Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive kicks off
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 14
The University of Alabama kicked off the 21st annual pre-Iron Bowl food drive with Auburn University Monday with events at UA’s Ferguson Plaza. UA’s Center for Sustainable Service & Volunteerism launched the 2014 Beat Auburn Beat Hunger with free food in front of the student center and an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to make donations on behalf of the contestant they would like to see splattered with pie during an event on Nov. 10. In addition to the “Pie in the Face” event voting, the kickoff also included opportunities to take photos with Big Al and purchase food drive T-shirts. The kickoff (from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) begins a series of weekly events including 5k runs, a hunger simulation and other events meant to help collect nonperishable food and monetary donations for the food drive.
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Oct. 13
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 13
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 13
Community invited to Alabama Museum of Natural History’s Fossil Day
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 14
The Alabama Museum of Natural History at Smith Hall will mark National Fossil Day on Wednesday. The public is invited to the free event from 4-6 p.m. to the grand gallery of Smith Hall, which will feature demonstration tables, hands-on activities for children in the museum’s Discovery Lab and a wide variety of fossils on display. Dana Ehret, the museum’s director of paleontology, will present “New Fossil Finds for 2014,” which features some Ice Age mammal fossils recovered during one of Ehret’s collection trips and some fossil footprints from the coal age that were donated to the museum. Printers from the University of Alabama’s 3D Printing Lab will also be available to demonstrate how to scan and print fossils.
Relay for Life to host first Oktoberfest on Thursday at University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 14
The University of Alabama chapter of Relay for Life will host its first Oktoberfest from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kappa Alpha Order house on the UA campus. The event will feature teams participating in three-legged races, pie-eating competitions, wheelbarrow races and costume contests. Admission is $5, and there will be food and T-shirts for sale to raise money for Relay for Life. Proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.
Programs connect UA to Marion
Crimson White – Oct. 14
By taking Hackberry Lane to McFarland Boulevard and driving east bound for 27 miles, and then taking AL 5 South for 23.5 miles, one will wind up in Marion, Alabama. Counting back roads and all, the drive totals 57 miles. The Honors College works to metaphorically shorten the distance between Tuscaloosa and Marion through the umbrella of programming called 57 Miles. Through programs like Black Belt Action and Afternoons of Service, the Honors College brings students in to develop relationships with members of the community and use their skills to improve one of the poorest regions in the country. Chris Joiner, the coordinator for 57 Miles, said the program began in 2009 when a group of University Fellows travelled to Marion to execute a number of service-oriented projects. Since then, the program has increased in scale, expanding to include a student living in Marion full-time on an economic development internship this year. “We really believe in these immer sion experiences,” Joiner said. “It also allows us to have a greater impact than just flashes in the pan.” … The Honors College recently started renting a building in Marion they are calling P3, a name centered on the concept of “the third place.” The structure is intended to be where community members and UA students and faculty alike can come to learn and grow together.
Students benefit from exchanges
Crimson White – Oct. 14
Fear almost kept Kathryn Lewis from achieving one of her college goals. In the spring of 2014, Lewis packed her bags for England, where she traveled to be an exchange student at the University of Leicester. “I had always told myself that I wanted to study abroad in college, and then I actually got the chance and I applied,” said Lewis, a senior majoring in secondary education. “Even if you’re scared [to study abroad], just go. Everyone’s in the same [situation], everyone is scared that you meet there that is going through the study abroad program, so you’re not alone.” Nearly 4,300 miles from Tuscaloosa, Leicester is located in central England. The city is two and a half hours north of London and is approximately three and a half times bigger than Tuscaloosa. In 2013, the University of Leicester’s enrollment was 20,973. The exchange program between the University of Leicester and The University of Alabama is one of more than 25 programs in 14 different countries. Exchange programs differ from affiliates or faculty-led programs in that the institution and its partner must maintain a balance of students exchanged between the schools.
UnlockED, HCA to host education career event
Crimson White – Oct. 14
UnlockED, a student organization founded last year with the goal of improving the teaching and learning environment in Alabama, will partner with the Honors College Assembly to host ExplorED: Pathways into the Classroom, a career fair-style event on education. Several education organizations will be present at ExplorED, including UA’s College of Education, Teach for America and charter schools from around the South. Justin Heck, vice president of UnlockED and a senior majoring in political science and economics, said the event is aimed towards seniors who are looking for career opportunities in the field of education after graduation. However, everyone is welcome, including noneducation majors and underclassmen.
The Black Warrior Film Festival to hold interest meeting
Crimson White – Oct. 14
Students with a passion for film will have a chance to work with the Black Warrior Film Festival, starting with an interest session Tuesday at 7 p.m. Volunteers will have a chance to participate in a variety of fields, including event planning, marketing, graphic design, publicity, fundraising, film programming, advertising and
film production. “People can get involved with the festival without having any prior experience and learn a lot,” said Katie Howard, a senior majoring in public relations and president of the festival.
