Ready for a new semester: University of Alabama students begin moving in
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 9
University of Alabama students began the early move-in period Thursday and Friday at the Tuscaloosa campus. The early group included band members, sorority recruits, athletes, honors college students and some first-year students. On Friday, groups of students could be seen carrying their boxes of belongings into the residences at Julia Tutwiler Hall and Presidential Village. Volunteers from Calvary Baptist Church helped students tote boxes of their belongings into their new homes. The rest of the student population will move in on Aug. 15. Classes at UA are scheduled to start Aug. 20. Last year, UA had 34,852 students. Meanwhile, classes are set to begin at area universities and colleges during the next two weeks.
2014 Communication Hall of Fame inductees announced
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 8
Emmy winning actress Sela Ward is headlining this year’s class of inductees into the UA’s Communication Hall of Fame. Ms. Ward, shown here in a guest role on the hit TV show “House”, is a former UA homecoming queen and cheerleader known for several TV roles on shows such as “Sisters” and “New York”, and movies such as “The Fugitive.” Other inductees include former WBRC anchor Bill Bolen, lawyer Gibby Johnston, former APA President H. Shelton Prince, and broadcaster Stan Siegal.
Rice U study: Stock prices of companies that use same underwriter tend to move together
Your Houston News (Texas) – Aug. 9
The stock prices of companies that use the same lead underwriter during their equity offerings tend to move together, according to a new study by financial economics experts at Rice University and the University of Alabama. “We tested the hypothesis that investment banking networks affect stock prices and trading behavior,” said James Weston, a professor of finance at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business. “Consistent with the notion that investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch serve as information hubs for segmented groups of investors, the stock prices of companies that use the same lead underwriter during their equity offerings tend to move together.” An equity offering is an invitation by an underwriter to the general public or a select group of investors to buy a new issue of a company’s common stock. Weston said the magnitude of the effect is similar to the “co-movement” that research has linked to share price, stock index inclusion, specific industry or geography. He co-authored the paper with Jones School colleague Gustavo Grullon, a professor of finance, and Shane Underwood, an associate professor of finance at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. It was published in the July issue of the Journal of Financial Economics.
UA social scientist discusses new move “Into the Storm”
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 9
A new movie that’s opening this weekend might have some local residents remembering the terrifying tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa three years ago. “Into the Storm” is a fictional weather thriller, documenting how people in a small town try to survive killer tornadoes. Dr. Laura Myers of the UA Center for Advanced Public safety says that reactions of residents who view the movie will depend entirely on the individual: “I think it can be both. I think for some people it might trigger it. I think it’ll be cathartic for others. I think it could be both for the same individual. It could bring up all those feelings, but then when you get through the movie, and you realize you’ve gotten through the movie, well, wait a minute, I’ve gotten through the movie and I’m thinking about it and what I’d do next time. So it could be very helpful.” Dr. Myers also says that movies such as these are the most effective way to treat post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from events such as tornadoes.
WHNT-CBS (Huntsville) – Aug. 8
COLLEGE NEWS: Aug. 10
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 10
Congressional Internship Program: Five area residents have completed summer internships at U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s Washington, D.C., office. The interns were: Sydney Geyer, daughter of Drs. James Geyer and Stephenie Dillard of Tuscaloosa. She is a rising sophomore at the University of Virginia. Olivia Acker, daughter of Stan and Kristi Acker of Northport. She is a rising junior at the University of Alabama. Ashton Standeffer, daughter of Luke and Teia Standeffer of Tuscaloosa. She is a rising senior at the University of Alabama. Jonathan Hess, son of Cletus and Laura Hess of Tuscaloosa. He is a rising sophomore at the University of Alabama. Mary Katherine Davis, daughter of Richard and Terry Davis of Tuscaloosa. She is a rising senior at the University of Alabama.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 5K will benefit research for cystic fibrosis cure; UA’s Scott Cochran is honorary race starter
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 10
Appropriately, the idea for the Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 5K came as organizer Cissy Cochran ran with her friend Blair Plott. The runs with her friend often become time Plott uses to vent about her son’s life with cystic fibrosis. “Being the running partner, she gets to hear the good, bad and ugly of it,” Plott said. Cochran wanted to find a way to help her friend, who had expressed interest in a race as a way to support the nonprofit foundation named for the Plotts’ son, Thomas Plott. Thomas befriended Cochran’s son, Beau, while the two attended preschool at the Rise School on the University of Alabama campus. “He seems so much like Beau,” Cochran said of her son’s playmate. While Thomas looks like an ordinary 6-year-old boy, the Verner Elementary first-grader must undergo a regular battery of medication and treatments to break up mucus in his chest. The race through downtown Tuscaloosa that will begin and end at Government Plaza is planned for 9-11 a.m. Aug. 23 and will benefit the Thomas Plott Foundation, a nonprofit started by Plott and her husband in 2010 to support research for a cure to cystic fibrosis.
Regal Roses: Thirteen women from Tyler families to serve as ladies-in-waiting
Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas) – Aug. 9
Thirteen young women from Tyler families will serve as the ladies-in-waiting in the Texas Rose Festival rose queen’s coronation court. … Kaitlyn Elizabeth Boone, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Dale Boone and Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Scott Keith, is an apparel and textiles major at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where she is in Delta Delta Delta sorority. She is a graduate of All Saints Episcopal School. While in high school, she was on the Texas Bank and Trust Student Board of Directors, in Junior Symphony League and a Boys and Girls Club volunteer.
UA Press releasing ’13 Alabama Ghosts’
UT44 (Mobile) – Aug. 9
The University of Alabama Press is releasing a keepsake edition of the beloved book “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.” The book of ghost stories by Kathryn Tucker Windham and Margaret Gillis Figh first came out in 1969. It’s only been available in paperback ever since. The Tuscaloosa-based publishing house is now issuing the book in a 124-page hardback edition. The price is $30. The new edition includes an afterward by Windham’s children, Ben Windham and Dilcy Windham Hilley. “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey” includes rich historical details and folklore and is written in the tradition of Southern storytelling.