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November 16, 2018

ARTICLES OF INTEREST November 9, 2018 - November 16, 2018

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The Birmingham News Wednesday, November 14, 2018

EDUCATION

Newmath standards in works Public input sought on

proposal expected to give

students more opportunities

Trisha Powell Crain [email protected]

Sharpen your pencils - and get your erasers ready, too. Big changes in middle and high school math are in store for Alabama students.

A new math course of study, where the controversial Common Core State Standards reside alongside Alabama-specific ones, was posted online on Nov. 1 for the public to comment on through Nov. 30.

So could this mean Common Core is on the way out of Alabama classrooms? Probably not.

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Alabama public school students have struggled to achieve the same success as other states in math, landing at or near the bottom on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called the Nation's Report Card. The proposed changes could lead to improved results, Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said.

The math courseof-study committee, appointed in February, looked at the kind of math needed in different careers and academic fields and worked backward, Mackey said.

The biggest changes, Mackey said, are in the middle grades. These changes are being proposed to get students on a track to take higher-level math courses in high school, he said.

An accelerated pathway will be created for seventhand eighth-graders who want to get to those higher levels, he said. According to Mackey, students on the accelerated pathway will take "three years of math study in two years in middle school," meaning they'll learn seventh- and eighth-grade math standards plus the standards for Algebra I.

The committee also proposes to eliminate the two-year Algebra I course known as Algebra A and Algebra B, taken in the ninth and 10th grades. That course offering, in place since 1995, was for studepts who struggle with math, he said.

Students who need extra help in algebra can take a math lab in the same year they take that first algebra course,Mackeysaid,essentially taking two periods of algebra within the same year.

Under the proposal, that first algebra course, for stu-


dents not on the accelerated middle school pathway, will be renamed Intermediate Algebra with Probability and will be taken in 10th grade.

That means geometry will be taken in the ninth grade, instead of the 10th grade as it has been for many years.

"One of the troubles that teachers have bemoaned is that we teach Algebra I (in the ninth grade), then we interrupt it for a year with geometry (in the 10th grade) and then we come back and teach Algebra II," Mackey said.

Teachers want to flip geometry to ninth grade, he said, because they don't want to interrupt the algebra sequence for those students that are not the "math high-fliers."

Students on the accelerated pathway will take geometry in the ninth grade, too, but will skip 10th-grade algebra and move straight to Algebra II, renamed advanced algebra.

That opens the door for those higher math courses in 11th and 12th grade, he said, like calculus, statistics and finite mathematics, along with the Advanced Placement versions of those courses.

Two new high school math courses, to be taken after a student completes advanced algebra, are being added: applied finite mathematics and algebraic modeling. Both were created to better prepare students in certain academic and career fields.

"Algebraic modeling is basically applying algebra in the everyday world," Mackey said. According to Southern State Community College, in finite mathematics, students learn analysis techniques that are used in the working world.

But Mackey said opening those higher pathways could exacerbate math teacher shortages at the state and national level. "We've got more students who want to take higher maths," he said, "but we can't find the teachers to teach them."

Though a few changes were made to standards in the elementary grades, outside of sequence flipping and renaming and adding of courses at the middle and high school levels, the actual standards will remain intact, which probably comes as a disappointment to those who opposed Alabama's adoption of the Common Core State Standards in math and English in 2010. Alabama was one of 45 states that adopted the standards in math and English.

Though the development of a common set of academic standards was begun by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, some accused former Education Secretary Arne Duncan of co-opting the coalition by awarding extra points for the adoption of the standards as part of the national Race to the Top grant program in

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2009. Alabama did not win any grant money under the program.

Alabama's new math course of study wasn't implemented until 2012, and soon after, states across the country were backing out of the coalition and revising standards. Course-of-study revisions are typically conducted every six to seven years.

The Alabama Board of Education passed a resolution officially backing out in 2013, reaffirming the renamed Alabama College and Career Ready Standards and has tweaked the standards multiple times since then.

Some state boards of education ordered new standards be developed, but found there were only so many ways to rearrange what students need to learn in math.

In November 2017, Achieve, a national nonprofit organization that pushes for high academic standards, reviewed standards in the 24 states, including Alabama, that had backtracked on their commitment to the Common Core State Standards.

Reviewers found Alabama's standards in math and in English, though revised, were strong standards. The only weakness in Alabama's standards, reviewers said, was the absence of statistics in any course other than a fourthyear math course.


The proposed course of study remedies that by including statistics in the ninth grade geometry with statistics course.

Mackey said the math course of study committee will review public feedback in December and create a final proposal for the board to adopt in March.

Mackey said he expects board members to have an extended conversation at January's work session and has invited the two newly-elected state board of education members, District 2's Tracie West and District S's Wayne Reynolds, to attend the January discussion even though they won't officially take office until after January's board meeting and work session.

Textbook recommendations will be studied and recommended during the 2019-2020 school year, and the new math standards will be fully implemented in the 2020-2021 school year. A proposed transition is included in the review to help teachers and students determine how to move into the new pathways.

The health and physical education courses of study are also posted online for public comment and are available until Nov. 30.

Mackey asked board members to encourage anyone with feedback to go through the online portal so the committee could capture all of the comments for consideration.

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The Tuscaloosa News Sunday, November 11, 2018

Election reignites calls for change at Alabama Democratic Party By Kim Chandler Toe Associated Press

MONTGOMERY Alabama Democrats' disappointing performance in Tuesday's election has reignited calls for changes within the state party, with critics saying candidates were largely left to fend for themselves despite available party funds.

Democratic candidates were generally held to about 40 percent of the vote in statewide races, crushing hopes that the party could build on last year's election of U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, or at least demonstrate them -selves as viable with competitive races.

The losses rekindled

long simmering tensions, with several 2018 candidates calling for new leadership or at least a new approach.

"When you have a losing season and a losing season and a losing season, the coach goes," said former Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who ran in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cobb earlier this year called for the resignations of Alabama Democratic Party Chair Nancy Worley and ViceChair1nan Joe Reed.·

Mallory Hagan, a former news anchor and Miss America who ran in Alabama.' s 3rd Congressional District, used her election

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ELECTION FromPageAl

night speech to say that Democrats upset over the loss should be "mad at our own" party. Chief Justice candidate Bob Vance stopped short of calling for a change in leadership but he said the party needs a "new approach" and said promises of help never substantially materialized.

The Democratic Party, which has been silent for months at a time on social media, has been criticized for not being an active presence to promote the Democratic brand and candidates.

The party had about $800,000 combined in its state and federal accounts that it did not exhaust on efforts to back candidates.

"That's the burr under my saddle that the party had the capability and chose not to do anything with it," Vance said.

Worley defended the party's efforts and spending decisions. She said the party did have more money from qualifying fees this year, but had to hold money back for operating expenses, to pay debt and because of restrictions on how funds can be used.

Worley estimated the party spent about $250,000 on efforts for candidates, including fliers that pictured all the statewide candidates, and five days of radio and TV ads urging people to vote Democratic.

"Pointing the finger of blame at any single person after an election in just using the scapegoat method," Worley said

There are two separate petitions with the Democratic National Committee that were filed before Tuesday contesting Worley's August election as chairwoman. One


of the petitions alleges that "elections were conducted in a sloppy and haphazard manner" and "deliberately manipulated" in order to favor Worley and others.

Worley said that they will file a response to those complaints.

Democrats in Alabama had been obliterated from statewide office - until Jones' election last year.

Sheila Gilbert, chairwoman of the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus, said while state candidates had a 20-point deficit there were some close legislative races that she believed could have benefited from state party help.

Many veteran candidates had been modest in their expectations for Tuesday, not expecting a blue wave, but perhaps a blue ripple or at leastslimmermarginsinstate races.

