Univ. of Alabama releases “Educated Guesses” report for 2015
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 30
Now that 2014 is almost behind us, what will 2015 bring? For the 34th year in a row, experts at The University of Alabama have released their “educated guesses” for the upcoming year. This year, the list includes 15 predictions. 1. Beijing to be selected for Winter Games: Sports communication professor Dr. Andrew Billings predicts Beijing will be named in 2015 as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing also hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. 2. Three-square meals to go belly up: Sheena Quizon Gregg, a registered dietician and assistant director in The University of Alabama’s department of health promotion and wellness, said people will continue to get creative with their meals by eating snacks and smoothies on the go. 3. Commissioner’s authority to punish NFL players to be curbed: Billings also predicts NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in determining the punishment for player crimes and misbehavior to be significantly lessened.
NBC 12 (Birmingham) – Dec. 30
WAAY-TV (Huntsville) – Dec. 30
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 28
University of Alabama earns community service honor
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 30
The University of Alabama has been honored for its commitment to improving the community through service and service-learning partnerships. The Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education have placed UA on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. This marks the fifth consecutive year that UA has earned the honor. “UA students, faculty and staff have a strong commitment to civic engagement tied to a history of community-university partnerships,” Stephen Black, director of the UA Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, said in a news release. “The range and quality of volunteer and service-learning programs members of the campus community lead throughout our state, and even in other parts of the world, are phenomenal, and it’s wonderful to see that commitment formally recognized.” During the 2012-13 academic year, more than 26,000 UA students completed around 770,000 hours of community service with more than 183 community partners. An estimated 8,500 students participated in 136 service-learning courses led by faculty members from every college on campus.
‘Citizen Coke,’ by Bartow J. Elmore
New York Times – Jan. 2
Halfway into “Citizen Coke,” Bartow J. Elmore describes taking a treacherous journey through an Indian jungle in 2010. He was searching for a Coke bottling plant that had been shut down six years earlier after villagers claimed it had parched their wells and polluted their streams, causing skin and stomach diseases. Thirsty and tired, he stumbled upon a restaurant in a secluded village where the only safe thing to drink was . . . Coca-Cola. “It seemed I had become trapped in the history I had come to investigate,” he writes. This vivid, suspenseful scene encapsulates the book’s essential argument: That for all its attempts to brand itself as an engine of economic development and a philanthropic force, Coke’s thirst for growth has turned it into a parasite on public health and the planet. Elmore, a history professor at the University of Alabama, has written “an environmental history of Coca-Cola capitalism, one that restores the connection between the Real Thing and the real ecologies that supported it.” He investigates Coke’s every ingredient and its real secret formula: “Staying out of the business of making stuff.
Salon.com – Jan. 2
Fox News’ Juan Williams to deliver annual Realizing the Dream lecture at University of Alabama
Al.com – Dec. 30
Fox News analyst Juan Williams and gospel singer CeCe Winans are set to headline the 2015 Realizing the Dream celebration, a commemoration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Williams will deliver the annual Legacy Banquet lecture on Friday, Jan. 16 while Winans will perform a concert on Saturday, Jan. 17. A former Tuscaloosa police chief and a current UA student will be honored at the Legacy Banquet alongside artist, activist and Talladega College professor Arthur Bacon. The MLK, Jr. Realizing the Dream program was founded in 1990 by UA, Stillman College and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, according to the program’s website. According to the initiative, the programs work “to shine a spotlight on the issues of peace, social justice, and unity and inspire us to all make a better tomorrow.” Famed actor James Earl Jones headlined the first program, narrating the orchestral piece “A Lincoln Portrait.” Sidney Poitier, Maya Angelou and Henry Belafonte have also hosted, while Grammy-winning artist John Legend both performed and delivered a lecture at last year’s program.
‘No one knows this side of Katrina,’ says director of Coast Guard documentary ‘Paratus 14:50’
Al.com – Dec. 24
Coast Guard personnel based in Mobile and New Orleans conducted an epic rescue operation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Now a team of student filmmakers is on the verge of completing a project showing sides of that effort that have never been seen. The film is titled “Paratus 14:50,” which refers to the Coast Guard’s motto – Semper Paratus, meaning “always ready” – and 2:50 p.m., the time of its first rescue after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. The project is the work of a team of students at the University of Alabama, led by director and executive producer Kaitlin Smith. After conducting interviews with Coast Guard personnel now stationed all over the country, the film crew finished shooting in August. Smith herself recently graduated from the University of Alabama, and hopes the film will be ready for public screenings or broadcast by next summer. She’s seeking a little help with postproduction costs via a Kickstarter drive that has already exceeded its $3,000 goal.
