Alabama student hopes research on slaves at university sparks honest conversation
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 13
University of Alabama senior Benjamin Flax spends a few hours a week sifting through files stuffed with handwritten receipts and bound volumes with faded ink in the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, searching for hints of the university’s past with slavery. “I think it is important for people to see it,” he said. For Flax, slavery is an inalienable part of the institution’s history. “It was, and that is the biggest thing we need to remember with the university,” heFlax said. “To forget about it because it is the uncomfortable subject is the worst thing of all.” Flax hopes his work, which he is pursuing as an independent research project supervised by history professor Josh Rothman, will result in a public presentation on campus of some of his findings — in a “digestible form” — in February during Black History Month.
Associated Press (via Danbury (Conn.) News-Times) – Oct. 13
The Republic (Columbus, Ind.) – Oct. 13
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Oct. 13
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 13
NBC 15 (Mobile) – Oct. 13
NBC 38 (Columbus, Ga.) – Oct. 13
Metabolite experts gather at the University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 12
About 25 scientists who use fruit flies to research metabolites — naturally occurring molecules in the human body that might hold keys to predicting certain diseases — are scheduled to meet at University of Alabama this weekend to discuss ways to develop a more standardized approach to their research with the insects. “We are all at a critical point as to making decisions about how we proceed,” said Laura Reed, UA assistant professor of biological sciences and one of the co-hosts of the International Drosophila Metabolomics Consortium at UA today and Sunday in the Science and Engineering Complex. Metabolomics, a relatively new field, is the study of how metabolites react to different genetic and environmental conditions. Reed, who has been conducting metabolite research for about five years, said fruit flies are one of the best animal models for human diseases. She uses the insects in her search for new metabolites that might, like blood glucose levels, serve as predictors of obesity and diabetes.
LEND A HAND: UA’s “Beat Auburn Beat Hunger” aims to collect 275,000 lbs. of food
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 13
The University of Alabama Community Service Center will launch the 20th annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday with a kickoff event at UA’s Ferguson Plaza. The food drive, which benefits the West Alabama Food Bank, will run through Nov. 22. The Monday event will include free food as well as the opportunity to vote in a pie-throwing contest. Students, faculty and staff may choose a contestant and make a donation in their honor. In addition, participants may have their photo taken with Big Al and pick up T-shirts. The “Pie in the Face” event will be from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Ferguson Plaza with the winner receiving a pie in the face. With the 20th anniversary of Beat Auburn Beat Hunger, the Community Service Center has set a goal of collecting 275,000 pounds of food. In 2012, Beat Auburn Beat Hunger collected 266,737 pounds of food.
Alabama wins wheelchair tennis national championship
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 14
The University of Alabama wheelchair tennis team won its first team national title on Sunday at the Wheelchair Tennis Intercollegiate National Championships at NorthRiver Yacht Club. Alabama took home the championship with 18 points while the University of Texas-Arlington was second with 14 points. Calvin College was third (10 points) and the University of Arizona was fourth (51⁄2 points). Alabama also brought home some individual championship hardware on the final day of competition.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 13
Iran Nuclear Talks Pit UN Demands Against Atomic Treaty
Bloomberg – Oct. 13
The political clash over Iran’s nuclear program reflects an equally implacable legal conflict between treaties that both sides say back up their positions. Whether Iran has a right to enrich the uranium-235 isotope, used to generate atomic power and make nuclear bombs, is at the heart of a dispute that has raised the specter of war for the past decade…“The essence of the matter is that many similarly situated NPT non-nuclear weapon states have uranium-enrichment programs,” Dan Joyner, a University of Alabama law professor who wrote the book “Interpreting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” said in an e-mail. “The UN resolutions calling for Iran to cease uranium enrichment were ill-considered, and arguably exceeded the authority of the Security Council.”
Iran Focus – Oct. 13
Suicide Awareness Walk takes place at UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 13
The Out of The Darkness suicide awareness walk took place today on the University of Alabama campus. The walk benefitted the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. With suicide claiming the lives of nearly 37,000 individuals in the U.S. alone each year, more people than ever are being affected.
