UA professor receives grant to do wheelchair study
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 13
University of Alabama professor Margaret Stran received a $21,000 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation to conduct the study on children’s wheelchairs. Stan wants to adjust wheelchairs to make them more mobile. The grant will provide loaner wheelchairs for the study, clinics to teach skills for using the new wheelchairs, and toolkits for basic wheelchair maintenance. Stran says this project is her dream come true. “It truly impacts the quality of life when you have a chair that fits you well, that’s easy to push, that doesn’t have a lot of stuff on it, and so I want to make life better for kids who use wheelchairs.”
Health conference to host culinary medicine director
Crimson White – April 14
The goal of the 16th Annual Rural Health Conference is to push the understanding of individual, clinical and
community healthcare in rural Alabama. The conference will be held April 17 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Ferguson Student Center on The University of Alabama’s campus and is open to healthcare professionals, community and government leaders, policymakers, researchers and others who aspire to make a difference in community rural health, according to the RHC website. “The Rural Health Conference is hosted by the Institute for Rural Health Research,” said Leslie Zganjar, director of the College of Community Health Sciences Department of Communications. “This conference is one of its biggest projects for the year, and this year they are having what we are calling a cooking challenge put on by a chef employed by the Tulane University School of Medicine.” Chef Leah Sarris, the first full-time chef employed by a medical school, is the program director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane, according to the RHC website. Sarris will be allotted $149.77 to buy a week’s worth of healthy food for four and prepare meals at the conference. Her challenge is buying all the food in a rural area of Alabama where grocery stores that sell healthy foods, or even grocery stores in general, are sparse, Zganjar said.
Bill Battle speaks on ethics at business lecture
Crimson White – April 14
On Monday night, Athletic Director Bill Battle spoke to a crowded room on the value of ethics to The University of Alabama and to our world. “I define ethics as doing the right thing the right way,” Battle said. “Combining ethics, character and leadership makes up our personal value system.” Battle was the keynote speaker for the annual J. Craig Smith Business Lecture, sponsored by the J. Craig Smith Endowed Chair of Business Integrity, Academic Honor Council and Culverhouse College of Commerce. The current Smith Chair, William E. Jackson III, also a management and finance professor at the University, began the evening by attesting to the legacy of J. Craig Smith. He shared that Smith was one of the first affluent Southern white men to fight for equal rights and equal pay in Alabama, no matter what race. His dedication to ethics in all areas is honored each year through the lecture series.
UA study shows child abuse costs Alabama $2.3 billion annually
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – April 13
More than 9,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect in Alabama in 2013. So, Prattville city leaders are trying to raise some awareness about this issue. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and today a proclamation was made recognizing the month. Officials held a blue balloon release to honor the victims and get the word out on what can be done. Darrue Sharpe, the Director of the Family Support Center says, “We don’t like to talk about it. It’s something we don’t like to recognize, but it does exist. The University of Alabama just did a study that says the cost of child abuse in Alabama is a $2.3 billion economic impact.”
Researchers discuss aftermath of BP oil spill
Gainesville Sun (Fla.) – April 13
Five years have passed since the Deepwater Horizon explosion took 11 lives and spilled more than 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting millions of lives and costing millions of dollars to the tourism and fishing industries. Researchers from five universities led by the University of Florida waded into the aftermath of that epic disaster to find out what its long-term impacts were and what lessons could be learned from the largest accidental oil spill in history … “BP was either a major mistake or a criminal act,” said Richard Powers, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Alabama with extensive experience in PTSD treatment. As medical director for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, he assisted in providing mental health services to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and the BP oil spill.
Teach the children well
Modern Ghana – April 15
While the world mourns the recent demise of Lee Kwan Yew whose successful transformation of Singapore during his tenure as Prime Minister should be instructive for our leaders, we also join the world in congratulating Nigeria on the achievement of an important developmental step in its political evolution. We must however note that President – Elect Buhari will need more help than goodwill to pick up from the point of Goodluck’s exit. Corruption, conflict and a lack of investment has left Nigeria with one of the world’s worst education systems, with grave implications for the West Africa sub – region. It has the highest number of children out of school and needs an additional 220,000 primary school teachers. The proportion of children from the poorest households going to primary school fell to 25 percent in 2013 according to the most recent UNESCO report. In the late 1950s as African nations approached self- government, between Ghana and Nigeria we had only 8000 adults who had completed secondary school. This grim statistic lays bare the true challenge that successive governments have faced over the last 6 decades or so. (T. P. Manus Ulzen is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine (Tuscaloosa Campus).
