UA holds Commencement
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – May 5
The sound of Pomp and Circumstance is in the air as University of Alabama students donned their caps and gowns this weekend for graduation.
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – May 5
University of Alabama Spring Graduation 2017: Full list of graduates
Tuscaloosa News – May 6
Candidates for Doctoral Degree include: Alabama – Albertville: Zachary M. Searels.
Arab: Russell Todd Williams.
A patriot’s path to graduation
Tuscaloosa News – May 6
University of Alabama student Robert Brackbill III, born on the 4th of July, always felt the tug of patriotism. As he joined the Army in 1995, it was the storied history of the 82nd Airborne Division that drew him to the elite unit. “I was like, I wanted to be there,” he said. After a 20-year military career, it was a similar storied legacy that helped draw him to Tuscaloosa as he looked at universities.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 6
75-year-old graduates from UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – May 6
It’s always special to graduate from college, but today was extra special for one young-at-heart fellow. Larry Cummings graduated from The University of Alabama at the age of 75. He actually started UA back in the summer of 1960, but he didn’t get to finish until now. His daughter and his wife were there to celebrate and cheer him on.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – May 6
AL.com – May 6
National Water Center on UA campus gets additional funding
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – May 5
A center in Tuscaloosa that studies flooding and water issues around the country gets a big boost of federal funding. The federal government gave more than $19 million to the National Water Center on the University of Alabama campus. It’s America’s first-ever clearing house for all natural disasters related to water. It forecasts floods and droughts and issues warnings on how to protect yourself.
9 Alabama football players graduate
Al.com – May 7
Nine football players and four basketball players were among the more than 80 Alabama student-athletes that graduated this weekend. The nine football players were cornerback Tony Brown, linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton, center Bradley Bozeman and walk-ons Hunter Bryant, Lawrence Erekosima, Derrick Garnett, Bo Grant, Preston Jones and Thomas Woods.
Alabama mustn’t waste its development opportunities
Anniston Star – May 7
In the movie The Cowboys, John Wayne’s phrase for not effectively using precious time was “Hurry up, we’re burning daylight.” Across Alabama, there are a multitude of communities that aren’t seeing the economic revival that a relatively few cities have experienced Many have not been able to keep pace in terms of workforce development and job creation … For 2017, the University of Alabama’s Economic Development Academy is focusing its attention on the state’s up-and-coming economic development professionals, elected local officials as well as key communities that have the ability to become striving communities. (Neal Wade is director of the University of Alabama Economic Development Academy and former director of the Alabama Development Office (now department of Commerce). Email: fnwade@ua.edu.)
Confederate White House museum
Port Register (Idaho Falls, Idaho) – May 6
Schoolchildren who visit the First White House of the Confederacy learn that its famous former resident, President Jefferson Davis, was leader of a “heroic resistance” who was “held by his Negroes in genuine affection as well as highest esteem.” Such ideas, once mainstream Southern thought, have largely been abandoned by historians … And the prevalence of Confederate markers such as the Montgomery museum helps normalize notions of benevolence among slaveholders and distort the realities of the era, said University of Alabama history professor Joshua D. Rothman. “There are a lot of people who still want to hold onto those myths,” he said. “If slavery was evil then what slaveholders were doing was perpetuating evil. You can’t have it both ways.”
Alabama beaches struggle to attract tourists from blue states
Al.com – May 7
When Jeremy Dorn visited Birmingham and Tuscaloosa for the first time last November, he didn’t know what to expect. A California native and Hillary Clinton supporter, Dorn came to Alabama to visit friends and attend a University of Alabama football game. He happened to be in Alabama on Election Night … Richard Fording, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, said what Bell’s views track what’s known as “contact theory” in social psychology. According to the theory, inter-group hostility “can be reduced by inter-group contact.” “People in Alabama and California are not as different as the people in each state tend to think,” said Fording. “There are a lot of conservative and liberals in each state – just somewhat more of the former in Alabama and somewhat more of the latter in California.”
COLLEGE NEWS: May 7
Tuscaloosa News – May 7
University of Alabama: The Order of Omega chapter at The University of Alabama presented awards to students and faculty at its recent annual banquet. Order of Omega is a leadership honor society for members of fraternity and sorority organizations. Order of Omega recognizes juniors and seniors who have exemplified high standards in the areas of scholarship, leadership and involvement within their respective organizations, the campus and the community.
Welcome to French Camp, where worlds of science, faith collide
Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) – May 7
For stargazers, there is no worse enemy than light pollution. Even in Mississippi, where trees outnumber people, opportunities for unadulterated views of the heavens are dwindling — except at a place where religion and science coexist … During the annual Midsouth Stargaze and Astronomy Conference in April, enthusiasts come from as far away as Florida, Arkansas and California to enjoy a pristine view of the Milky Way and lectures by people like William Keel, a galaxy researcher from The University of Alabama.