Alabama professor receives SEC Faculty Achievement Award
Tuscaloosa News – April 9
A University of Alabama professor is among the recipients of the 2014 SEC Faculty Achievement Awards named Wednesday. The annual awards honor a faculty member from each school in the Southeastern Conference. A news release states that each recipient demonstrates an outstanding record of teaching, research and scholarship. George Rable, the Charles Summersell Chair of Southern History, is UA’s recipient. SEC Faculty Achievement Award winners receive a $5,000 honorarium from the Southeastern Conference and become his or her university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year, to be named later this month, receives an additional $15,000 honorarium and will be recognized at the SEC Spring Meetings in May and the SEC Symposium in September.
Engineering team prepares to take flight in Kansas
Crimson White – April 10
A University of Alabama team of engineering students will take flight in Wichita, Kan., for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Student Design/Build/Fly competition this weekend. Over the past two semesters, 21 students designed and built a small, electrically-powered aircraft to compete against other universities around the globe. The final product must complete four missions, three in the air and one on the ground. “We’ve proven that we can successfully complete all the mission requirements, both flight and ground missions, that the competition requires us to do. So that’s probably the reason we’re pretty excited, because we know we can do everything that we set out to do,” Will Bowen, a team captain and senior majoring in aerospace engineering, said. The tasks include flying as many laps around a pre-determined course as possible and flying the same course carrying a number of one-pound cubes. The course also includes a medical rescue simulation where “attendants” and “patients,” represented by wooden blocks, are transported for three laps. In the ground mission, the aircraft mimics a taxi, driving across 40 feet of roof paneling and avoiding obstacles.
Getting a head start on safety
Tuscaloosa News – April 9 (Print edition only)
Students at Oakdale Elementary School got a lesson on bicycle safety Tuesday taught by nursing students from the University of Alabama. The lesson included a free helmet that youngsters were able to personalize with stickers and other decorations.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – April 10
University of Alabama sorority publishes history book to celebrate 40th anniversary
Al.com – April 9
Members and alumnae of the University of Alabama Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter celebrated sisterhood and shared history this weekend to honor their 40th anniversary on campus. The Theta Sigma Chapter, chartered on April 14, 1974, gathers every five years to celebrate sisterhood and friendship, but this year’s commemoration was also marked with the publication of a chapter history book. “Every five years we come back together and we have this event, where sorority sisters give their stores of what was going on in different decades,” Journet Greene, chairwoman of the 40th anniversary celebration, said. “So we really started to think, you know, we need to be documenting this.” The book, titled “40 Years at the Capstone: The Theta Sigma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Timeless Service at The University of Alabama,” was presented to UA President Judy Bonner Saturday. “Welcome back home and congratulations on your 40th anniversary,” Bonner said before asking alumnae and current students to sign her copy of the book. “Today you have the opportunity to rekindle the friendships you began as members of this outstanding national sorority.”
What Is the Slow Food Movement?
Greenliving.com – April 9
The slow food movement is a global initiative focused on encouraging people to stop eating fast food, instead taking the time to prepare and eat whole, locally-sourced foods. The focus is not only on nutrition, but also on preserving culture and heritage as it relates to food … Assistant Professor Stephen Schneider at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa outlines many of the disease outbreaks and labor rights scandals of the modern food industry that have surfaced in recent years, all of which are the sorts of problems that the Slow Food Movement seeks to address … Given the goals of organizations like SFUSA, the success of the Slow Food Movement could potentially lead to mass improvements in persistent societal health and environmental problems.
Residents in rural areas lack access to health care services
Crimson White – April 10
Due to a lack of doctors, many rural areas in Alabama do not have convenient access to health care. Eighteen counties stretch across the middle of Alabama in what is known as the Black Belt, an area with high rates of poverty. “These areas have some of our poorest patients with the least access to medicine,” Dr. Shelley Waits, an obstetrics fellow at the College of Community Health Sciences, said in an emailed statement. “These are the front lines, where preventative medicine and counseling about diet and exercise might really make an impact on the quality of life for our patients.” … Rural Alabama is important because the areas support bigger cities by supplying needs like timber, coal and gas, Dr. John Wheat, director of the Rural Scholars Program, said. He added that medical schools have become more elitist, making it hard for less privileged students to be accepted.