Bayou Buzz – Dec. 23
To Hang On to Your Memories, Sleep Soundly
NextAvenue.org – Dec. 26
As we get older, we realize how precious our memories are. Fortunately, new research suggests one way to preserve them is to get a good night’s sleep. A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research in 2014 discovered that those who have less deep sleep (known as slow-wave sleep) also have a decrease in their episodic memory — the memories of what has happened to you … 5 Tips on Getting Better Sleep: Natalie Dautovich, the National Sleep Foundation’s environmental scholar and assistant professor of the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, provides five more recommendations: 1. Begin by keeping a sleep journal. That way, you can see patterns and you have something to take to your doctor if necessary. Use this one: sleepfoundation.org/sleep-diary/SleepDiaryv6.pdf or make your own. 2. Clear clutter from your bedroom. Do this by making your bed every day and by not leaving laundry to be folded on the bed. Many people say they sleep better in hotels where they don’t experience any negative cues. Try making your bedroom like a hotel room. … “Aging does not have to be associated with poorer sleep. That’s a myth,” Dautovich says. “You can still have good sleep.”
Outlook on finance: Accountability and transparency
University Business – Jan. 2015
Turbulence in the world of campus finance since the Great Recession has been starting to smooth, but the outlook is hardly pre-recession rosy. Multiple forces are pushing institutions to change from the status quo. Institutions are feeling more pressure to advocate for state higher ed funding, prove their value to students and support the simplification of debt repayment. Yet some campus leaders might just be fine with the opportunities that scrutiny can bring, and in many cases, administrators are meeting those challenges … In most states, funding is growing slower than the rate of inflation. Stephen Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center and professor of higher education at the University of Alabama, sees major priorities—not all present before the downturn—now competing with restoring public education funding. Katsinas says Affordable Care Act health costs and unfunded pensions, along with K-12 funding and Medicaid, are crowding out state investments in higher education funding. Since state appropriations and mid-year cuts can affect all types of institutions, all of higher ed is “in it together,” he says, adding that colleges should work together for success.
Why Does Due Process Go Out The Window With Rape Cases?
TownHall.com – Dec. 23
Zerlina Maxwell wrote that we should “automatically” (see the URL for the original headline) believe rape victims. That goes against everything our system of justice stands for, as we base cases on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. I’m not going down that rabbit hole–and neither should any American who believes in law and order. Dates, names, and physical evidence, need to be analyzed, cross-examined, and pieced together to build a case against the alleged perpetrator … To start, though the study was of college men, it was not of college-age men (who are traditionally ages 18 to 24). Lisak’s participants ranged in age from 18 to 71. The average age of his respondents was 26.5, and more than 20 percent were older than 30. How does a study of men in college include so many older men? Lisak recruited people from where he taught, the University of Massachusetts Boston, an urban commuter school with no campus housing … I spoke with James J. Cochran, professor of applied statistics at the University of Alabama. He said that because the population of male students at UMass Boston may differ in important ways from the population of male college students across all universities, we must be careful in generalizing results from the UMass Boston sample to the population of male college students across all universities.* People tend to think that a single study is definitive, Cochran told me. But generally what a single study tells you, he said, is that we have “evidence of something interesting, let’s study it more.”
Registration open for University of Alabama Culverhouse program
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 3
Free computer certification and financial classes taught by the University of Alabama Culverhouse School of Accountancy are available at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the McDonald Hughes Community Center and The Edge Entrepreneurship Center in Tuscaloosa. The classes are part of the Culverhouse Learning Initiative and Financial Training Program, a joint initiative of the Culverhouse College of Commerce Dean’s Office and the Culverhouse School of Accountancy. The program is designed to use university resources to improve the job skills of minority, low-income and/or disadvantaged adults and teens in Tuscaloosa and West Alabama. It also provides support to the small-business community and local entrepreneurs. New courses in computer skills, computer literacy and financial literacy, Quickbooks software, bookkeeper training and computer keyboarding begin at the end January and registration is open now; the deadline to register is Jan. 25. To register, email lmckinne@cba.ua.edu or call Lisa McKinney at 205-535-0907.
County Commission endorses UA proposal to partner with Pickens County Medical Center
Pickens County Herald – Dec. 31
One week after meeting with officials from the University of Alabama, Pickens County Medical Center and the Friends of the Hospital, the Pickens County Commission last Tuesday endorsed a potential health partnership with UofA which may help turn PCMC into a teaching hospital.
Dr. Bonner talks about Sugar Bowl loss
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 2
Alabama fans came to New Orleans hoping to watch the first big Crimson Tide victory of the new year. Instead, they witnessed something none of them expected. A Saban-coached team lost to a Big 10 team in the four-team playoff … The game ended in a 42-35 Alabama loss. University of Alabama President Dr. Judy Bonner told me why she’s still proud of the team. “Dr. Bonner what do you think about the ending to the season? … We had a wonderful season. I’m so proud of our coaches and our team they’ve done an amazing job.”
