Air Force pilot’s gift to UA student arrives after his tragic death
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – July 2
At just 27 years old, Captain Mark Voss had already gained rank and earned a bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Academy. He was stationed in Kyrgyzstan, near Afghanistan, last Summer when he began taking an online engineering math class for a master’s degree at the University of Alabama. “He was part of a group of four students who were working over there taking the course at the same time.” says Sarah Chamberlain, who was just a work-study student for Voss’ professor… “I interacted with him via email throughout the whole course,” she added. Tragically, Captain Voss died in a military plane crash in May, but months prior to his death he had asked Chamberlain for an address so he could send a gift expressing his appreciation. “I didn’t know what it was sending. Nothing ever came. I just thought it would be small thank you card. And when it didn’t come, I just didn’t think anything of it. And then this summer we get the call.” That call was Voss’s father, who had found a packaged battle flag with a letter his son had written Sarah before becoming lost in the mail. Voss’s father made sure Sarah got the flag his late son desired for her to have.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – July 2
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – July 2
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 2
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – July 2
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 2
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Prevost chosen as dean of College of Nursing
Crimson White – July 3
Suzanne Prevost has been named the next dean of The University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing, effective Aug. 16. Prevost will replace current dean Susan Barger, who will have a year off before returning to a new supportive position within the college that has yet to be determined. Susan Gaskins, chair of the dean search committee, was at the forefront of the selection process. She said Prevost was chosen because of her exemplary credentials and proven leadership ability. “Dr. Prevost is recognized for her outstanding experience and background in the nursing profession – education, administration and leadership,” Gaskins said. “She has a diverse educational and professional background that has prepared her for the position of dean. Most recently, she served as associate dean for Practice and Community Engagement at the University of Kentucky.”
University of Alabama spring 2013 Dean’s List released
Al.com – July 2
Nearly 8,000 University of Alabama students made last semester’s Dean’s and President’s list, which was published Monday on UA News. The list consists of full time undergraduate students — no graduate or undergraduate students taking less than a full course load are considered. Students who complete the semester with a 3.5 GPA or higher make the Dean’s List, while President’s List students finish with a 4.0 GPA. Around 8,500 made the list for the fall 2012 semester.
Engineering student chosen for prestigious fellowship
Crimson White – July 3
Owen Killeen, a senior from Norwich, Conn., was recently selected as a Dwight D. Eisenhower Research Fellow for the Federal Highway Administration. His work for the program will be conducted at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. The requirements of the fellowship include three parts: hands-on lab work, writing a formal research paper and giving a presentation at the Transportation Research Board convention in Washington, D.C., in January 2014 with 11,000 other transportation sector professionals. Killeen’s research is working toward advancing the Autoclaved Concrete Prism Test, an accelerated test method being used to determine the alkali-silica reactivity of aggregates. He said he hopes his work will help the test become standardized in the near future.
From Capstone to Cuba: UA students collaborate, tour with Cuban performers
Crimson White – July 3
University of Alabama students will be taking the stage in Tuscaloosa, New York City and Havana, Cuba, this summer with their production of “Alcestis Ascending.” The play, an adaptation of Euripides’ “Alcestis,” is written and directed by Seth Panitch as part of creative research in the Alabama-Cuba initiative. The production includes UA students and Cuban actors and actresses, and is performed in both English and Spanish. William Ruiz, assistant director for “Alcestis Ascending,” said including the English and Spanish languages in the play brings both cultures to the stage, allowing one to learn about the other. “It’s not only the language, it’s also the culture,” Ruiz said. “It’s a different culture. A different way of working in the theater and a different way of living. And I think that that’s very interesting for an audience and for actors in the performance. It makes you grow by watching the way that the other ones work, then you add that to your own.”
Housing market improves despite slight foreclosure uptick
Anniston Star – July 1
A slight increase in Calhoun County foreclosures in the second quarter of the year did not stifle growth in sales and average prices in the area housing market. According to the Calhoun County Probate Office, the county had 90 foreclosures in April, May and June, 11 more than were recorded in the first quarter of the year. Despite the increase in foreclosures, which can depress average home prices and signal weakness in the economy, average home prices and new mortgages in the area rose in recent months. The numbers indicate an improving housing market, lessening the impact foreclosures had on it during the height of the recession, some housing industry experts say … Leonard Zumpano, professor of finance at the University of Alabama and the chair of real estate economics for the Alabama Association of Realtors, said housing markets across the country have improved in recent months, lessening the impact of foreclosures. “That excess supply of foreclosures is being more rapidly absorbed in the market,” Zumpano said. “The economy is improving and more people are able to refinance … I don’t think foreclosures are being an issue on the housing market anymore.”
