Alabama, Auburn work together on research, social issues
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 26
The relationship between the University of Alabama and Auburn University might get the most attention as a fanatic rivalry in a state obsessed with college football, but the two state institutions work together year round on everything from research to community service projects. Once you get past the jokes about tooth counts and intellectual impairment that swirl around the gridiron matchup, there is a surprising level of collegiality. “Our colleagues are working with their peers at Auburn on any number of issues,” said Steven Hood, interim vice president for Student Affairs at UA. Hood’s office sent out messages earlier this week on its social media accounts and through campus email meant to encourage students to embrace the positive side of the rivalry. “We have really wanted to focus this entire year on civility and making good choices — to be neighborly,” Hood said. At the two institutions, the faculties and staffs are engaged in countless conversations and collaborations, Hood said. Faculty at Alabama and Auburn work together on research in aerospace engineering, geology, and civil, construction and environmental engineering among other fields, according to Chris Bryant, assistant director of Media Relations. They also collaborate on projects through the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, SECU, the academic initiative of the Southeastern Conference; and the Alabama Cyber Research Consortium, the partnership of the state’s seven PhD-granting universities and other affiliates.
UA professor creates Automatic Ingestion Monitor
WMBF-NBC (Florence, SC) – Dec. 1
Are you one of the millions of Americans on a diet? If you are or know someone who is, a scientist at the University of Alabama has created a device that could change the way people eat. Raycom News network’s Erika Gonzalez tells us more about the cutting edge technology … This may look like just plastic square with a wire connected to it – nothing fancy. But it’s actually a sophisticated device that’s been years in the making inside this University of Alabama research lab. The “automatic ingestion monitor,” or AIM for short, is like a fitness band for eating. Dr. Edward Sazanov/The University of Alabama and device developer: “The hope is that this device will actually get into the hands of people and actually help them … Nothing like this exists.”
Discovering Alabama celebrates 30 years
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 1
Doug Phillips has been documenting that history for state public television as he takes us for another day of Discovering Alabama. Dr. Doug Phillips is proud, and justifiably so, to show a visitor around the Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Alabama. “This creature usually wows, especially the young kids that come in here you know?”
Auburn University launches global network of universities in fight against hunger
Opelika News – Dec. 1
Auburn University will lead a coalition of nearly 50 universities worldwide that have banded together to address the global issue of hunger and malnutrition. On Dec. 9, Auburn President Jay Gogue and leaders from the other universities will have a public signing of the Presidents’ Commitment to Food and Nutrition Security at the United Nations in New York City. The meeting will be the first gathering of PUSH – Presidents United to Solve Hunger – where the higher education leaders acknowledge their commitment to making food security a priority … PUSH member institutions include land-grants, liberal arts, faith-based, historically black and Hispanic-serving colleges and universities from five continents. Auburn is joined by Tuskegee University and also fellow SEC members Mississippi State, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama. … Legendary in-state rivals in the athletic arena, Auburn and Alabama have also battled each other for the past 20 years with an annual food drive benefiting the Food Bank of East Alabama and the West Alabama Food Bank. “While Alabama and Auburn may battle it out on the football field, I am so proud of the young men and women from both schools who work in partnership each year to combat hunger in our communities,” said University of Alabama President Judy Bonner. “By signing the Presidents’ Commitment to Food and Nutrition Security, I am pleased to work with President Gogue and nearly 50 other presidents from around the world who are standing together to say that hunger and malnutrition have no place in the 21st century.”
21st century Facebook case results in 19th century Supreme Court arguments
Al.com – Dec. 1
While social media, Facebook and rap were certainly topics of discussion Monday morning at the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in Elonis v. U.S., the justices spent much of the time debating points of criminal law that long predated the Internet, according to a transcript released by the court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, back on the bench after receiving a heart stent last week, asked early in Elonis attorney John Elwood’s presentation how the government could prove an individual’s subjective intent, the more lenient standard that Elonis is seeking on appeal of his criminal conviction for a series of Facebook posts directed at his ex-wife, law enforcement and others. “This case, the standard was would a reasonable person think that the words would put someone in fear, and reasonable people can make that judgment,” Ginsberg said. “But how would the government prove whether this threat in the mind of the threatener was genuine?” … Matthew D. Bunker, a professor and media law expert in the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences, said it would be difficult to craft a standard that would cover both professional musicians and writers and amateurs like Elonis. “Lots of rappers who sell for public consumption have made statements that might sound threatening toward particular individuals, and most of those people have not been prosecuted under the assumption that is an expressive work and not an implied threat,” Bunker said.
Famed author signing copies of new book
Natchez Democrat (Miss.) – Dec. 2
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Bragg will be signing copies of his new book “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story” Monday at Turning Pages Books & More on Franklin Street. Rick Bragg is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and the author of “All Over But the Shoutin’,” “Ava’s Man,” “The Princess of Frogtown” and “I Am a Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.” He has twice won the prestigious American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award and more than 50 writing awards in his career. He is currently a professor of writing at the University of Alabama.
WRC to host Feminism Spoken Here lecture series
Crimson White – Dec. 2
Each month, the Feminism Spoken Here Brown Bag Lecture Series, hosted by the Women’s Resource Center, the department of women’s studies and Student Affairs, features a guest speaker or an information session. The series highlights topics such as feminist activism, scholarship, leadership, diversity and advocacy. “The Brown Bag format allows interested students, faculty and staff to hear about these topics and ask questions in an informal setting, without the commitment of a semester long course. It is an ideal way to stay up-to-date on emerging issues within feminism,” said Jackie Northrup, assistant director of the Women’s Resource Center and coordinator of the lecture series. The Women’s Resource Center and the department of women’s studies have hosted individual monthly brown bag series for more than 17 years.
Senior TCF majors practice martial arts, do stunt work
Crimson White – Dec. 2
About 10 years ago in the gymnasium of Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama, Kevin and Calvin M. Ross were doing more pull-ups than most of their classmates, running at two of the quickest speeds for their mile runs and playing on the school’s basketball team. Now, as college seniors, the Ross twins do flips off the steps of Gorgas Library while finding the best camera angle to complement their martial-arts-inspired fight choreography. The two are pursuing degrees in telecommunication and film y with the hopes of doing stunt work and eventually producing their own action films. “Normally, when parents want their kids to do something, they just say, ‘Hey, I need you to do something,’ but our dad would get us together and say, ‘Hey, I have a mission for you,’” Calvin M. Ross said. “So he started everything. It wasn’t just doing something, but it was always a mission that needed to be completed.”
UA Christmas tree (gallery)
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 1
Jason Guin, left, and Yancy Reach of university facilities and grounds apply the top layers to the large Christmas tree in front of Rose Administration on University Boulevard on Monday, Dec.1, in Tuscaloosa. The tree will take two days to complete.