University of Alabama 86th on U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of public, private schools
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 10
The University of Alabama was 86th among public and private institutions in the 2014 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges lists, which were released Tuesday. UA shares its 86th ranking among national universities with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the University of California-Santa Cruz, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Tulsa. The ranking of national universities includes public and private schools that offer a range of undergraduate majors, graduate and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research, according to the U.S. News website. UA was ranked 36th among top public universities in the annual rankings. UA also shares its spot on the list of public schools with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, UC-Santa Cruz and the University of Colorado-Boulder.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Sept. 10
Historian, journalist among Alabama’s College of Communication Hall of Fame inductees
Al.com – Sept. 10
The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences will induct three new members into its 2013 Hall of Fame, according to a UA press release. Inductees include James W. Oakley, who ran the Centreville Press for 27 years before serving as career adviser to UA communications students. A scholarship aimed to defray the expenses of internships was established in Oakley’s name this summer in honor of his retirement and impending Hall of Fame induction. Former students and colleagues said it speaks to Oakley’s character that he wanted to establish a scholarship that will help students even after he’s left his office. “For a long time I have been concerned about students who were required to work a real internship and would not be paid,” Oakley said. “Many times this limited the student to either do one of less quality or not at all. Hopefully, the benefits of this scholarship will enable a student to be all they want to be.” Other inductees include Harold W. Greenhaw and William M. Harvill, according to the release.
Bryant Museum marking Bear’s 100th birthday
Rome News-Tribune (Ga.) – Sept. 10
The University of Alabama is getting ready to mark what would have been the 100th birthday of the late football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. The Bryant Museum will offer free admission for visitors on Wednesday, the anniversary of Bryant’s birth in rural southern Arkansas in 1913. The museum also has new additions to an area about the coach’s career, and there’s a new book and a new documentary on Bryant’s life. Bryant coached at Alabama from 1958 until 1982, winning six national champions with the Crimson Tide. Bryant died in January 1983 shortly after his retirement.
WAFF (Huntsville) – Sept. 10
WPMI (Mobile) – Sept. 10
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 10
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Sept. 10
CBS 12 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Sept. 10
Bear Bryant’s last letter? Many fans say they have it, museum director says
Al.com – Sept. 10
Though the legendary wins and championship rings cemented former University of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in football lore, the legacy of his former players and connection to fans are what keep his memory alive and well in the Crimson Tide family. Ken Gaddy, the director of UA’s Paul W. Bryant museum, says the museum often receives calls from people who believe they have Bryant’s last letter. Bryant would frequently reply to fan mail, Gaddy said, even in January 1983, the month he passed away. “Whether it actually is his last letter or not, these people kept those letters for a long period of time. It meant a lot to them,” Gaddy said. “Even if they never met him, they felt like they had a personal connection to him.”… The museum hopes to attract more fans — old and new — with its updated exhibits debuting tomorrow for Bryant’s centennial celebration, which includes a re-creation of the set of the Bear Bryant TV Show, in addition to the release of a new book that features museum memorabilia in telling Bryant’s story.
Professor pioneers carbon capturing
Crimson White – Sept. 11
Driving by a power plant on a cold day, a white plume of steam is visible, but other invisible gases also leave the power plant in that column of steam – oxygen, nitrogen and importantly, carbon dioxide. Jason Bara, assistant professor of chemical engineering, pioneered and recently patented the use of imidazole as part of a liquid mixture to extract carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. “We hear a lot about carbon capture and carbon sequestration in the news, so pumping CO2 from power plants underground and storing it and hoping it stays there for millions of years and not letting it get emitted into the environment or the atmosphere,” Bara said. “What we focus on is the actual process by which CO2 is separated from the combustion gases that exit the power plant.” Bara said he has been working in this particular area of gas processing since his first day of graduate school under the guidance of his advisors.
Student Health Center to offer free flu shots
Crimson White – Sept. 11
For the second year, The University of Alabama Medical Center and Student Health Center will be providing 10,000 flu shots free of charge to any faculty and students who want one. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests everyone get vaccinated against flu shots once a year to protect from new strains of the virus. The flu shot being offered by the SHC is intended to protect against three strains at once. “No insurance is needed. Students, faculty and staff have to provide their name and CWID. It’s a small form,” Brett Jaillet, communications specialist of the College of Community Health Services, said. David Brown, nursing supervisor, said this campaign does more than protect the 10,000 inoculated individuals and that a vaccinated community is healthier even for those who have not received flu shots. “[Herd immunity] arises when a high percentage of the population is protected through vaccination against a virus or bacteria, making it difficult for a disease to spread because there are so few susceptible people left to infect. So if enough of The University of Alabama community are immunized to influenza, then we should see less cases of influenza in that population,” Brown said.
GUEST COLUMNIST: Overthrowing governments: An old standby
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 11
Recently, some papers from the CIA were released providing details on the overthrow of a communist-leaning prime minister in Iran in 1953 in favor of the friendlier Shah. The Shah was himself overthrown in 1979. Governing can be a dangerous profession. For old Iran-watchers, the new papers on the 1953 coup were not news, just another confirmation of what we already knew. We overthrow governments occasionally, when it is in our best interest. In the following year, the CIA sponsored the overthrow of a socialist-leaning president of Guatemala and replaced him with someone friendlier to the U.S. Some routinely profess shock that we would overthrow governments when to do so is, of course, a violation of the basic sovereignty of all countries. In 1959, we welcomed Fidel Castro, who came to power in a revolution in Cuba. A little more than two years later, in the spring of 1961, we attempted to overthrow the very same Castro, who by then was marching to the beat of a communist drummer… (Larry Clayton is a retired professor of history at the University of Alabama.)