Kids can get pictures with Big Al at Elephant Appreciation Day
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 16
The Children’s Hands-On Museum will host Elephant Appreciation Day with University of Alabama mascot Big Al at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Kids are invited to have their picture taken with Big Al. Elephant cookies will be served and children are invited to stay and play in the museum’s exhibits until 5 p.m. Admission will be $5.
Event features artist-designed tree ornaments
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 16
Lorrie Lane has turned two glass, palm-sized globes into pieces of art, which could soon be hanging on someone’s Christmas tree … At the event there will also be a singer from the University of Alabama’s Opera Theatre performing Christmas music, light food and refreshments, another silent auction, and there may even be a visit from old Saint Nick.
UA Education Policy Center speaks about college affordability and President-elect Trump
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Nov. 16
President-elect Donald Trump spoke about making college more affordable for students during his campaign. The University of Alabama Education Policy Center weighing in about what the state has planned for students in the meantime. The University of Alabama Education Policy Center says right now they agree with Trump’s remarks about college affordability being a major issue in 2016. The center’s director Dr. Steven Katsinas says their research contributed to state lawmakers working together across the aisle to potentially reinstate the summer year-round Pell Grant program. The program will produce around $130 million in summer Pell financial aide for students statewide next year. Dr. Katsinas says the Pell voucher program is very important to Alabama for poor students especially to be able to go to college.
Tinsel Trail tree decorating starts
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 16
The Tuscaloosa community is starting to get into the Christmas spirit. The fourth annual Tinsel Trail tree decorating kicked off this morning at the Tuscaloosa Rivermarket. More than 100 trees will be on display this year. This fun holiday event is something Tuscaloosa residents of all ages can enjoy. “We have anything from individuals. We have book clubs that come out. We have businesses and organizations. We have groups from UA. It’s just really a variety of folks that come out here.”
Christophy Gray’s Scholly App Is Bringing Millions of Dollars to College Students in Need
Smithsonian – Nov. 16
As an 8-year-old in Birmingham, Alabama, Christopher Gray was an avid fan of Batman, the comic-book champion born without special powers who invented his own superhero-training regimen. “He had a moment where everything fell apart,” Gray says. “He lost his family, lost everything. He had to overcome that, overcome those fears, by using everyday things around him.” … Karen Starks, on the faculty at the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama—who mentored Gray during high school—also volunteers at South Gwinnett High School in Georgia. Out of her own pocket, she recently purchased the Scholly app for all 600 seniors in the school.
Author of “Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy” Launches Free iTunes Podcast
Money News – Nov. 17
Dr. David Burns, author of the #1 best-selling self-help book, ”Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy,” has launched the Feeling Good Podcast hosted by psychologist Dr. Fabrice Nye. It is available free on iTunes … Several published studies by Dr. Forrest Scogin and colleagues from the University of Alabama indicate that two-thirds of individuals with moderate to severe depression recover or improve dramatically within four weeks of being given a copy of “Feeling Good,” without any other treatment, and continue to feel good, without significant relapses, for three years. This surprising result is comparable to, or better than, the effects of treatment with antidepressants or psychotherapy. Burns and Nye hope that the podcast will also help the millions of depressed individuals in the United States and worldwide without access to good treatment.
NBC 9 (Midland, Texas) – Nov. 17