UA Preview

MONDAY, MARCH 18 – SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013

The University of Alabama will be closed for spring break Monday, March 25-Friday, March 29. For assistance from Media Relations during that time, please call 205/348-5320 and follow instructions for reaching a staff member.

BEST BETS

UA, VA PARTNER TO MEET NEEDS OF RURAL VETERANS – The University of Alabama and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have partnered to create a trained workforce capable of meeting the medical and mental health needs of veterans in rural communities. The VA’s Office of Rural Health and Office of Academic Affiliations awarded five sites, Tuscaloosa being one, a three-year grant to develop and implement the Rural Health Education and Training Initiative last fall. The grant focuses on a collaborative team-based approach to health care, often referred to as interprofessional care, with an emphasis on serving veterans in rural communities, and is a joint effort with the Tuscaloosa VA, UA’s Capstone College of Nursing, College of Community Health Sciences, School of Social Work and psychology department, and it includes several pieces. For a list of sources, contact Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

UA DEPARTMENT OF PYSCHOLOGY APPROVED FOR $1.27 MILLION PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES RESEARCH INSTITUTE GRANT FOR PAIN RESEARCH – Chronic pain affects more than 116 million people in the United States and costs $600 billion annually to treat. People with low education, low reading skills, and/or low income have more chronic pain, and receive less treatment. Many people with low income also have literacy deficits that put them at a greater disadvantage in the healthcare system. Building on previous research by UA’s Pain Management Team, Dr. Beverly Thorn, chair of UA’s Department of Pyschology, will lead a research project to study different psychosocial treatments for the management of chronic pain, including simplifying patient materials used to manage pain and the treatment itself to make it easier for all patients to understand. “Just like someone with diabetes, chronic pain is a chronic illness without a cure, and it has to be managed,” Thorn said. “Someone with diabetes cannot simply take insulin or other medication without changing their daily habits (wiser food choices, engaging in physical activity, and learning to manage stress). Someone with chronic pain cannot simply have multiple surgeries and take multiple medications without learning pain self-management skills.” For more information, contact David Miller, media relations, at 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.

UA RESEARCHERS RECEIVE GRANT FOR COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH — Researchers from The University of Alabama were awarded a three-year, $800,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop and support collaborative research between academic researchers and residents of Alabama communities disproportionately impacted by poor health. The grant project, “UNITED: Using New Interventions Together to Eliminate Disparities,” is a partnership of the College of Community Health Sciences’ Institute for Rural Health Research, the College of Communication and Information Sciences’ Institute for Communication and Information Research and the Black Belt Community Foundation. The University’s three-year planning grant will focus on reducing obesity in rural Alabama and will create a research training program to provide education and training to academic researchers interested in conducting community-based participatory research in the rural Black Belt and to build the CBPR capacity of Black Belt residents. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.

HONORS WEEK –The University of Alabama will recognize the achievement of outstanding students and faculty during Honors Week activities on campus from Monday, April 1, to Tuesday, April 9. The Tapping on the Mound ceremony, a tradition since the early 1900s, will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 5 on the Mound at the west side of the UA Quad (rain location will be Moody Music Concert Hall). University honoraries Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, Blue Key National Honor Society and Anderson Society will induct new members at this time. For more information, see http://uanews.ua.edu/2013/03/2013-honors-week-events-at-ua-highlight-scholarship-leadership/ or contact Richard LeComte, media relations, 205/348-3782, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu.

UA ENGINEERING STUDENTS PREPARING FOR ROBOTICS COMPETITION – A team of eight University of Alabama engineering students will compete in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers SoutheastCon Hardware competition April 4-7 in Jacksonville, Fla. The goal for this year’s competition is to simulate the use of machines in sorting containers in a shipyard port. To accomplish this, the team created a battery-powered robot that is made autonomous by a microcontroller and on-board sensors.   For more details, watch for a news release at www.uanews.ua.edu or contact Adam Jones, UA engineering media relations, at 205/348-6444 or acjones12@eng.ua.edu

EVENTS

ALL-CITY ORCHESTRA TO DEBUT AT MOODY – Strings in Schools, a collaborative effort between The University of Alabama’s School of Music and Tuscaloosa City Schools, will debut its first All-City Orchestra at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 in room 204 at Moody Music Building at UA. Forty middle school students from TCS have trained with UA graduate students on viola, violin, cello and bass. TCS is currently one of three districts in the state with a comprehensive strings program, according to UA professor and Strings in Schools co-organizer Dr. Anne Witt. The 40 students were among 70 who auditioned. For more information, contact David Miller, media relations, at 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.  

UA STUDENT GROUP HOSTS SOUTHERN LIVING EDITOR — The University of Alabama’s Meeting Professional International club invites the community to a talk with southern lifestyle expert Rebecca Gordon at 7 p.m. March 19 in Lloyd Hall Auditorium. A contributing editor for Southern Living, Gordon has spent the past 13 years sharing her knowledge of food, entertaining and gardening with the world. Most recently, she started creating her own “lifestyle brand,” with a focus on tailgating. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu, or Lorie A Tuma, assistant professor in Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management, 205/348-6157, ltuma@ches.ua.edu

ESPN ANCHOR TO HEADLINE RESEARCH EVENT – The University of Alabama Program in Sports Communication will host its first research symposium Wednesday, March 20, in Gorgas Library Room 205. The all-day event will feature research presentations from faculty, students and staff in various departments across campus, as well as a keynote address by ESPN SportsCenter anchor Mike Hill at 1:15 p.m. For a full schedule of the day’s events, visit http://sportscom.ua.edu/apsc-symposium-on-march-20/. The UA Program in Sports Communication, housed in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, serves as an umbrella for sport communication-related research, teaching and activities taking place on he UA campus, with a number of faculty fellows providing mentorship for students participating in such research. Contact: Misty Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu or Dr. Lance Kinney, research symposium coordinator, 205/348-7706, kinney@apr.ua.edu.

ALABAMA FORENSIC COUNCIL TO HOLD PRE-NATIONAL TOURNAMENT SHOWCASE – The University of Alabama’s speech and debate team will host a public showcase Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Theater. The showcase event, which will feature several of the team’s competitive speakers, serves to help prepare the team for its upcoming national championship tournament. The team has won a total of 19 national championships and countless individual events championships. Contact: Misty Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu or Bobby Imbody, AFC director, imbody@ua.edu, 205/348-8077.

MOUNDVILLE SATURDAY IN THE PARK FEATURES NATURE WALKS – Author and wilderness expert Darryl Patton, of Gadsden, will lead wild plant nature walks from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at UA’s Moundville Archaeological Park. Patton was a longtime student of renowned herbalist Tommie Bass, and he wrote and published the book “Mountain Medicine: The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass” in tribute to his mentor. This season’s Saturday in the Park was sponsored by an anonymous donor. Park entrance fees will apply. Contact: Kim Eaton, media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu