University of Alabama to hold graduation this weekend
Tuscaloosa News – May 3
More than 5,300 diplomas will be awarded during the University of Alabama’s spring commencement exercises Friday and Saturday at Coleman Coliseum. Students from the Culverhouse College of Commerce and the College of Engineering will participate in Friday’s ceremony, which begins at 6 p.m. … Students from the Capstone College of Nursing, College of Communication & Information Sciences, College of Education and College of Human Environmental Sciences will participate in the 9 a.m. ceremony Saturday, while students from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Work will participate in Saturday’s 2 p.m. ceremony.
UA student starts program to help at-risk youth
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 3
Undre Phillips credits the tough times for making him appreciate graduation from the University of Alabama. He came from Opelika with very little, but will be leaving with an appreciation for community service and a degree in education. Phillips came up with the idea of Kick-Start College his freshman year. The program is focused on helping at-risk youth in Tuscaloosa middle schools. Kids will get an idea of what college life is like and what it takes to get there and succeed. “As a student, I wasn’t limited by financial hardship. And I don’t want to make that an excuse. But I do make the explanation for the things I had to overcome,” said Phillips. Phillips plans on going to UAB in the fall to earn a Master’s in Public Administration.
UA and Department of Insurance work together to get people ready for tornadoes
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – May 3
The University of Alabama and the Department of Insurance are working to get people ready for tornadoes. They have launched an online guide. It includes what you need to do depending on where you are when a warning is issued. It also has mistakes to avoid when it comes to your insurance and there is a breakdown of the April 2011 tornado outbreak, and also a look at the deadliest and most expensive tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
Psychiatric symptoms impact mental health court engagement
Bright Surf – May 3
People living with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. It is estimated that 1 million people with mental illnesses are arrested and booked in the U.S. each year. As such, interventions to help this population, such as mental health courts, are becoming popular in communities across the country … Canada’s study, “Psychiatric Symptoms and Mental Health Court Engagement,” recently was published in Psychology, Crime and Law. Greg Markway with the Missouri Department of Mental Health and David Albright with the University of Alabama were co-authors of the study.
Holocaust discussed at Capitol
Montgomery Advertiser – May 3
Gov. Robert Bentley has regularly attended the annual Holocaust remembrance program at the Capitol, but he put in a plug Tuesday for St. James students to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. … Jacobs, a professor at the University of Alabama delivered the keynote address and described the deaths of his grandparents at the hands of Nazis. “They were transported from their village and taken to the Warsaw Ghetto and then on to Treblinka where they both were murdered in 1942,” said Jacobs.
University of Alabama graduate Vicki Hollub named Occidental CEO
Tuscaloosa News – May 3
An University of Alabama graduate has been name chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp. Vicki Hollub, 56, was named CEO on Friday and is the first female CEO of a major U.S. energy exploration company, according to business reports. Hollub was named president and chief operating officer of Houston-based Occidental in December 2015 and was also named a company director. Occidental’s board of directors said then that she would become president and chief operating officer this spring after Stephen Chazen retired as CEO.
Immigration debate returns to Statehouse
The Indiana Lawyer – May 3
Within the divisive issue of illegal immigration, both sides of the debate agree on two key points — the country’s immigration system is broken and Congress should be the entity to fix it. To date, however, Capitol Hill has been unable to reach a consensus on what should be done. House Speaker Paul Ryan has put off doing any comprehensive immigration overhaul until at least 2017, and the Obama administration’s executive actions providing some relief to undocumented residents are under review by the U.S. Supreme Court … In doing a cost-benefit analysis of Alabama’s 2011 anti-immigration law, House Bill 56, University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy showed the positive economic impact illegal immigration has. The law drove immigrants from the state, which reduced demand for goods and services and, in turn, shrank the economy. And as they left, Addy found the state stood to lose $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion in gross domestic product.
New tech can forecast when and where creeks, rivers will flood
KXAN-NBC (Austin, Texas) – May 3
Central Texas has seen two deadly and devastating floods in the past year. In several of the cases, the water rose so quickly people didn’t get the message to evacuate until the water was already at their doorstep. In Blanco and Hays Counties, officials say emergency managers relied on people upstream to call in reports of the rising water. Even then, the low tech warning gave only minutes of lead time … Dr. Maidment tells KXAN the trial his students conducted is the backbone of what is being shared with the year-old National Water Center (NWC) on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. The NWC is a unique blend of civil service and academic contributors and shares a similar mission as its sister agencies (Hurricane Center and National Storm Prediction Center): to protect lives and property.
CBS 11 (Johnson City, Tenn.) – May 3