UA students build car for child with special needs
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – April 14
Charles Carter became emotional watching his son drive a car for the first time Friday. “Tears came into my eyes,” he said. You see, it’s a huge step for a child who can’t walk. Five-year-old Justin Carter was born without long bones in his arms and legs. “Actually, seeing how limited he was, kind of heartbreaking,” University of Alabama engineering student Joe Kabalin explained.
Tuscaloosa News – April 15
WALB (Albany, Georgia) – April 14
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 14
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – April 14
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – April 14
UA students thrive in production of ‘A Chorus Line’
Tuscaloosa News – April 17
To the acting-singing-dancing students in “A Chorus Line,” this is not just another kick line, not just another show. “These kids love it,” said Stacy Alley, associate professor of musical theater and dance at the University of Alabama, who’s directing this week’s production. “They. Love. This. Show. “It’s their life.” Almost literally, though the two dozen of the cast are closer to the opening than the middle or end of performing careers. Aside from master of fine arts graduate acting student Billy Green, who plays director Zach, it’s populated by undergrads, including a number of freshmen and sophomores. But seniors such as Daniel Hulsizer, Craig First, Bailey Blaise Mariea, Victor Castro III and Sandra Gates will soon move on, some to New York to try for lives like those of the characters they’re playing.
TCS expands summer programs for students
Tuscaloosa News – April 16
Tuscaloosa City Schools aims to keep up students’ academic retention through an investment in dozens of unique camps through the summer. This summer, the school system will offer elementary through high school students more than 50 camps. Unlike the school system’s Summer Bridge program, which operates as a way for students to receive help with schoolwork each summer, the camps are designed to have academic and non-traditional components and will cover subject ranging from robotics to dancing and culinary arts and more … Cynthia Sunal, chair of curriculum and instruction at the College of Education at the University of Alabama, said learning during the summer is just as important as learning during the school year.
Students publish book on Big Al
Gadsden Times – April 16
A year ago, Kevin Corcoran became captivated by a newspaper article about a group of young students who wrote their own books about the University of Alabama’s mascot. Corcoran, a professor in the UA School of Social Work, read a profile in The Tuscaloosa News about how second- and third-grade students from the Capitol School who each wrote their own stories about Big Al, UA’s elephant mascot. Last January, the group of 26 students visited the Paul W. Bryant Museum to read their stories, surrounded by memorabilia of Crimson Tide football.
Rock Hill Herald (South Carolina) – April 16
The Duke Lacrosse Scandal and the Birth of the Alt-Right
New York Magazine – April 14
After work one day in January 2007, Scott McConnell left his office at the magazine The American Conservative in Arlington, Virginia, and walked to a nearby Thai restaurant that was hosting a panel discussion about the Duke lacrosse scandal … The case was less meaningful to many of the younger people who seem to make up the alt-right — “I think you have to be at least 30 for Duke lacrosse to affect your consciousness,” Richard Spencer said — but it remains powerful as a moment that justifies the far right’s narrative of modern American society. “It was like a preview of the more dramatic racially charged cases of the last couple of years — how those clear battle lines would get drawn and that the key things were not the facts of the case,” George Hawley, a University of Alabama professor who is writing a book on the alt-right, said.
VDare.com – April 15
CCPS teacher finalist for Teacher of the Year
Cullman Times – April 16
A Cullman City Primary School kindergarten teacher is a finalist for the Alabama Teacher of the Year award. Erica Rutherford is among 16 teachers who emerged from more than 140 exceptional educators for the award, one of the state’s oldest and most prestigious … Rutherford received her masters and educational specialist degree in elementary education from the University of Alabama and is currently a doctoral student there and a University Fellow.
What’s your company policy on e-cigarettes?
Industrial Safety and Hygiene News – April 16
As e-cigarettes continue to increase in popularity, employees are unclear on whether their employers have any company policy on “vaping” — or whether that policy is different for vaping versus tobacco smoking, reports a survey study in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Having clear policies on vaping is especially important given the growing body of evidence that e-cigarettes are “far less harmful” than smoking and might be a useful aid to smoking cessation, according to the report by Xiaochuan Song and colleagues of The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
Church Challenges Venue
The Living Church – April 12
The Episcopal Church is fighting back against a bombshell lawsuit from its former chief operating officer, Bishop Stacy Sauls, who claims the church slandered him and ruined his future job prospects before firing him for no stated reason last year. Attorneys for the church filed a 24-page motion March 29 to have the case thrown out of the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama. A more appropriate venue would be New York, the motion says, home of the Episcopal Church Center … The choice of venue is perplexing in part because Alabama courts are known to be more sympathetic toward employers than employees, said Jamie Leonard, an Episcopal layman and professor of employment law at the University of Alabama School of Law. But other factors could also be at play. “Sometimes Alabama juries go hog wild on damages,” Leonard said. “So, if you have a good legal claim, a jury might be very generous. That may have something to do with it.”
Neighbors: Meridian sisters earn ‘outstanding’ honors at Alabama
Meridian Star (Mississippi) – April 14
Sisters Mackenzie and Morgan Ross, of Meridian, were honored for their academic achievements and leadership during Honors Day 2017 at the University of Alabama. Mackenzie, a public relations and political science double major, was selected as the Outstanding Senior. Morgan, a metallurgical and materials engineering major with minors mechanical engineering, computer based honors, and mathematics, was selected as the Outstanding Sophomore. Proud parents are Jim and Cindy Ross, of Meridian. The girls were homeschooled and participated in Distinguished Young Women during high school.
