Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center offers telehealth services to UA student veterans
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 14
The transition from military to civilian-life can be very difficult and going to college after serving can be an added stress. A partnership between the University of Alabama and the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center is helping with this transition. The program is called VITAL which stands for Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership. They offer several services to military veterans attending college with the goal of making the transition as smooth as possible. “What I’d like to do is start by going over your service history with you,” Air Force Veteran and UA student, Mitchell Baygents, sat in as a doctor with the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center explained a new telehealth program.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – June 14
APR – June 14
University of Alabama’s Save First tax prep program secures $12.75M in refunds
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – June 14
A record $12.75 million in income tax refunds were secured by some 6,000 Alabamians thanks to Save First, a free tax preparation assistance initiative for low income residents by the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama (UA). “We really try to help them get everything they qualify for in their return as well as save them that fee,” said Lindsey Thomas Assistant Director Center for Ethics and Civil Responsibility.
WTOC-11 (Savannah, Ga.) – June 14
UA offers Parenting Assistance Line
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 14
A source of support for parents who are raising children is just a phone call away. The Parenting Assistance Line provides tips and suggestions to handling everyday issues and concerns. The PAL phone line is now open. The number is 1-866-962-3030. Joining us now is Dr. April Kendrick, Director of the Parenting Assistance Line…PAL is sponsored by The University of Alabama.
Mass shooters often chase fame and suicide: “These are not people who want to … live with the crimes they commit”
Salon – June 14
The shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, the largest mass shooting in American history, continues to baffle and upset people. Clearly, it was motivated by hatred and made possible by easy access to military weaponry, but what else might have contributed? Salon spoke to Adam Lankford is a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama and whose research concentrates on mass shootings, social deviance, criminology, terrorism, and counterterrorism. He’s also the author of the book “The Myth of Martrydom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers.” We spoke to him from outside Washington, D.C; the interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Toronto Star – June 12
The College Fix – June 14
The surprising ways the Orlando shooting is familiar
CanMua – June 14
The shooter’s affinity for ISIS is apparently just one part of the story. In other ways, he also looking like mass shooters at Sandy Hook or American colleges. Orlando, Fla. — When Omar Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub on Sunday morning and opened fire, it may not have been his first time at the club. According to locals, Mr. Mateen, an American of Afghan descent from nearby Fort Pierce, had visited several times over the span of three years … Though the Federal Bureau of Investigation met with Mateen in 2013 and 2014, it “misunderstood him,” says Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. “They realized he was not a sophisticated, committed terrorist – that his ideology was inconsistent and he boasted and bragged,” he adds. “But if you instead look at it in terms of other mass shooters, someone who shows erratic behavior, wants attention, latches onto ideologies in an obsessive and erratic manner – those things all make sense in terms of mass shooters and are not new with this offender.”
SME Awards Additive Manufacturing Leaders and Visionaries
Quality Digest – June 14
SME, for more than 80 years a leader in promoting advanced manufacturing and developing the workforce, announced its Additive Manufacturing Community Awards at the 26th annual RAPID Conference & Exposition in Orlando. SME also announced the winners of the Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award (named for the late additive manufacturing pioneer, Dick Aubin) for “Contact-Free Support Structures for Part Overhangs in Powder-Bed Metal Additive Manufacturing,” written by Kevin Chou, Ph.D., and Bo Cheng of the University of Alabama, and Kenneth Cooper and Phillip Steele of Marshall Space Flight Center.
Alabama Department of Archives and History to hold book talk (live interview)
CBS 8 (Montgomery) – June 14
I’m joined by Georgia Ann Hudson with the Alabama Department of Archives and History with a preview of their upcoming Food For Thought event…This month we’ll be talking about Sarah Haynesworth Gayle’s journal…that she kept from 1827 to 1835 It’s really become one of the most cited accounts of life in the antebellum south. Her original journal is kept at The University of Alabama’s archives.
UA to produce play “Here I Sit Brokenhearted: A Bathroom Odyssey” in New York
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 14
A new production at The University of Alabama will soon be headed to New York City’s theatre row. Ian Anderson is joining us now with all of the details. He is an actor in the production. The play is “Here I Sit Brokenhearted: A Bathroom Odyssey”. It started off as a novel by Seth Pannitch, the head of the Master in Fine Arts in Theatre program at The University of Alabama. He’s now developed it as a one-hour sketch comedy. It’s about what you see etched on the bathroom wall. The play will open on June 22 in the Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row in Manhattan and run for three weeks.
If You Are Affected by Alzheimer’s, You Are Not Alone: 4 Lessons on Courage & Facing Fear
MariaShriver.com – June 14
A few weeks ago, I spoke to about 250 University of Alabama Honors College students about Alzheimer’s disease and the expressive arts. To begin the class, I asked the students to raise their hands if they had a family member with Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. I speak to this group during the fall and spring semesters, and have been interested to note the rising percentage of students each time.
4 Ways to Set Boundaries with Your Parents Before College
Her Campus – June 14
Imagine you are at the end of your freshman year of college, packing up your dorm and reflecting back on all that’s happened your first year away from home. All of your peers are boasting about the unforgettable nights out and people they’ve met ––and then there’s you. All you can think about are the weekends you watched your college disappear into the rearview mirror of your mom’s car. Your friends tell you to just ignore your parents, but in reality, it’s not that easy … Kristen Pierce, a sophomore at the University of Alabama, went home pretty much every weekend or every other weekend her first year of college, but doesn’t want the same situation for her sister, who’s graduating this year. “It’s hard for me to say no,” Kristen says.
UA professor’s documentary on Alabama’s coastal region airs on television
Crimson White – June 15
The natural beauty of Alabama’s coastal region is the subject of a new documentary by University of Alabama professor Doug Phillips. “Discovering Alabama– Coastal Paradise” is a three part special that aired on Alabama Public Television on June 7th, and and focused on the ecology, historical heritage and educational assets of the coastal region after the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill of 2010. It’s the latest series in the long-running and Emmy-winning program “Discovering Alabama.” The show’s inception occurred in 1985 when Phillips was approached by the state of Alabama to create and produce the series.
A light in the dark: UA vigil held to honor victims of massacre
Crimson White – June 15
This past Monday, UA student organizations hosted a flameless, evening candlelight vigil on the steps of Gorgas Library in honor of the victims killed at Pulse. According to a flyer for the event, organizers of the vigil hoped to create the community needed for those at the University who are LGBTQ+ and seeking support in the wake of the shooting. Many organizations on campus such as Spectrum, Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equality (URGE) and the Political Science Graduate Student Association (PSGSA) helped organize the vigil. These groups called for standing in solidarity in wake of the massacre, and called for policies to protect human dignity and halt future acts of mass violence.