Musical to premiere at Gallaway
Crimson White –April 14
Due to the amount of work a musical requires, the UA theater department only produces one per year. … This year, UATD will present “42nd Street.” “It’s been a long and difficult road but extremely rewarding,” said Stacy Alley, assistant professor of musical theater and dance and the show’s director. “Musicals in general usually require a longer rehearsal period, but this one required even more.” Last week, students, faculty and staff working on “42nd Street” traveled to Mobile, Alabama, to perform at the Mobile Civic Center. This week, they return home to perform the show in Gallaway. Daniel Velasquez, a junior majoring in musical theater, plays Billy Lawlor, an actor in the 1930s who is cast in “Pretty Lady,” the play-within-a-play of “42nd Street.” “Theatre has taught me the value of hard work,” Velasquez said. “We rehearse these shows tirelessly and put a lot of ourselves in them.”
12 ideas for extending your reporting and your reach
Poynter – April 14
I’ve been writing this column now for 11 weeks, which seems like a good time to revisit and round up some concrete tips and tricks from the first ten. (I’ve also added a few extra tips that I’ve picked up in the past few weeks.) … In no particular order, here are 12 things you can do in your own newsroom that will immediately have an impact on your reporting and your reach … Students at the University of Alabama are currently combing through the photo archives of The Birmingham News and tracking down the people pictured in the photographs to tell their stories 20 years later. The idea to revisit the photos came from Elizabeth Hoekenga, the director of audience innovation at the Alabama Media Group, who offers tips for other newsrooms who would like to use their archives to tell new stories.
Pi Beta Phi holds memorial in Kelley’s honor
Crimson White – April 14
Sabrina Kelley, a freshman majoring in telecommunication and film in the College of Communication and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, died Friday, April 3, from complications of cystic fibrosis. Sabrina returned to her hometown of Boston shortly before Thanksgiving last semester due to a virus and respiratory complications. On January 1, Kelley underwent double lung and liver transplants and suffered a stroke shortly after the procedure. While her body did not reject the organs, Sabrina had continuing complications in the months following the procedure. A serious Septic shock episode on March 6 put her back into critical condition. Multiple infections and fluid retention became issues for Sabrina’s recovery. On the morning of April 3, Sabrina suffered a “catastrophic stroke” and passed away at 7 p.m. On the day of Sabrina’s death, her family shared that they were heartbroken. “She was the soul of our family and now she is gone,” her mother wrote. “We were able to hold her in our arms as she passed away and ours were the last voices she heard. We know she never would have gone if she had any strength left to stay.”
Linda Creek continues ed through LifeTrack
Crimson White – April 14
Linda Creek was planning to pursue a degree in special education at The University of Alabama when she was forced to drop out, get a job and take care of her family. Her mother was sick, and her father, who worked for 35 years at a paper factory, lost his job. Almost 40 years later, Creek returned to the University through New College’s LifeTrack program to complete her lifelong dream of education. At Honors Day, Creek was awarded the Alice Parker Award, named after a long-working University professor, for her love of [learning] and the humanities. “I consider it an honor to be able to take care of my family, but back then, it was a little embarrassing,” Creek said. “It was very hard to tell your friends when they were talking about being in school that you wouldn’t get to go. I’m thankful that I had such great people who believed in me. You sort of don’t have great self confidence when you haven’t been to school in a long time.”
West Decatur principal completes doctoral work at Alabama
Decatur Daily – April 13
West Decatur Elementary Principal Datie Priest completed the requirements for her doctorate degree from the University of Alabama on Friday. “I defended my doctorate work and it was confirmed,” said Priest, a 1988 Decatur High graduate. She will receive her diploma at the Aug. 1 commencement in Tuscaloosa. Priest, 44, has been at West Decatur for 15 years. She was a teacher there for five years before being selected principal.