Why Some Narcissists Want to Make Their Partners Jealous
Health Medicine Net – April 15
If you’ve ever had a partner who flirted with other people right in front of you, chatted up attractive strangers and tried to make you feel like you couldn’t measure up, well, maybe you were dating a narcissist … “There is some element of normality to narcissists, in that they pursue goals much like everyone else does,” said study author Gregory Tortoriello, a psychologist at the University of Alabama. “We’re just finding that it’s to a slightly greater degree.”
U.S. political conflict is at an all-time high since at least the 1970s, signaling trouble for stocks
Philly.com – April 17
When Republicans and Democrats can’t agree what to do, investors tend to stall, too. So watch out: This spring, we’ve had the worst partisan fighting in Washington since at least the 1970s, concludes economist Marina Azzimonti’s “Partisan Conflict Index,” which the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia began posting in 2014 … Other scholars claim parallel results: A U.S.-British group of economists led by William Bryce Hankins III of the University of Alabama, in a “working paper” posted by the Bank of England, says that periods of high Political Conflict Index scores coincide with significant increase in cash holdings — as opposed to longer-term assets — at U.S. firms.
LEND A HAND: Golf tournament raises money for education program
Tuscaloosa News – April 8
The Rise Tournament of Champions benefiting the University of Alabama’s Rise Center will be held April 20-21 at NorthRiver Yacht Club, 3100 Yacht Club Way NE. The tournament is a four-person scramble, handicaps required, with tee times at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on both days and shotgun starts. “Our Rise Center is the only Rise program that doesn’t charge tuition for children with special needs,” said Andi Gillen, Rise director. “This is the biggest fundraiser for the center. The money raised ensures that our children can attend at no cost.” Gillen said their goal is $225,000. The Rise Center, a part of the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences, serves children with disabilities and their typically developing peers, from ages 8 weeks to 5 years. The children are divided by age among six classes, each with 16 students, one teacher and three assistants.
Tuscaloosa News (gallery) – April 18
Teleaudiology 101
Audiology Online – April 17
This text course is an edited transcript of an Otometrics/Audiology Systems webinar on AudiologyOnline … The University of Alabama has a program called Hear Here Alabama! They have a truck that they are currently using for running a rural hearing health study (Figure 2). Their original outreach was to underserved communities. They also take the truck to health fairs. I would encourage you to visit their website. It’s quite impressive what they are able to achieve with that truck.
Solar panels supplement Sewll-Thomas Stadium’s power needs
Tuscaloosa News – April 15
The solar panels recently installed behind the outfield at Sewell-Thomas Stadium at the University of Alabama won’t take the baseball park off the grid, but they will supplement the power needs and provide a hands-on example for students studying renewable energy.
Forza Financial to host business plan competition
Tuscaloosa News – April 15
Forza Financial is hosting a high school business plan competition on April 23 from 1-4 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Ballroom on the University of Alabama campus. The winner of the competition will receive a $500 grand prize.
COLLEGE NEWS: April 16
Tuscaloosa News – April 15
University of Alabama: Last month, University of Alabama junior Valerie Levine traveled to The Hand and Upper Extremity Treatment Center of Georgia in Atlanta to fit three recipients, all children, with prosthetics hands of modified open-source design. Levine established The Alabama Prosthetic Project, a student-run project, in the late summer of 2016 to provide 3-D printed prosthetics to children in need of prosthetic devices … Derek Legenzoff, of Tuscaloosa, is part of a student startup company that placed third in the annual Edward K. Aldag, Jr. Business Plan Competition on March 31. Legenzoff is an owner of Gift.me, a web site that allows customers of existing retail sites to build and store shopping profiles for multiple people.
UA musicians perform their own work in concert
Crimson White – April 15
Liking that musician “before they were cool” and reading that book before it hit Barnes & Noble stands are grounds for bragging rights in our fast-paced society. Everybody wants to be the one who “was a fan before everyone else.” Monday, April 17, you can hear UA composers
present their own work in Moody Music Hall. Composers Present is a concert featuring the new music of UA student composers. The event is free to attend and will consist of a variety of different genres and sounds. The night will also include 10 world premieres. So, about two-thirds of the concert consists of music that has never been heard before.
Local students make their mark at college
New Jersey Hills – April 17
Students from Cedar Grove and Verona have earned recognition at college … Liza M Molteni of Cedar Grove was named to The University of Alabama (UA), Tuscaloosa, Ala., dean’s list. A total of 11,758 students enrolled during the 2016 fall semester at UA 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 As. The UA dean’s and president’s lists recognize full-time undergraduate students.
Screen directing class brings short films to life
Crimson White – April 17
When Griffin Meyer first read the script for “The Itch,” he knew right away he wanted to direct it. The short film, a psychological thriller about a young man named Stokes who recounts a past ordeal that has plagued him for years, was written by one of Meyer’s classmates in a directing class. “My first script that I wrote was also a psychological thriller that was kind of like ‘The Shining’-esque and this was the closest one to it that was more well developed,” said Meyer, a senior
majoring in telecommunication and film. “I don’t necessarily like all of my own stuff that I write, and I feel
comfortable like going through and producing it, so once I saw a good script that I didn’t write, but I knew I could direct, that’s probably what drew me
to this.” The TCF 412 class is called Screen Directing. Each semester, the students in the class bring in scripts they’ve written and vote on the best ones. Their instructor, Maya Champion, splits them into crews based on their interests. Some of the students are directors of photography, some work on sound or editing and some are the directors.