"I'm not sure that we could have moved the needle much, even if we had brought all these forces to bear, but certainly the absence of a meaningful party, not just for this election cycle, but for years now, I think has contributed to these problems which really became evident this last Tuesday," Vance said.

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AL.com Friday, November 16, 2018

Gov. Kay Ivey taps Alabama's richest person to co-chair inaugural committee

By: Leada Gore

Gov. Kay Ivey is looking to the "Yella Fella" to co-chair her inaugural committee.

Ivey announced Jimmy Rane, the co-founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving who is best known for his colorful character on television commercials, will help oversee the festivities surrounding her January inauguration.

Forbes magazine lists Rane as Alabama's wealthiest person, a title he assumed after the death of Garry Drummond in 2016. Rane is worth an estimated $610 million.

Joining Rane will be co-chair Dr. Cathy Randall, chairman of the Board of Tuscaloosa-based Pettus Randall Holdings LLC and former chairman of the board of Randall Publishing Company. She currently served on the Alabama Power Board of Directors and is the former director of the University Honors Programs at the University of Alabama.

Both Rane and Randall have ties to Ivey. Rane, who has served as a trustee at Auburn University since 1999, met Gov. Ivey while he was at the school earning a bachelor of science in business administration. Randall served as a director of Alabama Girls State, where she first crossed paths with Gov. Ivey.

"Cathy and Jimmy have embodied a spirit of service, in both their professional and personal life, and they have played a major role in the fight to keep Alabama working," Ivey said. "I am proud to call them both longtime friends, and I am grateful for their willingness to lend their expertise and support as we prepare to usher in a new era for Alabama."

Several oflvey's campaign staffers will also serve on the inaugural committee, including: Mike Lukach, executive director; Debbee Hancock, communications director; Anne-Allen Welden, finance director; Julia McNair, deputy finance director; Julia Pickle, director of ticketing; Jonathan Hester, director of events and production; Lenze Morris, Ryan Sanford and Henry Thornton.

Ivey will be sworn in for her first full term in January. The former Lieutenant Governor assumed office in April 2017 following the resignation of Gov. Robert Bentley as part of a plea deal related to campaign finance and ethics violations.

The theme and events of the inauguration will be announced in the coming weeks, Ivey said.

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Plan for nighttime permit halted

By Ed Enoch Staff Writer

The University of Alabama has suspended plans for a new evening parking permit and has tasked a group including employees and students with developing a campus parking master plan.

The university announced

after resistance from members of the campus community.

The working group of faculty, students and staff will evaluate campus parking and make recommendations for changes and priorities as part of the work on the master plan, according to the Nov. 1 announcement.

The university hopes the group will be able to com -plete its work on the plan by the end of 2019, Watts said.

Nov. 1 that it was suspending the plans to implement the permit in January pending completion of a comprehensive five-year master plan for campus parking.

"The decision was made after receiving input from the faculty senate and SGA. A broader, deeper understanding of needs and costs is required in developing a comprehensive plan that has the support of the campus,"

Currently, there is no master plan for campus parking, she said.

"An efficient and effective parking plan is the result of careful planning as we look toward the growth of our campus in alignment with resources available," Vice President of Finance Matt Fajack said in a statement issued with the Nov. 1 announcement. "To do that,

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The Tuscaloosa News Thursday, November 15, 2018

Associate Vice President for Communications ~\,fonica Watts said Tuesday. "The plan must be long-range because of the permanency of parking structures and the long-term funding streams necessary to support them."

The university announced the new evening permit in June as part of its parking fee adjustments for the academic year, but later decided to delay implementation until 2019

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we need representatives of our key constituents to take a deep-dive look into the challenges and opportunities of our parking resources and develop

of the rationale for the new permit. Senators expressed concerns about the burden for departm en ts with evening events and performances, the possible strain on community relations and the financial impacts on graduate students and other communities who

a plan for the future." The $100 evening park

ing permit was meant for students and employees who work or attend class in the late afternoon and evening and did not have another annual permit. The universitytransportation officials said the new permit would improve

may not be able to easily bear the additional cost.

The concerns about the new permit also prompted brief comments at the system's board of trustees meeting.

"There has been con -cerns raised by the faculty and the students regarding that fee," Trustee Joe


safety and provide more revenue to offset the cost of parking infrastructure oncampus.

The UA Faculty Senate approved a resolution last month opposing the new permit and requesting the university not implement the new policy. The senate was skeptical

Espy said on Nov. 9. "I would ask the University of Alabama and, I know they will, to please consider the concerns of these members of our joint government."

ReachEdEnochat ed.enoch@tuscaloosanews. com or 205-722-0209. +

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UAstudy focuses on holiday traffic Days leading up to Thanksgiving most dangerous

ByEdEnoch Staff Writer

More than half of all vehicle crashes during the week of Thanksgiving last year occurred in the three days before the holiday, according to the annual study of state traffic data by University of Alabama researchers.

In 2017, 1,400 auto crashes, or 53 percent of the wrecks for the week of the holiday, occurred during the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The Tuscaloosa News Friday, November 16, 2018

"The weekdays before Thanksgiving are the worst days due to high volume with a mix of both commuter traffic and people getting off to their holiday destinations," said David Brown, a research associate in The University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety.

The annual study employed the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment, or CARE, a software analysis system developed by CAPS research and development personnel to automatically mine information from existing databases. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, or ALEA, provided crash records for the study.

Iri 2017, 18 people died from crashes during Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving week in 2016 was particularly

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lethal for Alabama motorists with 22 fatalities.

"While Thanksgiving 2017 was an improvement over 2016, there is fear in the traffic safety community that this might not be sustained into 2018," Brown said. "Drivers need to take steps to help reduce fatalities even further this year."

With dry weather during Thanksgiving week in 2017, the week was a virtual

+ laboratory to study crash

distributions by day and hour, since CAPS studies have found wet weather alone can increase the crash rate by 40 percent.

The study found the best day of the week to travel is Thanksgiving based on the number of daily crashes. Saturday is the next best day to travel based on the data, followed by Friday. The Sunday after Thanksgiving had a higher percentage of wrecks than Friday and Saturday. However, the research shows the Sunday before the holiday, which is not included in the averages for the week, is among the best travel days.


"The Sunday before Thanksgiving is an excellent choice for travel and beating the crowd, almost comparable

, to Thanksgiving Day itself," Brown said.

The CAPS study found the best times to travel on Wednesday were between 5-7 a.m. and 8 p.m. and midnight. The best times to drive are Thanksgiving before 2 p.m. and the mornings of Friday and Saturday.

In general, early morning and late night had fewer crashes during the week, but Brown recommends avoiding driving during those times because of increased impaired driving and drowsy driving.

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Stolen Moundville artifacts recovered after 40 years

By: Stephanie Taylor

The Tuscaloosa News Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The recent recovery of three Native American artifacts stolen nearly 40 years ago could be the thread that unravels the mystery of the greatest antiquities theft in this part of the world.

Hundreds of pottery vessels, bottles, bowls, ornaments and jewelry items were stolen from the Erskine Ramsey Archaeological Repository at the University of Alabama's Moundville Archaeological Park in 1980. It was a shot in the dark when archaeologists with UA and others contributed to a reward fund for information, which was announced in May.

The publicity worked, leading to the recovery of three vessels in August.

"We were all thinking we'd go to our graves without anything turning up from this burglary," said Jim Knight, curator emeritus of American Archaeology for the Alabama Museum of Natural History at UA, at a press conference held to announce the find Monday. "This is one of the most exciting things that has happened during my archaeological career."

UA officials aren't releasing any information about the criminal investigation, only saying that no one has been arrested and no one has claimed any of the $25,000 reward money.