JIMMY SMOTHERS: Ford busy man for the job
Gadsden Times – Oct. 12
It’s a wise saying that goes back years: If you want something accomplished, the best way to get it done is to ask a busy person to do it. Don’t believe it? Look up any reference to this adage and likely you’ll see a picture of Tommy Ford, local native, University of Alabama employee for the past 31 years. This unobtrusive, slender guy with white hair certainly doesn’t look the part, moving around hardly noticed, speaking softly, if at all. At a glance, he seems incongruous to a man in his 50s. Of course, that may be the secret to his success. Ford is actually an overachiever, one who has many talents and is successful with them all. Watch him in a crowd and he is suddenly all over the room, speaking a little, listening a lot. As Coach Bryant once said of a certain sports writer, “He doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t miss anything, either.” That pretty much fits Ford, a multitalented man whose every move has been upward since graduating from Gadsden High School in 1974.
Grads come from afar to receive Pride of Schuylkill Valley Award
Reading Eagle (Pa.) – Oct. 12
It had been nearly 50 years since Dr. Ernest A. Mancini had been back to Schuylkill Valley High School, but the lessons he learned there never left him. On Friday, Mancini, a distinguished research professor from the University of Alabama, remembered getting tactical advice from his cross-country coach before a big meet. “What he was teaching us was to formulate a plan and stick to it,” he said. Mancini was among the high-ranking military officers, all-star athletes, distinguished professors, scholars and others who returned to the high school as the first recipients of the Pride of Schuylkill Valley Award.
Unconventional classes promote creativity
Crimson White – Oct. 14
Unconventional classes may seem like a way for students to lighten a class load or take a break from heavy major-related courses, but these courses have the potential to add to students’ personal and professional lives, leaving them with more than just new-found basket-weaving skills. Julia Trippe, a senior majoring in New College, has taken several unconventional classes, including honors photography and a New College creativity class. Trippe said taking these classes has helped give her a broader perspective on creativity and creative ways to approach problems and real-world situations. “I think [these classes] can help you learn to see the world differently and gain new perspectives on life and the world and see the details you might not have otherwise noticed,” she said…Amy Pirkle, an adjunct instructor, teaches book arts through the Honors College. In her class, students learn to create artist book structures and work on hands-on projects throughout the semester. Pirkle’s class offers students who might not otherwise be able to take a studio class a diverse, project-based experience.
Wedding belles: Young brides face balancing academia, wedding plans
Crimson White – Oct. 14
In 1864, a young Southern woman wrote to the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger divulging her qualms of becoming an “old maid,” as documented in the Journal of Southern History. The Virginia woman was fearful the atrocity-burdened Civil War would strip the South of available men, rendering her and other single women in her shoes spinsters. The girl was 18 years old. Now, roughly 150 years after the Civil War, the South still holds the record for some of the the youngest “I do’s.” In Alabama, the average age for a first marriage is 27 for men and 25 for women, according to a Pew Research Center report. That’s only one year younger than the national averages, 28 and 26, respectively…Kim Boyle, who teaches wedding planning in the restaurant and hotel management department, said with the explosion of references and resources at the fingertips of young brides, planning a wedding can actually be easy. So easy in fact, the age of Pinterest and countless Do-It-Yourself tutorials often result in young women having their weddings planned out before they ever even meet “Mr. Right.” “After the recession in 2008, we began to see lots more ‘DIY brides,’” Boyle said. “One of the best resources is theknot.com, and there are all kinds of YouTube videos that show you step-by-step how to do this yourself.”
Big Al makes stop at Selma Elementary School
WAKA-CBS 8 (Montgomery) – Oct. 11
Students at a Selma elementary school get fired up about reading thanks to a very special visitor who came all the way from Tuscaloosa. University of Alabama mascot Big Al stopped by Cedar Park Elementary School this afternoon. Big Al led a pep rally while encouraging students to read. The event was part of the area’s reading contest. Students statewide who read six books are entered into a drawing for a chance to win tickets to this year’s Iron Bowl.