University of Alabama winter commencement ceremonies see 2,100 graduates receive degrees
Al.com – Dec. 12
The University of Alabama held its winter commencement ceremonies on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, where more than 2,100 diplomas were awarded to the graduates. The first ceremony began at 9 a.m. and featured graduates from the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education, College of Human Environmental Sciences and the Capstone College of Nursing. The final ceremony started at 1:30 p.m., when graduates of the Culverhouse College of Commerce, College of Communication & Information Sciences, College of Engineering, School of Social Work and the School of Law were awarded diplomas. The photo gallery above shows the 1:30 p.m. ceremony. Dr. Rona Donahoe, professor of geological sciences in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, served as commencement marshal. Graduates got especially decorative with the tops of their caps, many with a play on the script A and some with all-out floral arrangements. Proud parents, friends and other family members broke out their camera equipment, many stopping their graduates as they walked back to their seats after receiving their degrees. The ceremony webcast will be archived on the UA website ua.edu/commencement and will be available for viewing for 30 days following the ceremony.
Al.com (gallery) – Dec. 12
Tuscaloosa News (list of graduates) – Dec. 12
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Dec. 12
UA holds holiday book sale
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Dec. 12
The University of Alabama Press is hosting its annual book sale, which continues tomorrow at 200 Hackberry Lane inside the James B. McMillian building on the university campus. Marketing coordinator for UA Press, Courtney Blanchard, says they have a wide range of books to please even the pickiest readers on your list. “We have a really fun book, Mammals of Alabama. We have a lot of good football books, too.”
Nick’s Kids Foundation pays tribute to 23 teachers
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 12
Nick’s Kids Foundation honored 23 local teachers Friday during its third annual Teacher Excellence Awards Luncheon. The honorees included 22 Tuscaloosa-area teachers, who received excellence awards, and Martha Cook, the former director of the Rise School at the University of Alabama, who received a lifetime achievement award. The event is designed to honor teachers and recognize their contribution to the community. “It’s the teachers who go above and beyond, inside and outside of the classroom,” said Katie Mellown with the Nick’s Kids Foundation. The foundation has recognized about 75 teachers in the three years it has sponsored the luncheon, Terry Saban said. Terry Saban, a former teacher and the wife of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, said the job is a tough task that often is underappreciated. “I appreciate what you do,” Terry Saban said to the gathering. “This place should be crowded with our community thanking your for what you do.”
Teachers learn to code at VIS
Pelham Reporter – Dec. 12
Teachers from across the state traveled to Valley Elementary School on Dec. 11 and 12 to attend computer coding workshops led by computer science professor with the University of Alabama School of Engineering, Dr. Jeff Gray. During the workshops, teachers learned techniques to introduce elementary school students to the vocabulary and basics of coding. “(They’re learning) how to write computer programs in a friendly environment for kindergarten through fifth grade students so they can take it to their classrooms,” Gray explained. “Our goal by May is to train 500 elementary school teachers on topics in computer science.” The computer science and technology industry is growing, offering numerous job opportunities, Gray said. Additionally, learning computer science and code can enhance the existing curriculum. Teachers at the Dec. 12 workshop worked together in small groups to create fourth and fifth grade-friendly lesson plans which they then presented to each other. “We’re creating a lesson plan (about conditionals) that we’re going to teach to the other group,” Jackie Smith, a fifth grade teacher at Madison’s Mill Creek Elementary School explained. “If you’re doing a program, you need to understand conditionals in order to make that program run,” Our Lady of the Valley computer teacher Colleen Sweeney added.
Inaugural class selected for Alabama Writers Hall of Fame
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 12
University of Alabama professor Rick Bragg is among the 12 writers in the inaugural class of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame, a partnership between the Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Writer’s Forum. Bragg, professor of writing in UA’s College of Communication and Information Services and bestselling author, is joined by Andrew Glaze, Harper Lee, Sonia Sanchez, Sena Jeter Naslund and posthumous inductees Johnson Jones Hooper, Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, Helen Keller, Zora Neal Hurston, William March, Albert Murray and Helen Norris Bell. The 12 will be inducted in June 2015. An advisory committee of scholars, writers and arts volunteers met in June to consider nominees, according to the announcement from UA.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 12
‘There is hope’ for child sex abuse victims, even those who are hurt the worst
Al.com – Dec. 12
The 16-year-old victim who underwent years of sexual abuse and torture has “hope,” like thousands of other victims of sexual abuse, experts in the field of sexual abuse counseling say. Chances are, the typical person might have doubts about whether the victim can recover. The girl who testified in the Wendy Holland jury trial this week in Baldwin County will need to be surrounded by positive influences and believe that she can recover from years of sexual torment suffered at the hands of multiple adults, experts say. … “She is definitely going to have effects, there is no doubt about it,” Debra Nelson-Gardell, associate professor at the University of Alabama’s School of Social Work said. “But her life is not over. Lay people will think … (victims) are forever broken. She is not broken.”