A law school recognizes 45 year anniversary of graduating black law students
Fox 6 (Birminhgam) – March 31
Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge John England listened closely while long-time civil rights attorney Fred Gray talked about suing the University of Alabama to integrate campus and its School of Law. “It’s an opportunity to recall fond memories, hardships and struggles,” Judge England said. He was one of the first black students to attend UA’s School of Law in 1969.
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – March 31
WDAM (Moselle, Mississippi) – March 31
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – March 31
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 31
UA group fights human trafficking
Tuscaloosa News – April 3
Alabama Interstate 20/59 has been called a superhighway of human trafficking, a criminal industry involving forced labor or sexual exploitation, according to Wellhouse of Birmingham. The University of Alabama’s Criminal Justice Student Association dedicated its efforts in April, which is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month, to fighting the problem of human trafficking. “Our No. 1 goal is to spread awareness to everyone on campus and the people in the community because sex trafficking has become a huge problem in our backyard,” said Jazmin Dilligard, Criminal Justice Student Association president.
Don’t shoot: University of Alabama using virtual reality, neuroscience to improve police training
Alabama News Center – March 31
University of Alabama researchers are using a novel approach to learn how police officers react to “shoot, don’t shoot” situations: measuring brain waves during virtual reality police training. For the past year, Drs. Rick Houser (counselor education), Dan Fonseca (engineering) and Ryan Cook (clinical mental health counseling) have used a mobile electroencephalogram, or EEG, amplifier to measure the brain activity of three law enforcement officers to determine which regions of the brain are active during simulations of potentially high-threat situations.
Mysterious cosmic explosion in the distant X-ray universe surprises astronomers
Know Ridge – April 3
A mysterious flash of X-rays has been discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in the deepest X-ray image ever obtained. Researchers say this source likely comes from some sort of destructive event, but it may be of a variety that scientists have never seen before. This X-ray source in the CDF-S has different properties from the as yet unexplained variable X-ray sources discovered in the elliptical galaxies NGC 5128 and NGC 4636 by Jimmy Irwin of the University of Alabama and collaborators.
Latest Technology – April 1
African American Students Honored
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 2
The Black Faculty and Staff Association honored hundreds of black UA students today. Today’s event kicks off Honors Week for students at The University of Alabama. Around 800 African-American students with GPAs of 3.3 or higher were honored for their achievements in the classroom.
UA’s Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team heads to West Point
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 31
The University of Alabama’s ROTC Ranger Challenge Team leaves this weekend for a national competition at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. UA won the Brigade Ranger Challenge at a regional tournament back in January. The 11 member team will face other regional winners as well as teams from military academies from across the world.
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – March 31
Blackburn Institute starts food garden to increase local food access
Crimson White – April 2
In Alabama, food insecurity is everywhere. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, every county in the state has at least one food desert, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as an area without a sufficient supply of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful whole foods. On Saturday, members of The University of Alabama’s Blackburn Institute built one of two community gardens in Holt, Alabama as part of a competition within the Daniel Community Scholars Program.
Proposed bill aimed at expanding animal protection laws
WTVY (Dothan) – March 31
Leaving animals in hot cars can be very dangerous – even for a minute. When the Alabama Legislative session resumes, lawmakers may consider a “Good Samaritan” law to help stop that practice. State Representative Chris England of Tuscaloosa is sponsoring what’s called the “Good Samaritan” bill … In conjunction with a psychology class at the University of Alabama, the Holt High class presented Representative England with their own bill, which calls for animals locked in hot cars to be classified as a Class A misdemeanor, as well as protecting those who break into cars to save locked-up animals.
UA Engineers Finalists in International Contest
Crimson White – April 3
A team of students at The University of Alabama has been selected as one of the top six finalists to compete in a international engineering competition. The goal of the competition, formally called the Student Antenna Design Contest, which is organized by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, is for the students to create a better antenna for CubeSats, which are smaller satellites that are often tacked onto the launches of larger satellites.
