West Alabama teachers learn through Alabama Science in Motion program
Tuscaloosa News – June 30
When Kate Miles received her master’s degree in general science education from the University of North Alabama last year, it would not be long before the Haleyville native would land her first teaching job at Hillcrest High School. Miles quickly learned how much she would have to do on her own as a biology teacher. “Anything I wanted to do, I had to do on my own,” Miles said in a classroom at the University of Alabama’s Science and Engineering Complex Wednesday. At Hillcrest, Miles was in charge of every aspect of her job, from organizing her own daily lesson plans to organizing experiments and resources for her classes. “Teachers have a lot more to do than just teach, so anything that is great for our kids and save time for us is amazing,” she said.
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – June 29
UA alumnus and student discuss military experiences
Crimson White – June 29
Growing up in Luverne, AL, James Mills never thought he’d be working thousands of miles away from home. Little did he know his experience post-graduation would be taking him all the way to Africa. Mills is a UA alumnus, with a degree in History. He’s currently stationed in Gabon, Africa, as a member of the U.S. Army, as an officer in charge of transportation. Though he’s currently in the military, it wasn’t his first choice post-graduation. “My dad had just retired after 22 years and my little brother is actually in the reserves right now,” he said. “When I graduated college, I went home and tried out a couple of things and to be honest, I just needed a sense of direction. I knew that judging from what I had seen from my brother and my dad, that this was what to do.”
University of Alabama releases Dean’s, President’s lists for spring semester
Talladega Daily Home – June 30
A total of 10,270 students enrolled during the 2016 spring semester at The University of Alabama were named to the Dean’s List with an academic record of 3.5 (or above) or the President’s List with an academic record of 4.0 (all A’s). The UA Dean’s and President’s lists recognize full-time undergraduate students. The list does not apply to graduate students or undergraduate students who take less than a full course load.
Fireworks Safety
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – June 29
The 4th of July is almost here, and there are some things that you should be aware of for this upcoming holiday. For starters, there’s fireworks safety. Every year a number of injuries are reported due to the improper use of fireworks. One of the most common types of injury is when a person is hit with a moving object. Dr. Drake Lavender from The University of Alabama tells us about other types of injuries caused by fireworks. Dr. Lavender also says that wearing protective eye wear will also help to prevent those eye injuries.
Crashes increasing statewide during July Fourth week
Anniston Star – June 30
The July Fourth holiday, ordinarily a time of celebration, has become an increasingly deadly time on Alabama’s highways, according to state data on traffic crashes. For the Heflin and Oxford police departments, which respond to accidents on Interstate 20, that means officers likely will be assisting state troopers more than usual this holiday weekend, officials said Wednesday. The 2016 holiday week arrives in what has been a deadlier-than-normal year on the state’s roads. State Trooper Reginal King, spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said there have been 83 more traffic fatalities this year than the this time last year. . . . Last year there were 2,592 wrecks statewide and 67 in Calhoun County the first seven days of July, according to data from the University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Public Safety. In those 2,592 crashes, there were 32 fatalities, six of which had alcohol listed as a contributing factor. About 40 percent of fatal crashes that are investigated by troopers involve alcohol or narcotics, King said. Despite the upward trend, alcohol-related crashes were down, according to the data.
Keeping Guns Away From Angry People
The Atlantic – June 30
Long before he shot and killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, Omar Mateen had established a reputation as a person to avoid. In high school, during the early 2000s, he was suspended 15 times for infractions ranging from truancy to getting into fights. As an adult, he was fired from a corrections job after talking about bringing a gun to a training session. “He was not a stable person,” said Sitora Yusifiy, his former wife, who left Mateen after a few short months. “He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished.” . . . Like these other mass shooters, Mateen’s history of antisocial behavior and offensive statements were risk factors that suggested “he would rather get negative attention than be ignored,” says Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminal-justice professor who studies terrorism and mass shootings.
Military children receive six scholarships in store
Redstone Rocket – June 30
One of the six recipients of Scholarships for Military Children got a nice surprise when she arrived for the June 22 awards ceremony in the Commissary. Sarah Chambless didn’t know $2,000 was the annual scholarship amount. “I only thought it was a thousand,” she said happily. Chambless, daughter of Beverly Chambless of Holly Pond, graduated this year from Fairview High School and will be going to the University of Alabama majoring in music education. Her father, retired Staff Sgt. Frank Chambless, was a 20-year veteran with the military police who died suddenly when she was in the fifth-grade.
Eleven Students Interning At KPMG In Bermuda
Bernews – June 29
Eleven Bermudian university students will complete a 12 week cultivating internship programme with KPMG in Bermuda this year, with KPMG saying their internship programme is “committed to the professional success and career development of their students.” The eleven students participating in the internship programme are Brianna Buchanan [University of Alabama], Chelsea Warren [Oakwood University], Ciara Rego [University of Tampa], Asia Smith [Middlesex University], Clevon Cunningham [St. John’s University] Anna Harrington [University of Western Ontario], Nikari Furbert [Johnson & Wales University], Justice Edness [Acadia University], Justine Dzofonoo-Burch [New England Institute of Technology], Simone Wales [Alabama A&M University] and Daniel Nash [University of Southampton].
University of Alabama looks to do for sports technology what Crimson Tide has done for football
Alabama News Center – June 30
University of Alabama Professor Tim Haskew said it’s a misconception that academics and athletics are at odds with each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Alabama’s new Integrative Center for Athletic and Sport Technology (I-CAST) has academics and athletics reading in the same playbook, one that could yield advances in technology that benefit athletes on the playing field and beyond. “The beauty of the center is it actually provides that platform for getting the people together with the need and the technology, getting them on the same page,” said Haskew, director of I-CAST and head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The UA System Board of Trustees approved I-CAST at its June 17 meeting. The center is devoted to developing technologies and applying existing technologies to reduce injury, accelerate recovery from injury, enhance performance and optimize nutrition in performance and recovery.
Scenes from Childersburg: Alabama town billed as oldest in the nation
AL.com – June 30
Childersburg doesn’t show its age. Like many other small Alabama towns, it has rows of shops that make up a quaint, but unremarkable, downtown business district. The architecture varies from building to building, with most appearing to have been built after 1900. But the city boasts a spattering of homes and buildings dating to the 1800s – including the Powell home built in the 1860s and the gorgeous Victorian home of Charles H. Butler that houses a museum of city history. And yet, Childersburg is billed as the oldest settlement in the nation, predating even St. Augustine, Fla. That’s because the area was visited and its location recorded in 1540 when explorer Hernando De Soto made a rest stop during an early expedition. At the time, the area was a village settled by Coosa Indians. Because the site has been inhabited continually since that time, city officials claim it as “The Oldest City in America. . . . Desoto Caverns, a privately owned walk-through attraction, was the first recorded cave system in the United States. It is also a Native American burial site, as archaeologists from The University of Alabama discovered in 1995 when they unearthed remains of five bodies dating back 2,000 years.
Alabama Fraternity Row 2016: The houses, new and old
AL.com – June 30
Like UA’s sororities, several fraternity houses have been razed and rebuilt over the last four years, giving University Boulevard a substantial makeover. Several other houses are currently in rebuilding mode in hopes of being ready to welcome this fall’s new brothers with open arms.