University of Alabama sees record-breaking enrollment
Al.com – Sept. 13
Enrollment at the University of Alabama is up 2 percent this fall, compared to the previous year, the university released on Wednesday. The university now boasts a record-breaking 38,563 students, according to UA, compared to 37,665 students in fall of 2016. “We’re pleased to see our growth continue as we add another talented and bright class to our university family,” UA President Stuart R. Bell said in a statement. “With more students than ever before, it is clear that our exceptional academic programs and outstanding faculty continue to attract much-deserved attention from across the country.”
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 14
Crimson White – Sept. 14
College and University – Sept. 13
Democratic Underground – Sept. 13
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer – Sept. 13
WHNT-CBS (Huntsville) – Sept. 13
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
UA studies impact on insurance following recent hurricanes
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
Watching what’s happening to homeowners in the path of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey may have you taking a second look at what kind of coverage you’ve got on your home or cars. A University of Alabama researcher explains insurance companies will get a sea of people looking for homeowner and flood insurance after these recent storms. Then a few years later there will be a decline in an insurance again, but if you find the best rates, you can avoid dropping your coverage altogether. Executive director Lars Powell works in the Alabama Center for insurance information and research. “We are doing research to understand how the market works so how much can you save by shopping around,” said Powell.
WTOC 11 (Savannah, Georgia) – Sept. 13
UA students use debris cannons to test storm shelter wall panels
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
University of Alabama students and faculty broke out some big guns to test FEMA approved storm shelter wall panels. They fired 2x4s from a debris cannons to study the stability of the panels to withstand storm debris impact. “If we can come up with a cheaper way to construct these, a combination that makes them more quickly constructed and perhaps yields better behavior,” said Michael Kreger with the University of Alabama.
WAFF 48 (Huntsville) – Sept. 13
WAFF-NBC (Huntsville) – Sept. 13
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 13
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
Creative Minds: Potential Diabetes Lessons from Binge-Eating Snakes
NIH Director’s Blog – Sept. 13
Many people would do just about anything to avoid an encounter with a snake. Not Stephen Secor. Growing up in central New York State, Secor was drawn to them. He’d spend hours frolicking through forest and field, flipping rocks and hoping to find one. His animal-loving mother encouraged him to keep looking, and she even let him keep a terrarium full of garter snakes in his bedroom. Their agreement: He must take good care of them—and please make sure they don’t get loose … Links: Secor Lab (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa).
Autherine Lucy Foster to be honored by the University
Crimson White – Sept. 13
The University of Alabama will unveil a marker honoring Autherine Lucy Foster, the first black student to be admitted to an all-white public school or university in Alabama, this Friday at 2 p.m. The unveiling will be a part of a larger campus ceremony at the College of Education. Foster will attend the unveiling, as will President Stuart Bell, Peter Hlebowitsh, dean of the College of Education, distinguished alumna Marian Accinno Loftin, and E. Culpepper “Cully” Clark, former UA dean and author of “The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at The University of Alabama.”
Vietnam General speaks at UA School of Law
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
Former Vietnam General and Birmingham Southern College President Charles Krulak spoke at The University of Alabama’s School of Law today, talking to students about leadership as it relates to the law. We asked him about President Trump’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. He says he believes that is a losing battle.
Dragonflies swarm to N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences Saturday for BugFest
The Warren Record (North Carolina) – Sept. 13
Did you know the dragonfly is one of nature’s most impressive flyers, and some can fly at speeds up to 35 mph, or even backwards? Did you also know that dragonflies spend most of their lives underwater? Or that some dragonflies have been known to catch and eat hummingbirds? … At 10:30 a.m., attendees can learn how to get their kids involved in the Dragonfly Detectives citizen science project. Watch a live tarantula and scorpion feeding demonstration at noon. Or at 1:30 p.m., enjoy “The Secret Lives of Dragonflies,” a presentation by John Abbott, director of Research and Collections at the University of Alabama.
Observers see Ivey as front-runner in Alabama governor’s race
Al.com – Sept. 13
The party primaries are almost nine months away, but some political observers already say it will be a formidable task to dislodge Gov. Kay Ivey from her position as front-runner in the governor’s race. Ivey announced last week that she would run, a move that was expected after she had already raised $1 million in campaign contributions for the race … William Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama and author of “Alabama Politics in the Twenty-First Century,” said Ivey’s assets at this point outweigh any liabilities. “Ivey has handicaps such as being single and not having a photogenic family to put pictures of in her brochures,” Stewart said in an email.
Georgia-Pacific invests $100 million in new Talladega lumber facility
Pulp Paper News – Sept. 13
Georgia-Pacific announced a new lumber production facility in Talladega, Alabama. Construction on the $100 million, 300,000-square-foot, technologically advanced plant is scheduled to begin immediately with an anticipated startup in late 2018. Once it is fully operational, the plant will employ more than 100 full-time employees and generate an estimated $5 million in annual payroll … The project will provide jobs for approximately 120 workers a day at the peak of the 12-month construction period. And according to the University of Alabama’s economic modeling, the project will have an estimated economic impact of more than $26 million on the city and county during construction.
Yellowhammer News – Sept. 13
Woodworking Network – Sept. 13
LBM Journal – Sept. 13
Public – Sept. 13
Alfa Farmers – Sept. 13
You can eat pastry with a Pulitzer Prize winner if you go to this conference in Columbus
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Georgia) – Sept. 13
A Pulitzer Prize winner will deliver the keynote address Saturday at the 2017 Chattahoochee Valley Writers Conference in Columbus. Rick Bragg, a journalist and author of non-fiction books, won his Pulitzer in 1996 for the feature writing he did while working for The New York Times. He now is a professor in the University of Alabama’s College of Communication & Information Sciences.
New jobs coming to Jefferson County
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 13
The company will continue expanding, and research from The University of Alabama shows it will have an annual economic impact of $645 million.
THEN AND NOW: Paul W. Bryant Drive and Colonial Drive
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 13
Left image: The Phi Mu sorority house is now located at the corner of Paul W. Bryant Drive and Colonial Drive where the former Alpha Phi house was located on the University of Alabama campus on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. The Phi Mu house is the only sorority house on the UA campus that has a white exterior. All of the houses along Sorority Row have undergone demolition as new, larger houses for the chapters have been built.
Bama Year One connects freshman with service
Crimson White – Sept. 13
Allen Engle has a passion for freshman involvement. As a freshman, he benefited from guidance and mentorship from upperclassmen. Now an upperclassmen himself, he wanted to give back to freshman in the same way. That is why he created Bama Year One. Bama Year One was created last fall to plug freshman in, help them develop leadership skills through community service and make them want to stay at The University of Alabama.
Health Matters: Preventive Care
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 13
Over the last few months in the United States, there has been a lot of conversation about the health care system. A good deal of that has been focused on what happens when people are sick, when they need to see a doctor or go to a hospital because of an illness or accident … Let’s talk for a few minutes with Dr. Pam Foster, one of our experts from the College of Community Health Sciences and a specialist at preventive medicine.