Lloyd Hall redesign complete
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 2
…Once a top-shelf building for science education, Lloyd has been replaced during the past few years by Shelby Hall and its neighbor, the Science and Engineering Complex. But Lloyd has been reborn as construction crews put in the last pieces of a nearly $24 million renovation before fall classes start later this month. There is little inside the building that reveals its 83 years of history. Situated on the northeastern corner of the Quad between Smith and Nott halls, Lloyd is UA’s first academic building unassigned to any college or department. Its technology-equipped classrooms, big and small, are open to any professor who needs the space. “Lloyd is centrally located on the Quad, making it ideal for a university-wide classroom building,” said Provost Judy Bonner. Lloyd’s makeover opened in phases. The 282-seat lecture hall in the back was renovated first, and the second and third floors opened a year ago. This fall, the first and ground floor will open. In all, the building holds a lecture hall, 24 classrooms and two computer labs…The dining area is named Stewart’s Corner, after UA’s first dean of chemistry and the building’s namesake, Stewart Lloyd. It has a Boar’s Head Deli and a Java City coffee shop. Both of those opened in June. A Pizza Hut Express and Chik-fil-A Express are expected to open on Aug. 9, said Gina Johnson, associate vice president and director of auxiliary services. Its location in the center of campus is expected to relieve the usually crowded dining areas in the Ferguson Center, she said. Also, it will be open until 9 p.m. to serve students at Gorgas Library and students living just east of Lloyd Hall.
UA offers help with back to school
FOX6 (Birmingham) – July 30
Kids will be heading back to school soon, and the University of Alabama is offering some important nutritional tips for parents and students. Experts say good nutrition can go a long way in helping kids be successful in school.
Recovery is slowing, but it could be worse
Anniston Star – Aug. 1
… Ahmad Ijaz, director of economic forecasting with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, agrees with Gropper that a full depression is still far off. “A depression is a very severe recession,” Ijaz said. “If unemployment goes up 15 or 20 percent, then I’d say we are in a depression.”…
Suicide rate may beat ’09 record
Tuscaloosa News – July 31
…Dr. Beverly Thorn, professor and chair of the psychology department at the University of Alabama and editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology, said that hard economic times could be at the root of some of the cases. “I’m guessing that when economic times are bad, suicide rates go up,” she said. “Since we’ve been in a recession — even though there seems to be some hope and improvement, it’s sort of a tenuous improvement. It’s not so surprising. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not surprising.” Thorn said that upward of 25 percent of the population suffers from clinical depression at some point during their lives. Clinical depression is the most severe type of depression and is characterized by feelings that last two weeks or longer. “The key is helping people to have coping options so they can see that ‘this, too, shall pass’ and that life and the meaning of life is much longer time frame than the two-week period where they feel like they’re at the bottom of the barrel,” she said…
UA’s Bryant Drive Reopens to traffic
FOX6 (Birmingham) – July 31
A street on the UA campus is once again open to traffic. Paul Bryant drive reopened Friday. It was closed last year, so the University of Alabama could do renovations to the south end zone of Bryant Denny stadium
Local UA alumni welcome Witt
Brewton Standard – July 31
…the University of Alabama Escambia County Alumni Association held its annual meeting…the group gathered to hear the guest speaker, university President Dr. Robert E. Witt, who gave a glowing description of the University of Alabama. “Last year we had 19,000 applications and 5,200 were accepted,” Witt said. “Of those we had 1,100 who were enrolled in the scholars program. We are doing a lot of building, not only in the number of students we have, but also with the building on campus.” The university has new student housing where each building will have a faculty family. Dr. Witt said they realize that students leave home where they have family support but they need more. “Students coming out of high school need some freedom, but for the first year it’s good to have housing which has family support,” he said. They send out cards to incoming students asking if the student is interested in getting into church when they come to school. and about half of the cards are returned. “We want to keep the students connected,” Dr. Witt said. “We will soon have mandatory on campus housing for incoming freshmen. All students expect the best and they deserve it. We are in the middle of a big expansion with a lot of new buildings going up and renovation of others.” He reminded everyone that students from the state of Alabama get a larger break in the cost of an education if they attend the in-state college. “Georgia is where most of our out-of-state students come from, followed by Texas. Now I can tell you that it doesn’t cost anymore to teach history to a Texas student than it does to a resident of Alabama,” he said.
Flurry of appeals linked to DNA law
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 1
… Alabama attorneys in each of the circuits where motions for testing were filed agreed to take the cases for free, George said. The groups have received assistance from law students and University of Alabama School of Law professor Talitha Bailey as well, she said…