UA dominates national academic team
Tuscaloosa News – June 10
The University of Alabama isn’t just getting attention for athletic achievements this year. Ten UA students were named to USA Today’s All-USA College Academic Team, setting a record for the highest number of students a university has placed on the team in a single year…Two of the 10 UA students are Paul W. Bryant High School graduates. Kendra Key graduated from Bryant High in 2006 and from UA in May with a political science degree… “Her volunteerism and engagement have been spectacular as she reached across the campus and into communities across our state,” said Stephen Black, director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. “Over the last three years, I have witnessed Kendra’s deepening awareness of and commitment to the needs of the world that exists beyond her own experience. She has shown profound maturity and sincere understanding of the need for both charity and justice.”…Cockrum, 20, is researching the effects of chemical weapons of mass destruction on the public. Because those chemical weapons are illegal to possess, Cockrum is using a computer program to explore how the gases behave once released…David Dixon, the Robert Ramsay chair in UA’s chemistry department, said the results of Cockrum’s research will help minimize impact of chemical weapons of mass destruction and enable a more rapid cleanup. “Richard has made significant contributions to the development of computer-based technologies to improve our understanding of the chemistry of chemical weapons,” Dixon said…
Birmingham News – June 10
FOX6 (Birmingham) – June 9
Alabama has strong showing in APR
Tuscaloosa News – June 10
The NCAA announced Academic Progress Rate results for the four-year period from academic years 2005-06 through 2008-09 on Wednesday, and the University of Alabama’s entire athletic program scored above the national standard of 925. “We continue to be pleased with the University of Alabama’s showing in the annual Academic Progress Rate report,” UA Director of Athletics Mal Moore said. “I am especially proud that in a year when we achieved so much athletically, that we continue to do well in the classroom as well. Making sure that all our student-athletes receive a quality education is certainly our number one priority and I believe this reports speaks to our efforts in that regard.”…The national championship football program scored a 957, 10 points higher than the national average in that sport at the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) level. “There is much to be proud of in this report, including the fact that all of our teams are above the 925 mark and that 14 UA programs improved their multiyear rate from a year ago,” Assistant Athletic Director for Student Services Jon Dever said. “Five of our teams earned perfect scores of 1,000 for the 2008-09 academic year and the men’s basketball program, the only team under 925 season last year, made remarkable strides, bettering its multi-year score by more than 40 points.”…
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – June 9
New CollegeFirst program aims to get Birmingham, Jefferson County students ready for Advanced Placement classes
Birmingham News – June 10
…Students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama and Birmingham-Southern College are teaching the classes, which include hands-on time in laboratories at UAB. Program founder Stephen Black, who is director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama, said students who complete a single Advanced Placement class in high school are three times more likely to succeed in college, so the new CollegeFirst program is expected to have an immediate impact. “If you give these kids a path to excellence, they’ll take it,” Black said…
‘Teach for America’ program comes to west Ala. schools
Montgomery Advertiser – June 10
…Training for the 32 who were selected began Wednesday. Carpenter said assistance will continue through 2012 with help from the University of Alabama and the school systems where they will be teaching…
UA students raise $300K for African orphan charity
Crimson White – June 10
Forget Me Not NOLA, a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by two University students and five of their friends, raised about $300,000 for a charity in Africa. Adele Humphreys, a junior majoring in advertising and Kaler Zetzmann, a freshman majoring in fashion retail, hosted the High Heels for High Hopes Fashion Show at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans on May 22. More than 650 people attended, a UA news release stated. The money raised went to Sentebale, a non-profit organization that benefits orphans in Lesotho, Africa.
Alabama in France students adapt to French culture
Crimson White – June 10
Editor’s Note: “Where in the World” is a summer series giving UA students studying abroad an opportunity to write about their summer adventures in their own words…
We are writing this article on a bus headed to the Chateau Chenonceau situated on the edge of the Cher River. Around us the French countryside whirls from one impressionist painting to another—first haystacks, then cathedrals, farm lands, poppy fields, stone cottages and bright explosions of flowers…Alabama in France is a study abroad program through the University in which students spend one week in Paris and four weeks in Tours. With the guidance of our professor, Michael Picone, we visited all the “must-see” attractions in Paris during our first week in France…Although little could replace the exciting songs and colorful costumes of “Le Roi Lion” (“The Lion King” musical) or the traveling eyes of Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” we both agree that we began the transition from American tourists to French inhabitants while living in Tours…