Birmingham Table of Experts: Insights into Diversity
Birmingham Business Journal – Feb. 23
Q: What are some of the key components for a strong diversity program? Dr. Christine Taylor (Vice President and Associate Provost for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Alabama): A strong diversity program requires organizational will and organizational commitment. There must be a strong belief and understanding that the ultimate success of the organization includes success with issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion. A strong diversity program has the support of the organization’s informed leadership, actionable goals, commitment of resources, strong communication strategy, organizational buy-in and measures of accountability. Diversity must be central to the organizational agenda and not relegated to just being other business.
UA recognized as a top producing institution for Fulbright Awards
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
The UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA has once again been recognized as a top producing institution for Fulbright U.S. Student Awards. Fifteen of 47 UA applicants received the award for the current school year, one of the highest winning percentages in the nation. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers grants for independent study and research, as well as English teaching assistantships overseas.
Does Alabama’s warm weather mean severe storms are on the horizon?
AL.com – Feb. 23
So the fall and winter are more active than many may think. However, warnings may get less attention then. “What we are finding in the research is that spring tornado warnings work well because people expect them and they know what the warnings mean, but any other time of year, they don’t expect them and they don’t know what to do with warning information,” said Dr. Laura Myers, who has done extensive research on weather warnings and their impacts as a social scientist and the director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama. “Fall, winter, and severe thunderstorm winds and tornadoes don’t make sense to people so they don’t tune in to the warning process like they do in the spring and when they do get warnings they tend to take them very lightly.”
Bama Theatre to feature Shakespeare documentary, director Q&A
Crimson White – Feb. 23
Retired Broadway entertainers and the power of Shakespeare collide to create the award-winning documentary, “Still Dreaming.” Both the documentary and its director, Hank Rogerson, will make an appearance at Bama Theatre tonight, Friday, Feb. 23. “Still Dreaming” follows a group of retired entertainers and the rehearsals for their production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” . . . “Still Dreaming” is the third film in the Shakespeare Film Series. The Series is sponsored by the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies in the English Department at the University of Alabama.
Columbine effect: Mass shooters seek fame, vengeance by emulating teenage killers
Washington Times – Feb. 23
The Texas tower shooter was a 25-year-old married former Marine and Kinkel was a scrawny 15-year-old, but the Columbine shooters were seen as “cool,” said Adam Lankford, an associate criminology professor at the University of Alabama. “And the fact that there were two of them, I think it makes them a little more attractive,” Mr. Lankford said. “The Virginia Tech shooter has been cited as a source of inspiration by some, but certainly by fewer, and if you’re dealing with as your market of consumers a lot of people who are lonely or socially awkward, they’re going to be attracted to people who seem like them but less socially awkward. Cooler.”
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 22
University of Alabama Professor’s Film to Debut across Multiple On-Demand Platforms
High Beam Research – Feb. 23
“Service to Man” is a drama that chronicles the bond between a pair of medical students – one white, one black – at Meharry Medical College, a small school in Tennessee, during the turbulence and violence of the civil rights movement in 1968. Seth Panitch, professor of acting and head of graduate and undergraduate acting programs at UA, earned his first director’s credit for the film, partnering behind the camera with Loyola University film professor Aaron Greer, who previously taught at UA.
Several Wilson County students make the grade at University of Alabama
Lebanon (Tennessee) Democrat – Feb. 23
A total of 12,594 students enrolled during the fall semester at the University of Alabama 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.
Alabama World Languages Association announces 2018 award winners
AL:.com – Feb.23
The board of directors of the Alabama World Languages Association has announced its 2018 award winners: Alabama Educator of the Year: Ms. Jennifer Bruni, Bob Jones High School, Madison Alabama Educator of Excellence (Post-Secondary): Dr. Erin O’Rourke, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Lives depend on keeping up fight for gun control
Seattle Times – Feb. 23
Countries that have more guns have more gun deaths, and the United States has more guns by far than the countries to which it was compared. The comparison was based on work by University of Alabama professor Adam Langford [sic]. The U.S. has 270 million guns (more by some estimates) and during the period used for the study, 1966 to 2012, the U.S. had 90 mass shooters. No other country in the comparison had more than 46 million guns or 18 mass shooters. The number of guns made the biggest difference, the analysis concluded, but it didn’t account for all of the difference.