Dr. Bonner welcomes new freshmen as they move in
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 8
Earlier today, the University of Alabama welcomed incoming freshmen and their families for move-in day, university students, volunteers and various workers from surrounding businesses teamed together to help families unload their cars. Not only were freshmen greeted from the movers but also from University of Alabama President Judy Bonner. President Bonnner talked with students and their families about their new transition. One volunteer worker told WVUA,
“it’s a great way to make students feel welcome to their home away from home. It seems to put the girls at ease as well that they can make relationships with their roommates and things as well while we are unloading the things in there room.”
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 8
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Aug. 8
UA Week of Welcome helps students adjust
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 8
The University of Alabama’s Division of Student Affairs will host Week of Welcome 2013 from Aug. 16-29 to help new students adjust to academic and student life on campus and in Tuscaloosa. The two-week program is expected to feature more than 50 activities, including a carnival-style event at Coleman Coliseum at 6 p.m. Aug. 18, according to a release from the university. The Aug. 18 event will include activities such as zip lines and bumper cars, information about academic departments and student organizations, and a pep rally with UA cheerleaders, the Yell Crew and Big Al. The welcome events will also include the New Student Convocation at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 in Foster Auditorium. More information and a schedule of events is available at www.wow.ua.edu/index.cfm.
Thousands of UA students move in early
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 9
Approximately 2,700 University of Alabama students involved in activities on campus before the start of classes were allowed to begin moving into their dorms early on Thursday. UA Director of Housing Administration Alicia Browne said the students were moving into dorms scattered across campus. General move-in for the rest of campus is scheduled for Aug. 16-18. Browne said the largest group of students moving in early were women participating in rush this fall with campus sororities. The formal recruitment process for sororities is scheduled to begin tonight with convocation for more than 2,000 women participating this fall. Browne said the next largest group is likely students involved with UA’s Million Dollar Band. The band is scheduled to begin its fall camptoday, according to its website. The camp runs through Aug. 20. Browne noted Honors College students will also be on campus early for various community service projects in West Alabama from Sunday until Aug. 16.
New University of Alabama mail center features combination locks, online notifications, extended hours
Al.com – Aug. 8
The University of Alabama’s newly consolidated and renovated campus mail system is now open for business in the Ferguson Center. The Campus Mail Center is located in the former location of the U.S. Postal Office, which offered P.O. boxes and mail services to students. According to The Crimson White, the University informed the USPS in 2011 that they would not be renewing their lease contract for the building space. The post office was often understaffed and students lining up to mail or pick up packages often congested the space. The newly opened Mail Center features four service stations, while the USPS only offered two, and plans to open a second service window for only package distribution. The Center also offers 4,360 mail boxes on a first come, first come basis, but any student can receive packages to the center. Tony Johnson, director of logistics and support services at UA, said every feature of the new space is designed to get students in and out with their mail as quickly as possible. “Our thought process is to make it as simple and easy for the customers as possible,” Johnson said.
UA engineering department to host symposium Aug. 19-20
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 9
The University of Alabama department of civil, construction and environmental engineering will host the Garry Neil Drummond symposium Aug. 19-20 on the UA campus to discuss the future of the field and key issues for the industry. The “Defining the Future of Civil Engineering through Collaborative Research,” symposium includes panel discussions and brief research presentations by eight nationally-recognized civil engineering researchers during the two-day event at the South Engineering Research Center, according to a release from UA. The eight will participate in a panel discussion at 1 p.m. Aug. 19 in Room 1013 of the South Engineering Research Center, according to a release from UA. The speakers will give presentations on their research on Aug. 20.
The J-School Bubble
Inside Higher Ed – Aug. 9
Journalism instructors assign much more value to a degree in the discipline than do practicing journalists, according to a new Poynter study. Some 96 percent of journalism educators believe that a journalism degree is very important or extremely important when it comes to understanding the value of journalism. By contrast, 57 percent of media professionals believe that a journalism degree is key to understanding the value of their field. Perhaps even more significant, more than 80 percent of educators say a journalism degree is extremely important when it comes to learning news gathering skills, compared to 25 percent of media professionals. One in five media professionals finds a degree in the discipline is not at all important or only slightly important in learning news gathering. The results, based on an online survey of 1,800 respondents, are consistent with findings of a similar study Poynter conducted last year … “That is a trend we see that goes back to the creation of the first journalism school in 1908,” said Jennifer Greer, professor of journalism at the University of Alabama and chair of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Committee on Teaching. “There’s a division between the practitioners who think we’re in the ivory tower and people in education not getting the word out about what we’re doing. …Sometimes we get so busy with the day-to-day business of educating future journalists that we don’t tell the story as well as we should, but there are a lot of innovations and collaborations happening.” At the University of Alabama, for example, she said, an award-winning community journalism initiative with a digital emphasis affords aspiring journalists the time and resources that traditional news organizations no longer provide.
University of Alabama Thinks Long-Term During Renovation
Facilities Net – Aug. 9
With temporary cooling and electrical systems in place, the department turned its attention to determining a strategy for the central plant. Besides the amount of damage incurred and the age and life expectancy of the equipment, the plant’s current thermal load was perhaps the determining factor in the decision to renovate the plant. “The UA campus is currently experiencing significant growth,” says Frank Struss, the university’s director of facilities engineering. “The university has added 3.1 million gross square feet of building space, and we have purchased and installed 38 chillers during the past five years.” McKelvey adds that the overriding design goal for the project was to maximize the plant’s thermal capacity without increasing its electrical power feed or the thermal-water-piping infrastructure, and to do so as energy efficiently as possible.
In-House Maintenance Staff Boosts Alabama’s Bottom Line In Renovation
Facilities Net – Aug. 9
The department finished the central energy plant renovation in April 2012 at a cost of nearly $1.6 million, which includes repairs required due to the arc-flash explosion and the cost of equipment rental, McKelvey says. The new chillers, coupled with the redesign of the pumping systems, cooling-tower upgrades, and the new control systems, will save the university more than $185,000 annually in utility and maintenance costs. Lamb also re-emphasized the role of the department’s personnel in the project’s ultimate success. “UA is fortunate to have a highly skilled and hard-working maintenance staff, and the UA maintenance employees were instrumental from day one,” Lamb says. “UA’s organizational model for maintenance is to staff the department with the skills needed to perform almost any work required to maintain the campus on a daily basis. “We have proved it is financially beneficial to be self-sufficient and not be dependent on outside contractors. As a result, UA maintenance employees did a significant amount of the actual work required to install the new chillers, pumps, control systems, and the various other equipment.”