Tide gears up for trip to Mississippi Open

This weekend, the women’s track and field team will sprint to Oxford, Miss., to compete in the Mississippi Open at the University of Mississippi. The Tide is coming off strong finishes, most recently at Auburn, and the team looks to continue this success.

“We had a lot of personal bests and a lot of seasonal bests, which we have had every single weekend, every meet so far this year,” head coach Sandy Fowler said. “It’s been different people, which is what you want to see. That means everybody is getting stronger, everybody is getting faster or jumping further and higher or throwing farther.”

The team is coming off a weekend at the Auburn War Eagle Invitational where Alabama racked up 17 top-10 finishes.

Leigh Gilmore was the first Alabama player to cross the finish line in the 1,500-meter run and placed third. Kim Laing finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, while Talaya Owens placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles. The 4×400 relay team placed eighth, and Meghan Austin placed second in the javelin throw.

Senior hammer thrower Jasmine Williams said the team must be focused on Saturday.

“We need to stay focused,” she said. “Making sure we’re on our p’s and q’s and just go after the prize. We just have to continue to do what we’ve been doing naturally and just go get it… We have a lot of expectations for everyone on the team. I think as long as everyone does what they’re supposed to do and just competes to their best ability, then we’ll be good.”

Last year, the Mississippi Open was stopped after a few events were completed due to weather. The Tide went into the meet ranked No. 48 and had a successful outing before the meet was cut short. Alabama had top-five finishers in most of the completed events.

“We were doing really well last year,” Fowler said. “This year we want to do better. Everybody on the team has matured another year. Just with that maturity alone you want to see them step it up and really be more competitive.”

The Tide will face stiff competition in Mississippi. The opposition will be beneficial heading into the biggest meets of the year — the Drake Relays and Southeastern Conference Championships.

“Our talks this year have been about reaching your seasonal best and your personal best every competition so that you see stepping stones moving forward and the team collectively sees stepping stones moving forward so we’re ready for the SEC championships,” Fowler said. “So, that being said, that’s their goal — they’re looking for their season and/or their personal best so that they’re very confident in going to the SECs in May.”

Williams said, “This meet is kind of prepping us for Drake and for SECs…This is kind of a little taste of what to expect at SECs. We can line ourselves up and see where we’re at in the SEC.”

Printed 4.22.11

Capstone reflects on past president

The University of Alabama’s 25th president, Andrew Sorensen, died Sunday at age 72. Many former and present UA faculty and staff members remember Sorensen, president from 1996-2002, as a savvy person who was not afraid of the limelight.

Joseph Phelps, chair of the public relations department, remembers the University thriving under Sorensen despite funding cuts in the state legislature.

“It was pretty tough times during his tenure for the economy,” Phelps said. “Financially, it was a difficult time to be here, but the University still made progress. Even though salaries were stagnant and we were kind of falling behind our peer institutions, the University as a whole was moving forward and becoming a better university.

“Even during difficult financial times and with no faculty raises for motivation, the University still moved forward under his leadership,” Phelps said. “And that’s a pretty good legacy to have.”

Tom Land, University Archives Institutional Records Analyst said Sorensen focused a lot on promoting research and bringing National Merit Scholars to the University.

“That was his big thing,” Land said. “He was trying to attract high-level students to the University in addition to what we already had.”

The University gained recognition as being one of the top 50 public institutions in the country by U.S. News and World Report while Sorensen was president. The Blount Undergraduate Initiative began under his tenure, and the Blount Living Learning Center was dedicated during his time, as well.

“Dr. Andrew Sorensen’s presidency was a time of significant achievement for our system and this state,” UA System Chancellor Malcolm Portera said. “We were saddened to learn of his sudden death, and we extend our deep condolences to his beloved wife Donna and their family, who were such a vibrant part of this community.”

Emily Jamison, director of volunteer and special services, told The Crimson White in a farewell story to Sorensen in 2002 that he took the University from the fourth tier to the top tier in six years. She called it an “amazing accomplishment.”

