UA In the News — March 10

University of Alabama names new business college dean
Tuscaloosa News – March 9
A Western Michigan University administrator has been named the new dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama. The hiring of Kay M. Palan, dean of Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, was announced by UA on Wednesday. Palan is scheduled to assume the UA post in July. “The college’s positive trajectory, combined with its potential to be one of the very best business schools, makes this an exciting time to join the college and university,” Palan said in a statement released by the university.
Crimson White – March 9
 
UA plans alternative Spring Break trips
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – March 9
Spring Breaks is less than a week away and this year many people are celebrating in a different way. For a group of UA students, they will be traveling to Nicaragua to build sustainable resources for the community, including a community school. The University Center for Service and Leadership program’s Beyond Bama alternative break have given students the opportunities of a lifetime.

UA students show off their ideas on building a better bridge
Alabama Public Radio – March 9
Engineering students at the University of Alabama are showing off their ideas on building a better bridge. APR student reporter Allison Mollenkamp has more. . . .  The student designs are being showcased at the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeast Student Conference in Tuscaloosa. UA is hosting the conference for the first time since 2005. This year the organizers expect a thousand attendees divided between students and faculty.
 
Productivity tied to job satisfaction in University of Alabama study
Tuscaloosa News – March 9
Your co-workers and the meaning you assign to your work has more to do with on-the-job happiness than the size of your paycheck or your job title, a researcher at the University of Alabama has found. Jonathon Halbesleben is a professor and researcher in UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. He also serves as the college’s associate dean for research and its senior associate dean. He has spent most of his career researching how to find the sweet spot between maximum happiness and peak productivity in the workplace.

Getting tattoos could help keep you from getting sick
Gizmag – March 9
Whether you love them or hate them, new research shows that tattoos might actually strengthen your immunological responses … if you get enough of them, that is. Much in the same way that your muscles feel sore when you first start going to the gym, getting a tattoo can be exhausting, with the body’s defenses lowered by the stress of the experience … That’s what the new research, conducted by scientists at the University of Alabama, has found. The team worked with tattoo businesses in Tucaloosa and Leeds, recording the amount of time patients were tattooed, and taking saliva samples before and after sessions.
AskMen.com – March 9
BioSpace – March 9
Science Alert – March 9
Tech Times – March 9

Spring break without going spring broke
Crimson White – March 9
For many University of Alabama students, spring break is a time for fun and relaxation, but for their wallets, the week can be painful. With two days left until spring break, it is crunch time for figuring out finances. Will Walsh, a professor in the economics department, said there are two things students should consider: what they can do in advance to get money and what they can do once they get to their destination in order to save money … “Let’s say three girls lived in a house together and … are going to go on spring break together,” Walsh said. “Maybe y’all start a change fund, and all the change that goes into that won’t get touched for a year. Then we’ll take it to Publix, dump it in the cyclone, see what we got and use that for group funds.”

Seventh annual diversity symposium gives students platform to present research
Crimson White – March 9
At the back of Gorgas 205, behind an unlit projector and rows of empty chairs, there stands an aisle of trifold posters. Next to each one stands its owner, ready to answer the inevitable slew of questions they will receive as attendees slowly begin to fill the room. These posters served as an early morning kick-off for the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences’ seventh annual diversity symposium, “Discerning Diverse Voices,” on Wednesday at 9 a.m. Robin Boylorn, a UA professor of communications studies and symposium coordinator, said while the research presentations are not the only component of the event, they are an important aspect of the college’s diversity plan that emphasize the further development of diversity research. “It gives us the opportunity to think about something we’re working on because it doesn’t have to be a completed project,” Boylorn said.

International Study Hall integrates international, domestic students through common struggle: school
Crimson White – March 9
On Tuesday, about 25 students gathered at The Source and UA Crossroads on the third floor of Ferguson Student Center for International Study Hall. The study hall takes place every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and is organized by the International Students Association and is sponsored by UA Crossroads and Capstone International Services. This was the second study hall so far. The weekly study hall is an attempt to bring international and domestic students together and provide snacks and coffee. Gevin Brown, a junior majoring in human environmental sciences and a student assistant for UA Crossroads, said he hopes the study hall will bring students from different backgrounds together so they can talk about their cultures.

Hillel Comedy Night uses humor to explore Israeli customs
Crimson White – March 9
The Bloom Hillel Jewish Student Center at The University of Alabama held its first ever Comedy Night Tuesday for around 50 students and faculty members. The International Hillel Organization awarded a grant to the Bloom Hillel chapter on campus, which enabled them to put on this event. The event aimed to promote the Jewish Student Center and provide a look into the culture of Israel with the Israeli Action Program. Director of Bloom Hillel Lisa Besnoy said the importance of this event relates directly to exposure. “What we really want is exposure. We want to provide a home away from home for students while they are here,” Besnoy said.

When you took in a stranger
Christian Chronicle – March 10
Lee Jamieson Jr. wiped out on a ski slope in late 2013. The teen had received the trip to Snowshoe, W.Va., as a reward for earning an ROTC scholarship. “He hit the side of his head and his shoulder,” his father said “And it actually ripped three of the nerves out of his spinal cord and literally unplugged his arm. . . . A more recent procedure involved putting a mechanical brace on his arm that picks up sensory inputs from his muscles. “You’ve got so many stressful things about traveling a long ways,” said Lee Jamieson Jr., a University of Alabama freshman. “Knowing that there’s going to be good people here with you, and knowing that you’ve got a church family here — wanting to welcome you and take care of you — that’s an amazing thing.