O’Connor Art Studios hosts community classes and events
Crimson White – April 3
When walking around campus, you may see the sculptures and statues standing in the grass and the paintings adorning the walls of our buildings, but do you ever stop to wonder where they came from? You may find that much of the art you pass every day was done by local artist Caleb O’Connor in his downtown loft, O’Connor Art Studios, LLC … Caleb O’Connor’s artistic skill can be seen in several places around the University of Alabama campus. Last year, he finished the bronze sculpture of Dr. Robert E. Witt that stands in front of the Presidential Village student activity center.
UA hosts Bridging the Gap Workshop
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 1 and 2
The University of Alabama is hosting a two-day workshop on how communities and universities can bridge the gaps that exist between them and work together. The workshop is tomorrow and Tuesday, April 3 and 4 at Hotel Capstone.
Retired U.S. Chief Statistician visits UA
Crimson White – April 3
Discerning facts from fiction has become an increasingly arduous process in contemporary politics. There’s now more need for good statistics than ever. However, the dilemma remains as to whose statistics can be trusted. Last Friday, the recently retired Chief Statistician of the United States, Katherine Wallman came to deliver her wisdom on the issue at The University of Alabama in a lecture titled “Facts We Need to Trust: Understanding the Nation’s Official Statistics System.”
What to expect as investigations of governor heat up
Anniston Star – April 1
A year after he was first caught up in a phone-sex scandal, Gov. Robert Bentley lives with a question mark hanging over his head. A three-ring circus of scandal — impeachment hearings, ethics complaints and criminal investigation — have been the talk of Montgomery for months, while Bentley has yet to confront his critics directly … “It may be immoral, it may be hypocritical, but it’s not a crime to have an affair,” said Susan Pace Hamill, a University of Alabama law professor.
Disability is everywhere, specialist says
Red Dirt Report (Oklahoma) – March 31
What is the connection between the Flint water issue, the Ferguson shooting and transnational labor? Disability. Flint water lead poisoning targeted poor people, mostly black already made vulnerable by a school-to-prison pipeline system. The Ferguson shooting of a young black by a white policeman was one more of a long series. People working in Bangladesh at oppressive rates with no right for occidental companies, or Mexican illegal immigrants working in U.S. farms at the mercy of their master. These examples were discussed by Nirmala Erevelles, a professor of Educational Leadership & Foundations of Education at the University of Alabama and one of the guests present at the symposium on disability studies organized by the University of Oklahoma Humanities Forum on March 30.
Jewish Food Festival shares traditional cuisine
Crimson White – April 3
Food has the power to bring people together, and sharing the food of a culture with others can make that power mean even greater. On Sunday, April 2 the fourth annual Jewish Food Festival took place at the Temple Emanu-El and was hosted by the Sisterhood of Temple Emanu-El. Full Moon Bar-B-Que, Publix, Summersell Center for the Study of the South, Bloom Hillel Student Center and Big Daddy’s were sponsors … “All of the food was excellent,” said Erin Hildebrand, a graduate student at the University of Alabama. “I guess I would have to say the soup was my favorite, though.”
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
FDR and Trump: From Radio to Twitter
Lucianne.com – April 2
Over at Reason (unfortunately behind a paywall here) University of Alabama professor of history David T. Beito has written a fascinating look at “Roosevelt’s War Against the Press”. The telling subtitle? “FDR Had His Own Breitbart, and Radio Was His Twitter.”
Students can now order campus food through Tapingo
Crimson White – April 3
The University of Alabama’s partnership with the free food ordering app “Tapingo” began on Monday, giving students the ability to order food from campus restaurants via their phone and have it delivered or ready for pickup. “Mobile ordering used to be a thing of the future, now it’s a part of our present,” Bruce McVeagh, Bama Dining district manager told UA News. “Through Tapingo we hope to provide more access to our dining locations.”