The FBI investigated, but dropped the case in the late 1980s. It is a federal offense to steal "any object of cultural heritage" from a museum. It is also illegal to possess such items knowing that they have been stolen. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act makes it illegal to sell human remains or cultural artifacts of Native Americans unless a person legally owns the items.

"I didn't have a whole lot of hope for actual recovery," said John Abbott, director of Museum Research and Collections for the Alabama Museum of Natural History. "In fact, I was stunned when there were some that turned up."

Knight said in a 2003 interview with The Tuscaloosa News that it would be equally plausible if an artifact surfaced at a flea market in Tuscaloosa or in a multi-million dollar collection in Japan.

Knight helped organize Associates for the Recovery of Moundville Artifacts, which established the reward fund and contributed $13,000. After the announcement of the reward, other donors came up with $12,000 more -bringing the total in the fund to $25,000.

Excavated in the 1930s, the stolen artifacts made up about 20 percent of the museum's entire vessel collection. The three that were recovered were ceremonial, Knight said. All were in pristine condition, he said, with no chips or damage and still marked with the original tags.

"These are special because they depict supernatural creatures," he said. "This is extremely important for Alabama's heritage, for the Southeast and the eastern United States' heritage."

One vessel depicts an engraved skull and skeletal forearm bones and a hand design with straight crosses inside rather than the eye many people are familiar with.

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The other two vessels depict a winged serpent, a deity that features a rattlesnake tail, wings and deer antlers.

"There are mammals, birds and serpents combined into this dragon-like creature," Knight said. "This was important in Moundville, the rattlesnake god that's master of the beneath-world."

Bill Bomar, executive director for University of Alabama Museums, noted the advances in research into iconography, symbols and art that have taken place since the theft nearly four decades ago. UA faculty and students will also be able to study whether the vessels originated or were traded here.

"All of this has advanced in the last 40 years, and we haven't had these artifacts to do those kinds of studies on," he said. "Hopefully with these, and any additional ones that are recovered, our information about Moundville is going to increase greatly."

Alex Benitez, director of Moundville Archaeological Park, said the vessels will soon be on display at the Jones Museum at the park.

"We're very excited and look forward to putting them on exhibit very soon," he said. "This is for all Alabamians."

The Mississippian Indians settled in what is now the Moundville area at the beginning of the 11th century. The area reached its peak activity and population around 1300 A.D., when it had about 1,000 residents. Around 10,000 resided in the Black Warrior Valley floodplain.

It was referred to as "the New York City of its time," Knight said, and nearby residents might not be aware of just how unique the site is.

"I hope this does stir interest," he said. "Not just among people nationally who may have never heard of Moundville before, but also for the local people who visited for fourth grade Alabama history but have never been back."

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Lyft discount offers affordable ride alternative

By: Myles Taste

The Crimson White Monday, November 12, 2018

Lyft's efforts to provide reliable transportation to students at a modest price has made getting to work for Madison King, a Heat Pizza employee and a senior majoring in marketing, much easier.

He said prior to his job at Heat Pizza located in downtown Tuscaloosa, he would have never used the service habitually.

"Working at Heat and living in the Strip area can be stressful at times because I don't have a car, but I still need to get to work on time," King said. "Lyft makes this easier because of its quick response time and low prices it offers."

Safety, affordability and reliability are three things Student Government Association President Price McGiffert said he values when it comes to student transportation.

As of Oct. 22, Lyft extended its services to The University of Alabama and paired it with a 15 percent discount for students with an additional 10 percent off on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The discount only applies to rides within two miles of the bus hub.

McGiffert, a senior majoring in civil engineering, began searching for an affordable ride-sharing program in early April of this year.

McGiffert said he was inspired by the University of Florida's transportation department, which introduced its campus to Uber with a 50 percent discount for students. The University extended an open bid to ride-sharing programs, and Lyft ultimately won the contract.

"I didn't have a particular preference in which ride-sharing service to incorporate necessarily," McGiffert said. "My primary focus was safety for students and affordability. Lyft just especially met this criteria."

According to USA Today, Lyft began targeting universities across the nation for patronage of its services in 2010. Its initial purpose was to provide students with a means of transportation to areas around or near their respective campuses.

However, the discount does have its restrictions. For example, Lyft will not offer the 10 percent discount for the last three home games of the UA football season.

"This is mainly for the safety of students and drivers," McGiffert said. "Game days get pretty congested especially in the Strip area, which is why we took this precaution."

On average, students will save an estimated 25 cents to a dollar for every ride they take with Lyft as a result of this discount. Even with the extra 10 percent discount being exempted from the last three home games, students will still receive the fixed rate of 15 percent off.

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The Crimson White Monday, November 12, 2018

Other SGA officials are also highly pleased to hear about a safe, affordable ride-sharing program for UA students. Sen. Brookes Payne, a sophomore majoring in communication studies, said although he is not a frequent user of the Lyft service because he has a car, he is supportive of students being able to have access to such a resource if need be.

Payne also admired the program's efficiency. He said by Lyft offering the additional 10 percent discount on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the UA community is served on a much more expansive scale.

"Lyft will be increasingly beneficial because of its competitive price and greater distances offered," Payne said. "I don't use it often, but when I do, it's good to know that it will accessible and reasonably priced."

Though he does not have access to the number of students who have used the discount since it became effective, McGiffert said students are excited about the new partnership with Lyft and that it is an important example of SGA and UA administration working together to satisfy students' needs.

"Students want an affordable, reliable and convenient way to access transportation," he said. "They now have it with the Lyft partnership. It is truly making a difference in their ability to get around this beautiful campus."

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Saban,fans share a peculiar relationship Tide coach claims ignorance when it comes to criticism, hits back when he sees fit

RainerSabin [email protected]

On Thursday evening, less than 48 hours before Alabama plays its 11th game this season, coach Nick Saban will interact with the Crimson Tide's ardent fans during his eponymous radio show.

He'll answer their questions, share stories with them, field their suggestions and greet them at Baumhower's Restaurant in Tuscaloosa.

For one hour each week during the season, Saban is exposed to the zany wor~d beyond his football kingdom. It's a strange place that Saban admits he doesn't comprehend and has made little effort to understand.

"I don't have internet. I don't have Twitter. I don't read the paper," Saban boasted Wednesday.

He then insisted he hasn't been subjected to what he called the "outside noise" - in other words, the constant stream of sports talk blather, online message-board commentary and incessant moaning about the Alabama coach's choice to play quarterback Tua Tagovailoa against The Citadel.

A strong chorus of voices - prominent and-anonymous - have objected to how Saban has handled Tagovailoa, whose right knee appears a bit gimpy after taking repeated shots since the midpoint of the season.

One AL.com reader even chimed in and wrote via email: "I disagree with Coach Saban on his decision on playing Tua vs Citadel like I'm sure a whole lot of other folk do."

The Birmingham News Friday, November 16, 2018

Saban, however, claims he isn't aware of the criticism.

"I haven't heard anything in terms of what I'm being challenged on," Saban said. "But I'm sure that I am. But I would really rather not know. Because everybody's got the right to their opinion, whatever it is, what should or shouldn't be done. I kind of have my opinion based on the experience through the years, and we have an opinion as a staff as to what's best to build our team and improve our team.

"Just like I got asked on Monday like I should, we should not play Tua in this game. Well, if we didn't play Tua in this game we'd be sending a message to every good player that we have that they shouldn't play in the game. So eventually why should we even play? Why not just forfeit so nobody gets hurt. Take a loss, just be done with it. Or is it an opportunity for everybody to improve and grow, and challenge themselves to get better, so we go out and execute as a team and build a little momentum through the week and the game, so maybe we play better in the next game. So that's what I believe.

