Birmingham couple gives $3 million gift to University of Alabama business college
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 29
University of Alabama administrators say a $3 million gift by an alumnus positions the Culverhouse College of Commerce to be a leader nationally in the field of value investing both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The gift by Birmingham-based businessman C.T. Fitzpatrick and his wife, Kelley Fitzpatrick, will be used to fund new endowed faculty positions and a trading floor and research library, facilities that will allow students to gain real-world experience on campus. During a reception on campus Thursday, Fitzpatrick, joined by his wife, called value investing a unique skill set in high demand across many industries. “The University of Alabama is going to be, I believe when it is all said and done, the best value-investing program in the nation,” Fitzpatrick said.
Tuscaloosa News (gallery) – Jan. 29
Al.com – Jan. 29
Athens News Courier – Jan. 29
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 29
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
University of Alabama presidential search committee meets
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 29
A committee tasked with recommending candidates to replace University of Alabama President Judy Bonner met Thursday to discuss attributes sought in the next leader and timelines for the search. The 24-person committee was formed after Bonner announced plans in December to step down by the end of September and return to teaching after a yearlong sabbatical. The committee would like to see a charismatic, student-focused leader capable of continuing the growth of the last decade, said UA board of trustees President Pro tem Karen Brooks, who is the committee chairwoman. Brooks addressed the discussion generally after the committee’s first public meeting Thursday at the Bryant Conference Center. “We have been on a transformative shift for the last 10 years,” Brooks said. “But it cannot stop, it must continue.”
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
WAAY-TV (Huntsville) – Jan. 29
WSFA-NBC (Montgomery) – Jan. 29
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 29
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
UA Professor discusses snow storm of 2014
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
We know that a year ago this morning many cars were still trapped on the roadways as many folks had been trapped all night long due to the snow storm. This morning we are talking with Dr. Laura Myers. She’s deputy Director for the Center for Advanced Public Safety at The University of Alabama.
Comet Lovejoy Viewing
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 29
You won’t have this chance for another 80 lifetimes. Tonight at The University of Alabama, the public can view the Comet Lovejoy through a telescope at Galilee Hall. It will be about 8,000 years before it visits again.
Resegregation is starting point for University of Alabama’s UnlockED panel
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 29
Close your eyes. Imagine a school with a talented and gifted classroom. In your mind, what do the students in that classroom look like? If you walked by that classroom and everyone in it was black, would you find that odd? Now think about remedial classes and the students who are suspended. What color are those kids? “Open your eyes,” said ProPublica investigative reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, who led a packed room of people at the University of Alabama’s Shelby Hall through the exercise Thursday. “What it gets down to, is do you really think black kids can learn the same way that white kids can?” she said. “I can’t find a school where white kids aren’t disproportionately represented in the best classes, and where black kids aren’t disproportionately represented in the worst classes. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a 70 percent black district like Tuscaloosa, or a 10 percent black district. It doesn’t matter if it’s in New York or Mississippi. That’s saying something. That’s saying we actually don’t really believe that these kids are equal.” Hannah-Jones was one of five panelists who participated in a forum at UA Thursday called “Confronting Reality: Race in Our Public Schools.”
Revitalization on Montgomery’s Eastern Boulevard
WSFA-NBC (Montgomery) – Jan. 29
A brand new business is officially opened on the Eastern Boulevard bringing new signs of life to an area that’s seen several businesses move out over the years. This is another sign of new life and rejuvenation along this stretch of the bypass. For years we’ve seen businesses moving out and leaving empty buildings behind. But now, we’re starting to see the opposite trend. None of this is a surprise to Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange who says Montgomery has ranked number one on The University of Alabama’s confidence index in 13 of the last 17 quarters; a survey that indicates just how strong the business community is in each of Alabama’s cities.
OPINION: “Citizen Coke” is an unsatisfying sip
Columbia Daily Tribune (Mo.) – Jan. 30
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 mistakenly that 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. (Esther Cepeda writes for the Washington Post.)
UA students take part in Campus MovieFest
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 29
Many University of Alabama students spent their evening watching short films at Campus MovieFest. It’s a national program where film students can enter their work for free. Campus MovieFest is the largest student film festival in the world. One film festival promotion manager says the program gives students opportunities they may not encounter outside of college.