Badin Bible panel explores history of religious publication
Notre Dame (Indiana) Observer – Oct. 14
History and theology experts explored the conception of the Bible belonging to Stephen Badin, an early American priest who purchased the land upon which the University of Notre Dame currently resides, in the Hesburgh Libraries’ Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Friday. Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism Kathleen Cummings introduced the four “Badin Bible Symposium” panelists. Cummings said an expatriate Irish Catholic by the name of Mathew Carey published the first Catholic version of the Bible in the United States in 1790. Cummings said John Carroll of Baltimore, the first bishop of the new American nation, bought one of Carey’s first editions and gave it to the first priest he ordained, Stephen Badin. . . . Margaret Abruzzo, associate professor of history at the University of Alabama, said Carey published the Bible to promote a good image of Catholics as religious liberty and toleration reached a high point in the States.
Parrott returns to teach after 8-year newspaper career
Crimson White – Oct. 14
Scott Parrott insists a lot of his success is due to luck. Parrott came to The University of Alabama for a master’s degree in journalism after working as a reporter for eight years. He said he thought he wanted to teach, but he planned to continue reporting and teach part time. He said he never really thought of becoming a full-time professor, but after working 14-hour days at a newspaper, he decided to see if he could get into a doctoral program. He made a budget of how much he could spend on application fees and applied to multiple schools. With $35 left in his pocket, he attempted to get into the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose application happened to cost exactly $35. To his surprise, he was accepted. “My research interest was actually fed by my old reporting career,” Parrott said. “I was doing investigative reports on mental healthcare in North Carolina. We did about 19 stories on mental healthcare in North Carolina, and essentially what the stories said is the system is failing. A lot of people were falling through the cracks.”
ENGgenuity Lab partners students for mentoring
Crimson White – Oct. 14
The ENGenuity Lab has made its place on the University of Alabama campus. The lab started three years ago when co-creators and administrators Nancy Holmes and Gail Howell started a Mentor UPP Program. Holmes said the program was designed for underclassmen to learn from experienced graduate or upperclassmen students in the same field. After success with the program, the dean of the engineering school contacted Holmes and Howell about finding a space for the program. … Holmes and Howell decided on a place in Paty. “The charge that the two of us were given was to expand the tutoring ability beyond math and beyond the freshman class,” Howell said. “This way the space can be used for a multitude of reasons.” … Today, the ENGenuity Lab is the home of the Mentor UPP tutoring program, the college-wide tutoring program and a space for students in the engineering department to go to when they need help or want to study.
Student juggles budding music career, classes
Crimson White – Oct. 14
Michael Austin looks around his bedroom walls, gesturing to the matted posters of famous musicians and names his musical inspirations off one-by-one. “There’s Jimi Hendrix, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Mayer, Jack White, The Dave Matthews Band…” The junior majoring in journalism has just released his first EP, “Dancing in the Sky,” produced by Sonic Sorbet Records. While Austin said his roots are in blues, his EP frames his layered musical voice as self-described pop-rock. Despite the complexity of Austin’s sound, he tries to keep his sound simple and timeless. “Simplicity is what sounds good, what lasts. If you listen to Sinatra or Jack White now, you hear that, and it’s timeless,” Austin said. While this is his first professional album, Austin has been playing guitar for about seven years.
U.S. Department of Education awards $4.5 million in federal grants to Auburn University
Auburn Plainsman – Oct. 14
The U.S Department of Education awarded a total of $4.45 million to Auburn University’s Office of the Vice President for University Outreach as a part of two federal grants awarded to Alabama. The grants are a part of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program and will be administered to University Outreach’s K-12 and college access department. GEAR UP is designed to increase college attendance and to raise the expectations of scholarship in low-income families. The program is a partnership between Auburn University, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, The University of Alabama and the Black Belt Community Foundation.
Students discuss prejudice against Muslims
Crimson White – Oct. 14
“Can you measure a person’s hate for you? No, because a dirty look is just that.” These words were spoken by Aaliyah Furqan, a Muslim sophomore majoring in international relations at The University of Alabama. Since the terrorist organization Islamic State, a group formerly known as ISIS that was responsible for the beheadings of two American journalists, has been a topic in the media, Furqan has noticed unfair judgement being placed on her because of her religion. . . . Several professors offered theories on the mistreatment of certain ethnic and religious groups. Derrick Frazier, an associate professor who specializes in international relations, said historical factors were to blame. “There is a long-term process of what some social scientists call ‘othering’ that has basically led us to view people from the Middle East as significantly different from our own,” Frazier said. “It often facilitates negative imaging and stereotyping, making it easier for us to think of people, cultures and societies in the Middle East as less developed or distinctly inferior to our own.”
Former Alabama player who was ‘just too full of “Bama”’ dies
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 14
Tommy Lewis, a former University of Alabama football player who became known for coming off the sideline to make a tackle in the 1954 Cotton Bowl, died Sunday in Huntsville at 83. “I guess I’m just too full of Alabama. He just ran too close,” Lewis said at the time of his decision to leave the bench and tackle the opposing team’s running back. Lewis was a native of Greenville and played fullback for the Crimson Tide, earning letters in 1951, 1952 and 1953. He was captain of the 1953 SEC championship team. … Lewis was an assistant coach on coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant’s first UA team and went on to coach high school football in Tallahassee, Fla., and Gadsden. He then moved to Huntsville, where ran an insurance company for 40 years, retiring in 1999.