"So it really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. They have the right to work like I've worked for 40-some years as a coach and get a job and have their own team - and they can make any decision that they want. I tell the assistants that all the time. You want to do it that way, you get a head job and you do it that way. But right now, this is the way we're going to do it."

Saban's soliloquy captured the peculiar relationship he has with Alabama's supporters - a wide network that still questions his management of their beloved program even as he has won them five national championships in the last nine seasons and is leading the top-ranked Tide down the path toward another title.

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Alabama: Relationship between Saban, fans a peculiar one FROMB1

At times, Saban hasn't hesitated to hit back at them, too - calling the fans out for not creating a home-field advantage, leaving games early or choosing not to show altogether.

One of Saban's most impassioned rants this year was delivered in early October and directed at the student section at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"When I first came here, you used to play that tradition thing up there and everybody was cheering and excited and happy and there was great spirit. Now they don't even cheer," Saban said. "They introduce our players and nobody even cheers. So I don't know, maybe there's something else somebody else ought to talk about. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it. Maybe I already talked about it more than I should. So you all can beat me up for that if you want.

"Look, our players work too hard and they deserve to have everything and people supporting them in every way and have tremendous spirit for what they've done. They may not be able to continue to do it. We're going to work hard to try to continue that.

"But there's a part of it where other people need to support them, too, and there's got to

be a spirit that makes it special to play here because that's what makes it special to be here. And if that's not here, then does it continue to be special to be here or not? That's the question everybody has to ask. I'm asking it right now."

Saban though isn't wasting his time trying to find the answer, just like he's not seeking out the complaints directed his way. On Wednesday, he wondered aloud what gripes have been lobbed towards him.

"Is there something specific? I should have asked that to start with but I really don't care," he said.

Then, as he was leaving the room where his news conference had just concluded, he offered a wry smile and said jokingly: 'Tm going to go read the Internet now because I want to see what everybody is saying about me."

Or he may get a sense Thursday, when he straps on that radio headset and takes a few calls from the people who profess to back him at the same time they critique his stewardship of their cherished Crimson Tide.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter@RainerSabin

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The latest renderings from Populous of the soon-to-be-renovated Legacy Arena. Courtesy, BJCC

BJCC picks design team for $125M arena project Erin Edgemon [email protected]

The Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority on Wednesday finalized the design team for the $125 million renovation of Legacy Arena and released updated renderings of the project.

Design and engineering fees for the project will total approximately $10.9 million, according to the BJCC. Local minority- and women-owned firms will claim $3.4 million, or 31 percent, of those fees, exceeding a goal set by the BJCC and local partners.

A construction start date hasn't been set. Tad Snider, executive director and chief

executive officer of the BJCC, said the schematic design phase of the project will take time but is continuing to advance as anticipated.

"Because of the scope and the magnitude of this renovation, it will be mid-2019 before the design team's work is finished and we can begin sequencing and packaging bids for the construction phase," Snider said.

"But this puts us one step closer to where we want to be."

An August bond sale generated $313 million in proceeds for the building of a $175 million stadium and $125 million rer.ovation of Legacy Arena. The stadium is expected to be completed in 2021, and the arena upgrades are ex peered to b~ E nished in 2022.

The team of architect:, and engineers for the Legacy Arena renovations was selected through a competitive process. Populous, a Kansas City firm, is the lead architectural firm on the project.

Local minority- and women-owned firms that will participate in the design phase include: > Studio 2H Design LLC > Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds Architecture

and Interior Design > Macknally Land Design PC > MBA Engineers Inc. > Engineer Design Technologies Inc.

> Hyde Engineering Inc. > Dynamic Civil Solutions

Other firms that will participate in the design phase include Walter P. Moore, ME Engineers, Schoel Engineering, Howe Engineering, WJHW and The Bigelow Company.

"We're excited to see this important project move forward and to see that we are maximizing the benefits to our community by involving local businesses, many of them owned by minorities and women," said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin.

Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens said the work at BJCC will boost economic development for the whole county.

"By upgrading our BJCC facilities, we will not only provide more amenities for residents across Jefferson County, but we'll bring in more tourism dollars that will benefit us all," he said. 18


At UAB, fairy tales do come true

By: John Archibald

It's hard to believe four years has passed since UAB President Ray Watts killed the football team.

Hard to believe it has been four years since he stood before heartbroken players in UAB's peeling football facility and told how he worked his "ass off' as an undergrad there, and how "nobody in this room ... cares more about UAB than I do."

Hard to believe he got out of that room alive.

Because it did not go well.

But man, it was a moment. It was a turning point, an unintended, unexpected jolt that shocked a city and unified a fan base. Watts became Dr. Evil. And in that moment UAB became Birmingham's Team.

"Fire Ray Watts" was the chant heard around town.

And UAB football, which for years had been ignored and pitied and underfunded and tolerated only on days Alabama and Auburn did not play, became something real.

Hard to believe the ranked UAB football we see today- it will face an unranked Texas A&M squad from the SEC - had to die before it could ever really live.

It is all so unlikely. It is all so hard to fathom.

And yet it is all so real.

What has happened in these four years, by accident or the byproduct of some sinister intent, cannot be overstated.

It's a Disney movie or 21st century fairy tale. It's "Hoosiers" and "Rudy" and "Rocky" and "Seabiscuit" all rolled into one, with treachery and heartbreak and persistence and against-theworld, against-the-odds victory.

It is victory, no matter what happens tomorrow, some say. Although a win over an SEC opponent would make a fine scene.

It's a happy ending, no matter what happens for the rest of the year, it goes. Although a championship would slam the book shut.

Or a second championship, I should say.

Because UAB has already clinched a CUSA West division championship. It has won nine of 10 games with one of the nation's toughest defenses. And that wasn't even its toughest challenge. Boosters - led in part by the unifying contempt for Watts -- raised millions of dollars.

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Facilities have been upgraded and local governments came up big to promise a downtown stadium. Coach Bill Clark has gone from cold shoulder to hot property in the course of four years.

I can't believe it has been four years. Heartache and heartbreak and redemption.

But I wasn't even sure it was real until now. Not even with the fan zone and the Legion Field tailgating or the success on the field and in the stands.

Perhaps it was just smoke and mirrors and a continuing resentment for Watts.

I wasn't sure it was real until it became clear that it does matter what happens tomorrow. It does matter what happens the rest of the year.

UAB fans - a notion that was all but foreign four years ago - do not believe the story of this football team has been written. They do not accept that the happy ending already in the books.

They want more. Four years after death.

They expect more. Four years after extinction.

They want wins. Again and again and again. Somehow, after four short years, they've come to expect wins, even when they seem unlikely.

And that's amazing. Because expectations are everything.

Which is, I suppose, a kind of victory in itself.

They have learned that with loyalty and persistence and effort and expectations and some really extraordinary players and plans, fairy tales do come true.

Especially the ones with dragons.

20

UAH.edu Friday, November 16, 2018

Global Health & Medical Missions Program cultivates cultural competence among students

By: Diana LaChance

Program and the Medical Missions Program: Dr. Marlena Primeau I UAH

Cultural competence is rapidly becoming an essential skill for health-care providers in this increasingly globalized world. Not only do they need to communicate with and treat patients whose backgrounds and life experiences might be wildly divergent from their own, but they also need to be aware of and challenge their own inherent biases and preconceptions when it comes to different cultures. "The best way for a patient to heal is to feel comfortable," says Dr. Marlena Primeau, a clinical associate professor of nursing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). "But if they're out of their own culture, they don't heal as well. So our job as nurses is to have that cultural competence that helps facilitate healing."

