University of Alabama sororities’ fall rush ends
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 14
Around 93 percent of the 2,683 female students who attended the first round of the University of Alabama’s sororities fall formal recruitment received bids from the 16 sororities participating. UA put the total number of women getting bids at 2,488. Of those who accepted bids, 246 were minorities, a 15 percent increased from 2015. There were 25 African American students who received bids, unchanged from last year. The number of women who initially registered increased by more than 10 percent, and the total who received bids increased by approximately 10 percent over last year, UA said in a release on Saturday. “It’s been a busy and fun week of recruitment for our sororities as they welcomed some of our newest students,” said a statement from Steven Hood, associate vice president for student affairs. “We appreciate the sororities’ dedication and enthusiasm. Recruitment is one good way to make friends and get involved, and our sorority and fraternity communities also provide many service and leadership opportunities for our students.”
Tuscaloosa News (Photo Gallery) – Aug. 14
World News Report – Aug. 15
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Aug. 13
UA president helps students move in
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 12
University of Alabama President Stuart Bell greeted parents and students as they moved into dorms on Friday. “It’s so great to see all the students coming back for us to be able to help get them moved in. But I will tell you, these students are excited to be here at the University and certainly we’re excited as they launch their academic career with us and are just having a great time,” Dr. Bell said. Bell didn’t just shake hands and say hello, he helped unload a car! UA’s President also thanked parents for choosing to send their kids and offered advice on how their child could get the most out of attending the University of Alabama.
WAFF-NBC 48 (Huntsville) – Aug. 13
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Aug. 12 and 13
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 12
Dancer Madison Fendley finding new ways to express her art
Dothan Eagle – Aug. 13
It’s not every day you meet a college student pursuing a double major in dance and political science. But Madison Fendley has a plan ‒ dance, choreograph and then maybe law school. A 2014 graduate of Houston Academy, 20-year-old Fendley is a rising junior at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Like other young dancers, she toyed with the idea of forgoing college to chase her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. But after much discussion and prayer, Fendley chose the college path and it seems to be working for her. “I’ve always said my dream job would be to be Beyonce’s backup dancer and Beyonce’s lawyer,” Fendley joked. “Or, maybe being a lobbyist for the arts.” In April, she was named the University of Alabama’s Outstanding Sophomore during the university’s Honors Day. It was an honor that she had to apply for by submitting her resume, transcript and an essay. Then in June, Fendley received word that her sophomore choreography film had been selected for showing at a film festival held by Dance Camera West, a California-based nonprofit organization that promotes the art of dance and dance on film.
Is NBC’s prime-time Olympics due for a change?
Top of Form
Associated Press – Aug. 13
A former journalist turned college professor, Kelly Whiteside is watching NBC’s prime-time Olympics coverage this month for the first time in 16 years. She’s surprised at what she’s found – not because the programs have changed so much, but because they haven’t. “It’s almost like a time capsule for me,” said Whiteside, who covered several Olympics for USA Today. Much of what NBC does at other times is markedly different from what she remembers; the Olympics are spread around nearly a dozen different cable networks and every competition is streamed live online. Yet NBC’s prime-time, the Olympics point of entry for the vast majority of viewers, has remained an island unto itself by sticking to a time-honored formula. . . . Given the rapid change in the way people watch TV in an on-demand world – and a 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where there will likely be less live competition to show on prime-time in the United States – NBC may have to consider changes more quickly than it expects, said Andy Billings, a University of Alabama sports media professor and author of “Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television.” And what would that new formula be? That’s the tough question.
How the Voting Rights Act Could Be a Path to Police Reform
City Lab – Aug. 12
The U.S. Justice Department picked the week of the second anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, who was killed on August 9, 2014, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, to release the findings of its investigation into theBaltimore Police Department. That investigation was triggered by the death of another African American, Freddie Gray, who died on April 19, 2015, after succumbing to nearly decapitating injuries sustained while in the custody of Baltimore police. Both killings led to massive urban unrest, led by people frustrated with police violence and a lack of accountability for police misconduct. No police officer has been found criminally responsible for the deaths of either of those two young black men in Ferguson or Baltimore, which has further reinforced the idea that police accountability is practically nonexistent. . . . So say the Co-Director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History & Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jason Mazzone, and Stephen Rushin, a law professor at the University of Alabama. Their paper, “From Selma to Ferguson: The Voting Rights Act as a Blueprint for Police Reform,” argues that the civil rights law passed in 1965 to mitigate voter discrimination also offers guidance on how to mitigate rogue policing.
