UA students present designs for Cordova library, incubator
Daily Mountain Eagle – Nov. 6
Sea oats, sconces and clocks were among the items that inspired University of Alabama students this semester while designing a library and business incubator for Cordova. Seniors enrolled in Advanced Residential Design spent several weeks this fall documenting the former Indian Head Mills office and Higgins TV Sales & Service. They then created a set of measured drawings of the two buildings that city leaders can use when seeking grants for refurbishment. The second part of the students’ assignment was to develop a variety of visions for a library in the mill office and a business incubator in Higgins TV. They presented their plans last week to a group of design professionals as well as Cordova Mayor Jack Scott; Lauren Vance, an AmeriCorps VISTA currently assigned to the city; and Paul Kennedy, a member of Cordova’s Long Term Recovery Committee. Anna Centeno chose sea oats as the concept for her library design. Centeno said the plants, which are grown on dunes to protect beaches from erosion, are symbolic of the calmness and security that she hoped the library would provide to storm survivors.
New devices playing key role in the classroom
Crimson White – Nov. 6
The recurring arrival of new and improved electronic devices like the iPad mini has led UA associate professor of journalism George Daniels to ponder its future in classroom learning. “In my class we talk about the four screen strategy: TV screen, desktop screen, laptop and phones and tablets,” Daniels said. “We have to think about another screen, it probably means thinking about, if it’s that size what do I embed in that story that’s interactive?” Daniels teaches Multimedia Reporting, a class in which he recently challenged his students to produce content specific to different apps for electronic devices. “One of the questions we ask for each app is: is this different from what you see in print,” Daniels said. “There are opportunities to embed pictures and graphics. In fall 2013 the tablet and mobile platform will be a bigger part of the class. It’s just a matter of the changing times.” In July, the Huntsville school district provided 22,000 iPads and laptops to its students for classroom use. Chip Brantley, senior lecturer in digital media for the journalism department, said this is a new trend for grade schools, and it is likely that colleges may soon follow it. “I think more and more students will get them as the prices come down and as digital textbooks become more popular,” Brantley said. “Many textbooks already have online components (case studies, discussions, etc.), and I think textbooks are moving very quickly to digital. It won’t take long for the entire textbook industry to go digital and become a lot more open and collaborative.”
Faculty author to give lecture in Bryant
Crimson White – Nov. 6
Joshua D. Rothman, associate professor of history at The University of Alabama, will be talking about his new book, “Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson,” Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. on the 2nd Floor of Mary Harmon Bryant Hall in the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library. It took Rothman eight years of researching and writing to complete the book. “The book is about the expansion of the cotton frontier,” Rothman said. “Specifically it is about Mississippi in the 1830s, which at the time was the hottest place to live because there was a lot of money to be made in the cotton economy.” Rothman said the idea came to him after he read a book that he had assigned to some of his graduate students after coming across a story about a slave insurrection scare in Mississippi. “I had never heard of the insurrection scare before, so I thought it would make a great story, and after eight years, I think we have it,” Rothman said. The event is sponsored by the University Libraries and co-sponsored by the Summersell Center for the Study of the South.
Pay gap between men, women in Alabama among worst in nation
Crimson White – Nov. 6
Alabama’s gender wage gap is among the worst in the nation, according to a recent study by the National Women’s Law Center…Lisa Lindquist-Dorr, an associate professor in the department of history, agrees there are cultural aspects contributing to the wage gap. “One reason for persistent pay gaps is that the work done by women is valued less, though in part because it is women who are doing the work,” she said. Dorr said this holds especially true at the lower end of the job market. “At the upper reaches of the job market, women tend to be paid less because there is a perception that they are more likely to have to adjust their job around their family requirements, and thus women can be seen as less committed to their careers,” she said. “No one ever points out that it might be because men are less committed to their families or that workers might be more productive and creative if they did not always feel so frazzled trying to balance work and family.”