Tuscaloosa residents to be inducted into UA’s Education Hall of Fame
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 15
Two Tuscaloosa residents will be honored this weekend for their contributions to education in Alabama. Sandra Ray, a longtime member of the Alabama State Board of Education, and Barbara Rountree, director of The Capitol School and co-founder of Children’s Hands-On Museum, will be inducted into the Education Hall of Fame at the University of Alabama. The ceremony will take place Saturday at the North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.
Mercedes Triples Down on Alabama Investment
Business Alabama – Feb. 15
More than two decades ago, when Mercedes-Benz U.S. International proclaimed Alabama winner of the bid for its SUV production, the state celebrated a victory that opened the doors to the auto industry in the South … According to the Birmingham Business Alliance, once fully operational, the new campus will provide $307.9 million in economic impact annually for the state, including contributing $109.2 million to the state’s GDP and $62.4 million in earnings to Alabama households from direct and indirect jobs, according to an economic impact study from the University of Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research.
Studying the Arms Race Between Bacteria and Viruses
Infection Control Today – Feb. 15
Dr. Asma Hatoum-Aslan, UA assistant professor of biological sciences, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to continue her work in discovering how bacterial immune systems ward off bacteriophages, or viruses that specifically attack bacteria.
Mass shooting expert: “It’s not a matter of opinion,” the United States’ “firearm ownership rate is the explanation for why we have far more public mass shooters”
Media Matters – Feb. 15
Adam, you’ve looked into this. Michael said there’s no real answer to this because each thing leads you down to a dead end. Talking about HIPPA privacies, civil rights, et cetera, the Second Amendment et cetera, but in your estimation, from doing all the studies you’ve done, is that realistic or is there something that we can do to mitigate this now? ADAM LANKFORD (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA): Well, to say there’s no easy answer, I think, is accurate, but to say that we don’t know what’s to blame, what the culprit is here would not be accurate. So in my study I looked at more than 40 years of public mass shooters around the world.
WLKY-CBS (Louisville, Kentucky) – Feb. 15
KPHO-CBS (Phoenix, Arizona) – Feb. 15
WCTV-CBS (Tallahassee, Florida) – Feb. 15
WXCW-CW (Ft. Myers, Florida) – Feb. 15
KNOE-CBS (Monroe, Louisiana) – Feb. 15
… and numerous other news outlets.
UA criminal justice professor Adam Lankford discusses why U.S. has more mass shootings than other countries (live interview)
CNN International – Feb. 15
First, Dr. Adam Lankford, who is a criminology professor at the University of Alabama studied mass shootings here in the United States and in other countries. Professor Lankford, thank you for joining us.
MSNBC (National) (Live Interview) – Feb. 15
KNX-AM (CBS Radio, Los Angeles, CA) – KNX In Depth with Chris Sedens and Charles Feldman – Feb. 15
Collegiate Corner
Bartlett Express (Tennessee) – Feb. 15
Colleges and universities have the following announcements about Mid-South students … Area students named for fall 2017 academic honors at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., include: Dean’s list: Brennan Brown, Kamryn Carpenter, Dalton Dowdy, Rachel Evans, Lauren Harrell, James Loft, Madeline Mahon.
San Diego Tribune – Feb. 15
Journal and Review (Crawfordsville, Indiana) – Feb. 15
UA Writing Center to offer free writing assistance to community
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Feb. 15
If you’re in the Tuscaloosa area and could use some help with any type of writing from a resume to an essay or a personal writing project, the University of Alabama writing center is offering free help every Wednesday from 5 to 7pm at the Tuscaloosa County Library’s Bolden Branch on Lanier Avenue. It’s free and open to everyone, but teens do get priority.
UA Graduate School to host Family Night at the Museum
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 5
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend you may want to visit UA’s Museum of Natural History. The museum will host UA graduate students’ 8th annual Family Night. The event gets graduate school parents together so they can socialize with the community. The event will take place this Saturday, Feb 17th, from 5-to-8 P.M. at Smith and Lloyd halls on the university campus. This year’s theme is “ocean explorers. There will be more than 20 interactive exhibits open to all ages.