Schools slow to put seat belts
Omaha World Herald – Aug. 15
On average, about five students are killed each year while riding on school buses, which carry 25 million students and travel some 4 billion miles, according to an analysis of federal data this year by Governing, a national publication for state and local governmental officials. From 2013 to 2015, one student died in a school bus accident in Nebraska. Alabama conducted a three-year pilot study of seat belts in school buses that was completed in 2010. Among other things, the study found that the compliance rate among students was about 60 percent. The study concluded that the belts made buses safer, but it also found that more students were killed while getting on or off school buses than while they were passengers, said Jay Lindly, a civil engineering professor at the University of Alabama who was co-author of the report. “We thought we could get a better bang for the buck by improving safety for students getting on or off the buses in Alabama,” he said, adding that lawmakers opted not to pass legislation to require seat belts in school buses.
University of Love reveals matters of the heart
In Daily (Adelaide, Australia) – Aug. 15
The University of Love swoons in to Adelaide this week to give ‘happily ever after’ insights into the serious business of the $1 billion global market for romance novels. . . . Among the speakers are popular romance writers, including: University of Alabama Professor Catherine Roach (better known as romance writer Catherine LaRoche), the author of Happily Ever After – The Romance Story in Popular Culture.
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 14
University of Alabama: The Rural Health Scholars hosted rising high school seniors. They stayed on campus, took college courses in English and chemistry, learned about health careers, participated in seminars with practicing health care professionals and made field trips to rural health care facilities and a medical school. The Rural Minority Health Scholars hosted recent high school graduates who will be attend college. They stayed on campus, took a general chemistry course, attended tutorials, seminars, and made field trips to rural medical facilities and shadow African-American physicians from their hometowns. The two five-week programs introduced students from rural areas to college life at UA and offered them an orientation to the need for health and medical professionals in communities like their own.
Week of Welcome starts Saturday at University of Alabama
NBC 13 – Aug. 13
University of Alabama will greet students for the fall 2016 semester with a Week of Welcome starting Saturday. University Programs will show “Now You See Me 2” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the UA Quad. An Action Card will be required to admit students.
WVUA-23 (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 13
2016 Raymond J. Pack Scholarship Awards announced
Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette – Aug. 13
The trustees of the Peter J. Blosser Board recently announced the students who won the 2016 Raymond J. Pack Scholarship. This following area winners will receive $1,000 to be used to attend: Mackenzie Brown, daughter of Jeremy and Jennifer Brown, Chillicothe High School, University of Alabama.
USM’s Murphree awarded fellowship
Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion Ledger – Aug. 13.
Vanessa Murphree, associate professor and graduate coordinator for the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, was one of nine educators from across the country chosen for a fellowship in public relations with the Plank Center for Leadership. The program seeks to combine academia with real world experience. Murphree teaches public relations and other mass media courses, and her research focuses primarily on the relationship between public relations and social change.
Rising to the occasion
Montgomery Advertiser – Aug. 14
He was the most powerful man in the world, but few gave him a chance to keep his job because he got the “title” as the result of a tragedy. His name was Harry Truman and he became president of the United States when his famous predecessor died in office on April 12, 1945. Franklin Delano Roosevelt might have been confined to a wheelchair, but he was still a flamboyant leader and just beginning his historic fourth term as president when he passed away while on vacation in Georgia. . . . Today, Democrat Hillary Clinton is using her political experience against Republican billionaire Donald Trump whose bombastic, shoot-from-the-hip, slip-of-the-lip campaign style has him trailing her by a wide margin. William Stewart, political science professor emeritus at the University of Alabama, has been following the Trump-Clinton race from the start and believes the difference between the two isn’t that far removed from the Truman-Dewey election. “Truman was able to energize crowds by speaking in a language that appealed to them,” Stewart said a few days ago.
Attica Locke receives UA’s School of Law Harper Lee Award
KRIV-Fox (Houston) – Aug. 14
You may know her work from Empire, as writer and producer of the Fox TV show. Houston native Attica Locke is getting even more praise now. The University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal has announced that Attica Locke, author of Pleasantville, will receive the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction. Locke is the sixth winner of the prize. The award is given out annually.
UA to hire new Chief Diversity Officer
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Aug. 12
The University of Alabama has a new plan for diversity and inclusion on campus. The Tuscaloosa News reports the school will look to hire a chief diversity officer this Fall. They will also implement a new diversity plan. The school has had several recommendations to create an office to deal with diversity issues.