UA In the News — March 4-6

Pioneering Astronaut visits UA Campus
Alabama Public Radio – March 4
Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison addressed female students studying mathematics and engineering at the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. The Decatur native was the first African American woman to fly in space.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 4

Mae Jemison to speak at UA
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 3
Happening tomorrow, the first black woman in space will visit The University of Alabama with the 5th annual WiSE Symposium. Dr. Mae Jamison will be the keynote speaker. It starts at 10:45.

Rehab vs. jail time for drug abusers
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 3
Dr. Diana Dolliver worries more people would rather see drug abusers behind bars than rehab outside of them. “People just want a simple solution. They don’t want to see the problems in their neighborhood,” Dolliver told WBRC. Dolliver, an assistant professor of criminal justice and researcher with Alabama’s joint electronic crimes task force, fears a bill going through the state legislature could make it harder for people addicted to drugs to get help.
WSFA-NBC (Montgomery) – March 3

John Grisham discusses role of social justice in literature
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
Over the years, John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” have existed parallel to one another. Grisham’s debut novel, which tells the story of a white lawyer named Jake Brigance defending a black man in a heated racial climate in Mississippi, has long drawn comparisons to Lee’s book about an Alabama lawyer named Atticus Finch defending a black man accused of a crime he did not commit in a segregated Alabama town. However, Grisham does not see the similarities between the two. “Read the first chapter of ‘A Time to Kill,’ you realize this is a very different book than the first chapter of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ” the author said Friday during a symposium at the University of Alabama School of Law.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 3
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – March 3
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 3
ABC 9 (Columbus, Georgia) – March 3
 
John Grisham to speak at UA School of Law
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 3
A well-known author is coming to The University of Alabama. John Grisham will speak at the University’s School of Law today. He’ll be participating in a discussion about the moral significance of author Harper Lee’s work. The discussion begins at 12:30.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 3
 
Program explores the making of Mississippi, Alabama borders
Columbus Dispatch – March 3
March 3 marks the 200th anniversary of the separation of the Territory of Alabama from the Mississippi Territory. To commemorate the occasion, the public is invited to “Borderline Confusion: Cultures and Conflict in the Making of Mississippi and Alabama” at 2 p.m. Sunday in Nissan Auditorium on the Mississippi University for Women campus.  . . . The presentation is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Billups-Garth Foundation; the MUW Department of History, Political Science and Geography; Mississippi and Alabama Bicentennial Commissions; Alabama Heritage; and the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama.   John Giggie, director of the Summersell Center, will act as moderator.

Business leaders rank top issues facing Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – March 3
Education and workforce training are the top issues facing Alabama. according to a survey of business executives. The survey, conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research, was conducted in November and included responses from more than 104 business executives in Alabama. Economic and business development, dissatisfaction with government, infrastructure improvement and job growth rounded out the issues facing Alabama, according to the survey. The survey has been conducted annually since 2013 and asks for the executives’ opinions on issues facing their companies and the state.

UA Professor runs state’s Office of Information Technology
WDHN (Dothan) (“The Voice of Alabama”) – March 4
This woman, Dr. Hale, is actually not an employee of the state. She is an employee of The University of Alabama. Nothing fishy is going on with them right now. They wrote the bill in such a way that the statute doesn’t make her have only one job like it does everybody else.

LEND A HAND: Program aims to create lifelong readers
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, along with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, promoted the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day by providing Dr. Seuss-themed reading kits to 21 schools in seven counties in the Black Belt region. Read Across America Day is an annual motivation and awareness program that celebrates reading. The day was celebrated Thursday, March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

Tuscaloosa’s Inventure is changing the way we look at waste
Tuscaloosa News – March 3
In a non-descript 40,000-square-foot building not far from the popular Tuscaloosa restaurant Waysider, a group of chemists and engineers are finding uses for the world’s industrial food-related waste. Inventure is making industry around the world rethink what they’re throwing away, and in the process finding ways to monetize it. All of this comes from a staff of less than 40 employees, most of them packing PhDs and masters degrees from the University of Alabama. In its decade in business, the company is responsible for 16 patents and has another 45 pending.

UA Students take part in Create-A-Thon
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 3
Some students at The University of Alabama are spending the night in class, literally. A 24-hour Create-A-Thon is being hosted by the student run Capstone Agency to help local nonprofits with public relations. Organizations benefitting from the event include the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter and the Good Samaritan Clinic.
 
COLLEGE NEWS: March 5
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
Western Governors University: April Morgan of Tuscaloosa has received her Master of Arts in Mathematics Education (5-9) from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah. The university held its 32nd semi-annual commencement ceremony at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando on February 11 and celebrated the graduation of more than 11,000 graduates. University of Alabama: The Materials Research Society recently elected a University of Alabama scientist to its 2017 Fellows class; Dr. Arunava Gupta, Distinguished University Research Professor, was elected for his “distinguished research accomplishments” and “outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials research, worldwide.”

Weekly Calendar, March 5, 2017
The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) – March 5
March 9: Community Impact Council of Mesa County’s Inspire Impact breakfast, 7:30 a.m. DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 743 Horizon Drive, celebrating Nonprofit Week and honoring local organizations and volunteers who make a difference in the community, $15 per person; workshop training on leadership will follow the breakfast, presented by Stephen Black, nationally renowned speaker and founder of Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at University of Alabama, $10 for the workshop, communityimpactcouncil.org.

Gorgas exhibit highlights WWI collection
Tuscaloosa News – March 3
A new exhibit at the University of Alabama’s Gorgas House Museum highlights the contributions made by William C. Gorgas during World War I. “William C. Gorgas and the Great War” will open with a reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission to the reception is free.

Dean’s list
Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio) – March 4
Saint Francis University Fall 2016 – VIENNA: Eric Bofenkamp* … The University of Alabama – Fall 2016, WARREN: James Peace*.
The Richmond Register (Kentucky) – March 4
New Jersey Herald – March 5
Herald-Tribune (Batesville, Indiana) – March 3
Belleville News-Democrat – March 6
Daily Journal Online (Park Hills, Missouri) – March 6
Metrowest Daily News (Framingham, Massachusetts) – March 5

Queen, Princess of Roses Pageant today
The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) – March 3
The Princess and Queen of Roses Pageant, sponsored by The City of Orangeburg Parks and Recreation Department, will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday in Stevenson Auditorium … Riley Hart Ridgeway is the 19-year-old daughter of Craig and Jeri Lynn Ridgeway of Barnwell. She is a junior at the University of Alabama studying elementary education. She intends to pursue a master’s degree in Montessori education. Riley will be performing a baton twirling routine to a Michael Jackson mix.

Rock On: A look at the University’s rock climbing opportunities
Crimson White – March 5
One of The University of Alabama’s interesting amenities is found at both recreation centers on campus. The Outdoor Recreation Center has established two rock climbing walls, one in the Student Recreation Center and the other in Robert E. Witt Student Activity Center.

PORT RAIL: A growing intellectual intolerance
Tuscaloosa News – March 4
I am going to write here as an educator, not a capitalist, socialist, entrepreneur, one-percenter, a member of the silent majority or a rioter in the streets loudly exercising my First Amendment rights. By the way, rioting in the streets to prevent someone you don’t like from speaking is not covered by that amendment. But, I digress. As an educator, I feel somewhat responsible for the behavior of my students and my students’ parents, and, as an old educator, even for my students’ grandparents, or those of my generation. Where did we go wrong? (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him atlarryclayton7@gmail.com.)