To ensure UAH's students are fully prepared to engage with patients from other cultures, Dr. Primeau serves as the coordinator of two important efforts by the College of Nursing to cultivate the skills required: the Global Health Program (GHP) and the Medical Missions Program (MMP). Both are offered as electives - the GHP over three weeks in May, also known as the "Maymester," and the MMP over five weeks during the summer- and both combine classroom learning with hands-on experience in a foreign country. "The MMP is open to nurses in their junior-level courses or higher," says Dr. Primeau, "while the GHP is interdisciplinary and is open to any major as long as the student has an interest or focus in some aspect of health care, such as healthcare administration/business, pre-med, or biological research."

An interprofessional comparative health-care course, the GHP comprises one week of what is essentially a deep dive into the health-care system of another country followed by two weeks of travel in said country. "Everyone is assigned a topic, so they become the expert, whether it's on access to care or on practitioner education and training," says Dr. Primeau. "Then we go to that country, visit the hospitals and universities, and talk to people in the street and ask them their opinions on health care, both in their country and the U.S." Destinations are selected, and the trip is organized in coordination with UAH's Office of Study Abroad and a travel partner, such as CEPA, that specializes in university-level faculty-led study-abroad programs. Previous trips have included Budapest, Prague, Germany, the U.K, and the Netherlands. This coming summer, the class will head to Italy. "I try to find countries with health-care systems that will provide similarities and contrasts to the U.S. system," she says, "but safety is our number one priority."

By contrast, the MMP narrows the focus from a country's overall health-care system to the specific challenge of delivering health care to its most vulnerable populations. After receiving a primer on the intended destination, to include any relevant humanitarian issues, the students then spend a week in the chosen country providing hands-on health care to patients. "It's one thing to hear about people in another country, but it's another thing to care for people directly and to see with your own eyes what they're dealing with and what their concerns are," says Dr. Primeau, who coordinates the medical missions with assistance from UAH's Office of Study Abroad and e3 Partners' medical division. Each mission is then followed by two to three days of travel throughout the countryside. "This past summer we were in Lima for the mission, but then at the end we went to Machu Picchu," she says. "It put the mission in context and gave them a broader

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21

UAH.edu Friday, November 16, 2018

experience." Next year they will travel to Costa Rica, and future trips may include Greece and a First Nations reserve in Canada.

Students in both programs have interactional assignments and are required to keep a journal throughout their travels, which they review and discuss with the rest of the class after returning to UAH. Dr. Primeau says that, by and large, they describe the experience as "life changing." Several students have even accompanied her on more than one trip. "It just seems to make a significant difference in their lives, actually being there," she says. "It changes the way they look at patients, at other countries, at other countries' health care, and at our own health care." Many also report gaining a better understanding of how the health-care system in the U.S. stacks up against those in other countries. "We have found that all countries have advantages and disadvantages to their healthcare system; no one system is perfect. We have quite a bit to fix in the U.S., but there are also good aspects of our health care system," she says. "The impact of the students seeing it for themselves is incredible." In tum, she adds, the students serve as positive ambassadors for their profession. "Nurses are an excellent example of who we are and a way to show people that we are not just the stereotypes they hear about the U.S."

Given the rewards that those who participate in the programs reap, the ultimate goal is to extend the opportunity to every nursing student. "Our dean, Dr. Marsha Howell Adams, feels strongly about our students learning about other countries and helping others," says Dr. Primeau. "She has been very supportive of us trying to work it out so that we can get the experience to more people." That, of course, would mean more work on Dr. Primeau's part, but she's never been one to shy away from a challenge - or an adventure. "Study abroad changes your world view, and I want to share that with students," she says. "I also get to combine my love of nursing with my love of travel, so I'm really passionate about the opportunity to do this!"

22

WAAYTV.com Wednesday, November 15, 2018

Harvest Elementary School receives grant from University of Alabama in Huntsville

By: Steven Dilsizian

Harvest Elementary School students were given a grant on Thursday from the University of Alabama in Huntsville that will provide a more hands-on experience when it comes to learning about engineering.

Fifth grade students have been learning about issues in other countries, including animals falling into wells. Five engineering students made a small model of a tool that could help solve the realworld problem.

The Women In Defense organization funded the project in the hope that things like this will help to increase interest in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

One University of Alabama in Huntsville engineer says the project gives students a new way of learning.

"Lectures and books can get boring, especially for children. They really want to be in the middle of everything and interacting, so you want something they can really play with and get excited about," Savannah Grosh, a U AH engineering student, said.

This is the second project the university has created and donated to Harvest Elementary School. It will be available for second through fifth grade students to study.

23

UAH.edu Monday, November 12, 2018

Researcher uses biometric data to study public speaking anxiety

By: Diana Lachance

As a researcher, Dr. Candice Lanius is less interested in why people are so afraid of speaking in public and more focused on how cutting-edge technology can be used to help them improve in spite of their fear. "Public speaking anxiety becomes a problem when the response to the stimulus spirals and the person speaking can't calm down and focus on what they're doing," says Dr. Lanius, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). "I want to understand what's causing them to have a stressful response, so that we can train them to become better speakers."

To that end, Dr. Lanius has enlisted over 140 student volunteers enrolled in the Department's "Introduction to Rhetorical Communication" course, which seeks to develop public speaking skills through an examination of rhetorical theory, training, and practice. Students in the class are required to present four speeches over the course of the semester: the first is a simple introductory speech; the second is a special-occasion speech one might give at a graduation or wedding; the third is an informative, fact-based speech; and the last is a persuasive speech one might give on behalf of a charitable cause or a political candidate.

"The first thing I did, with the consent of the instructors and the students, was take a public speaking anxiety self-reported inventory, to see how comfortable the students thought they were with public speaking," she says. "Then for all four of the speeches, I came in and did an audiovisual recording of the speech and had the student wear a heart-rate monitor while they spoke. That gave us their average heart rate and, more importantly, their heart-rate variability, which is the interval between heart beats. It's a better measure of stress because it's not as closely related to health."

As Dr. Lanius explains, a speaker's heart-rate variability can indicate if they're switching into a sympathetic nervous system response, commonly known as a "flight or fight," or staying in the parasympathetic nervous system response, commonly known as "rest and digest," to stressors at any given time during the speech. By simultaneously taking an audiovisual recording of the speech, she can then use the recording's time stamp to reference the heart-rate monitor results to see what might be triggering a particular response in real time. "For example, transitions make students super nervous, even if they have notes or prompts," she says. "Another stressor is juggling visual aids. Students may think 'I know the content, so I'm fine,' but they forget that the body is the organ for transmitting the information."

For any student who is interested, Dr. Lanius meets with them after the speech and reviews the data. "I am very careful to not use assessing language, as I'm not there to grade them," she says. "I'll say, 'You were more stressed during this moment. What was going on here?' It's really about helping them learn how to come out of those moments, so that they don't spiral and become overwhelmed." She's also planning to follow up with the instructors at the end of the semester, to see whether there's any correlation between a student's stress level and their performance. "I don't need to know their grade, but I do want to see if stress affects their grade," she says. "Once we know that, we can go back to the curriculum and see what we need to do more of to help them overcome or recover from stressors."

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Birmingham-Southern College names new president: stock expert, Woodfin advisor

By: Greg Garrison

Birmingham-Southern College named a new president on Thursday who helped revolutionize the stock market with automated trading and later worked as a financial consultant for Birmingham's mayor.

Daniel Coleman, 54, who was born and grew up in Birmingham and returned in 2009 after a career as a pioneer in automated stock-trading, will take over as president effective Dec. 3.

"I always associated Birmingham-Southern with music and considered it an intellectual haven in Birmingham," Coleman said in an interview with AL.com. He took piano for 12 years from a BSC graduate and had a great-aunt who attended the school.