Zombie comedy produced by UA students to be screened Sunday at Bama Theatre
Tuscaloosa News – April 9
The pilot of a zombie comedy produced by University of Alabama department of telecommunication and film students will be screened during the Black Warrior Film Festival on April 13. The 24-minute pilot of “Zom Com” will be shown at 4:30 p.m. Sunday during a free screening at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa. The showing will be followed by a question and answer session with assistant telecommunication and film professors Payne Adam Schwartz and Matt Payne, whose students collaborated on the pilot during the fall semester, and other cast and crew members. The audience will get the change to fill out questionnaires about the pilot and have a chance to get their pictures taken with zombies during the pre-screening festivities.
UATD set to perform ‘Urinetown’
Crimson White – April 10
Although it may sound off-putting, “Urinetown” is actually a musical comedy about a town where private bathrooms do not exist. In order to save on the town’s water consumption, citizens must use public, pay-per-use amenities that are owned by Urine Good Company, which is run by the evil Caldwell B. Cladwell. This Tony Award-winning musical is now being performed in the Marian Gallaway Theatre on the University of Alabama campus. The show’s hero, Bobby Strong, must save the daughter of Mr. Cladwell and the rest of the town, all while trying to escape Mr. Cladwell’s reign of tyranny. William Rowland, a second-year master’s theatre student, said he thinks Cladwell is only doing what he thinks is best for the people. “I don’t really play the evil characters a lot, so this is a walk on the wild side,” he said. “My favorite part has been that there is so much of a metatheatrical element to it. It’s fun to play with what we call the mask of the character and how we can bend that mask and break that fourth wall.”
University of Alabama sororities to host annual Easter egg hunt
Al.com – April 9
The University of Alabama Panhellenic Association will host their annual Easter Egg Hunt on the front lawn of the President’s Mansion this Sunday, April 13. The event, free and open to the public, typically draws hundreds out to enjoy spring sunshine and refreshments on UA’s campus. Children 12 and under are invited to hunt for the candy-filled eggs, and parents are encouraged to bring cameras to snap photos with the Easter Bunny. “The Panhellenic Association always looks forward to hosting this event for the Tuscaloosa community,” Sydney Everett, director of educational programming for the association, sad in a UA release. “It is a fun way to meet the families in our area and the kids always love hunting for the eggs.” Organizers say the event will be canceled in the event of inclement weather, but the National Weather Service is currently forecasting clear skies with a high near 80.
Cosmologist to speak at lecture
Crimson White – April 10
Lawrence Krauss is no stranger to the pop culture limelight. He has appeared in television shows and movies, published numerous best-selling books and was quoted by Miley Cyrus on Twitter. “You are all stardust … So forget Jesus. Stars died so you can live,” Krauss said in his book “A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing.” Cyrus quoted Krauss’ line on Twitter and received a media backlash afterward. “How can people take the love out of science and bring hate into religion so easily?” Cyrus responded in a tweet. Krauss will seek to put some of the love back into science when he gives the next installment of Alabama’s Lectures on Life’s Evolution at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 127 of the Biology Building.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 9
April is “Sexual Assault Awareness” month, and many are speaking out to help prevent such acts from happening. WVUA’s Katie Malone brings us more on the topic and what’s being done to combat the ongoing issue … “According to victim advocacy groups, more than 237,000 people will become victims of sexual assault this year in the U.S. alone, and victims and counselors are using April as a month to make a difference. Every two minutes, an American becomes a victim of sexual assault, and Alexis Killough became part of this number when she was just 12-years-old. Alexis Killough/University of Alabama student: “It was a very traumatizing experience for me. It’s changed my outlook on life in a lot of ways, and I feel like a lot of people don’t realize how prevalent sexual assaults are, how easy it is to become a victim, and how someone next to you can be a victim and you’d never know.” … With events scheduled throughout April, UA’s Women’s Resource Center hopes to help educate the community.