In the story “Sorenson says goodbye to UA,” Katina Powe writes that Sorensen “did not fit the traditional description for a president at a Southern university, with the accent complimented with occasional southern slang and a down-home personality.”

Sorensen told the reporter at that time, “I’ve taught at the University of England and I’m not English,” he said. “I’m going to be president of eight universities in South Carolina, and I’m not a South Carolinian. My attitude is that the talents I have applied can be used in any geographical setting.”

Sorensen arrived at the Capstone after serving as provost at the University of Florida. Sorensen is known for boosting the University’s national status, before moving on to take the presidency at the University of South Carolina.

Sorensen’s last job was senior vice president for university development, as well as president of the Ohio State University Foundation.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Donna, two sons, Aaron and Benjamin, and one grandson, Art.

Written with Amanda Sams

Printed 4.20.11

Tide drops doubleheader to Volunteers

After winning the first game of a three-game series on Thursday, the Alabama baseball team dropped a pair of games against the University of Tennessee in a doubleheader Saturday.

The Tide’s losses to the Volunteers at Sewell-Thomas Stadium put the team’s record to 24-15 overall and 8-7 in the Southeastern Conference. The two wins gave Tennessee a 21-15 overall record and 4-11 in the SEC.

“We just couldn’t find any offense all day long,” head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “We had a few opportunities and just didn’t have enough quality at-bats. We didn’t really put any pressure on them the entire day, and of course their pitching did a nice job. I felt that the last three games we have been really good offensively, and then today was a rough day to play two games. We had a poor offensive approach today, and unfortunately we played two games and were never really able to get out of it. When you score one run in two games, it’s tough to win.”

The Vols defeated the Tide 2-1 in the first game. Junior Adam Morgan (4-3) pitched a complete seven-inning game for Alabama. The Vols had eight hits in the game, while the Tide only had four. Second baseman James Tullidge scored the lone run for the Tide.

“We just couldn’t get anything going all day,” third baseman Brett Booth said. “We had two really good starts today, and we never really could get past go.”

The Vols started the second game with one run off of three hits in the first inning. Sophomore pitcher Trey Pilkington (1-3) started the game on the pitching mound for Alabama, while Nick Blount (1-0) got the start and win for the Vols. The final score of the game was 1-0.

“It was a tough loss today,” Pilkington said. “They were throwing really well. They had some good pitches today, and I had a tough time getting going and that just made it difficult.”

The Tide had a few opportunities to bring in runs but could not capitalize. There were a total of six players left on base. The Tide had five hits, with two coming from sophomore right fielder Andrew Miller. Jared Reaves, Taylor Dugas and David Kindred also had hits for Alabama. Reaves and Miller were the only Tide players with more than one hit in the doubleheader.

The Tide came into the game ranked No. 24 in the Baseball America poll and No. 1 in the SEC West. Tennessee ended their nine-game losing streak and will head back home to play Western Carolina before facing Georgia in a three-game series.

The Tide will play the next seven games away starting at Samford in Birmingham before heading to Gainesville to face the Florida Gators in a three game series.

“It’s frustrating to not be able to get anything going, especially when we have two good starts like we got today,” Booth said. “We have a few days off, and we have got to get back to work, and be ready to go on Tuesday.”

Printed 4.18.11

A-Day attendance sets record

Although the Crimson Tide was coming off a season with three losses, including one to in-state rival Auburn, this year’s A-Day game saw a record 92,310 fans filling Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. Last year’s attendance was only 91,312, despite the Tide’s championship-winning season.

“[Going to the spring game] is just one of those things you have to do being an Alabama fan,” Becky Mayfield of Russellville, Ala., said. “Everybody supports Alabama regardless of what they do. It goes like this: win, lose or tie you’re a ‘Bama fan ‘til the day you die.”

Kim Savage and her sister Theresa Steadman of Northport had different thoughts on attendance for this year’s spring game.

“It’s a nice day, and we haven’t had a football game in about four months,” Savage said. “Between this year and last, I would think last year there would be more and this year it would be kind of [iffy].”

Theresa Steadman said she believed there would be more fans out for this year’s game compared to last.

