Engineering the future
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 9
…“There are very few people to fill in the gaps,” said Kevin Whitaker, associate dean for academic programs at the University of Alabama college of engineering. “That’s created kind of a national problem: How do we replace the aging talent we have?” …UA, for example, spends a great deal of time on portraying engineering’s cool factor, showing prospective students that — even as freshmen, for example — they could be working on the university’s Formula 1 racecar….

Webinar: Classroom Capture and Academic Outcomes
CampusTechnology.com – Oct. 9
…The Webinar will present a case study on the University of Alabama, which has increased enrollment 30 percent over the last three years while also improving student retention and outcomes. U Alabama serves some 25,000 students presently, a figure that's expected to jump soon to 28,000. The university in January adopted Campus 2.0 from Tegrity. Administrators from U Alabama will discuss the implementation and how it has impacted students following its first semester of use. Speakers from the university include Mark Nelson, associate provost and interim vice president for student affairs; Robert Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Carmen Taylor, senior information officer and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences…

Executive MBA Degree Now Available at UAH
WBRC-Fox 6 on Oct. 8
An executive MBA degree will be available at the University of Alabama in Huntsville starting next July. Faculty from the Manderson Graduate School of Business at the Culverhouse College of Commerce will teach the classes.

Home sales in Alabama buck nationwide trend
Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune – Oct. 9
…home sales in Alabama have experienced a modest decline, the state housing market remains ahead of national trends, according to a recent report by the Alabama Center for Real Estate…according to the University of Alabama-based center. Tuscaloosa was one of a handful of Alabama counties to post year-to-date gains in their local markets, with a 1.91 percent increase in existing home sales over 2006…

Bankruptcy effects can be widespread
Montgomery Advertiser – Oct. 9
…Robert Brooks, who holds the Wallace D. Malone Jr. endowed chair of financial management at the University of Alabama, said this is just one of the ways a company can retain some value as it goes through bankruptcy. He said speculators sometimes purchase stocks of a company headed into bankruptcy in hopes the company will rebound before leaving bankruptcy, allowing their investment to grow…

Public records request leads to dispute
Mobile Register – Oct. 9
…University of Alabama journalism professor Ed Mullins said public bodies are obligated to provide public records and that many offices provide a database or similar electronic means. He agreed that a "fair charge" can be levied for the cost of copies and supplies. "Nothing in the law says a public record ceases to be a public record if it's a month old," Mullins said. "The law doesn't cover how. It just says whether or not."…

College News
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 9
Kathleen Kelley was crowned the University of Alabama’s 2007 homecoming queen during halftime of the football game between Alabama and Houston at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. The following students were chosen to be members of the 2007 UA homecoming court in a general student election Oct. 2: Kelley, a public relations major from Indianapolis, Ind.; Sophia Francillon, an accounting major from Montgomery; Michelle McGaha, an industrial engineering major from Albertville; Jessica Pugh, a pre-business major from Huntsville; Kahdijiha Rowe, a telecommunication and film major from Atlanta -- Three University of Alabama engineering students will be recognized at the Society of Women Engineers National Conference from Oct. 25 to 27… -- The Public Relations Council of Alabama presented Mary Wymer, director of public relations for UA’s College of Engineering, with a medallion award for a news release about the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment Research and Development Lab’s work on holiday traffic trends… -- Nicholas De Leon, a UA junior majoring in metallurgical and materials engineering from Coral Springs, Fla., received the J. Keith Brimacombe Presidential Scholarship from the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society…