Aspiring school superintendents learn about school safety in Hoover
Al.com – Aug. 6
As students across Alabama are heading back from summer break, a group of aspiring school superintendents are meeting in Hoover this week to explore ways to make schools a safe place. About 20-25 principals and central office administrators from across the state are taking part in a two-day training session on school safety, technology and planning at the Hoover Public Safety Center. They’re learning about school safety plans, internet safety, fire safety, current drug trends, child predators, sexting, active shooter situations, hostage negotiation, school security, online school mapping and surveillance programs, and technology that allows for rapid notification of parents, among other things. The idea is to better equip future superintendents to handle the various challenges educators face in keeping the state’s 750,000 public school students safe as they learn, said Richard Rice, director of the Alabama Superintendents Academy at the University of Alabama College of Education.
Tech takes on water resource challenges
GCN.com – Aug. 6
The new National Water Center (NWC), the first U.S. center for water forecast operations, research and collaboration across federal agencies, is opening for business on the campus of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The NWC will run state-of-the-art water management models in a high-performance computing environment and will efficiently manage the flow of water information to other researchers as well as to federal, state and local agencies with new data services. The center will also deliver information and services to mitigate water-related disasters, inform routine decision-making about water and address competing demands for increasingly limited water availability, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Cyber-Security Expert Inaugurates STEM Speakers Forum
TMCNet.com – Aug. 6
Northeast Alabama Community College held the first Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Speakers Forum on campus July 31 … Dr. Joe Burke, Vice President/Dean of Instruction introduced guest speaker, Jim Simon. Simon is CEO of a privately held management-consulting firm specializing in advising companies and governments around the world on a variety of matters including business development, contract capture, M&A, as well as strategic program initiatives, was the guest speaker. He also serves on the adjunct faculty in the Department of Criminal Justice at The University of Alabama. He retired in 2012 as Microsoft’s Chief Strategist for its worldwide public sector and its executive sponsor for the State of Alabama. Simon served in the US Army and was a principle negotiator for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, and a career CIA analyst.
Sentencing phase continues in Harrison capital murder retrial
WTVM 9 (Columbus, Ga.) – Aug. 6
James Harrison Jr. was back in court on Wednesday morning, Aug. 6, for the sentencing phase of the retrial. On Aug. 5, 2014 Harrison was charged once again with Capital Murder and First Degree Robbery. Now, the State and the Defense are meeting in the Russell County Courtroom to find an appropriate punishment. The two possible outcomes are life in prison without parole, or the death penalty. Harrison already escaped a death penalty back in 2001. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but was granted a retrial based on juror misconduct … Jeremy Armstrong with the Defense called Joanne Terrell, a University of Alabama professor and social worker, to the witness stand. Although Terrell cannot diagnose anyone with mental illness, she provided 35 death penalty mitigation cases across the state of Alabama. She explained the risk factors of what might have led Harrison to become the man he is today.
Ledbetter inducted into Kappa Delta Pi honor society
Northwest Georgia News – Aug. 6
Joan Ledbetter was inducted July 24 into Xi Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She and her husband, Terry Ledbetter, live in Rome. Founded in 1911, Kappa Delta Pi is the largest of education honor societies. Membership is based on high academic achievement, worthy ideals and evidence of leadership attributes.
“Rocket Boys” Musical to be Developed by Atlanta’s Legacy Theatre
San Francisco Gate (Calif.) – Aug. 6
“Rocket Boys,” the award-winning musical based on the best-selling book of the same name, will be presented this Spring by Atlanta’s Legacy Theatre, a professional regional house which also developed “Jane Eyre,” among others … Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer, is the author of 14 best-sellers published in multiple languages around the globe, with “Rocket Boys” being a firm fixture on school and community reading lists everywhere. A winner of many writing awards, including the prestigious Clarence Cason award for nonfiction from the University of Alabama, his latest work is the sci-fi trilogy “Crater Trueblood” / Helium-3 series.