Who’s New in the Arts: Blake Richardson, Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra
Al.com – Sept. 15
The 50-plus musicians of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra will soon be taking cues from a new music director. Blake Richardson brings a wealth of training and experience to the position. His principal teachers have included Lorin Maazel, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, Mark Gibson, David Effron, Marin Alsop and Jorma Panula. In the summer of 2013, he was an assistant to Valery Gergiev in the inaugural 2013 season of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, touring Russia and the U.K. with violinist Joshua Bell. In addition to being a conductor, he is an accomplished violinist, pianist and percussionist … A member of the music faculty at the University of Alabama, Richardson brings a lifetime of music training, from violin studies at age 3 to degrees at the University of Texas, Indiana University and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, to a Fulbright scholarship to study in Barcelona and conducting professional opera conducting.
3-D Printing Steps Toward Industry
Chemical and Engineering News – Sept. 15
A popular management strategy for delivering bad news is to sandwich the unsavory information between tidbits of good news. Daniel Daly, who chairs the ACS Division of Business Development & Management, doesn’t subscribe to this theory, at least when it comes to discussing the status of the U.S. manufacturing sector. “It’s continuing to decline,” he bluntly said at the ACS national meeting held last month in San Francisco. “Offshore sites are more economically feasible” for producing goods. Although Daly, director of the University of Alabama Innovation & Mentoring of Entrepreneurs center, didn’t soften the blow with a sunnier fact, he is still optimistic for the future of manufacturing in the U.S. He believes that the technologies for creating custom three-dimensional parts, called 3-D printing or additive manufacturing, can help the U.S. reclaim lost jobs and create new opportunities. But engineers and scientists must first convince American industries that 3-D printing, known for generating prototypes and trinkets, can produce reliable, valuable, and functional parts.
With Debt Collection, Your Bank Account Could Be At Risk
NPR – Sept. 15
Kari Fiotti moved back to Omaha, Neb., in 2009 after a decade living in Italy. She had divorced her husband and returned to the U.S. to start a new life. Then, Fiotti, 44, took a pricey fall. “When I came back, I fell and I broke my wrist without insurance,” she says. Her doctor, she says, rejected her offer to make partial payments. So, like millions of Americans, her debt which had grown to $1,640 with interest and fees was turned over to collectors. Fiotti soon learned how hard they would try to collect her unpaid bills. Court records show that the collectors sued Fiotti, but that she didn’t show up in court for the hearing about her case. In May of last year, Fiotti suddenly realized, “My bank account’s at zero and I’m like, whoa, what’s going on?” Debt collectors had seized her bank account because she didn’t have enough to cover the debt. … When garnishment protections do exist, the burden is usually on debtors to figure out if and how the laws protect their assets. “In an awful lot of states, the information that the employee gets is going to be very, very confusing,” says William Henning, a law professor at the University of Alabama and chairman of a committee drafting a model state law on wage garnishment.
KQED News – Sept. 15
GPB News – Sept. 15
Alabama state chess championship to be held at University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 15
Chess players from Alabama and neighboring states will compete Sept. 26-28 in championship tournaments. The Alabama State Chess Championship Tournament will be held Sept. 26-28, while the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Tournament, featuring nearly 100 childrn will be held Sept. 27. The tournaments will be held on the third floor of Ferguson Center on the University of Alabama campus. For information about how to register for the tournaments, go to www.freedomchessacademy.org. The tournaments are held in Tuscaloosa every four years.
Flu shots to be provided to UA students, faculty and staff
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 15
Free flu shots today for University of Alabama students and staff. All you have to do is show your campus ID. The children of employees are also eligible. Nurses will provide the flu shots for free at various spots on campus over the next three months.
WBHM-FM (Birmingham) – Sept. 15
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 15
College credit, now in plastic
Crimson White – Sept. 16
Technology, like Bama Cash, Dining Dollars and meal plans, can allow students to spend money without fully comprehending what has happened – a quick swipe of an ACT card and the deal is done. This way of spending could explain the decrease in student credit card usage. BankRate.com, a personal finance site, surveyed young people ages 18 to 29 and found 63 percent did not have any credit cards. Robert McLeod, a professor of finance and a John S. Bickley Fellow in insurance and finance, said he thinks this reluctance stems from the ease of misusing plastic money. “Used wisely, there’s nothing wrong with credit cards, but the problem is with the misuse of credit cards, mainly because people don’t keep track of the expenditures,” he said. Two common reasons students give for getting a credit card are establishing good credit and providing a safety net of emergency funds. Alexis Killough, a senior majoring in English and political science, has had a student credit card in her name since she was 18 years old. “We were looking ahead to a time when I will no longer be dependent on [my parents] and so would need a credit score of my own to make large purchases,” she said. “We decided it would be better for me to start this process now, while they can still support and assist me.”
Chinese international student discusses life
Crimson White – Sept. 16
Jia Guo is a 25-year-old international student from China pursuing a doctoral degree in operations management. He came to the University in August. For him, America represents opportunity and the future. CW: Why did you come to America and choose The University of Alabama? Guo: “If I had to give a simple answer, it is because [the University] gives money. I also got scholarships from other universities, but I think Alabama is good because of football. It is in the south of America, and Southern people are good. It’s very friendly. I like the movie ‘Forrest Gump.’ This is his university.” CW: What do you like about campus? What do you not like about campus? Guo: “The football games are very good, and the band is very good. I don’t like every moment when I cannot understand the jokes that my American classmates make. Language is still a problem. It feels bad when all the people are laughing, and you do not know what they are laughing about.” CW: What’s the most different from your home country? Guo: “A major difference is I found more disabled and old people here. I don’t think it means there’s more disabled people here, but in China, our facilities are not good for them. Those people do not want to go out in China, but here everyone is equal. If I can do something, then others can also do it.”
HCA brings library cards to local kids
Crimson White – Sept. 15
The Honors College Assembly is partnering with the Tuscaloosa Public library for an event to help put library cards in the hands of Tuscaloosa County children. On Tuesday, volunteers from the Honors College will be helping with crafts, story times and other activities to get kids excited about reading. The library will also help parents register their kids for library cards. Ally Mitchell, a sophomore majoring in communicative disorders and psychology, is the director of service for the Honors College Assembly. “Our theme for September was education. Because it’s the start of school, it kind of fit,” Mitchell said. The service sector plans mostly one-time events throughout the year. Every month has a theme they plan their events around. Separate from Mitchell’s service group, the Honors College has a program called READ Alabama, where Honors College students travel to Tuscaloosa elementary schools to read to young students.