‘What do you consider a failing school?’: Principal at one middle school says failing label doesn’t reflect school’s challenges, triumphs
Al.com – July 3
It was about 8:30 a.m. and high stakes standardized testing was about to start at Walter T. McKee Middle School on the south side of Montgomery … The Alabama Accountability Act assigned a new label to McKee: Failing. Seventy-eight Alabama public schools, mostly high-poverty, majority-African American middle schools like McKee, were designated as failing by Alabama’s new school choice law. But Nelson said the failing label doesn’t reflect the challenges his teachers face, or more importantly to him, the good things that happen within the school’s walls…Peter Hlebowitsh, dean of the College of Education at the University of Alabama, said it can be difficult to gauge the quality of what is happening inside a school. “We’re left with this very fallible system of reducing the quality rating of a school to a product measure (test scores)…. They don’t account for the fact there are lots of kids who are doing pretty well in these schools,” Hlebowitsh said. “The best predictor value for achievement scores is socioeconomic. Everybody knows this. It wouldn’t be surprising if you look at this list that they are all probably high-poverty schools. “Here’s the trick, you can get a high-poverty school that decides to buckle down and lift the test scores. It doesn’t necessarily mean the kids are getting a better education. ….. you’ve turned your school into a robotic test preparation factory and not a school,” Hlebowitsh said.
In Zimmerman trial, prosecution’s case circling the drain
Washington Times – July 2
George Zimmerman’s defense attorneys have yet to take the field, but they’re already up by double digits. Prosecutors in the closely watched, racially charged trial — seeking to convict Mr. Zimmerman of murder in the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin — have stumbled, analysts say, as several key witnesses have cast doubt on the state’s version of events and on several occasions have portrayed the defendant as a credible, even sympathetic figure … “They do have their work cut out for them. This case is difficult because the facts seem to be ambiguous,” said Montre Carodine, a professor at the University of Alabama Law School and a scholar of race relations. The prosecution is “having a hard time making their case. But there’s still a ways to go, and you never know what a jury is thinking.”
Foster care teens take part in Alabama Reach program
Crimson White – July 3
Friday, June 28, the students of the Alabama Reach program met with chaperones and their sponsoring UA faculty one final time for the program’s graduation ceremony in Gorgas Library. Among the freshly starched suits and cardigans of The University of Alabama’s academic staff, more than 40 high school students attended Alabama Reach’s graduation ceremony at the University. The students comprised a group of foster care and emancipated students determined to defeat the odds that they had faced growing up, by attending college. “Nationally, less than 5 percent of foster care students graduate college,” said Cynthia Moreland, executive director of the nsoro Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the uplifting of foster care students and a sponsor for Alabama Reach. Through Alabama Reach, a selected group of high school students in foster care participate in a five–day pre-collegiate summer program that includes college and ACT preparation and workshops, as well as activities like canoeing and laser tag. For the duration of the program, students are assigned a space in a campus dormitory.
Years later, Scottsboro Boys to be pardoned
Crimson White – July 3
This Monday, a bill passed by the Alabama Legislature in April, which would allow the Scottsboro Boys to be pardoned posthumously, took effect. While most of the Scottsboro Boys – nine young men who were falsely convicted of rape by an all-white jury in 1931 – have not been officially pardoned, a separate resolution has already exonerated them of the crime. Professors and students at The University of Alabama have worked over the past year with the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center to get the bills passed and to correct the 80-year-old ruling. Although the charges against all of the boys involved were eventually dismissed, only one, Clarence Norris, was pardoned during his lifetime. Sheila Washington, founder and director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center, said Norris wished he could have seen the other accused boys receive a pardon as well … Washington pointed to Ellen Spears, a professor in New College, and John Miller, assistant director of New College, as the key UA faculty members who assisted in the process. Washington said Spears provided some of the research necessary to drafting the bills and preparing pardon applications while Miller worked with the Alabama Legislature to prepare the language of the bill. “We needed to know things like what was the exact status of all of the cases,” Spears said. “Each individual defendant had some particularities to their situation, so we supplied the information that helped clarify some of that.”
With increased social media use comes increased anxiety
Crimson White – July 3
As social media use continues to increase for teenagers and young adults, users have begun to experience side effects, such as depression or anxiety, and researchers have taken notice. Nicole Muscanell, a doctoral candidate in The University of Alabama’s department of psychology, said social media websites can be an opportunity for negative experiences as users are constantly exposed to what everyone else is doing. “Students may compare themselves with their friends on social media sites, and research shows that sometimes this can lead to increased negative effects such as jealousy, feelings of loneliness and anxiety,” Muscanell said. “Additionally, students who are more prone to using social media to compare themselves to others may be more likely to experience anxiety or worry about their own self-worth based on what others are doing on social media.” The use of social networking sites among teens and young adults has increased in recent years, with 73 percent of American teens now using social networking websites, a significant increase from 55 percent in 2006, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. Lee Keyes, executive director of the UA Counseling Center, said there are several patterns that can emerge from excessive use of social media. “First of all, it’s time- consuming,” Keyes said. “If people aren’t exercising good time management skills, it can distract them from doing things they need to get done.”