Artifacts at risk as Black Warrior River erodes soil at Moundville
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 26
An archaeological team with the University of Alabama is working to save artifacts from an eroding stretch of the Black Warrior River’s bank on the north side of Moundville Archaeological Park. “This is a salvage operation to get as much as we can,” said archaeologist Jera Davis, who is part of the team excavating the site. The sites along the bank overlooking the river have been endangered by rapid erosion caused by a shift in the river channel. The salvage effort is a stopgap measure until UA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can agree on a plan to stabilize the stretch of riverbank along the wooded northern border of the park, according to Matt Gage, director of the UA Office of Archaeological Research.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 26
Edelbrock named dean of continuing studies
Crimson White – Jan. 27
The College of Continuing Studies is starting the new year with a new dean. Craig S. Edelbrock comes to Alabama from Penn State University in Philadelphia, where he was the chancellor of the School of Graduate Professional Studies. Associate Dean of Professional Development and Community Engagement Leroy Hurt was on the hiring committee. “All the candidates had solid qualifications,” Hurt said. “He had qualifications that were a particular fit for the University.” Edelbrock grew up in the Pacific Northwest and attended Western Washington State College in Bellingham as a psychology major and went on to pursue his doctorate at Oregon State University in human development and family studies. He started his career doing three years of research in Bethesda, Maryland, at the National Institutes of Health, where he had a postdoctoral fellowship. For 15 years, he researched how people develop and change over the course of their lives.
Getting enough zzz’s?
Jackson County Daily Sentinel – Jan. 22
It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and your eyes begin to get heavy and the first yawn of the day exits your mouth. Even though you haven’t done anything too physically exhausting, you feel as if you could go right to sleep. Though you feel you have no reason to be sleepy, the answer to why you feel like you need to hit the sack is because you likely didn’t hit it long enough the night before. But you’re not alone, as a 2014 Gallup poll found that Americans average just 6.8 hours of sleep per night. The trouble is, doctors recommend seven to eight hours of sleep each night, and Dr. Adam Knowlden, assistant professor of health science at the University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Sciences, cites sleep deprivation as an underrepresented public health issue. According to Knowlden, population-based research suggests that 33 percent of Americans do not get the recommended amount of sleep on a nightly basis. And this sleep deprivation can lead to both short- and long-term consequences.
Same-sex Alabama couples await appeals court, Supreme Court decisions
Anniston Star – Jan. 26
It may be early summer before Alabama knows for sure whether it will become a same-sex-marriage state, law professors said Monday. But when the question is answered, it will be settled once and for all. “The real target date is in June, when the Supreme Court will decide the issue for everyone,” said Robert McFarland, an associate dean at the Jones School of Law in Montgomery, who specializes in the federal appeals process. U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade jolted both sides in Alabama’s gay marriage debate last week, when she issued a Friday afternoon order prohibiting Attorney General Luther Strange from enforcing the state’s bans on same-sex marriage … Granade could extend the stay past Feb. 9, said University of Alabama family law professor Steven Hobbs, or an appeals court could grant a separate stay and simply put the issue on hold until June. Law professors say the current Supreme Court has historically been divided 4-4 on gay marriage, with Justice Anthony Kennedy as the deciding vote. Where Kennedy stands on the key issue in the 6th Circuit case could determine whether Alabama has to issue same-sex marriage licenses or merely has to honor licenses from other states.
Same-sex marriage still on hold in Alabama
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 26
As of now, Alabama is still one of only a few states that does not recognize same sex marriages. While many couples thought today would be the day to tie the know, they now have to wait. University of Alabama student Ysamine Nana-Yeboah says while change is hard, Alabama has done it before. “I kind of think of this whole same sex marriage debate kind of like interracial marriage. How, back in the day, that wasn’t allowed. So it’s like you really have to think about these things and just allow people to love who they want to love,” said Nana-Yeboah.
Esther Cepeda: An instructive yet unsatisfying look at Coke
OrovilleMr.com (Calif.) – Jan. 26
It’s not often that I hate and love a book at the same time. Perhaps this is because I usually stick to nonfiction books written by journalists. Recently, however, I stumbled onto “Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism” by Bartow Elmore, thinking I would get a full account of the good, the bad and the ugly. But instead of delivering on the book’s promise to explain how “a patent medicine created in a small Southern pharmacy in 1886 (became) one of the most ubiquitous branded items in human history,” Elmore, an environmental historian at the University of Alabama, spends 432 pages portraying Coca-Cola as a sort of great Satan. A water-guzzling, environment-pillaging corporate devil that will stop at nothing to “sell more stuff, not less.” As if any for-profit company would do otherwise. But if you can get past the dense diatribes, there is beautifully presented research about the rise and continued success of the soft-drink maker. Elmore’s information is spot on. But he wields his information about one business’ moves across a time period of nearly 130 years with little background regarding the competitive market in which Coca-Cola operates. (Esther Cepeda’s syndicated column appears each Tuesday. Her email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com.)
University Programs hosts healthy cooking lessons
Crimson White – Jan. 26
University Programs will host an event Tuesday called Cook It UP to teach students how to make healthy meals on a small budget. The event will be held in the Presidential Village I Community Room Kitchen on the seventh floor at 6 p.m. and will feature Merissa DeLoach and the University’s nutritionist, Sheena Quizon. DeLoach, a chef at Jefferson State Community College, will teach students how to create gourmet meals from simple ingredients. “Cook It UP is a part of University Programs’ Discovery Series,” said Michelle Fowler, a graduate student studying public relations and an event planner for University Programs. “Discovery Series focuses on creating classes to help students find a talent, discover an ability or embark on a new hobby.” The program aims to educate students on how to grocery shop on a limited budget and cook anywhere – even a campus residence hall.
Groff weathers war, Broadway on way to UA
Crimson White – Jan. 27
Steve Groff, a psychology professor at the University, is a hard man to peg down. Groff has served in the military as an army psychologist and performed on Broadway. Now he splits his time between teaching and working at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Groff has had a distinguished career in the military, serving as a captain in Operation Desert Storm. Later, in 2006, he served as an army psychologist in Iraq, where he ran a combat stress management team. During his tenure in the military, Groff had to make several decisions when evaluating soldiers. If he thought a soldier was suicidal or homicidal, he had to take their weapons away. He also had to decide whether a soldier was fit to serve. “The hardest, most difficult thing is returning someone to duty – and knowing you’re going to put them in harm’s way,” he said. Groff stepped into the world of theater when a girl he was dating wanted to try out for a part in “The Sound of Music.” He agreed to audition with her for moral support and was cast in the chorus. A few years later, after moving to New York, he auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical “Grease.” “I didn’t even know it was Broadway. That’s how naive I was,” he said.
Fighting the fever
Crimson White – Jan. 26
Flu season is unpredictable and its start and finish varies from year to year. Seasonal flu activity can begin as early as November and continue until as late as May. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releases a weekly flu report explaining how widespread the outbreak is. Over the past few weeks, Alabama had fallen into the CDC’s “widespread” category, but this week has dropped to “regionally spread.” This means that fewer than 6 percent of the state’s Public Health Areas indicated a spread of the flu virus. During the 2013-2014 flu season, the CDC received reports of the flu virus among young and middle-aged adults, many of whom were infected with the 2009 H1N1 virus. In 2014, more than 105 flu-related deaths in children were reported to the CDC from 30 different states … the Student Health Center is open Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and closed on Saturday and Sunday. Their Urgent Care hours are Monday-Thursday 5 – 8 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday 1- 4 p.m. During SHC’s regular hours of operations, walk-ins are welcome or if you are a previous patient you can call ahead and make an appointment.