An action packed duo: UA students create comic book company
Crimson White – Feb. 29
In stormy days in Seattle, Washington, a young Ethan Jackson and his brothers would sit inside and draw, taking inspirations from their favorite comic book heroes like Spider-Man or Wolverine. In another part of the country, Kristofer Pearce would read comics from his father’s collection of Iron Man comics. Little did Jackson or Pearce know, years later, they would create their own superheroes and their own company. Jackson, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering, works alongside Kristofer Pearce, a senior majoring in New College media production, as the creative minds behind Dream Ink Comics. “Our first character we ever made together was Ghost … It was actually a lot harder than we thought … We finally got comfortable with something we liked and I think when we finally got it, it was like ‘Yes,’ ” Pearce said.
Tuscaloosa photographer Chip Cooper’s work to be displayed
Tuscaloosa News – March 1
For Thursday’s Art Night in downtown Northport, Tuscaloosa photographer Chip Cooper will exhibit all new works in a show titled “Familiarity,” drawing parallels between his work in Cuba and that from the Black Belt, at the Kentuck Art Center, 503 Main Ave. An opening reception and artist’s talk will be held at Art Night, held 5-8 p.m. the first Thursday of each month in downtown Northport galleries and shops. Admission is free. Cooper was director of photography for the University of Alabama for 33 years, and is now artist in residence in the Honors College. He has shown his work nationally and internationally, and in numerous museums, as well as private and corporate collections.
LSAMP’s Progress in Diversifying STEM Workforce not Exact Science
Diverse Education – March 1
Conference materials referred to it as a “game changer.” The National Science Foundation chief called it a “great return on investment.” It’s been credited with having produced more than half a million holders of STEM bachelor’s degrees among underrepresented minority students — 509,954 to be exact. But when it comes to one of the most critical questions concerning the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation or LSAMP — a congressionally mandated program meant to diversify the STEM workforce — there wasn’t exactly a wealth of answers at the annual LSAMP Research Symposium last week. Hicks provided Diverse with an unreleased “impact report” on the Alabama LSAMP — or ALSAMP — in which a University of Alabama economist and experts “estimate that every dollar coming into ALSAMP generates three dollars and twenty cents for the state.”
Roth wins SGA presidency
Crimson White – March 1
Lillian Roth, a rising junior political science major from Montgomery, Alabama, was elected the next University of Alabama SGA president for the 2016-2017 term, read the unofficial elections results, emailed to The Crimson White by Kelli Knox-Hall, staff member of the Elections Board. According to the email, 13,751 votes were cast in the election. Roth received 7,408, of those votes, 53.87 percent. Voter turnout was down from last year’s 14,931, when Elliot Spillers became the first independent president since the 1980s.
UA students create short film about race
Crimson White – March 1
It is 1934 in a small southern town and a man walks alongside the road. As he is walking, he sees the bright red and blue lights of a police car behind him and wonders what he has done wrong. He stops walking to turn around and face the police officers to ask, but they apprehend him; shoving him to the ground and berating him with racial slurs. He does not understand why. Police brutality is the subject of “Blackface,” a short film written and directed by Shanrica Evans, a senior. The short is being created as a part of a telecommunication and film class taught by Nick Corrao. Evans said she was inspired by recent events to write the story.