A&S in the News- April 23-29, 2016

  1. Putting crime on the map
    St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press – April 23
    Students learned how to put crime on the map Friday at Missouri Western State University. Dr. Steven Ericson from The University of Alabama shared his expertise on the use of geography in crime research as part of Western’s Interdisciplinary Nature of Geography Speaker Series. Ericson focused his talk on geographic information systems — known as GIS technology — and how social scientists or members of law enforcement use computer software to visualize trends in crime. For example, Ericson showed the group maps from a study he conducted of the crime that occurred from 2007-12 in a section of downtown Atlanta. Red dots indicate locations where crimes had been committed, with dark clusters covering areas such as a mass transit terminal and the dormitories of Georgia State University. While law enforcement could use the data to determine how and where to allocate resources, social scientists would sift through the information to try to discover why certain areas were more vulnerable to crime.
  2. COLLEGE NEWS: April 24
    Tuscaloosa News – April 24
    Students Ciara Malaugh of Huntsville and Dana Sweeney of Kingsland, Georgia have been named Truman Scholars for 2016. They are among 54 U.S. students to receive a Truman Scholarship this year. . . . Sara Kaylor, an assistant professor in the Capstone College of Nursing, was selected to participate in the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau 2016-17 Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy. . . . Selina S. Lee was named the 2016 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer by the College of Engineering. She was elected in 2015 to a two-year term as chairperson of the Capstone Engineering Society board of directors and has been a member of the board since 2003. Lee earned an electrical engineering degree from UA in 1990 and is Alabama Power’s Eastern Division general manager. . . . The University of Alabama National Alumni Association has named Judy Bonner its 2016 Distinguished Alumna Award winner and Tim Parker its 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award winner.
  3. Janney Furnace school visits questioned
    Piedmont Journal – April 27
    Of the thousands of Calhoun County public school fourth-graders bussed to Janney Furnace on field trips each year, none are from Anniston City Schools. That glaring omission, of the county’s only majority-black school district, to the Calhoun County Commission-owned Confederate memorial park is telling, explained Dr. Jennifer Gross, a Jacksonville State University history professor … Gross and another history professor, Dr. Joshua Rothman at The University of Alabama and the school’s Summersell Center for the Study of the South, have questioned the history lessons given to those students at the park. Both Gross and Rothman have said what’s being taught to children about the Civil War there is inaccurate and misleading.

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