UA rallies to help Haiti
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 21
… To support Haiti relief efforts, the University of Alabama Community Services Center will collect donations for the next two weeks at the Ferguson Center…According to Josh Burford, the UA Community Service Center Coordinator of Freshman Community Outreach, the UA Students for Haiti Relief group was organized to aid all individuals affected by the disaster. “We’re offering people a place to go and discuss their issues,” Burford said. In addition to collecting donations, the UA Students for Haiti Relief group will also hold information sessions and offer counseling to people with family members and ties to Haiti. Donations can be made on campus at the Ferguson Center and also via text…
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 20
UA center strives to combine academic, real world experience
Crimson White – Jan. 21
The public relation departments goal to combine college educators and curriculum more actively with the workplace has been engaged with a program called the 2010 Fellowship for Public Relations Educators, headed by the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations in the college of communication and informational sciences. “In public relations, there has been a gap between education and practice,” said Karla Gower, director of the Plank Center and Behringer Distinguished Professor in the UA department of advertising and public relations. “This program will help bridge that gap by bringing educators and practitioners together to share information, needs, ideas and concerns.” This first annual fellowship program will help expose public relations professors to the current day-to-day operations of the public relations function and create a healthy atmosphere for the educators to exchange information and new ideas that will enhance the professional development of both educators and practitioner-sponsors…
Championship could help boost admissions
Crimson White – Jan. 21
…As a result of last season, this increasing popularity could lead to more students applying to the University out of a sense of fanfare or loyalty to the team. Mary Spiegel, UA executive director of undergraduate admissions, said that it’s too early to tell how admissions could be affected as a result of this past undefeated season. “It’s too early to say whether the national championship will have an effect on applications,” Spiegel said in an emailed statement. Spiegel said the University has experienced a rapid rise in enrollment in recent years. “Our recruiting efforts over the last few years have certainly been effective in encouraging more students to apply,” Spiegel said…Ahmad Ijaz, an economic analyst at UA’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said that the national championship would definitely have a positive impact not only on admissions, but also on all other aspects of the University. Ijaz, who has conducted research on the football program’s impact on the local economy as well as the state as a whole, said that every home football game contributes approximately $21.4 million to the state and $14.2 million to the city of Tuscaloosa. In terms of future projections for next season, Ijaz said that the recent national championship victory would most likely boost these numbers, as more people are looking forward to next season. “These numbers will go up significantly as more visitors will be on campus to watch the game,” Ijaz said. “This increase in numbers will have a much more significant impact on the city of Tuscaloosa and the University.”…