UA students help community after tornado
The Weather Channel – Aug. 21
…Great news coming out of the University of Alabama. This is move in week, a busy week for students. It’s going to be a hot Sunday afternoon to be moving those items into your dorm. The spirit is spreading among incoming freshmen, showing up, wanting to help rebuild and join both communities. And we’re happy to have Dr. Mark Nelson join us live via phone. He’s vice president of student affairs for the University of Alabama…
Editorial – UA fraternities’ storm response brings acclaim
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 22
The mere mention of fraternities, the sort that populate college campuses, can conjure up images straight out of “National Lampoon’s Animal House”…The reality is a bit different…For evidence, look no further than the University of Alabama, where the Psi chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon and the Delta Theta chapter of Beta Theta Pi recently earned their respective fraternities’ top annual award. The Psi chapter was named the best DKE chapter in North America for the 2010-2011 academic year and will receive the Lion Trophy, signifying the honor, on Oct. 7 during homecoming weekend. And at the Betas’ convention in Seattle three weeks ago, the Delta Thetas received the John Reily Knox Chapter Excellence Award. Community service is a criterion for the awards, and evaluators cited both chapters’ response to the April 27 tornado as an important factor in choosing them…In the week from April 29 to May 6, UA fraternities and sororities registered more than 600 volunteers, who cooked more than 50,000 meals and distributed hundreds of thousands of pounds of canned goods, clothes and hygiene products. After May 6, the group switched its focus to fundraising, and the UA Greek Relief Fund, as of Friday, had collected more than $200,000 to distribute within the Tuscaloosa community…Congratulations are in order, of course, but so are our thanks, awards or no…
MBA students at UA challenged to make the right decision from the start
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 21
Incoming MBA students at the University of Alabama received an unexpected challenge during their orientation last week. They were given an ethical dilemma and about 30 minutes to prepare a response. They then were judged by a panel of business leaders, not only on their presentation style but on the moral compass they used to reach their decision. The challenge occurred before they even started their first MBA class, but came with a major bit of advice: In their business careers, they should expect to face many ethical challenges… “Business ethics is becoming more important,” said William E. Jackson III, a professor in UA’s business college and the holder of the college’s endowed chair of business integrity…
Alabama jobless rate hits 10%; Birmingham rate declines
Birmingham News – Aug. 20
… Even though metro Birmingham showed a steep drop in its unemployment rate in July, the region still lost 3,600 jobs from June’s employment levels, said Ahmad Ijaz, an economist with the University of Alabama…”We got a little boost from the fiscal stimulus and inventory cycle during the last couple of years, but as they continue to wear off, the economy is now mostly dependent on consumer spending and we will not see an improvement in consumer spending as long as the labor markets remain weak,” Ijaz said. “Businesses will most likely not hire workers as long as consumers remain on the sidelines.”…
Area jobless rate drops
Decatur Daily – Aug. 20
… “I would take it as somewhat of a positive sign,” said Ahmad Ijaz, an economist with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama…While Ijaz said the report tended to be positive for the three counties, several factors impacted the lower unemployment rates. “In all three counties the employment levels were slightly below what they were in June, but the unemployment rate fell because there was a slight drop in both the civilian labor force and the number unemployed,” Ijaz said. “But there were definitely some seasonal factors involved, too.”…
Team effort helps preserve house with civil rights legacy
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 22
… Students and faculty from the Auburn University School of Architecture Rural Studio and the University of Alabama are helping make sure the Safe House Black History Museum remains a fitting tribute to the civil rights leader and to local foot soldiers of the movement…
College news
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 21
…Tom Harris, professor emeritus of communication studies at the University of Alabama, has been honored by the establishment of the Thomas E. Harris Award for Excellence in Organizational Communication. The award will be presented annually during Honors Week to a graduating undergraduates with a record of excellence in coursework, extracurricular activities and community involvement. The award was established to honor Harris’ “passion for combining his expertise from the corporate world with the communication concepts taught in the classroom.” Harris, in addition to working with the university’s management development programs, is senior consultant for Kelsey Group, Inc.