Developer donates $2 million to University of Alabama
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Fla.)– March 18
Palmer Ranch developer Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and his wife Eliza have donated $2 million for a scholarship program at the University of Alabama. According to the university, the Culverhouses recently donated $1 million, in addition to $1 million the couple gave last August. The $2 million is being used to create a scholarship program aimed at helping students reduce the amount of money they have to borrow to attend school. “I know a lot of parents’ only options — especially after this recession — are student loans for their kids,” Hugh Culverhouse said. Culverhouse, a former federal prosecutor who earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Florida, said he and his wife chose to give to the University of Alabama because both of his parents attended the school and his father was a major benefactor to Alabama. The University of Alabama’s business college is named for his late father, Hugh Culverhouse Sr.
Montgomery Advertiser – March 18
Florence Times Daily – March 18
Moulton Advertiser – March 18
Chattanooga Times-Free Press (Tenn.) – March 18
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – March 18
CBS 12 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – March 18
WGOW-FM (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – March 18
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University of Alabama students to help Moore, OK for Alternative Spring Break
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – March 18
Some University of Alabama spring breakers are opting for a week of service this year. Organizers of Alternative Spring Break try to send students to places where they can help families or communities in need. This year, volunteers are heading to Moore, Okla. where last summer, a tornado devastated the city. A group of 20 students will leave for Oklahoma Sunday. They’ll help build a home for a family who lost their home to the tornado through a Habitat for Humanity project. Organizers say people here still remember the outpouring of support for Tuscaloosa after the April 27 tornado and want to return the favor. “As that is very close to home in the Tuscaloosa community, we felt like it was our obligation to reach out and help them as so many reached out and helped us after that devastation hit our area. So we felt very compelled to go and spread some more service and love towards them,” Courtney Chapman Thomas, Director of University of Alabama Community Service,” said. This will be the first University of Alabama student group to go help in Moore, Okla. Last summer, the school’s community service office collected gift cards and other donations to help victims of the tornado.
Hovercraft team rises to new success
Crimson White – March 19
The University of Alabama hovercraft team is taking competition to new heights. On Friday the group competed against Auburn at the second annual University Hoverbowl Challenge, where it completed 40 laps on its homemade craft. The team lost with a score of 126-85 but came out victorious compared to last year’s Hoverbowl, when it only completed one and a half laps. “Auburn could not get their F35 engine to run, so they raced a higher-class engine against us. They had 20 horsepower against us that we did not have. The outcome of the race was not important to us,” Alex Few, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering, said. “The important thing was that we made something that worked, and we were able to get off the ground and got to compete against our national rival while doing so.” … Hoverclub of America, a members-only organization that encourages the hovercraft sport, asked the UA hovercraft team to create a formula 35 hovercraft, which means all of the engines on the craft must come to a total of 35 horsepower. The team made the 14.5-foot, 600-pound craft from scratch, coming in at 33 horsepower. The team began work on the hovercraft Aug. 15 and kept working up to the day of the competition. In the last four days before the competition the team of 10 senior aerospace engineering majors worked for 90 hours straight, its captains only getting five hours and 15 minutes sleep total.
Helping People Enroll in Obamacare Is a Way to Volunteer
Huffington Post – March 18
What should we do now? That’s a question politically active folks are constantly asking themselves … Of course, there’s no single right choice, and it doesn’t have to be either/or. On that point, a pretty amazing group of college student volunteers in Alabama (and they aren’t the only ones) have embarked on a mission that addresses both at the same time. This group is called Bama Covered, and they are helping people enroll in health insurance plans through the exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Many people simply haven’t gotten over to an exchange to sign up. Others, once they head over to that exchange, need help navigating their way through it. That’s where people like Marlan Golden come in. A student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Goldenhas been helping the kitchen and cleaning staff who work on campus to get covered.
Bill would set Alabama minimum wage
Montgomery Advertiser – March 19
A piece of legislation that would establish a state minimum wage is likely going to be assigned to a subcommittee and left to die, according to the bill’s sponsor. Rep. Darrio Melton, D-Selma, introduced a constitutional amendment that would establish a state minimum wage of $9.80 in three incremental 80-cent raises by 2016. If passed, the bill would go to a vote in the November election. … Ahmed Ijaz, an economist at the University of Alabama center for Business and Economic Research, said empirical data shows that a minimum wage increase wouldn’t have any significant impact on the economy one way or another in the long run.
