don’t think about the full implications and the impact it’ll have later. I knew what was happening at that time, but it’s not until lately that I’ve been able to understand the scope of it all. “Maybe I was the right type person for this to happen to,” Wade said. “The timing (of my hire) was great, the opportunity was there, and I took advantage of it. That’s the way I’ve always been — I gave my all. That is what I got from athletics.”
Rowing on the river
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
A canoe made of concrete may seem to violate the laws of physics, but a team of University of Alabama engineering students built one. Eighteen UA students practiced Sunday in the Black Warrior River in preparation for the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Southeast Conference Concrete Canoe Competition, which will be March 14-16 in Miami. Last year, UA students designed a concrete canoe named April’s Fury, inspired by Tuscaloosa’s recovery from the April 27, 2011, tornado. This year’s canoe design draws its inspiration from medieval times. “This year, we’re having a King Arthur theme,” said Steven Burroughs, the team’s captain, a senior civil engineering major from Saraland. Josh Morrison, the team’s co-captain and a senior civil engineering major from Etowah County, said the team bought its own mold for the canoe this year instead of constructing it themselves. Morrison said the decision saved the team more than 300 hours of labor. This year it took four hours to construct the canoe instead of the usual 8-12 hours.
‘October Sky’ author Homer Hickam named UA’s Cason Award recipient
Al.com – March 5
The University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences and the journalism department announced today that the the 2013 recipient of the Clarence Cason Award in Nonfiction Writing is Homer Hickam. Homer Hickam, a native of Coalwood, W. Va., has written 14 books, including the acclaimed No. 1 New York Times memoir “Rocket Boys.” That book was made into the acclaimed film “October Sky” and is being developed as a Broadway musical with Hickam as co-writer. Hickam will receive his award and give a talk at a luncheon set for 11:30 a.m. March 15 at the Hotel Capstone. He will also give a free public address on the craft of writing memoirs and non-fiction, titled “Rockets, coal mines, lighthouses and the dreams of boys,” at 6:30 p.m. March 14 in room 216 Reese Phifer Hall on the UA campus. Hickam’s March 14 address will be the final event in the fifth annual J-Day, which will feature a day of professionals speaking to journalism students.
Bad weather forecast prompts cancellation of Alabama’s trip to White House; will be rescheduled
Al.com – March 5
A weather system that includes rain, snow and heavy winds is scheduled to land on the Washington D.C. area sometime tonight. That’s why Alabama won’t be landing there Wednesday. The Crimson Tide’s trip to the White House, where it was to be honored by President Barack Obama for winning its third BCS National Championship in the past four seasons, will be rescheduled for a yet-to-be-determined future date. Last year’s ceremony was held Thursday, April 19. The good weather allowed it to be held on the White House’s South Lawn. Alabama begins spring practice March 16, will begin its spring break the week of March 25 and will play in its annual A-Day spring game April 20.
UA graduate competes in reality fashion show
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
A University of Alabama graduate will compete in the NBC reality show “Fashion Star,” which premieres Friday. Hunter Bell, 32, a New York City-based fashion designer will face 12 other designer contestants for a chance to launch original collections in three of the nation’s largest fashion retailers — Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Express stores. “The show is a fierce competition,” said the Florence, S.C., native. “We’re under the gun with each weekly challenge, competing with one another and trying to do our very best.” Bell studied fashion design and studio art and graduated in 2003.
Al.com – March 4
Mobile’s Exscien Corp. advances in 2013 Alabama Launchpad Start-up Competition
Al.com – March 5
Mobile-based Exscien Corp. was among only seven teams selected Monday to advance to the next round in the 2013 Alabama Launchpad Start-up Competition. Monday’s “proof of commercial relevance” presentations, held at Evonik Degussa in Birmingham, pitted one-dozen could-be high-growth ventures from across the state against one another in pursuit of their potential share of $100,000 in seed funding. Exscien is a drug-development company focused on repairing damage to mitochondrial DNA with designs on providing the first available treatment for an array of human diseases, ranging from organ transplant to multi-organ system failure caused by trauma…Funded by corporate sponsors and the Alabama Research Alliance, Alabama Launchpad also receives support from seven partnering universities, including Alabama State University, Auburn University, the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of South Alabama and Alabama A & M University…In addition to Exscien Corp., the following competitors have advanced to the next round:…· MagnnPro, a Tuscaloosa-based nanotechnology enterprise providing a new MRI contrast agent that is safer and more effective than currently utilized contrast agents…· Thrupore Technologies, Tuscaloosa-based nanotechnology venture that provides catalysts for chemical manufacturers based on “advanced materials” science.
History professor to lecture on shorthand
Crimson White – March 5
On Wednesday, March 6, the University Libraries will be hosting a lecture by Michael Mendle, professor of history at the University, entitled “Absolutely the Most Important Thing You Know Nothing About: Shorthand and Civilization in the 17th Century England.” The lecture will explore a now little-known writing technique known as shorthand. “I am going to take something that is scarcely known and show how it was extremely important to the culture of the time,” Mendle said…“It began as a way for pious Puritans to take sermon notes, but eventually lawyers, brainiacs and academics picked it up. The way it was designed it really required people to be intelligent to even use it. Famous people such as Isaac Newton, John Locke, Samuel Pepys and other famous people used shorthand,” he said. “Very smart people engaged in it because it enabled people to be successful.” As to why it is important today, Mendle explained the heavy bearing shorthand had on a number of modern technologies and techniques as diverse as news reporting and texting.
2012 BCS National Championship Trophy comes to the Bryant Museum
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 5
The Crimson Tide’s 2012 BCS Championship trophy is home. Alabama’s new championship hardware joins the other two ‘Bama has won in the last three years, museum director Ken Gaddy told WVUA. They have had to rearrange exhibits to make room for the trophy.
Ambassador, local pastor among panelists slated for Rotary Peace Forum
OakRidger.com – March 5
At the Oak Ridge Peace Forum on March 9…Will Hodge, an associate professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Consumer Sciences, will speak on “Civility in the Workplace.” He has designed and taught graduate and undergraduate courses on campus and online on “Consumer Conflict Mediation, Management, and Negotiation in the Workplace.” Hodge has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and a master’s degree in divinity in pastoral care and counseling from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Speaking multiple languages becoming more important with time
Crimson White – March 5
It is vital to learn a language other than English, Koji Arizumi, director of The University of Alabama Critical Languages Center, said, and Americans are beginning to realize it. “Twenty years ago, they didn’t think ‘we need another language.’ They thought everyone should speak English, but it’s not like that anymore,” Arizumi said. He said there are several reasons why, in a changing world, it is important for UA students to learn a foreign language, and each language addresses its own area of need. “Each language has a specific purpose,” he said. “Like Spanish – so many people speak Spanish here, so it’s convenient. Chinese is more for business. Many of the ROTC people are taking Arabic.” Hillary Catlin, a senior majoring in speech-language pathology and minoring in Spanish, said she feels her language skills will help her in the future. “I’ve made sure to mention it whenever I am looking for jobs,” Catlin said. “I’ve put it on my resumé for grad school. It kind of supplements everything… it gives me a leg-up because it shows that I know things that are outside of myself.”
John Ramage elected First National Bank president and CEO
Troy Messenger – March 4
The First National Bank torch has been passed from father to son. At the annual meeting of the shareholders of the First National Bank on Feb. 26, John R. Ramage was elected president and chief executive officer and Rhonda Peters was named chief financial officer. Ramage succeeds his father, James T. (Jimmy) Ramage III in both capacities…He is currently the executive vice president of the University of Alabama National Alumni Board.