“Last year all of the positions were secured. You knew who the quarterback was; you knew who the number one receiver was,” she said. “Now you don’t know if Sims or McCarron is going to be the guy.”

Many of the fans walking around the Capstone’s campus Saturday, especially alumni and prospective students, traveled from places outside of Tuscaloosa.

Jason Krug participated in A-Day festivities with his son Kyle. Krug is a graduate of the University and currently resides in Atlanta.

“It’s a great family thing for us to do,” Krug said. “Alabama is family. This is a good time to come to campus. It’s a great thing for the spring. It’s something for everyone to come here to see things and see the campus and see how much it’s changed.”

Accompanied by about 14 family members was alumnae Joyce Thomas-Vinson of Opelika, Ala.

“I love coming back to campus,” Thomas-Vinson said. “It always feels like I’m coming home. It just gives an opportunity to bring my kids and show them around campus. Alabama fans are Alabama fans win, lose or draw. I think there will be probably just as many people here today as there were last year and maybe even more because I think some people will be intrigued by the unveiling of the statue. The practice games give you a chance to see some of the players, some of whom you won’t get to see anymore. It’s a good experience; we look forward to it every year.”

D’Erius Kite, a high school student from Louisville, Ky., said he was eager to partake in the A-Day festivities.

“I’m a big Alabama fan and I was looking forward to seeing the team,” he said. “I would’ve thought more people would’ve come last year after winning the championship.”

According to the Capstone Report, this is the third time in five seasons the Tide has drawn more than 91,000 fans for an A-Day game. The UA crowd is ranked third in the history of the Southeastern Conference. Ohio State set the national record in 2009 when the Buckeyes’ attracted nearly 96,000 fans for their spring practice game.

Printed 4.18.11

Student wins first place with poster

After traveling to Mississippi State University to present findings on research at the Regional Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Management Workshop, UA graduate student Shirley (Rong) Li was awarded first place in competition.

Li presented her winning poster titled “Analysis of an Integrated Maximum Covering and Patrol Routing Problem.” The workshop was done in conjunction with The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and featured students from around the Southeastern area.

“I was excited [to win], and I feel lucky,” Li said.

At the workshop, which INFORMS co-hosted, each student participant gave a five-minute presentation about his or her poster and answered questions afterward. The project focused on routing for police vehicles, and there was research done to determine an effective route in respect to factors such as traffic.

INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science and business analytics, according to the official website.

The workshop, which gives students an opportunity to present their findings, serves as an environment for sharing ideas and thoughts.

“Basically, the question which was answered in the project was where to go for the state trooper cars and when to go so that [troopers] can efficiently use their resources which are available to them,” Li said.

The poster includes an introduction, literature review, model, solution, experiments and conclusions, along with multiple diagrams.

Li is a third-year doctoral student in the operations management field in the department of information studies, statistics and management science. Burcu Keskin, Li’s faculty adviser, said Li is not only one of the department’s top students, but she is also a special student.

“She’s one of our best operations management Ph.D. students,” Keskin said. “This is not one of her only qualities. She’s also very social in addition to her research. She was the president of the INFORMS student chapter for a year and a half, and during her presidency, the student chapter was nominated for a cum laude national award.”

Li is also an ambassador for the graduate school.

Keskin and Li do research together and have also written a paper together. Keskin advises Li on topics for research. The subject of Li’s winning poster came from research done by Keskin and a colleague, Allen Parrish, from the computer science department.

“She didn’t do the bare minimum like typical graduate students,” Keskin said. “She gave more than 100 percent at many times. She was the one who developed the main solution.”

There were two other students who assisted with the project; Dana Steil from the computer science department and Sarah Spiller from the finance department contributed to the development.

“I don’t really think there is too much competition going on [in the workshop], because most of us know each other so we just take it lightly,” Li said. “I actually made some friends from Mississippi State and met some professors from other universities.”

Printed 4.15.11

Tide tennis faces mishaps at home

After losing to Ole Miss on Friday, the men’s tennis team suffered a loss against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday. The two losses pushed the Tide’s record to 9-10 overall and 2-9 in the Southeastern Conference.