COLLEGE NEWS: April 1
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
University of Alabama: Woncheol Lee, a native of Tuscaloosa, is part of an engineering student team selected as finalists in an international contest to design better antennas for small satellites called CubeSats. The UA team is one of six teams selected for the contest.
Sylacauga, world-famous for marble, prepares for festival
Gadsden Times – April 2
What does Alabama have that’s 32 miles long, one and a half miles wide and 400 feet deep, at a sea level of 50 feet? The answer is in Sylacauga, first mentioned in Fernando DeSoto’s records in 1540. It’s a city of about 13,000 residents in southern Talladega County, about 60 miles south of Gadsden. A solid deposit of the finest and hardest grade of white marble ever known was discovered about 1820; quarrying began in earnest in 1847 and has never stopped … The meteorite, now on display at the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, has been memorialized in a giant marble sculpture called “The Falling Star,” and is prominently placed in downtown Sylacauga.
Southwestern To Host Neurobiology Symposium
Public Now – March 31
Southwestern University presents ‘Social and Emotional Development and Risk: The Role of Neurobiology’ featuring Dr. James Blair and Southwestern University alumni, Dr. Laura Thornton ’09 and Rachel Thibodeau ’13 … Rachel Thibodeau: Rachel Thibodeau is currently a 4th year graduate student in the department of psychology at The University of Alabama working under the mentorship of Dr. Ansley Gilpin. She completed her undergraduate degree at Southwestern University in 2013 and is now finishing a PhD in Developmental Science and Cognitive Psychology with a minor in statistics at Alabama.
Teaching future broadcasters
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 31
Our team at CBS 42 got the opportunity to head to the Capstone to influence the next generation of journalists. I’m here inside The University of Alabama’s State-of-the-Art Digital Media Center where students are really honing their skills and learning by doing. Today, I was one of the members of the local media who got the chance to know some of the them one-on-one.
PORT RAIL: Marking the anniversary of our entry into WWI
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
Historians love anniversaries. It not only celebrates or commemorates the past, but gives us an excuse to write and talk about the past. Since the past is our specialty, bring on the anniversaries! Five hundred years ago, this year, the Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, posted his Ninety-Five theses on the church doors of Wittenberg in Germany (Oct. 31, 1517) and kicked off the Protestant Reformation. Now that is a great moment to commemorate and we’ll be doing that occasionally in this column. (Larry Clayton is a retired University of Alabama history professor. Readers can email him atlarryclayton7@gmail.com.)
Friday Morning Notes
Reston (Virginia) Now – April 1
Local Student Presents at Alabama Conference — Christine Roesch, of Reston, was one of 500 University of Alabama undergraduate students who were selected to showcase their research and creative projects during the school’s annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference earlier this week. Her project was titled “The Layout of Grass and a Trip to Starbucks Can Influence Which Way You Walk to Class.” According to her Facebook page, Roesch is a psychology major with a criminal justice minor. [University of Alabama]
REVIEW: Looney closes out stellar career with masterful production of ‘Company’
Tuscaloosa News – April 2
There’s another new kid, though he had a star support role in last summer’s “The Producers”: 20-year-old Dylan Guy Davis, as a nuanced, hilarious, heartfelt Bobby, turning a character who’s in some “Company” productions a cipher into more of a worthwhile puzzle, an enigma. With this collaboration, Looney’s 72nd and final show directing for the company, it’s made crystal clear why Bobby’s so beloved, why his friends dote. . . . Being single is not “Being Alive,” as Bobby’s climactic summation cheerily tells us. Again, Davis is wholly on top of it, a mature and assured performance that suggests, like other former University of Alabama theater students who are currently in “Hamilton,” “Kinky Boots,” “Something Rotten,” “The Walking Dead” and elsewhere, that here’s a chance to see tomorrow’s star before his ticket prices rise concurrent with a multitude of job offers. From veterans to relative kids, the cast gels, and as the best ensembles will, forms a greater whole.