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MONDAY, OCT. 7 – SUNDAY, OCT. 13, 2013

BEST BETS

PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING COLUMNIST TO SPEAK AT UA – Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald columnist and 2004 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary, will deliver a lecture, “If This is America …”  at noon Tuesday, Oct. 8 in room 223 Little Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. Pitts has dealt extensively with race, politics and culture. He is the author of six books, including “Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.” Contact: David Miller, UA media relations, 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.

UA PROFESSOR TO STUDY EFFECTS OF APRIL 27, 2011 TORNADO ON AREA CHILDREN –Dr. John Lochman, UA psychology professor, is leading a team of researchers in a five-year study of the April, 27, 2011 tornado’s emotional impact on 360 at-risk children in the Tuscaloosa area. Lochman received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to fund the study, which will focus on externalizing behaviors, like physical aggression or verbal bullying. The study will compare levels of exposure to the disaster, family and community support networks, peer relationships and emotional effects on parents. Lochman’s team will also analyze data of children’s nervous system functioning. “We expect the children who were most stress reactive on these physiological measures shortly after the tornado are going to be the most at-risk for emotional problems in years ahead,” Lochman said. Contact: David Miller, UA media relations, 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu

UA’S HEALTH CORNER PROVIDES PRACTICAL HEALTH TIPS — The University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences introduces UA’s Health Corner, a new video series that addresses various health topics and provides practical advice and guidance from UA’s expert sources and physicians. A new video topic will post every Wednesday morning. Be sure to check out the latest video with Dr. John McDonald as he explains what to do if you feel a lump in your breast, https://vimeo.com/album/2551337. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu

UA PROFESSOR’S BOOK WINS AWARD—University of Alabama professor Dr. Josh Rothman’s book, “Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson,” won the Gulf South Historical Association’s Michael V.R. Thomason Book Award for the best book on the history of the Gulf South.  Contact: Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-4956 or bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu

UA MATTERS

TIPS ON CREATING FUN, IMAGINATIVE COSTUMES – With Halloween just around the corner, many parents are beginning to think about whether their little ones will delight or fright this year. The University of Alabama’s Melissa Panzarello provides some fun and easy ideas that can make use of items you may have available around the house; a way of upcycling everyday items into original costumes for the kids. Visit http://uanews.ua.edu/2013/10/ua-matters-creating-fun-imaginative-halloween-costumes-at-home/. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu

EVENTS

UA’S MOUNDVILLE NATIVE AMERICAN FESTIVAL AIMS TO EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN — Visitors to The University of Alabama Museums’ Moundville Archaeological Park will soon be able to explore life through the eyes of Southeastern Native Americans. Through storytelling, a variety of arts and crafts demonstrations, living history enactments and musical performances, the park’s annual Native American Festival brings to life the Southeastern Indian culture, a culture that is markedly different from the tribes found elsewhere in the Americas. The festival, which runs from Wednesday, Oct. 9 through Saturday, Oct. 12, is ranked as one of the finest and most comprehensive events of its kind. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu

UA’S THEATER & DANCE DEPARTMENT PERFORMS ‘SEVEN GUITARS’ – The play follows guitar player Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton on his rise from an unknown blues singer to recording artist in the 1940s. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. nightly Oct. 7-13 in the Allen Bales Theater. Contact: Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-4956 or bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu

LOOKING AHEAD

UA TO HOST EXHIBIT TO OBSERVE ANNIVERSARY OF SURGEON GENERAL’S ANTI-SMOKING REPORT – UA’s Dr. Alan Blum and the Gorgas Library will host an exhibit to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of a landmark report that changed American culture. The exhibit, “Alabamian Dr. Luther Terry and the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health” begins Monday, Oct. 14 in the J. Wray and Joan Billingsley Pearce Foyer, Gorgas Library. Contact: Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-4956 or bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu

UA’S NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM EVENT FEATURES FOSSILS, 3D PRINTING — The community is invited to explore a world of fossils during National Fossil Day at the Alabama Museum of Natural History at Smith Hall on the UA campus. The event will be held from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the grand gallery of Smith Hall, and it will feature demonstration tables with the department of geology and the evolutionary studies program, hands-on activities for children in the museum’s Discovery Lab and a wide variety of fossils on display. Printers from the UA 3D Printing Lab, located in the College of Engineering, will also print fossils. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

UA TOWN HALLS – UA’s Honors College has announced its Town Hall 2013 Fall Series. The series, held in the Ferguson Center Forum, is free and open to the public. The first fall entry is “Cronkite to Colbert – What is News to You?” The panel will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21. Panelists are Dr. Jennifer Greer, interim dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences; Dr. Jennings Bryant, UA CIS distinguished professor emeritus, and Rick Bragg, Cason professor of writing, department of journalism. Contact: Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782