"It was always considered the best liberal arts college in Alabama, and it still is," he said. "Without it, Birmingham would not be the same."

Coleman said he joined Mayor Randall Woodfin's 2017 campaign team as a financial advisor after meeting him and having a detailed discussion of a 2013 city budget. "I was shocked how well he understood it," Coleman said. "He was a nice person, thoughtful, a very smart person. We felt Birmingham was at a tipping point. Having the right mayor can make a lot of difference."

Coleman has been serving as an adjunct professor of finance at Birmingham-Southern since he retired after the sale of his company. Coleman was CEO of the global financial services firm KCG Holdings until it was sold in 2017.

Coleman served on the BSC board of trustees for three years, from 2010 to 2013.

He graduated from the Altamont School in Birmingham, earned a bachelor's degree in English from Yale University, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.

Coleman will be the 16th president in BSC history, succeeding President Emerita Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith, who retired from Birmingham-Southern earlier this semester due to health and family reasons.

Coleman said that he wants Birmingham-Southern College to continue to expand its educational reach as it builds for its second century in Birmingham and to solidify its longtime role as "the intellectual heart" of the city.

"I feel like the best way for me to have a positive impact on the city is to help BirminghamSouthern thrive," Coleman said. "It has always been a special place here in Birmingham, and has such a history of and culture of service to the community."

Coleman has played a leading role in the evolution of automated trading in global financial markets. Until its 2017 sale to Virtu Financial, New York-based KCG was a leader in the securities and financial services industry, Before KCG, Coleman was CEO of GETCO, a privately-held automated trading firm based in Chicago. Prior to that, he worked for 24 years for UBS and its predecessor firms, ending up as global head of equities for UBS Investment Bank.

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"We are fortunate to have someone with such a thorough understanding of the college and broad experience shaping and growing complex organizations," said BSC Board Chair Denson N. Franklin III. "His love for Birmingham-Southern is apparent, but more than that, he brings an incredible skill set and perspective and impressed us with his ideas for moving BSC forward."

Coleman said his own background and work experience has epitomized the value of the kind of personalized liberal arts education that BSC provides.

"I started my career in finance on a trading floor, but now, those jobs are almost all gone," he said. "When I think about college, I think about that kind of rapid professional evolution that's happening in every field. We need to make sure students have jobs when they graduate, but we also have to make sure they have the ability to adapt so they have careers decades later. That's something the liberal arts does like no other form of education."

BSC Acting President Bradley J. Caskey will return to his prior role as BSC's provost, and Acting Provost Tim Smith will return to his prior role as associate provost. Previous presidents Flaherty-Goldsmith, Neal Berte and Gen. Charles C. Krulak attended the announcement Thursday after a vote of the board of trustees.

Coleman and his wife, Brooke, returned to the city with their three children in 2009 after more than a decade in the New York area. Coleman said his family met Woodfin while the future mayor was studying for the bar as a student at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Coleman served on Woodfin's transition team and remains in a volunteer capacity as the co-chair of the mayor's financial advisory team, working to improve the city's management of its finances.

Coleman has also served on the boards of the Alabama Symphony Endowment and of Build Up, an innovative early-college workforce development program centered in the Ensley neighborhood.

In addition to the boards of KCG and GETCO, Coleman's past corporate board memberships include NASDAQ Inc., the Options Clearing Corporation, and the Boston Options Exchange.

Coleman entered the world of finance as an option clerk after graduating from Yale, and traded convertible bonds while attending the University of Chicago. After moving to New York in 1996, he moved into management positions for a predecessor of UBS. He rose to head of global equities there; from 2005 through 2010, he oversaw a business that remained profitable through the recession, included the world's leading cash equities execution business and equity research department, and handled global equity derivatives and global prime brokerage.

From there, he moved on to Chicago-based market maker GETCO, first as global head of client services and equity trading and then as CEO, replacing the retiring founders in 2012. In that role, he expanded the business beyond its core of automated market making and led a merger with competitor Knight Capital Group.

To form KCG, Coleman merged GETCO and Knight Capital Group. Over four years, he cut costs, restructured businesses, and after four years sold the company with an 80 percent return for investors.

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Upon completion of the deal, Coleman returned to Birmingham but continued to commute to New York and Chicago. In that time, as well as working with the mayor's office, he has served as an advisor to the Security Industry Financial Markets Association. He joined the BSC Business Administration Department as an adjunct professor, teaching three courses in finance, and he has taken courses at BSC in the computer programming language Python and in calculus, working alongside some of his own students - getting to understand a BSC education from an undergraduate's perspective.

"I have discovered that the faculty at BSC are very much here to support students," he said. "I have taken classes at a lot of places and while I've had some incredible teachers, I've not seen a lot of examples of professors being on students' side. That's something really special."

Birmingham-Southern College, founded in 1856, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has enrollment of about 1,300 students.

27

Staff reports

The early signing period wrapped up Wednesday for the University of Alabama men's basketball program, which announced the signing of three prospects: forward Juwan Gary (Charlotte, North Carolina/West Charlotte High School)and guards J aylen Forbes (Florence, Mississippi/Florence HS) and Jaden Shackelford (Hesperia, California/Hesperia HS). All three are four-star prospects in the most recent 24 7 Sports rankings

"Our 2019 signing class is

one of the best pure shooters in the country. He is a knockdown 3-point shooter who is a threat as soon as he crosses half-court. We were very impressed with how strong he finished the AAU season and really showed his athleticism and ability to create plays off the dribble.

"Jaden Shackelford brings an explosiveness as a combo guard. He can get his shot off against anybody. He has a


3 sign with Alabama basketball

one that we are very optimistic about," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said in a UA release. "Each one addresses an area of how we want to play and the style we desire to play on the court. They each have strong work ethic, ball-handling ability and will knock down open shots on a consistent basis. All three are high-level people who we believe will not only be successful on the court, but in the classroom as well."

Johnson also offered individual comments on each signee.

"Juwan is a prospect that we

great body, is an outstanding defender and is a high -level ball handler who has great court vision."

Drew Timme, a 6·foot-10 forward from Dallas, Texas, and a prospect Alabama recruited heavily, chose Gon • zaga on Wednesday morning.

The state of Alabama's top prospect, 6-8 forward Trendon Watford of Mountain Brook, is not expected to sign intheearlyperiod. Watfordis being recruited by Alabama, Memphis, Florida State, Indiana, LSU and others.

See SIGN, C3

fell in love with from the first moment we watched him," Johnson said. "(He) has a high motor and plays with maxi -mum energy on both sides of the floor. He's a knock-down three-point shooter. Juwan has strong character and bounces back extremely well from adversity.

"Jaylen Forbes is a player who is from our footprint area of the Southeast," John -son said. "We feel Jaylen is

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28

SIGN From Page Cl

GYMNASTICS

Alabama signed two gymnasts, four-time USA Junior Olympic National Team member Makarri Doggette of Pickerington, Ohio, and three-team national team member Mati Waligora of Rochester, Mich.

Doggette was a nine-time Junior Olympics national champion who won two all-around titles. She won the all-around and all four individual events in 2018, a feat that had been accomplished by only one previous gymnast.

"I chose Alabama mainly because of the coaching staff," she said. "I felt a really strong connection with them immediately and knew I would be well taken care of. I also fell in love with the campus the second I got there and felt at home."

Waligora was 2017 allaround champion at the Junior Olympics and also won the floor exercise title.

"Being part of the traditions and legacy of Alabama gymnastics is an amazing blessing," she said.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The Crimson Tide added two women's basketball signees in guards Mystique Womack of Marlin, Texas, and Destiny Rice of Shreveport, La.

Womack is a 5-foot-8 guard who is ranked 30th at her position as a prospect according to ESPNW. She averaged 28 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals as a junior in leading her team to a state championship.

