UA in the News: December 18, 2012

B. Joyce Stallworth tapped as UA’s associate provost for special projects
AL.com – Dec. 18
University of Alabama President Judy Bonner named B. Joyce Stallworth to the new position of associate provost for special projects, the school announced Monday. Stallworth joined the UA faculty in 1995 and has served as senior associate dean of the College of Education since 2004. In the new position, she will be involved in a variety of UA projects, including working with K-12 schools in the Black Belt region of Alabama to identify the specific needs of students in those schools, and, thereafter, to craft strategies and initiatives that will help those students become more successful, to develop new avenues to promote their success, and to coordinate University resources that will be useful in meeting the identified needs of those students.

What drives suicidal mass killers
New York Times – Dec. 18
What do Mir Aimal KansiAli Abu Kamal, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet andNidal Malik Hasan have in common with Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho andAdam Lanza? The first four claimed to be fighting the American government’s unholy oppression of Muslims; they struck the C.I.A. headquarters, the Empire State BuildingLos Angeles International Airport and the Army base at Fort Hood, Tex., respectively. The last four seemed to be driven by personal motives; they shot up a high school, a university and an elementary school. . . . Adam Lankford, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers.”
Commentary – Dec. 18

Why spree killers kill themselves
Wired magazine – Dec.18
With the Sandy Hook shooter dead, we may never fully understand why he gunned down 26 random strangers at a public school. Even when such killers have survived, their self-explanations have done little to shed new light on acts the rest of us can only grasp as psychotic. Inevitably, we are left with the bare facts of the attacks themselves to frame our understanding. Such facts may be bare. But they are far from silent. I recently conducted a study (currently in review) using binary logistic regression statistical tests and data from the 2010 NYPD report of all identity-known active shooter incidents (n=179) in the U.S. between 1966-2010. Here’s what I found: In about half of the “rampage” incidents (more than two casualties), the shooters killed innocent victims … and then committed suicide. . . . Adam Lankford is a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama. From 2003 to 2008, he helped coordinate Anti-Terrorism Forums for high-ranking foreign military and security personnel in conjunction with the U.S. State Department’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.