UA In the News — May 16

UA to partner with local schools and educators to help get science teachers into classrooms
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – May 15
In an effort to bring more teachers into the classrooms, The University of Alabama will partner with Tuscaloosa schools and educators over the next several years. A number of city and county schools will be taking part in The Developing Leaders in Science Teachers’ Program starting in the 2017-18 school year. Students at The University of Alabama will be brought into classrooms to shadow science teachers in hopes of becoming teachers in the future. The program will include 15 scholarship students. They will spend the first year completing an alternative teacher certification master’s degree program.
WBHM-FM – May 15
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – May 13 and 14
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – May 13
WTOK-ABC (Meridian, Mississippi) – May 13
 
UA Gymnast commissioned into U.S. Marine Corps
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – May 12
A University of Alabama gymnast graduated last weekend, but today she was commissioned into the United States Marine Corps. Mary Lillian Sanders is entering the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. And while they don’t sound like they go together, Sanders says gymnastics and the huge commitment it requires has taught her plenty about being a Marine.

UA team preparing for NASA robotics competition
Tuscaloosa News – May 15
At about 1 a.m. Monday, Rebecca Dietz noticed something wrong with “MARTE.” Dietz, a senior studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, and several other members of the Alabama Astrobotics team were testing “MARTE,” a robotic excavator they had built, in the back of Hardaway Hall when the digging belt broke. The team put the belt back together, but the development was an example of how engineers constantly work on their projects. “If we don’t break it, we’re not testing it right,” said Kenneth Ricks, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the head of the team.
 
University of Alabama to hold writing camp for high school students
Tuscaloosa News – May 15
Local high school students are invited to attend a free creative writing camp in June at the University of Alabama. The camp will be held from 1-4 p.m. June 5-16, Mondays through Fridays in room 301 at Morgan Hall. No previous creative writing experience is required and the camp is open to freshmen through seniors. The teachers are all graduate students in UA’s master of fine arts program for creative writing.

Where Health Care Won’t Go
Harper’s Magazine – May 15
It was a miserable January morning in Marion, Alabama, last year, with temperatures twenty degrees below average and freezing rain that sliced sideways. But that did not dissuade the people lining up outside the Perry County Health Department … The pipeline was developed twenty-five years ago by John Wheat, a professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. One evening, I joined Lee and Wheat for dinner at a seafood restaurant near campus as they discussed the depressing state of health care in the Black Belt over gumbo and fish tacos.

Sculpture honors memory of Kevin Turner
Tuscaloosa News – May 15
A new sculpture of the late Crimson Tide and NFL fullback Kevin Turner crafted by a friend and teammate is now on display at the Paul W. Bryant Museum at the University of Alabama. The piece titled “Open Field” was created by artist and former running back David Grieco. The sculpture was donated by Halo and Arrow Zappa is on display in the “Tide Through Time” exhibit. Turner, who died in 2016 at 46 of complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease, was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2017 class on May 13.
Al.com – May 15
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – May 12
HJ News (Logan, Utah) – May 15
Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) – May 15

What Americans Think About Open Marriages
The American Conservative – May 15
In a long piece for The New York Times, Susan Dominus asked the question, “Is an open marriage a happier marriage?” The article presented a flattering portrayal of non-monogamous relationships, and suggested that the taboo against such arrangements is eroding. (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.)

People You Know, May 16
York Dispatch (Pennsylvania) – May 16
AWARDS: The University of Alabama: Marybeth Taglieri, of Spring Grove, received the Outstanding Junior recognition at the recent Order of Omega leadership honor society banquet.