On Friday, the Ole Miss Rebels won all of the doubles matches, as well as four out of the six singles matches, to clinch the 5-2 victory over Alabama.

While the Tide started off somewhat slow against Mississippi State, the team was relentless throughout the match.

“I was proud of our fight,” said head coach Billy Pate. “We did persevere. We certainly battled back and gave ourselves a chance in the match. Mississippi State’s really good. They’re playing really well. We knew that going in. We just dug ourselves in a hole. We got down in almost every match we were in today — doubles and singles, and then we started a rally. It’s hard to come back from that kind of deficit against a really good team. Hats off to Mississippi State; they’re a really good team and they compete really hard.”

In the doubles matches, Mississippi State’s Malte Stropp and Louis Cant defeated Ricky Doverspike and Jarryd Botha 8-6, while the Tide’s Daniil Proskura and Trey Walston lost their doubles match 8-5.
Doverspike and Botha were down 7-1 before making a comeback that almost ended in victory.
“You want to get the doubles points,” Walston said. “We’d like to get that, but it’s not the end all of be all. After we lose we have to get ready for singles and win four singles if we can. It’s tough to lose [the doubles matches], but we have to be able to bounce back better than we did today.”

Doverspike and Botha were the only Tide players to win in their singles matches. Botha defeated James Chaudry 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
After losing the first set, Doverspike defeated George Coupland 4-6, 7-6, 1-0. There were two tiebreaker sets played in the match, one during the second set and one after Mississippi clinched the match with an Artem Ilyushin victory over Daniil Proskura.
Pate said Doverspike’s victoy over Coupland was a good win over a really good player and was also a confidence booster.

Sunday’s game was the Tide’s last home game of the season and senior night for Walston. He finished his career with more than 80 wins and was a recipient of several different SEC awards.

The Tide will face UAB on Wednesday before ending the conference and regular season at Auburn.
“We really got to get focused on beating UAB on Wednesday and then get ready for Auburn on Saturday to give us an opportunity to make it to the NCAA tournament,” Walston said. “That’s the important thing.”

Pate said, “We have to regroup and get ready. We’re kind of on the bubble against the blade. We need a win against a good team. We need to be successful on Wednesday and hopefully be successful against Auburn on Saturday.

Printed 4.11.11

International Justice Mission works for freedom

The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression, according to the official IJM website, ijm.org. The Alabama chapter of IJM will host the “Slavery Still Exists” forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Ferguson Forum Room to bring light to the aforementioned issues.

“We wanted to dedicate a night to just raise awareness of the issue of modern day slavery,” said Tori Luna, president of AIJM. “I feel like if more people knew the facts and statistics about forced labor and human trafficking, they would be more willing to get involved and do something.”

The forum will consist of a speaker followed by discussion, and will end with the showing of the documentary, “End of Slavery.” AIJM will be hosting the forum with Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority.

“We thought [AIJM] would be the perfect organization to co-host with since a big part their mission is bringing light to human trafficking,” said Michelle Lee, community service and morals and ethics chair for Sigma Lambda Gamma. “We also wanted to make sure that we had our facts straight, so it just made sense to us that we ask AIJM to host the forum with us.”

The speaker for Wednesday’s forum will be Nancy Payne, AIJM faculty advisor and professor in the School of Social Work. Payne has been involved in IJM for more than 20 years. Lee said Payne’s knowledge and personal experiences will make for an engaging lecture.

“When a group of students at UA decided to charter a college chapter, I was very excited to become involved with them,” Payne said. “As a social worker, I am called to fight human oppression and injustice. The issue of slavery and human trafficking is simply not acceptable. I am called to do what I can to shed light on this issue.”

Luna said AIJM hopes to educate and enlighten people on how big an issue human oppression is around the world.

“People aren’t aware that Atlanta is the 13th highest place in the world right now for sex trafficking,” she said. “There are 27 million people enslaved in the world today. This is a number that we should not be OK with. We believe that as a group of college students we can do something about this issue.”

Payne said victims of injustice often don’t have a voice.

