Alabama Public Radio wins international award for civil rights documentary
AL.com – July 3
Alabama Public Radio is now counted among New York Festivals’ World’s Best Radio Programs after being awarded for a documentary segment commemorating the 50th anniversary of major civil rights protests in Birmingham. Entitled “Civil Rights Radio”, the program chronicled the “Children’s Crusade” in early May 1963, when Birmingham police released dogs and fire hoses on children marching in downtown Birmingham. The event is considered to have provided the impetus for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. APR, based in the University of Alabama, received a Silver Radio Award for its work. “The APR news team is especially honored to be recognized internationally,” said Pat Duggins, APR news director, who produced and hosted the winning piece, according to a UA release. “We also owe a lot of credit and thanks to the young marchers and to Birmingham disc jockey Shelley ‘The Playboy’ Stewart. They all very kindly and patiently shared their stories from those days, which were the heart of the program.”
University of Alabama professor John Clark honored for his work in Ecuador; tree is named after him
Tuscaloosa News – July 4
Colleagues of University of Alabama botanist John Clark have honored him a few times by naming new plant species after him, but the latest carries additional significance. Prominent botanist Scott Mori named the tree found in western Ecuador the Gustavia johnclarkii after Clark, an assistant biology professor at UA and a curator and director at the University of Alabama Herbarium. Clark collected plant samples during a trip to the rain forest in the mid-1990s and has made frequent trips to the region. “In the past, my role has been to help document biodiversity. I dispersed the information to lots of institutions,” Clark said. Mori, in the fall 2013 article describing the tree, said the honor was for Clark’s contributions and noted Clark was one of the first to collect specimens in the area. The honor is special because of the recognition by Mori and the tree’s ties to Clark’s past.
Chamber, UA partner for business course
Selma Times-Journal – July 6
Beginning Tuesday, youth wanting to know how to create their own business, will have access to a great program thanks to a partnership brought about by the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber, partnering with the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce’s Real Entrepreneurship through Active Learning Program, will host a four-week program aimed at helping youth get their start in business. Tommie Syx, the coordinator for Alabama’s Culverhosue REAL program, said the goal of Tuesday’s in July: Biz 1.0 Youth Entrepreneurship is to expose students, ages 13 through, to what it takes to be an entrepreneur.“The primary goal is to expose rising eighth- and ninth-grade students to entrepreneurship and how they can create their own career path and local economic development,” Syx said. While the REAL program is already being run on the University of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus, the Tuesday’s in July program in Selma will act as a model to see if the program could be successful in other cities.
So what’s next? Birmingham councilman has high hopes for neighborhood rebirth after few minutes on the world stage
AL.com – July 3
Standing on stage with a former president in a room filled with business, corporate and philanthropic leaders was more than a flash-in-the-pan moment or photo op for Birmingham Councilman William Parker. Parker called his recent participation in the Clinton Global Initiative America a major step in a long range plan to redevelop his North Birmingham district. “Any time you can interact with a former president that in itself is very helpful in providing guidance and expertise,” he said. “It opens up opportunities to look for potential funding partners in the private sector.” Parker even used his few minutes of face to face time with Bill Clinton to make a pitch for Birmingham, specifically inviting him to North Birmingham. . . . Anne Williamson, a University of Alabama political science professor who specializes in public policy and administration, said Parker’s appearance could benefit both his district and the city overall. “In order to build partnerships you have to communicate, and if you’re trying to build significant partnerships, you have to communicate a strong vision of what you’re trying to do,” she said. “In this case, the councilman’s activities might very well draw people who don’t even know there is a North Birmingham and what their issues are.” Williamson said that the process of rebuilding a community is a gradual one. “Nothing happens quickly, but this is wonderful first step,” she said. “Anything we can do that lifts up Birmingham in the minds of people as a vibrant place to live and work is only going to be good for Birmingham.”
High court: College need not register objection to contraceptive coverage
Tampa Bay Times – July 4
With much of Washington already gone for the holiday, the Supreme Court issued a short legal ruling Thursday with the potential to deepen the political backlash among Democrats that was sparked by the court’s earlier Hobby Lobby decision. The majority of the justices ruled that Wheaton College, a small evangelical school in Illinois, does not for now have to comply with the Obama administration’s requirement that it fill out a form to register religious objections to providing some types of contraceptive coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act. The opinion said that until full arguments are heard by the court, Wheaton need only file a letter with the federal government stating the college’s religious objections. Legal experts say that temporary decision is likely to embolden religious groups and lead to a new wave of lawsuits and objections to the required form. “I certainly think you will see more objections from religious nonprofits … and perhaps more interlocutory orders like this one,” said Paul Horwitz, a constitutional law scholar at the University of Alabama law school.
