Researchers study stress on police officers
Tuscaloosa News – March 29
Researchers at the University of Alabama are monitoring the brain activity of police officers in the simulated stress of “shoot, don’t shoot” scenarios, with the hope that what they learn can help improve training for first responders in the future. “Stress has an amazing impact on human beings, on how we perform,” professor Rick Houser said, noting that stress can impact motor skills and decision-making.
Tuscaloosa News (video) – March 29
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 29
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 29
UA lectures to focus on Civil War history
Tuscaloosa News – March 30
The annual John Caldwell Calhoun Sanders Lecture Series will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in Sellers Auditorium at the Bryant Conference Center, 240 Paul W. Bryant Drive. “The J.C.C. Sanders Lecture Series is a great collaboration between UA Museums and the UA department of history,” said William Bomar, executive director of UA Museums. “The record of outstanding speakers over the last 20 years is remarkable. Besides the expected analysis of battles from a military history perspective, topics have included politics, slavery and the threat of slave rebellions, desertion of soldiers and life on the home front. The lecture provides the general public the opportunity to hear scholarly authors present their research in a way that is educational and entertaining for everyone.”
UA offers Early College for high school students (Live Interview)
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – March 29
Did you know high school students can earn up to 30 hours of college credit through the University of Alabama’s Early College? We’ve got Dr. Victoria Whitfield here to tell us all about the program.
UA students sleep out to bring awareness to Human Trafficking
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 29
Human trafficking and homelessness affect millions of people worldwide. Wednesday night, University of Alabama students are sleeping out to help shut out these issues.
Tuscaloosa hosting two major wheelchair tennis events in April
Tuscaloosa News – March 29
April is showering the University of Alabama wheelchair tennis team with two major events to start the month off – the Tuscaloosa Spring Swing on Saturday and Sunday, and the USTA Collegiate Wheelchair Tennis national championships in Tuscaloosa on April 7-9 where Alabama will defend its 2016 national title.
Expert Market Impressions
Business Alabama – March 30
We spoke with five Alabama professors who have published notable papers in recent years on stocks markets. Four are professors of finance and one — for baseline stability sake — a professor of psychology … “Buying a penny stock is like buying a lottery ticket,” says Professor Thomas Downs, co-author of a paper titled “Is There a Lottery Premium in the Stock Market?” Downs, a retired professor of finance at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, says he and a colleague worked on the paper for several years before it was published in the Journal of Portfolio Management in 2001.
Does the Religious Right’s Decline Help the Alt-Right?
The American Conservative – March 30
In a recent piece for The Atlantic, Peter Beinart asserted a connection between America’s declining levels of religious observance, the success of Donald Trump’s secular brand of right-wing politics, and the related rise of the so-called alt-right. Beinart’s essay deserves to be read in its entirety, but his basic argument is that liberals should hesitate before dancing on the grave of the religious right. (George Hawley is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama. His books include Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism and White Voters in 21st Century America.)
Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates Japanese culture
Tuscaloosa News – March 29
Tuscaloosa will celebrate Japanese culture and the sometimes overlooked role it plays in everyday life during the 31st annual Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival Saturday afternoon. Megan Wagner works at the Capstone International Center and coordinates the festival … “There will be demonstrations of null kumdo, which translates to ‘the way of the sword,'” Wagner said. “On stage, we’ll have a traditional Okinawan dance group from Atlanta, dancing in beautiful, bright costumes and a group from the University of Alabama will perform Tai Ko drumming.”
Musical brings curtain down on career
Tuscaloosa News – March 30
Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” is a darkly comic musical about a group of eccentrics rallying behind a single cause: A 35-year-old bachelor friend named Bobby, who they fear is destined for a lonely life. . . . The 2017 revival features a cast full of talented actors who have been part of Theatre Tuscaloosa almost since its beginning. Although the company often uses core players, it’s not averse to choosing younger actors if they’re a good fit for the role. Dylan Davis, a native of Huntsville and sophomore at the University of Alabama, was chosen as Bobby. He’s the youngest of the cast members, younger than some by two or three decades. “I thought it was going to be a little weird,” said Davis on being the youngest of the cast. “But it turned out not to be a big deal because everyone forgets my age pretty quickly. I’m just part of the bunch.”
399th tuba players represent FLW at collegiate music conferences
My Guidon (Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri) – March 30
If there’s one thing Sgt. 1st Class James Cipriano and Staff Sgt. Daniel Aston want you to know about their chosen instruments, it’s this: Tubas can play lead, too. “We actually can play fast notes,” Cipriano said, adding that the tuba has “a very unique, lyrical capability” on par with other instruments, such as the trumpet or the trombone … As longtime members of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, Cipriano and Aston participated in the organization’s Great Plains Regional Conference, held March 2 to 4 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, as well as the Southeast Regional Conferences held March 9 through 11 at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Alabama.