“College students can use their collective voices on behalf of individual victims to begin to make a difference,” she said. “In order to begin steps toward fighting against this level of slavery and oppression, we must raise the awareness of the problem. Educating students across the UA campus is a crucial step in actually making a difference in this fight against injustice. AIJM includes advocacy and education as part of our mission since knowledge is an initial step in taking action to end this injustice.  We can be the voice for the voiceless victims.”

For more information on IJM, visit ijm.org. To get involved with IJM on campus email Luna at vnluna@crimson.ua.edu, find them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter at @AlabamaIJM.

Web 4.5.11

Group seeks to increase African awareness

Apwonjo is an organization whose primary goal is to bring awareness of social injustices happening in sub-Saharan African countries, according to the Apwonjo website.

Linn Groft, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies, global studies in community health and development and president of Apwonjo, considers the basis of the group to be, “to educate oneself and others, as well as provide action that can make a difference in the world.”

Apwonjo also wants to highlight the reality of what is occurring in Africa, treasurer Chandni Patel said.

“We want to bring awareness to what and why things are actually going on,” Patel said. “We want to educate people and let them know things such as why there are issues such as poverty and lack of education in sub-Saharan Africa. We want people to know the truth.”

Seth Appiah-Opoku, professor in the geography department and advisor of Apwonjo, spoke on issues that people may need to be aware of that are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Most often the images that come to mind when Africa is mentioned include poverty, civil war, diseases, instability, hunger and malnutrition,” said Appiah-Opoku, who was born and raised in Africa. “The positive news in Africa is overlooked and that’s what I want the UA students to be aware of. Good things are happening in Africa.”

Vice president Natalie Hallmark, a senior majoring in psychology, also talked about education concerning sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are a group dedicated to learning the positive and negatives,” Hallmark stated. “We want to leave the stigma of Africa being a victim behind.”

Last semester, The Crimson White reported on Apwonjo’s Uncommon Courage event.

“Uncommon Courage featured three mock refugee tents that displayed different aspects of the life of an African refugee,” Groft explained. “The event featured music from the African Music Ensemble and special guest El-Fadel Arbab, a refugee from Darfur.”

Apwonjo has a few events planned this semester with the first taking place in conjunction with Capstone Village.

“We will be participating in the Capstone Village: Passport to the World Active Aging Week,” Patel said.

Sept. 21, known around the world as the International Peace Day holiday, is the day set aside for Africa during Active Aging Week.

“There will be a speaker. We’re going to teach the residents about International Peace Day, and we will be playing African games, doing African crafts and showing a film,” Patel said. The all-day event will also feature the University’s African Drumming Ensemble.

Apwonjo was started in 2006 by students interested in learning and getting involved with Invisible Children United, Groft said.

Advisors and officers of Apwonjo feel the group is a great way to help people and make a positive impact in the lives of others.

“I admire Apwonjo because it gives students an opportunity to connect with people and be involved in the lives of the people of Africa,” Apwonjo adviser Beverly Hawk said.

In the words of Groft, Apwonjo welcomes people from all backgrounds.

“There are a lot of ways to be involved with any major or interest,” Groft stated. “If you’re studying communications you can get some PR experience; if you’re in business, you can learn to work internationally.”

Some of Apwonjo’s members have taken their travels out of the U.S. and into Africa.

“Even though we don’t know the people over there, many of us have gone to Africa,” Patel stated. Appiah-Opoku recalled when Groft worked as a volunteer in an orphanage in Uganda.

Members of Apwonjo said they feel that being a part of the club provides one with the chance to get involved and learn more about factors such as culture and lifestyles in sub-Saharan Africa that one may not learn about in a regular lecture class.

“Besides being around and working with an awesome group of people, being a part of Apwonjo provides an outlet for those who are interested in international or African issues and want to work to fight social injustices,” Hallmark said.

Patel said that although people here do not know the people in Africa personally, there is still an impact being made.

“We don’t want people to feel sorry for them,” Patel said. “We’re not that different from each other besides the fact that we’re here and they’re over there and the conflicts they are burdened with. We’re all interconnected in some way.”

printed 9.12.10