"Mystique is an athletic guard who can score at the rim,mid-rangeandshootthe ball deep," UA coach Kristy Currysaid. "Shehastheability to really get up and guard the ball and disrupt passing lanes defensively."

Rice, who is 5-9, averaged 26 points and 11 rebounds to go with five assists and five steals per game as a prep junior, also winning a state championship. She is ranked 79th overall and and 20th at per position by ESPNW.

"Destiny is a physical guard with a scorer's mentality," Curry said. "She has been


well-coached on every level."

SOFTBALL

Alabama signed its first player during the early signing period Wednesday, adding outfielder Jenna Johnson to next year's Crimson Tide roster.

Johnson, from Franklin, Tennessee, holds multiple single-season records at Page High School, including a .686 on base percentage in 2018, 11 home runs and a 1.114 slugging percentage in 2017 and 24 stolen bases anda .591 batting average in 2016. She is a two-time allstate and defensive player of the year and was named the All-District MVP in 2017.

SOCCER

Alabama head coach Wes Hart announced the signing of 10 standouts to National Letters of Intent on Wednesday. The2019freshmanclass includes, Katarina Baehren, Allie Berk, Macy Clem, AJ Crooks, Carlee Giammona, Serena Pham, Reyna Reyes, Bella Scaturro, Sydney Vincens, and Carly Wyatt.

"We are thrilled with the 2019 recruiting class," said Wes Hart. "This class is loaded with talent from some of the best clubs throughout the country. Several of them have youth national team experience, including Reyna Reyes, who is playing for Mexico at the Ul 7 World Cup right now. I expect players in this class to step right in and impact the program from day one. The fact that four of them (Reyes, Giammona, Crooks, and Baehren) will be joining us in January is huge. They'll have all spring to get adjusted to life as a college soccer player."

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz announced the signing of highlytouted Isabella Harvison of Cardiff-by-the-sea, Calififornia, on Wednesday.

Before moving to Spain, Harvison won both the singles and doubles Southern California regionals and sectionals, and has been ranked No. 1 in doubles and No. 5 in singles in Southern, Calif. Harvison is a USTA national doubles finalist, with a Women's ITF doubles ranking of 1190.

29


Loyalty paying off for UAB's strong-legged kicker Vogel Evan Dudley

Nick Vogel has been around for the long-haul. One of four remaining players from the last UAB football

team before the program was dismissed, the junior kicker was the first to return to campus following a short stint at Southern Miss.

The Jacksonville, Florida, native bought in from the staz, when head coach Bill Clark was hired more than four years ago, and he did not hesitate to return when the program was reinstated. The loyalty paid off as the Blazers are 9-1 this season, ranked No.25 in the Coaches Poll and set to visit SEC opponent Texas A&M this weekend.

"It's been a heck of a ride," Vogel said. "When the program closed, I went to Southern Miss. When I came back, these were the kind of things I was expecting. I knew the kind of coach that Coach Clark was. He was part of the reason that I came back. I fully believed in him to bring us to this point. It took us two years, which is way shorter than anyone would've guessed, but we're here and happy to be here."

Vogel first arrived at UAB during the dark ages when there wasn't even enough room to find a seat during team meetings, forcing him to carve out a spot on the floor in the old dentist office turned operations complex. The dirt track and lumpy practice fields are gone, but Vogel remembers the hardships of going through program's dismissal and rebuilding it from scratch.

"It's night and day," he said. "While it's painful to go through, the support is really night and day. Back in 2014, there really wasn't that much support. There weren't realty many people paying attention. The crowds weren't the same. Ever since we came back, it's been insane. The crowds are way bigger, obviously. There's been a lot more fan support. I even have people come up to me when I eat at restaurants and say hello. There's a lot of people taking notes and watching. People know who UAB is. When I go back home to Jacksonville, Florida, people know who the team is. They know the name. It's more of a national stage for us."

Since returning, Vogel has excelled for the Blazers. He's been perfect this season on extra-point attempts (42 of 42) and is 9 of 15 on field goal attempts with a long of 51 yards against UTSA. His most impressive feat, however, might be his touchback ratio, which is fourth in the nation. Fifty-four of his 61 kickoffs this season have been for touch backs - an 88.52 percent rate. Opponents have returned only four of Vogel's kicks- for a total of90 yards -while taking advantage of the new fair catch rule three times this season.

"We're suppose to kick left of the hash just in case I kick it short, but it's felt good this year," Vogel said. "I made a very

··u's been a heck of a ride no I knew

the kind of coach that Coach Clark

of the reason that

believed in him

this point. It tool< us

two yea:rs, which is way shorter

than anyone would've guessed,

but we're here and happy to be

UAB kicker Nick Vogel

small adjustment between this year and last year and the biggest thing was not to improve my leg strength - I've always had that kind of leg strength - but more just the consistency. When I mishit it last year, it'd probably go to the 10- or 5-yard line and that was what I was trying to clean up this offseason."

Vogel has another motivation for kicking the longball. "A lot of it's that also I don't like making tackles," he said.

"I got to find a way to hit touchbacks because it's no fun chasing guys downfield at my speed and height."

His strong leg has earned Vogel the nickname 'Vogeltron.' "I don't know how that came about, I do think it's kind of

funny," he said. "I don't pay too much attention to that kind of stuff. Isn't that like Megatron? He's not good, is he? That's a not a good thing, I guess. Or maybe it is, we'll see."

The Blazers have already wrapped up a division title but step out-of-conference this week to face off against SEC foe Texas A&M. Vogel was ready for his moment last week in the overtime victory over Southern Miss but conceded it to running back Spencer Brown in hopes of a bigger payday on a national stage.

'Tm sure we'd like to win by a lot of points but I love kicking," Vogel said. "Last week I thought I was going to have a game-winning field goal against Southern Miss but no big deal about that, Spencer can have that one. My dream finish would be a game-winning field goal against A&M so that'd be pretty cool.''

30

AL.com Tuesday, November 13, 2018

No. 25 UAB ready for huge opportunity at Texas A&M

By: Evan Dudley

What may have been initially been seen as only a friendly paycheck game a few months ago has quickly turned into opportunity as the No.25 UAB Blazers travel this week to face SEC opponent TexasA&M.

UAB is coming off a historic overtime victory over rival Southern Miss in which the Blazers clinched the first division title in school history and secured a spot in the CUSA Championship Game. The on-field celebration was a sight to behold but the Blazers knew they had to quickly tum their attention to the Aggies.

"I like to relate it to Christmas," head coach Bill Clark said. "When you wake up the day after Christmas, it's December 26th. When I wake up on Sunday, it's Texas A&M. We know what is in front of us. We know how well they're playing and what kind of team they've got. They're in the SEC and all of the above."

The Blazers boast one of the top defenses in the nation - first in sacks and third and fourth-down conversion rate, third in scoring and total defense and fourth in pass defense - and are going up against an offense that is 34th in the country in passing offense and 43rd in rushing offense.

Texas A&M is second nationally in rushing defense, which matches up well with the Blazers 16th ranked rushing offense, but are one of the worst pass defenses in the nation. The situation was exacerbated last week when safety Myles Jones was called for targeting with less than a minute remaining in the Aggies' win over Ole Miss and was ejected forcing a mandatory firsthalf suspension for the game against UAB.

"Both teams constantly are looking for match ups," Clark said. "What's their strength against what they may perceive is a weakness for us? I don't know how much that plays into every decision we make. We're going to look at every matchup and see where we think we can gain an advantage. I really don't know much about his backup but that is something we would be aware of. They're always aware of our injuries and what might be a weakness for us."

