MONDAY, OCT. 24 – SUNDAY, OCT. 30, 2016
ADAPTED ATHLETICS TO SCREEN DOCUMENTARY OF ITS BASKETBALL TEAMS – UA’s Adapted Athletics program will celebrate the debut of “This is How We Roll,” a documentary series about its men’s and women’s basketball teams, during a red carpet premiere Wednesday, Oct. 26 at Bama Theatre. The documentary chronicles the men’s and women’s teams in the 2014-15 season, a season that included a national title for the women’s team. The premiere will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available at champions.ua.edu. Two first two episodes of the series will be screened at the event. For more information, contact David Miller, UA media relations, at 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.
THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN – Witches, Transformers, princesses, and goblins stalking neighborhoods at night for candy wasn’t always what Halloween was about. Hundreds of years ago, Halloween was about celebrating European harvest festival traditions. And as Catholicism began spreading globally, Halloween became All-Hallows-Eve – the night before the celebration of All Saints Day, which celebrated Catholic saints. Dr. Michael J. Altman, an assistant professor in the department of religious studies who specializes in American religious cultures, has researched the history and evolution of Halloween throughout the centuries. For more information, contact Jamon Smith, media relations, jamon.smith@ua.edu, 205/348-4956.
MORE THAN 20 CUBAN SCHOLARS, ARTISTS WELCOMED FOR CUBA WEEK — UA’s Cuba Week kicks off Monday, Oct. 24 at 8:30 a.m. at Bryant-Jordan Hall on the UA campus. Members of the UA staff will join with more than 20 Cuban artists, musicians, writers, doctors and scholars for a series of panel presentations, readings, lectures, exhibitions and discussions sharing their collaborative and individual work. The conference presentations, held Oct. 24–28, are free and open to the public, and topics range from engineering, science and health science to history, film, theatre, literature and art. The Center for Cuba Collaboration and Scholarship at UA is a research center which builds on the activities of the Alabama-Cuba Initiative, a 13-year effort to establish educational opportunities in Cuba for UA students and faculty. For further details on Cuba Week events, visit www.cubaweek.ua.edu. For more information, contact Courtney Corbridge, courtney.a.corbridge@ua.edu, 205/348-8539 or UA media relations, 205/348-5320.
MUSEUMS TO HOST ANNUAL GHOST TOUR – With Halloween right around the corner, it’s a fitting time to discover some of the more eerie aspects of UA’s history. UA’s Museum of Natural History and Gorgas House Museum are hosting the University’s annual ghost tour, “A Haunting at the Museum,” from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25. For more details, contact Allie Sorlie, Alabama Museum of Natural History Education Outreach Coordinator, 205/348-6383, acsorlie@bama.ua.edu. For assistance, contact Chris Bryant in media relations, cbryant@ur.ua.edu.
FRUIT FLIES AND EXERCISE — Gentle exercise on a wheel can have beneficial effects – on fruit flies. That finding may be good news for humans, too. A new study led by Dr. Laura Reed, UA assistant professor of biological sciences, suggests that a device called the TreadWheel can be used to study the benefits of exercise on Drosophila — fruit flies. The device was invented by a recent UA graduate while he was still a student. “With this study, we have established the TreadWheel as a useful tool to study the effect of exercise in flies, shown significant genotype-specific and sex-specific impacts of exercise, and have laid the groundwork for more extensive studies of how genetics, sex, environment and aging interact with exercise to influence metabolic fitness in Drosophila,” Reed said. As with mice and other widely accepted animal models used in studying human conditions, many of the biological systems within fruit flies share enough similarities with humans to potentially draw effective insight into human conditions. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782, or contact Reed directly at 205/348-1345 or lreed1@ua.edu.
TOURISM CONFERENCE – UA’s Center for Economic Development is co-sponsoring the 16th annual Mississippi-Tennessee-Alabama Rural Tourism Conference. The conference runs from Monday, Oct. 24, to Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Courtyard by Marriott in Columbus, Mississippi. Attendees will hear from a number of presenters with a vast knowledge of tourism. Speakers include Stacy Clark, editor in chief of Catfish Alley, a Southern culture and lifestyle magazine; Aundrea Self, an anchor with WCBI; Terence Norwood and Patrick Miller with the Mississippi State University Extension’s Center for Government and Community Development; and Tami Reist, president and CEO of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association. For more information and a conference schedule, go to: http://www.almstnruraltourism.com/. For more details, contact Candace J. Skelton, tourism/community development project manager, UA Center for Economic Development, 205/348-8338,Candace.Skelton@ua.edu.
EVENTS
TEACHERS COMING TO UA FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE TRAINING – About 70 teachers from five states in the Southeast will be on campus Friday and Saturday for conference on the new AP course, CS Principles. Sponsored by Google and Code.org, it starts at 10 a.m. in 1013 South Engineering Research Center Friday with a keynote address from Lien Diaz, senior director Advanced Placement Program for the College Board. Dr. Jeff Gray, professor of computer science, is available to speak with media, as well. For more information, contact Adam Jones, engineering media relations, 205-348-6444 or acjones12@eng.ua.edu.
RESEARCHER TO DISCUSS TEACHING LIFE SKILLS IN UA LECTURE — Dr. Michael A. Hemphill, an expert in physical education, will detail a new method for teaching life skills through sport in a lecture Monday, Oct. 24, at The University of Alabama. Hemphill, assistant professor of sport pedagogy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will deliver “Responsibility-based professional development: New directions for teaching life skills in youth sports” at 3 p.m. in 118 Graves Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact David Miller, UA media relations, at 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.
SORORITY ROW OFFERS TRICK-OR-TREAT — The Alabama Panhellenic Association will host its annual Trick-or-Treat on Sorority Row for the Tuscaloosa community from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at UA sorority houses. The event is for children 12 and younger. Children visit the lawns of sorority houses on Magnolia and Colonial drives for candy and other activities. For more details, contact Jessie Patterson Jones, assistant director, external affairs, Division of Student Affairs, 205/348-4268, jpjones@sa.ua.edu. For assistance, contact Richard LeComte, UA media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782.
BEAT AUBURN, BEAT HUNGER CONTINUES – UA’s annual food drive, which seeks to gather more pounds of nonperishable food than Auburn, continues through Nov. 16. On Monday, Oct. 24, the Zaxby’s at 4383 Courtney Drive (off of Skyland Boulevard and next to an IHOP) will offer a Percentage Night from 5 to 8 p.m. An additional percentage night will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, at Panda Express, 636 15th St. East. Students continue to gather food and raise money from the UA and Tuscaloosa communities. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205-348-3782.
LOOKING AHEAD
ALABAMA INSURANCE DAY – UA Culverhouse College of Commerce’s Alabama Insurance Day is set for Wednesday, Nov. 9 at the Bryant Conference Center. This year’s speakers include Culverhouse Dean Kay Palan and UA’s former national championship gymnastics coach Sarah Patterson. The I-Day program features speakers on topics related to insurance and risk management. For more information about this year’s program click here. This is the 10th annual event with some 300 attendees expected. For more details, contact Edith Parten, eparten@culverhouse.ua.edu or 205/348-8318.