University of Alabama names Wichita State administrator as new dean of libraries
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 27
A Wichita State University administrator has been named the next libraries dean at the University of Alabama. Donald L. Gilstrap, dean and professor of University Libraries at Wichita State University, was announced on Tuesday as the successor for Louis A. Pitschmann, UA’s dean of University Libraries who is retiring after serving in the post since 2001. Gilstrap will begin Jan. 4, according to the announcement from UA. Gilstrap has served various executive roles in the libraries department at Wichita State since 2011 as well as a professor of educational leadership. Gilstrap has previously worked in the libraries at the University of Oklahoma, the University of Connecticut, Southwestern Oklahoma State University and the Connecticut Community College System. Gilstrap earned undergraduate degrees in French and history and master’s degrees in library science and history from Emporia State University in Kansas. He earned his doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Processed Meats may cause cancer
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 27
A University of Alabama dietician is weighing in on a study that was conducted on processed meats. In a report released Monday, the World Health Organization gave processed meats like hotdogs and ham in the same cancer risk category as tobacco and asbestos. Sheena Gregg, a dietician from The University of Alabama Student Health Center, says those who eat red meat should not panic. Her advice to meat eaters is to make sure you’re also getting enough vegetables and fruit in your diet.
UA earns Emergency Management Accreditation
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 27
The University of Alabama has earned accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. This designation is the only accreditation process for emergency management programs and is sought by federal and state agencies, also counties, cities and universities. It means that UA has an excellent track record with accountability and emergency management industry recognized preparedness standards. This accreditation is valid for five years.
Local student garners national selection
Montgomery Advertiser – Oct. 27
For the first time, a student at The University of Alabama has been selected as a National Undergraduate Fellow from NASPA, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. Jeffrey Jones, a junior majoring in interdisciplinary studies through New College, received notification of his acceptance into the prestigious fellowship program earlier this semester. After an intense application process, Jones was selected as a Fellow from a pool of undergraduate students from institutions around the United States. As a NASPA Fellow, Jones will have access to programs and resources to aid both academic and professional development in the field of student affairs.
The Untold History of African American Cookbooks
New Repbulic – Oct. 27
I never saw my great-grandmother cook with written recipes. She was born in 1909 and was 70 years old by the time I came along; it’s likely that she’d committed to memory her entire culinary repertoire—all Southern cuisine she’d learned to prepare growing up in French Camp, Mississippi—by then. She rarely flubbed a dish, at least during the 25 years I saw her cooking for our family, neighbors, and friends before she passed away. Plenty of my African American friends marvel over their family elders’ ability to cook from memory, processes so rote that mistakes are rare. But history is never so simple. Memorizing recipes or cooking without them has its roots in slavery: The need for cooking aptitude predated the existence of legal literacy for enslaved kitchen workers—let alone the existence of cookbooks by free black authors … Since then, cookbooks by black authors have steadily trickled to market in far fewer numbers than titles by white authors. For context, a 2012 Cooking Light list of top cookbooks noted that more than 50,000 cookbooks had been published in the 25 years since Cooking Light had published its inaugural issue. The David Walker Lupton African American Cookbook Collection, on the other hand, is housed at the University of Alabama and contains roughly 500 publications—it’s one of the largest collections of known African American cookbooks in the country.
Manufacturing Chemical Substances: Wood or Petroleum?
Pharmaceutical Processing – Oct. 27
Petroleum might well be replaced by wood soon when it comes to manufacturing chemical substances. Research has now made significant progress towards using sustainable biomass, like wood, as an alternative raw material for chemical production. Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany and at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the USA recently managed to synthesize two complex chemical substances from wood-based starting materials. The process can be as cost-effective as the conventional petroleum product-based process and is less damaging to the environment. “Our aim is to manufacture everyday products from renewable resources without an impact on the environment while at the same time ensuring that the process is economically competitive,” explained Professor Till Opatz of Mainz University. The results of their research have been published in Angewandte Chemie.
ChemEurope.com – Oct. 27
BrightSurf.com – Oct. 27
Bio Fuel Daily – Oct. 27
Survey: Business confidence in Alabama wanes in 4Q
Birmingham Business Journal – Oct. 27
A recent survey of business executives in Alabama shows that the state’s growing economy may be tempered in the fourth quarter of 2015. Although business confidence is still remaining positive at 51.2 in Alabama, results from the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce Alabama Business Confidence Index show that business confidence in all of the state’s major metros are down.
Is UA haunted? UA Museum holds Haunting at the Museum
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 27
Have you ever wondered if The University of Alabama campus is haunted? Tuscaloosa thrill-seekers got to decide for themselves at the Haunting at the Museum. The free event had Halloween crafts for children, and a Mad Scientist demonstration by a UA student chemist. If they dared, people were given a candle-lit tour around the quad while officials told ghost stories about the campus.
Alabama Athletics holds Halloween Extravaganza
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 27
A record crowd filled the indoor football facility for the Alabama Athletics Department’s 13th Annual Halloween Extravaganza on Monday night. The event, put on by the UA Student Athlete Advisory Committee, brought more than 1,000 members of the Tuscaloosa community together with members of all of the Crimson Tide’s teams.