UA program offers local enrichment courses
Crimson White – March 19
Bollywood, ukulele and kayaking are not usually considered typical areas of instruction, but for students at Tuscaloosa Magnet Elementary School these subjects, among others, can be found in classrooms Tuesday afternoons. Often times the teachers of these classes are as unusual as the subject matter because they are led by University of Alabama students and faculty, as well as Tuscaloosa community members, as part of the UA Partnership Program. The program, started by Principal Jeanne Burkhalter, was originally designed as a small music program led by a student’s parent. It has since evolved into a school-wide enrichment program, and each semester students can take a class of their choice taught by a partner from the Tuscaloosa community. “It was her idea of expanding children’s minds to things they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to,” Mike Bissell, the school’s IB coordinator, said. “It started with music, and it took on a life of its own. It spiraled out of control, but in a good way.” Today the organization has grown to include more than 24 subjects for third- through fifth-grade students to choose from, including Japanese, journalism, knitting, soccer and Minecraft, all taught by different community members. The chess class this semester is taught entirely by UA students through the Every Move Counts Program, a course offered though the Honors College.
Mental health stigma addressed by students
Crimson White – March 19
The experiences of students coping with various mental illnesses were brought to life as anonymously submitted manuscripts were performed by student actors in the fourth annual “Mental Health Monologues” on Tuesday. Sponsored by the Counseling Center and the UA chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, these student actors attempted to erase the stigma around the topic of mental illness by sharing 11 monologues written by UA students struggling with mental health issues from depression and bipolar disorder to generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. “It was refreshing to finally hear their side of the story,” Jenia Turpin, a sophomore majoring in communication, said. “You rarely hear what people with mental illnesses have to say about them because of the stigma or fear of not being accepted.” Students packed the Ferguson Theater to hear the stories of their fellow classmates, performed in five- to 10-minute monologues by students wearing green, the awareness color of mental health illnesses.
Bama Dining’s leftover food used in UA Arboretum composts
Crimson White – March 19
Bama Dining has found a way to reuse leftover salad greens to benefit the University of Alabama Arboretum. At the end of each day, Bama Dining gathers all of its unusable waste and ships it off to the arboretum, where it is mixed with the leaves and plant matter produced there and left to compost. The compost is primarily used by the arboretum, but the public can also purchase the rich soil. “The arboretum has used the [old golf course space] for plant sales and the compost pile. The majority of the compost gets used at the arboretum, but any leftovers they sell in the spring,” Monica Watkins, the new Arboretum director, said. According to the Bama Dining website, this initiative keeps 4,000 pounds of food waste out of landfills. The only type of food that is composted is “green matter,” or vegetables and fruit peels. “We have very little usable waste at the end of the day due to our production process. Food that is left over can, at times, be used to create different menu items. Food that is out of date is thrown out, per safety standards,” Bruce McVeigh, Bama Dining’s general manager, said.
Alabama film debuts on campus
Crimson White – March 19
It all started as a favor for a friend. A few years ago, Boulder, Colo.-based real estate agent Greg Camalier road-tripped across the country to help Stephen Badger, his childhood friend, move to New Mexico. On the way, the two spent time in legendary Muscle Shoals, Ala., and they decided the town had a story that needed to be heard. “You always have thoughts like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…,’” said Camalier, director of the documentary “Muscle Shoals.” “It was a strong feeling to start with because we really thought that it was an unbelievable story. But still, for about six months or so, it was kind of a slow process trying to figure out how we were going to do this.” Three years, dozens of interviews and countless hours of work later, Camalier and Badger’s pipe dream became a reality when “Muscle Shoals” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Since then, the documentary has played at a variety of film festivals worldwide, gathering widespread praise and even picking up a 2014 Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media along the way. Thursday evening, the Muscle Shoals documentary will make its way to The University of Alabama for a special screening in the Ferguson Theater hosted by the American Studies Club.