Sportswoman of Year: Sydney Littlejohn, University of Alabama
Jacksonville Progress – Dec. 27
When Sydney Littlejohn tossed her last pitch wearing a Rusk Lady Eagle uniform in May of 2013 everyone knew that she would soon be moving on to bigger stage, cloaked in far brighter spot lights, but few, perhaps, envisioned the success Littlejohn would have for the Crimson Tide, who ended the year as the NCAA Division I national runner-up. Littlejohn, a tall, right hander, nicknamed “Spinmaster” for the gnarly movements that she puts on a softball, ended her first season at Alabama with an earned run average of 1.49, after going 11-2, with three saves on the year. She appeared in 29 games, and started nine of those, for a Crimson Tide outfit that went 53-19, 19-5 in the always-brutal Southeastern Conference (SEC). She hurled six complete games, struck out 64 opposing batters while walking only 29 as a true freshman. Littlejohn held opposing hitters to a .197 battling average.
University of Alabama band rehearses at OGHS stadium
Hattiesburg American – Dec. 30
Some local Crimson Tide fans got a sneak peek of the upcoming Sugar Bowl’s halftime show Tuesday. Nope, they didn’t sneak into the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to get the best seats for Thursday’s playoff game between the Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes. The show came to them when the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band rehearsed for more than three hours at Oak Grove High’s stadium. Following the rehearsal, which ended about 3:30 p.m., the band continued on to New Orleans. “We love Mississippi, and the stadium has a turf field and very high stadium,” said Heath Nails, the university bands program assistant. “It’s also the half-way point between Tuscaloosa and New Orleans so it was a great place to stop for lunch.”
NBC 7 (Moselle, Miss.) – Dec. 30
Bunnell to host fishing tourney: Event to be televised nationally; Visitors from multiple states expected
Daytona Beach Journal-News (Fla.) – Jan. 1
The bass fishing tournament doesn’t start until Saturday but teammates Austin Mize and Brad Bice were already out on Dead Lake in Flagler County four days early. “We’re just trying to get in some good practice time,” Bice said, as he and Mize, both students at the University of Alabama, hooked their motorboat to a blue pickup truck Wednesday afternoon. “There’s so much water to cover. We’re just hunting and trying to find at least five or six areas that have a good bite.” Mize and Bice are one of 129 two-person teams that will be competing tomorrow in the 2015 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series South Regional Tournament. The three-day event will be televised nationally on ESPNU and is expected to generate close to $1 million for the local economy.
From ‘molasses boy’ to ‘Drunk History’: Mobile native recalls road to comedy success
Al.com – Jan. 1
He has taught drunken history lessons with Jim Carrey and Ryan Gosling, appeared alongside the “Workaholics,” and played dogged small-town reporter Trodd Frankensteip on the NBC show “Parks and Recreation.” But before his acting career took off, Mobile-native Allan McLeod was a struggling high school football player with a creative streak. “Football is such a premium in the South,” McLeod said. “If you are not athletically inclined, you have to figure something else out. That’s what I figured out, that I really enjoyed performing.” … He graduated Murphy in 1998 and enrolled in the University of Alabama, where he would act in plays at the Marian Gallaway Theatre and the Allen Bales Theatre. With classmate Robby Newman, McLeod also wrote sketches for Guerilla Theater, a University of Alabama program that lets students perform original pieces.
“An opportunity to grow”: College students help rebuild home destroyed in tornado
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 3
The screaming of saws and pounding hammers came at the hands of 14 students from Assumption College in Massachusetts on Saturday. The students laid bamboo flooring, put up porch rails and grouted a safe room in the 50th home built by Habitat for Humanity Tuscaloosa in Alberta since the April 27, 2011, tornado. Quortez and Vernice Kirkland and their three sons will soon call the four-bedroom home on Juanita Drive their own. The Kirklands have put sweat-equity hours into their new home alongside several student groups of volunteers since the building process began on Nov. 17, 2014, including Auburn and Alabama together as Team United, the University of Georgia and Assumption College.
UA Alumni Association and Retirees Association plan bus trips to New Orleans
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 2
Whether it’s on a plane, a train, or a bus, Crimson Tide fans have made their way to New Orleans tonight for the Sugar Bowl Showdown. This bunch left Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa early this morning, bound for New Orleans. They’ll be riding the same buses back home tonight after the game. Some fans like this option because they get to return home quickly, and it’s less expensive than paying for a hotel. The University of Alabama Alumni Association and Retirees Association both organized bus trips. The proceeds will go toward scholarships for students.