Middle East Powers
No Clean Hands: The interventions of Middle East powers 2010-2020: Veterans Today – July 19
Regional states’ fears may have been more about the United States’ posture toward the region rather than Iran’s. U.S. partners had relied on Washington to adjudicate their disputes and defeat their enemies, but in the chaos that followed the Arab Spring these states became increasingly convinced that they could rely only on themselves. (While some have argued that the post–Arab Spring disorder was the result of a U.S. abdication of leadership, Waleed Hazbun, a political scientist at The University of Alabama, has made a compelling case that previous U.S. attempts to reshape the Middle Eastern order were actually the cause of the breakdown.
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Campus History and Legacy
For trustees, learning comes before deciding: Davidson News – July 20
… We have already learned so much from Dr. [Hilary] Green, our public historian, and from other school’s experiences and insights. We want to share that information with our community.” Green, an historian, served as Davidson’s Vann Professor in Ethics during the ’20-’21 academic year and will continue to work with the college in seeking a better understanding of the institution’s past and the implications for its mission today. She teaches at The University of Alabama where her recent scholarship examines the often-unacknowledged history and legacy of slavery on college and university campuses.
Faculty and Staff Accolades
Faculty and staff accolades: Tuscaloosa Patch – July 20
Dr. Wendy Castenell, assistant professor, department of art and art history, has been named to the Tyson Scholars Think Tank at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a competitive, three-week fellowship residency for scholars of American art.
Rare Fossilized Plant
This rare Alabama fossil resembles reptile skin. Here’s what it really is.: Al.com – July 21
A rare fossil that resembles the skin peeled from an extinct creature has been donated to the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and experts say its scaly appearance is deceiving. The fossil, which is about a foot long, is actually the extremely well preserved “skin” of a Sigillaria — an extinct plant that counts as monstrous by modern standards.
COVID Attitudes
Our analysis of 7 months of polling data shows friendships, the economy and firsthand experience shaped and reshaped views on COVID-19 risks: The Conversation – July 22
Even though Americans shared the experience of living through a global pandemic, their individual attitudes towards it differed and evolved – sometimes dramatically. We study risk perception. Using public opinion polls and state-level data, we conducted an in-depth analysis of how American attitudes and behaviors changed over the course of the pandemic. By Wanyun Shao, The University of Alabama.
Yahoo! News
Chron
Beaumont Enterprise
Chronicle-Tribune
Westport News
…and many more
Nick’s Kids Avenue
Tuscaloosa to celebrate street renaming with parade: WVUA – July 22
The city of Tuscaloosa will celebrate the renaming of 28th Avenue with a parade that includes The University of Alabama Million Dollar Band, Big Al, and Nick and Terry Saban. In April 2020, the Tuscaloosa City council officially renamed the street between Jack Warner Parkway and T.Y. Rogers Jr. Avenue to Nick’s Kids Avenue.
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa Thread
Tuscaloosa Patch
“The Ledger and the Chain”
‘The Ledger and the Chain’ review: Human cost: Wall Street Journal – July 23
… Franklin’s was “the kind of story white Americans liked to tell about themselves,” as Joshua D. Rothman argues in his gut-wrenching book, “The Ledger and the Chain.” This is perhaps an overstatement, but we can be grateful that the author, a University of Alabama history professor, has decided to un-tell the story, and replace it with a searing account of the reprehensible life’s work of Franklin and his remorseless business associates. Other scholars have produced accounts of the domestic slave trade. Mr. Rothman writes about slave traders, and puts an indelible face on their inhumanity.
Starting College Young
15-year-old to begin classes at UA: WVTM 13 – July 23
A student who is graduating high school and community college is now on her way to The University of Alabama, and get this, she is 15-years-old. Atlanta Roberts is starting college young, because she has a lot to accomplish. Soon-to-be a 15-year-old double graduate, Roberts is finishing up at Central High School and Shelton State Community College, then on her way to study at The University of Alabama.