UA professor’s book calls conflict ‘holiest war’ in U.S. history
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
…University of Alabama history professor George Rable makes no claim on what God wanted out of the Civil War, but does exhaustively show the role religious beliefs played in the war in his book, “God’s Almost Chosen Peoples,” out this month from the University of North Carolina Press. The war was the “holiest war in American history,” and the role religion played should not be dismissed, although it normally is, Rable writes. Religion’s absence from most histories of the era would surely puzzle those who lived through it, he said. “Religion crops up everywhere,” he said of researching the war. Indeed, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the famous anthem of the Union penned during the war, relates that “His truth is marching on.”…
UA teams up State Department of Youth Services to help young girls in trouble
FOX6 (Birmingham) – Jan. 28
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Jan. 28
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 28
The University of Alabama is teaming up with the State Department of Youth services to help young girls in trouble with the law. The program is based at the Tuscaloosa Juvenile Detention Center. Today they held an open house at the Girls Intensive Education Facility.
UA professors’ study raises eyebrows on which graduates make more money
Birmingham News – Jan. 29
Graduates of business schools whose professors conduct lots of scholarly research stand to make considerably more money after graduation than those whose professors focus more on the classroom, according to a study co-written by two University of Alabama business professors. The study, published in the most recent edition of the journal Academy of Management Learning & Education, turns on its ear the conventional wisdom that business school research tends to have little real-world value. The study found that three years after graduation alumni of MBA programs where professors do a lot of research make an average of 21 percent more than those whose schools aren’t research-centric, said co-author Paul Drnevich, an assistant business professor at UA. “All of the conventional wisdom is that what (research) these professors do is irrelevant, and it doesn’t matter. But what we found is that it does matter,” Drnevich said Thursday…
Fighting over Social Security
BankRate.com – Jan. 30
…Gary Hoover, professor of economics at the University of Alabama and an expert on the intersection of politics and government finance, says flatly that the baby boomer generation will fight “tooth and claw” to protect Social Security. He says, “I don’t see this voting block as willing to compromise at all on this issue.” Hoover believes that the only two segments of the national budget that can be trimmed enough to have an impact on the current deficit are Social Security and defense. When push comes to shove — by 2037 — he sees cuts to Social Security as much less likely than cuts to defense. “In the end, we won’t get serious about reforming Social Security until there is an absolute crisis,” he says. “Then there will be Draconian measures.”…
Bankruptcies in West Alabama exceed national average
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 30
…Sam Addy, an economist at the University of Alabama and director of UA’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said bankruptcy has one root. “Bankruptcy comes from debt,” he said. “The pure and simple (reason) for personal or business bankruptcy, is it is too much debt and too little means to repay it.” Even though the recession has ended, people’s debt problems will linger for a long time, he said. “Debt is accrued slowly, and it is paid off even more slowly,” Addy said. Greenetrack’s closing might have been a contributing factor to the bankruptcy rate in Greene County, but the fundamental problems of people carrying too much debt most likely were already there, he said. Greene County’s per capita income has historically been low, so its residents are less likely to have significant savings to live off if they lose their jobs, he said. Caroline Fulmer, a UA assistant professor of consumer sciences, agreed. She said that by the time people face the possibility of bankruptcy, it is usually too late to turn things around. If faced even with the possibility of an economic setback, it is best to live on a tight budget and maintain your savings, she said. She said everyone should try to have three to six months of living expenses set aside for a rainy day in case they lose their job or are unable to work. “If you have three to six months income set aside, you can easily spread that out even more just by tightening your belt,” she said…
UA Law Professor Susan Hamill on PBS
PBS – Jan. 30
…Susan Hamil is seminary trained, a United Methodist, a tax attorney, and a law professor at the University of Alabama, and she’s made a name for herself crusading for tax reform in Alabama based on Judeo Christian ethics, the Bible. “The Bible, first and foremost, absolutely forbids oppression, this is where I got started with this in Alabama…”
Alabama’s budget is in dismal shape, Gov. Robert Bentley says
Birmingham News – Jan. 29
…Speaking at a commercial real estate conference in Birmingham, Bentley said proration, or across-the-board spending cuts, likely will be implemented for state spending from the General Fund. It’s not clear yet whether cuts will be necessary in the education budget, he said…”Even if it’s 10 jobs … you call my office,” he told real estate professionals attending the annual Alabama Center for Real Estate conference, sponsored by the University of Alabama.
Birmingham ballpark success linked to location
Birmingham News – Jan. 29
…Panelists at the University of Alabama’s annual Alabama Center for Real Estate Conference said a new baseball park can rejuvenate a neighborhood and spur an explosion of development. But care must be taken to put it in the right place…
Canadian Novelist to Speak at UA
Birmingham Star – Jan. 29
Noted Canadian novelist Francine D’Amour will deliver a lecture in French…at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in 205 Gorgas Library on The University of Alabama campus. A book signing and reception will follow…
Alternative break presents ways to serve
Crimson White – Jan. 31
… “This year the spring alternative break will be a trip to Memphis, Tenn., and Guatemala City, Guatemala,” said Wahnee Sherman, director of the CSC. “The deadline to apply for the trip to Guatemala has passed, but we still have spots open on the trip to Memphis.”… “They will be working to repair homes of the elderly, community cleanup, delivering meals and working in soup kitchens,” Sherman said. Students that will be going on the Guatemala trip will be mentoring children and working in an orphanage.
Prison tour leaves mixed sentiments
Crimson White – Jan. 31
…21 University students touring Tutwiler Prison for Women Friday. The University group rode from Tuscaloosa to Wetumpka, more than 250 miles round trip, to the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women as part of the last event of the Women’s Resource Center’s week advocating awareness and support for incarcerated women in Alabama. Tutwiler is the only maximum-security prison for women in the state. The group was comprised of students majoring in criminal justice, women’s studies, political science and more. Four staff members from the WRC and one UA professor accompanied them. A few students made the trip as an optional part of a course in women’s studies, but most were interested in the conditions at the prison and gladly took the opportunity to see the facility…
PixelCon gathers gamers at Ferg
Crimson White – Jan. 31
…Hundreds of “gamers” attended the second annual PixelCon gaming convention, a joint project of the University of Alabama’s ABXY Gaming Network and Creative Campus, as well as the Student Government Association and Housing Residential Communities…
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 28
UA hosts ultimate Frisbee tournament
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 29
30 teams from all over the country clashed on the University of Alabama campus today for the 7th annual ultimate Frisbee ‘T-Town Throwdown’…
UA to host 23rd annual Honor Choir
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Jan. 28
The University of Alabama will host the 23rd annual Honor Choir this Saturday at Moody Music Building…
College News
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 31
The UA Opera Theatre won second and third place at the finals of the 2011 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition on Jan. 6 at the annual convention of the National Opera Association in San Antonio, Texas. Paul Houghtaling and eight students traveled to Texas, with generous support from Dean Robert Olin and Skip Snead, and performed scenes from Puccini’s “La Bohème” and Verdi’s “Rigoletto” in the finals. This is the second year in a row and the second time in the history of the opera program that UA made the finals of this national competition.