SHAPIRO: Fort Hood and the celebrity of suicide
Washington Times – April 3
What was the shooter’s motive? That’s the question that everyone wants answered right now, not just in the recent Fort Hood shootings that left three (plus the gunman) dead and 16 injured, but also in the tragedies that took place at the Washington Navy Yard, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine. The list goes on, which is probably why President Obama said Wednesday night, “We’re heartbroken something like this might have happened again.” Mass shootings have actually occurred for decades, and their frequency has not technically increased. What has changed is our society’s fascination with the shooters, and our willingness to glorify their memory with obsessive media coverage … Adam Lankford, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, who has analyzed and authored books on suicide terrorists told The New York Times last year: “Although terrorists may share the same beliefs as the organizations they spout, they are primarily motivated by the desire to kill and be killed .” That’s right, suicide. In 2010, the suicide rate was 12.4 per 100,000 people in the United States, the highest it’s been in 15 years. It’s even higher among military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Publisher, TV executive among University of Alabama’s top media honorees
Tuscaloosa News – April 3
The publisher of the Sand Mountain Reporter in Albertville and a longtime Birmingham television executive are among the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences’ honorees as outstanding alumni and teachers for 2013-14. Ben Shurett earned the Betsy Plank Outstanding Leadership Award, given to a UA communications school graduate with a distinguished career. After coaching basketball for four years in Alabama high schools, Shurett entered the newspaper business in 1978 as a management trainee for Tuscaloosa-based Boone Newspapers Inc. He has been publisher at three Boone-owned newspapers, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Demopolis and Troy, and for two newspapers owned by Southern Newspapers Inc., one in Fort Payne and, since 2006, at the Sand Mountain Reporter.
Anti binge-drinking group circulates posters on campus
News Record (Cincinnati, Ohio) – April 3
To combat a binge-drinking rate higher than the national average, the University of Cincinnati has been collaborating with the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati to promote responsible drinking among students. The “Less Than U Think” campaign was created and launched by a group of communications students at the University of Alabama in fall 2010. The Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati started promoting the campaign at UC in March. Mary Haag, president and CEO of the coalition, said they received state funding to be directed toward 18 to 25 year olds. After researching different campaigns from around the country, they decided to use UA’s platform to approach the dangers of binge drinking within the community; specifically on college campuses. As defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, binge drinking is when a man consumes five or more drinks, or a woman consumes four or more drinks in a two-hour span. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 80 percent of college students drink alcohol, and almost half report binge drinking within the past two weeks.
Metabolites’ role in understanding disease emphasized
Science Daily – April 3
Over-reliance on genetic-centered approaches in predicting, diagnosing and treating disease will lead to few future scientific breakthroughs, cautioned a University of Alabama researcher who co-authored an article in an early online issue of Genetics that advocates for a greater emphasis on the body’s metabolites in understanding illnesses. “To augment the value of genetic data, the scientific community needs to add additional information from things like metabolomics — the analysis of metabolites within an organism,” said Dr. Laura Reed, a University of Alabama geneticist and the March 25 paper’s lead author. “The Human Genome Project has been sold as something that is going to revolutionize medicine — that soon we will get our genomes sequenced, and we will be able to figure out exactly what diseases we are at risk for and, maybe, the best way to treat them,” said Reed. “While it’s true there are important innovations to come from that kind of information, it is much more limited than some may have hoped.” Using fruit flies as animal models in the research publishing in Genetics, the multi-institution team demonstrated how genetics, in combination with metabolomics and gene expression — how genes are turned on — can be used to predict heart disease and the organism’s response to environmental change, said Reed.
Medical Xpress – April 3
Science Codex – April 3
#HealthTalk: How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep
Everyday Health – April 3
March 2 – 9 is National Sleep Awareness Week. Join our chat to learn why your sleep may be suffering and get tips on how to get the rest you need … Natalie Dautovich, PhD, is the National Sleep Foundation Environmental Scholar. She is also appointed at the University of Alabama as an assistant professor of clinical geropsychology in the department of psychology, and as the emerging gerontological research scholar in the Center for Mental Health and Aging.
“Discovering Alabama” debuts episode about Marble City
The Daily Home (Talladega) – April 3
Area residents have known about it for decades, but soon people across the state will discover the magic of Sylacauga marble. “Discovering Alabama,” an Emmy-awarded television series about the state’s natural history and heritage, debuted an episode titled “Marble City” at B.B. Comer Memorial Library on Wednesday exploring the history and varied uses of Sylacauga’s pure white marble … The series is a production of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, The University of Alabama in cooperation with the Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio, and Alabama Public Television. It received two Emmy awards for its coverage of the Gulf Coast oil spill and one Emmy for a show about Alabama’s role in space exploration.
LOCAL Q&A: Ebony L. Johnson
Tuscaloosa News – April 3
When she’s not working as the executive director at the Tuscaloosa Children’s Center, Ebony L. Johnson is busy teaching criminal justice courses at the University of Alabama … Q:What do you do? Tell us about your job and how you became involved in it. A:Full time, I am the executive director at The Tuscaloosa Children’s Center Inc. The Tuscaloosa Children’s Center partners with local law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, and the Department of Human Resources to provide investigative, advocacy, community education and counseling services to Tuscaloosa’s smallest victims of crime. I have been with the center for almost 11 years now. Part-time, I teach courses in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama. In essence, I’ve been blessed with two wonderful jobs.
Students, professors receive awards
Crimson White – April 3
A Gadsden, Ala., native and one of the two student recipients of the 2014 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, Kirkland Back insisted that the award isn’t just hers. “It was awarded to women all over campus and the city of Tuscaloosa who work tirelessly to find permanent solutions to the many cultural and societal problems we face here at Alabama,” the senior majoring in English said. “That recognition on the University’s behalf gives me great hope and a charge to continue in my work.” According to the Premier Awards website, the Sullivan Award is considered the highest honor given by The University of Alabama. It is given each year to one man and one woman in the senior class. Back most recently served as the fourth president of the Honors College Assembly, but she has been involved in various capacities ranging from SGA to Creative Campus. She also serves as the undergraduate student body representative on the Faculty Senate Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, created following allegations of racism in the University’s Greek system last fall.