UA students to hold Dance Marathon
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 15
Put on your dancing shoes this Saturday and join thousands at the University of Alabama’s dance marathon. WVUA 23’s Haleigh Amend got a peak at what UADM is doing to prepare for the event.
UA professor comments on Black Panther movie
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 15
And to the box office where a slate of superheroes heads to the silver screen. All eyes are on Disney’s “Black Panther” movie, set to hit theaters tomorrow. It’s a movie with a mostly black cast and an African- American director. This movie is about what it means to be black in both America and Africa. An associate professor of American studies and an expert in African- American art history at the University of Alabama explains all the hype.
UA Hillel expands facilities to fit growing population
Crimson White – Feb. 15
The UA Jewish population on campus is expanding, so the on-campus resources like the Bloom Hillel facility are doing the same. “We barely have enough room for the amount of people we currently have coming on a weekly basis,” said Parker Jacobs, a junior majoring in math and finance. “The expansion will create a lot more comfort.”
Why Alvarado is a Must at the University of Alabama
Campus Rec Mag – Feb. 15
Scott Elliott, the director of facilities at the University of Alabama, shares about partnering with Alvarado and what benefits have been seen for the rec center through the partnership.
PHS wins State Convention Spirit Award
Shelby County Reporter – Feb. 15
“The 2018 ASPA Winner of the State Convention Spirit Award is … Pelham High School!” announced Meredith Cummings, University of Alabama Professor and Executive Director of the Alabama Scholastic Press Association (ASPA). Winning the State Convention Spirit award was a first for PHS—and it united three staffs as one team.
4 Robots That Aim to Teach Your Kids to Code
New Delhi Times – Feb. 16
You’ve seen apps and toys that promise to teach your child to code. Now enter the robots. At the CES electronics show in January, coding robots came out in force. One convention hall area was packed with everything from chip-embedded, alphabet-like coding blocks to turtle-like tanks that draw on command … But experts like Jeff Gray, a computer science professor at the University of Alabama and an adviser to the nonprofit coding education group Code.org, say kids can derive other benefits from coding robots and similar toys. They can, for instance, learn “persistence and grit” when the toys inevitably do something unintended, he says.
Khaleej Times – Feb. 16
Tribune Star (Terre Haute, Indiana) – Feb. 16
Edge Media Network – Feb. 16
Culture changes, pressure to succeed blamed for increase in mass shootings
Washington Times – Feb. 15
Back in the day, farm kids, in particular, had easy access to firearms, but they didn’t shoot up their schools or churches. So what changed? In a word, the culture. Adam Lankford, University of Alabama associate professor of criminology, said today’s teens and young adults are under more pressure to succeed, and they increasingly define success as being famous. “I would first point to the desire for fame or notoriety because there is evidence that on a cultural level, today’s young people want to be famous more than previous generations did,” Mr. Lankford said. “My parents’ generation, they wanted to be successful, but they defined success more as being able to provide for your family, wealth and class.”
Europe had school shootings too. Then they did something about it.
TFI Daily News – Feb. 16
Contrary to what you may sometimes hear, school shootings are not unique to the United States … In his famous study, “Public Mass Shooters and Firearms: A Cross-National Study of 171 Countries,” University of Alabama criminology professor Adam Lankford found a link between the number of guns and mass shootings that killed four or more people. The dataset ranged from 1966 through 2012.
Civil Rights Museum excursion helps celebrate Black History Month
Crimson White – Feb. 16
The Civil Rights Museum excursion will give students the opportunity to leave campus and learn more about the historical Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham as well as the 16th Street Baptist Church. Vice president of the Black Student Union, Darnell Sharperson, a sophomore majoring in public relations spoke about how students would benefit from this event.