Diane Benscoter: Extremist Thoughts Could Be a Disease
OZY – July 4
As a teenager in the 1970s, Diane Benscoter couldn’t see herself settling among the cornfields in her tiny hometown of York, Nebraska. While her friends’ brothers left to fight in Vietnam, she longed to create the peace that Cat Stevens and The Beatles sang about. But she didn’t find compatriots in her cause, so she replaced high school with drugs and music. She was young and lost — making her the perfect host for infection. Not with AIDS or Ebola, but something just as contagious, even deadly, in Benscoter’s eyes today: extremist thinking. . . . In the future, if society and science does embrace Dawkins’ theory — and if we can scan brains for memetic infection and prevent it — the world doesn’t immediately become rosy. There are a host of future concerns: for one, Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, worries about the legal implications. Unlike with the flu, people can choose not to get infected by a meme — meaning that extremists must still be held legally responsible for terrorist attacks or hate crimes, for example.
UA director of athletic photography shares some tips on capturing great fireworks photos
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 4
We have a way to make sure your fireworks shots really explode. The University of Alabama’s director of athletic-photography shared some secrets with us. If you have a DSLR camera, he suggests setting your focus to “infinity” and your aperture to F-11 or F-16 to really capture color. As the fireworks take flight, it will leave a small trail of light behind it. When you see it rise, snap your picture.
CollegeFirst celebrates summerAP Institute completion
Trussville Tribune – July 7
More than 100 high school students from Birmingham City, Jefferson County, Hewitt-Trussville and Shelby County schools are celebrating the completion of CollegeFirst, a summer enrichment program designed to better prepare students for the challenge of college-level Advanced Placement courses in math, science and English. Twenty-six college students from UAB, the University of Alabama, and Samford University, guided by an Advanced Placement instructor, led the high school students through three weeks of rigorous curriculum, including advanced math lessons, biology and chemistry labs, and in-depth analysis of literary passages. Students improved their content knowledge and skills in critical thinking and writing to increase their chances for success during the school year. Statewide, nearly 300 high school students from school systems in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville, as well as 80 college student mentors, participated in CollegeFirst.
Alabama football commit says he is coming to UA because of engineering
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – July 4
For one five-star Alabama commit, it was just as much about football as it was about engineering. . . . Da Shawn Hand has the rare blend of athleticism and speed. The nation’s top-rated defensive end had 94 scholarship offers on the table. “It was a long process, but next year I will be attending the University of Alabama.” Those words excited the Alabama coaching staff. But hand is not your average football player. In fact, he’s a self-described nerd. “On top of that, Dean Karr, he’s the engineering dean, he’s a football guy. I love that guy. Like I said, I love civil engineering, and they have that major.” Those words fired up Alabama s engineering department. It’s not too often that we have engineering kids announce their school on ESPN. Hand also mentioned that an earthquake simulator was one of the highlights during his official visit in Tuscaloosa.
LOCAL Q&A: Jennifer Greer, interim dean at Alabama’s communications college
Tuscaloosa News – July 4
Jennifer Greer has worked with the University of Alabama’s journalism department for seven years. Greer recently completed a one-year appointment as interim dean of UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. Greer considers Tuscaloosa to be a city of diversity with opportunities to get involved anywhere. Q: What do you do? Tell us about your job and how you became involved in it. A: On June 30, I completed a one-year appointment as interim dean of UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. It was a wonderful job because we have such great students, staff and faculty members to work with. We also run WVUA-TV and Alabama Public Radio, which provide news and entertainment to a large part of the state. My regular job is in the Department of Journalism, where I teach beginning media writing to more than 200 students each semester. Working with the students is my favorite part of my job.
Traditional Home magazine lauds designer Dana Wolter
Tuscaloosa News – July 7
Interior designer Dana Wolter, a Tuscaloosa native and University of Alabama graduate, was recently named one of this year’s new traditionalists by Traditional Home magazine. “They take on a fresh new twist on what is traditional, and I was very honored that they felt like I covered that criteria,” Wolter said. Each year, Traditional Home selects 10 designers nationwide as rising stars based on their skills and distinct design styles. Each designer is selected based on one design project.
Two decades of ‘Forrest Gump’: Author Winston Groom didn’t foresee enduring popularity of novel, movie
Tuscaloosa News – July 6
When he learned from his dad about a neighbor’s child who despite mental handicaps displayed savant behavior, University of Alabama graduate Winston Groom already was a successful journalist and novelist, but he didn’t envision such a story ever becoming a pop-culture phenomenon. Groom didn’t foresee a best-selling novel that would become a movie that, 20 years after release, still plays almost continually on TV, somewhere in the world. And he didn’t foresee a movie breaking box office records, winning six Oscars and adding indelible characters and catchphrases to popular culture, spinning off a restaurant chain and inspiring adaptations around the world. That same movie he didn’t see coming is inspiring a Japanese musical version even now and a possible Bollywood adaptation in the near future. Groom just knew he had to shelve the other project he’d begun and start writing about this big galoot he’d imagined — a man with an IQ of 70 who nonetheless showed sparks of brilliance, romping through a bizarrely eventful life. The satirical novel “Forrest Gump” — a variation on the “wise innocent” archetype, a la Huck Finn, journeying through the heyday of Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, rocketing thrills of the space race, horrors of the war in Vietnam and more — was written in an inspired six-week burst.