Professor creates art from metal
Tuscaloosa News – March 9
…Gary Mankey, a physics professor at the University of Alabama…Using an atomic force microscope, Mankey photographed the magnetic domains of permalloy, often used in hard drives. Then, finding the domains to resemble woven thread, Mankey transformed the photos into “Patchwork Permalloy,” which beat hundreds of competitors around the world to become the cover photo of the 2009 calendar for Veeco, a technology firm specializing in equipment for the data storage, wireless, lighting, semiconductor and solar industries…
UA employees ‘Scale Back’
Crimson White – March 9
Through Scale Back Alabama, a statewide weight loss program, staff and faculty members at the University have had the opportunity to build relationships with colleagues and make choices that promote the healthy lifestyle that the program advocates. The final weigh in will be held this week for more than 500 employees who participate in the program through the University. Participants have been working toward their weight loss goals since Jan. 13 and the program will come to a close on March 11…
Students make plans to serve over spring break
Crimson White – March 9
…Rusty Smith, a team leader for the Live United Alternative Spring Break, will be taking several UA students to Gulfport, Miss. to rebuild and repair homes impacted by the last hurricane season as well as recent flooding. Students will also be painting and working to get Gulfport’s Boys and Girls Club ready to reopen…70 students involved with the Alabama Navigators will be headed to Vera Beach, Fla…Over the past several years, the Alabama Navigators have worked to provide a spring break trip for UA students. Typically these trips are mission focused…during the break the Navigators will be working with the mission “Every Dream Has A Price” to help two elderly women rebuild their homes after sustaining damage from hurricanes “Even though we are going to be dealing with hard conditions like sleeping on the floor of a church, we’re going to have the opportunity to help rebuild these two women’s lives and really bond as a group through the whole experience,” Kochanasz said…
Learn basics before doing own gardening
Birmingham News – March 7
Today’s tight economy is forcing many families to cutback everywhere, and that includes their yard service. But before people delve into gardening and yard work on their own, there are several things they need to know, according to area plant experts. Ignoring such information, could end up costing them more money down the road…Chad Burke, manager of the grounds at the University of Alabama, contends that a better time to start planting summer annuals such as flowers, for example, is “once confidence is high that the last frost has occurred.” In his book, that’s usually around April 15…
Uninsured face health-care woes
Tuscaloosa News – March 8
…Delaying medical care can sometimes result in higher costs in the end, however. “It’s just a bad idea all around,” said Roland Ficken, dean emeritus of the College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama. “Any time you reduce preventative care, chronic illnesses can exacerbate. Then you have more costs. You can also fail to catch things that are treatable as time goes on.”
Economy may toughen job search
Crimson White – March 9
In the face of recession, UA counselors advise students preparing to enter the work force to embrace short-term opportunities, resume-building and, above all, optimism. “I cautioned people on the ‘What-ifs.’ Don’t ‘What-if’ the bad things,” said Jerry Paschal, executive director of the UA Career Center. “Always look at the best thing to do. Plan for the economy to rebound — because it will.”…
T-shaped earthen structure preceded Moundville by more than 2,000 years
Tuscaloosa News – March 7
About 3,300 years ago, a group of archaic period Native Americans living in what is now northeast Louisiana decided to build a great mound…The site, near modern-day Monroe, La., is known today as “Poverty Point,” a name given in the 18th century by an owner of the property. On Friday, T. R. Kidder, chair of the anthropology department at Washington University in St. Louis, told the University of Alabama Anthropology Club it is one of the most mysterious sites in the country. “It is the second-largest earthen mound in all of North America, second only to one in Illinois,” he said, in a lecture titled “The Poverty Point Paradox.” “The paradox is, what was going on here at this time that led to this sudden creation of this great mound?”…Kidder’s lecture was also sponsored by the UA Student Government Association, the anthropology department and Lambda Alpha service organization.
Alabama, Auburn work together on ‘Your Town Alabama’
Crimson White – March 9
The University of Alabama’s Center for Economic Development is co-sponsoring a three-day summer camp where Auburn University faculty members teach participants how to build environmentally friendly communities, according to Kay Argo, administrative director at Auburn…
Blog: Sometimes I really love working at the newspaper
Tuscaloosa News – March 7
…On Tuesday I had the pleasure of getting one of the most delightful men I have ever met, 80-year-old African-American art collector Paul Jones, walk me through part of the $5 million collection that he donated to the University of Alabama that was hung at the Paul Bryant Conference Center on campus…On Wednesday…I drove down to Moundville where they are preparing for a “Knap-in and Primitive Arts Festival” next weekend at the archaeological park run by the university. There I interviewed a guy from Missouri who makes some of the most beautiful arrow heads and spear points you will ever see…
Star receiver accepts seat on UA senate
Tuscaloosa News – March 9
In the second semester of his freshman year at the University of Alabama, star wide receiver Julio Jones already has an impressive resume. was a Parade and USA Today all-American coming out of high school and was an all-Southeastern Conference team selection after one season for the Crimson Tide. Now he can add Student Government Association senator to that resume. Though he didn’t campaign, Jones got enough write-in votes to win a senate seat from his college, and, when notified of his win, accepted the position, said Kelli Knox-Hall, assistant director of Ferguson Center and staff member for the UA Elections Board…
Education briefs
Birmingham News – March 7
Steven Oliver of Hendersonville, Tenn., a junior majoring in biology, was elected president of the University of Alabama Student Government Association for 2009-10. Other new officers are executive vice president, Meg McCrummen of Mobile; executive secretary, Katie Breaseale of Oneonta; vice president for academic affairs, Tyler Reed of Tuscaloosa; vice president for external affairs, James Fowler of Madison; vice president for financial affairs, Chris Vinson of Jacksons Gap; and vice president for student affairs, Tyler Valeska of Montgomery.