UA Preview

MONDAY, OCT. 21 – SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 2013

BEST BETS

UA RESEARCHERS LOOK TO BUTTERFLIES TO IMPROVE FLIGHT – Dr. Amy Lang, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, was recently awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to get a better understanding of the aerodynamic properties of butterfly wings as an avenue to improve human-made flight. Watch UA News (www.uanews.ua.edu) for more information or contact Adam Jones, UA engineering media relations, 205/348-86444 oracjones12@eng.ua.edu, or Dr. Amy Lang, 205/348-1622, alang@eng.ua.edu

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. 21 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

WELL-KNOWN FEMALE SPORTSWRITER TO SPEAK – USA Today columnist Christine Brennan will speak as a guest of the UA Program in Sports Communication Friday, Oct. 25, at 1:30 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Theater. Brennan’s talk will be titled “Sports in the 21^st Century: Diversity at the Starting Line.” In addition to her work with USA Today, Brennan is a commentator forABC News, ESPN, NPR and FOX Sports Radio. A leading expert on the Olympics and women’s sports issues, she is also a nationally known speaker. The event is cosponsored by the APSC, the UA Department of Journalism, the Women’s Resource Center and the Society of Professional Journalists, and is a Through the Doors event. Contact: Misty Mathews, media relations, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu, or Dr. Andrew Billings, 205/348-8658, acbillings@ua.edu.

UA EXPERT TIPS

SIX WAYS TO SAVE ON YOUR ELECTRIC BILL – Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in your home; typically making up about 50 percent of your utility bill. The University of Alabama’s Greg McKelvey offers simple tips to help make your home more comfortable and easier to heat and cool — while also lowering your utility bills. Visit http://uanews.ua.edu/2013/10/ua-matters-six-ways-to-save-on-your-electric-bill/. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

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

UA’S HEALTH CORNER PROVIDES PRACTICAL HEALTH TIPS – Dr. Grier Stewart provides information on heartburn and how to relieve it, in the latest video in UA’s Health Corner, http://vimeo.com/album/2551337/video/75787228. The video series addresses various health topics and provides practical advice and guidance from UA’s expert sources and physicians in the College of Community Health Sciences. A new video topic posts every Wednesday morning.Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

CURRENT COMMENT

UA PROFESSOR SEES FRACTURED GOP TRYING TO PIECE ITS IDENTITY BACK TOGETHER — “The Republican Party has been in disarray since the 2012 election and the recent shutdown debacle has only made things worse. The Tea Party faction of the party is angrier than ever with mainstream GOP leaders, who they view as having ‘sold out’ to public pressure. We can expect to see some concerted efforts by Tea Partiers to challenge many moderate (i.e. non-Tea Party) Republican incumbents in the 2014 midterm primaries.  I think these Tea Party challenges will be unsuccessful in most cases, because most swing voters are beginning to turn on the Tea Party. I believe that the Republican Party will likewise turn away from people like Ted Cruz and Michelle Bachman and look to more mainstream, pragmatic voices – such as Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and Paul Ryan – to lead the party,” says Dr. Richard Fording, chair of the UA political science department, on how the GOP can recover its national identity in the wake of the partial government shutdown. To reach Fording, contact Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-4956 or bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu.

EVENTS

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, and Rick Bragg, Cason professor of writing, department of journalism. Contact: Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782

UA ALUMNUS, U.N. TECHNOLOGY EXPERT TO SPEAK ON CYBERSECURITY – Gary Fowlie, a University of Alabama alumnus and an expert on cybersecurity, will present the Helen Crow Mills and John Carroll Mills Lecture Thursday, Oct. 24 at 11 a.m. in room 120 of Farrah Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. Fowlie’s talk, “Cybersecurity or Cyberthreat? – Balancing Human Rights and Economic Growth in our Virtual World,” will address how the Internet is rewriting the relationship between individuals and their governments. Contact: Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-4956 or bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu

MENTAL HEALTH IN ATHLETICS FOCUS OF UA GUEST LECTURER — Syracuse University’s Timothy Neal will address mental health in athletics during an Oct. 25 lecture at UA. Neal, the assistant director of athletics for sports medicine at Syracuse, will present as part of the Distinguished Lecture in Sport Management series at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, in 247 Bryant Hall. The lecture, titled “Considerations in Mental Health Issues in Athletes,” and geared toward students in the College of Human Environmental Sciences’ sport management program, is open to the public. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

LOOKING AHEAD

UA MUSEUM GHOST TOUR READY TO SPOOK AND DELIGHT — The community is invited to experience some of the legends that have been passed down from generation to generation during the third annual Haunting at the Museum from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29. Sponsored by UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History, the free event is open to all ages and features guided, candlelit ghost walks around the Quad, followed by children’s activities, a scavenger hunt and ghost stories at the museum. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

TRICK OR TREAT –UA’s  Panhellenic Association will host the annual Sorority Row Trick-or-Treat from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29. Children from the Tuscaloosa area ages 12 and younger are invited to dress up in Halloween costumes and visit the lawns of the campus sorority houses on Magnolia and Colonial Drives for candy and fun activities. UA sorority members from the Alabama Panhellenic Association and National Pan-Hellenic Council, also in costume, will provide candy to area children. Contact: Katie Andrews,205/348-2693 or kmandrews3@crimson.ua.edu or Richard LeComte, UA media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.eduor205/348-3782

TINKER TOUR COMES TO UA – In the 1960s, Mary Beth Tinker was one of several middle- and high-school students sent home for wearing black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. The case would eventually be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled to protect the free-speech rights of the students. Now Tinker is touring the United States to tell her story and will visit UA on Nov. 5. Her talk will be at 9:30 a.m. in the Ferguson Theater and will be free to the public. Tinker’s visit is sponsored by the Alabama Scholastic Press Association and the department of journalism. ASPA, along with the Alabama Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, will also sponsor a talk by Tinker at Birmingham’s Civil Rights Museum at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 5; this event will be for high school students but will also be open to media. Contact: Misty Mathews, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu or Meredith Cummings, UA scholastic media director, 205/348-2772, mccummings1@ua.edu.