One weakness that the Blazers feel they have negated is the anxiety of playing in an SEC environment. Last season, the Blazers were 7-3 heading into their matchup with the Florida Gators - a 3-6 team that had recently fired former head coach Jim McElwain - but the Gators overwhelmed UAB and easily won by 29 points.

Kyle Field will be much louder - and fuller - than Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was last season and Clark is hopeful the experience from last year has made an impact on this year's team.

"This is a veteran group," he said. "We've been through the wars together and I think that Florida game was a good experience for us. We just got to go play the game on the field and use that energy - their energy. We talk about on the road we bring our own energy; it is us, our little group and a few fans we'll bring, but it is our own energy."

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AL.com Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The Blazers, however, are not an unknown to the Aggies. The dismissal and subsequent reinstatement of the program is a story that has reached all comers of the country and especially down in College Station with UAB coming into the game ranked in the Coaches Poll.

"When you have your program taken away from you and then you get it back, no one's going to go out there and just play nice," Texas A&M tight end Jace Sternberger said Monday afternoon. "They want to make a statement and prove that they should have their program."

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, who was almost hired as the UAB head coach more than a decade ago before the decision was reportedly blocked by the University of Alabama system Board of Trustees, was also heaping praise on the Blazers during his weekly press conference.

"Listen this is a great football team in UAB, they can flat out play," Fisher said. "This team right here is in the Top 25 and they're just like another SEC football team. This is a great team."

The Blazers have a critical conference game against Middle Tennessee in the season finale -following the game with Texas A&M - and can lock up hosting duties for the league championship game with a win against the Blue Raiders. A voiding injuries in a game that has no implications on the Blazers championship chase could be a factor in the game plan against the Aggies but Clark has no plans of just getting through the game intact and neither does his team.

"The things I have to think about right now at this juncture is where are our bodies," Clark said. "We've gone x-amount oftime without an open date. I think we do a terrific job of taking care of our guys so there's going to be some things I'm going to do a little bit different in practice knowing we got two more big games coming up after this. But as far as what's our mindset? Our mindset is to go try and win the game."

32


Alabama baseball signs 14 for '19 class

By: Staff report

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon announced the signing of 14 players during the early signing period for the 2019-20 academic year. The Crimson Tide added 12 high school standouts along with two junior college talents, a class that is No. 10 in Baseball America's initial rankings.

Included in this year's class of signees are prep standouts CJ Abrams (Alpharetta, Ga.), Myles Austin (Smyrna, Ga.), Blake Bennett (Haleyville, Ala.), Zane Denton (Brentwood, Tenn.), Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), William Hamiter (Tuscaloosa, Ala.), Garrett Hester (Dade City, Fla.), Logan Keller (Longwood, Fla.), Andrew Pinckney (Peachtree City, Ga.), Connor Prielipp (Tomah, Wis.), Dowd Ritter (Mountain Brook, Ala.) and Peyton Wilson (Hoover, Ala.). Along with the high school signees, the Tide added junior college talents in Ryan O'Connell (Wabash Valley (Ill.) Community College) and Britt Sparks (Shelton State

Community College).

"I'm so excited about this group," said Bohannon. "This recruiting class is representative of how I expect our team to be over time. This is a very deep, balanced group with a good mix of leftright, strength and athleticism. In addition to physical talent, I'm every bit as excited about their intangibles. These young men are great kids with families to match, and they have a burning

desire to win all while reaching their maximum potential."

The Crimson Title's class is rated No. 10 by Baseball America, joining six other SEC teams that rank amongst the publication's top 12 classes in the initial rankings. The Tide cemented its standout recruiting class with nine of the 12 high school players signed being ranked in the top 10 of their respective state by Perfect Game USA. Five of the Title's signees hail from Alabama, including the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 players in the state. The 2019-20 class also includes players from the states of Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee and Wisconsin, in addition to one Canadian from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Men's Tennis

The Alabama men's tennis team added Avi Shugar from Eugene, Oregon to the program head

coach George Husack announced on Thursday.

"Avi is a tremendous fit for our program," said Husack. "We learned a lot about him during the recruiting process both as an athlete and as a person. He has a such a supportive family that has shaped him into the young man he is today. When you get a great feel about someone on and off the court, as well as how they represent themselves and their family name, then it's a green light

all the way."

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33


Men's golf

Head coach Jay Seawell announced the addition of three standout prep golfers who have signed

National Letters oflntent to join the Crimson Tide for the 2018-19 season. The trio of Tyler Lipscomb (Carrolton, Ga.), Thomas Ponder (Dothan, Ala.) and Simms Abney (Madison, Miss.)

have signed to become the newest members of the men's golf program.

"I am really excited about the three guys in our 2019 class," Seawell said. "First off, they are very talented and will be great additions to our program. They are guys that fit what the Alabama golf program is all about. They have high character, are great students and love to compete. They

have developed a close friendship throughout the recruiting process and will be great teammates.

I look forward to helping them develop and watching them grow and helping us compete for championships."

Women's Golf

The Alabama women's golf program opened the early signing period by signing Caroline Curtis

of Richmond, Va. and Emilie 0veras of Alesund, Norway to national letters of intent.

"We could not be more excited about our 2019 class," head coach Mic Potter said. "Caroline Curtis and Emilie 0veras are outstanding student-athletes and will be perfect additions to our

roster. We want to thank Tony and Kelly Curtis and Arve and Nina 0veras for trusting the

University of Alabama to guide their daughters academically and athletically through their

college experience."

34

+


UA gymnastics announces complete 2019 schedule ByTerrin Waack Sports Writer

Alabama gymnastics revealed the rest of its 2019 schedule on Thursday.

In addition to its five home meets, which were announced back in September, the Crimson Tide will have six road matchups. Alabama will travel to Georgia on Jan. 18, Missouri on Feb. 1, Arkansas

on Feb. 8, Kentucky on Feb. 22 and Oklahoma on March 15.

The Sooners will be the Crimson Tide' s last opponent before postseason starts on March 12 with the SEC Championships in New Orleans.

Alabama will also have its annual Elevate the Stage meet against Auburn on March 9 at the BJCC Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

"Our schedule is amazing," UA coach Dana Duckworth said. "From start to finish, it is a strong, challenging schedule that will prepare us for the championship season."

Four of the Crimson Title's regular-season meets will air live on the SEC Network - Georgia, Missouri, Florida and Auburn (at Alabama).

The LSU meet will be

available on ESPN2. So will the Kentucky showdown but on a Feb. 24 tape delay.

The Crimson Tide's season opens up on Jan. 4, as Alabama hosts Temple, Southeast Missouri and Northern Illinois for a quad meet in Coleman Coliseum.

Reach Terrin Waack at twaack@tuscaloosanews. com or at 205-722-0229.

35

The Tuscaloosa News Monday, November 12, 2018

Barna bounces baclz in final minutes Freshman Kira Lewis scores career-high 21 points against Appalachian State

By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor

. Except for a summertime change of plans, Kira Lewis might have been in Blount County this weekend, pouring in baskets against Appalachian High School and wearing a Hazel Green jersey.

Instead, the freshman guard at Alabama was scoring a career-high 21 points against Appalachian State and while there is tougher competition ahead, Lewis was clearly the spark in Alabama's 81-73 win against the Mountaineers.

"There were lots of highs and lowsinthisgametonight," Alabamahead coach Avery Johnson said. "We showed some signs of maturity. I'm not sure we would have won this game at this time last year."

The Crimson Tide trailed by six points, 56-50, with12minutes to play but went on a 14-1 run over the next four minutes, a span that included two Lewis baskets, and took a 64-57 lead with 7:25. The Mountaineers were never able to bring the margin back to a one-possession game after that.

Lewis helped Alabama to an early lead with eight points in the first five minutes but Appa -lachian State rallied and the remainder of the half consisted of the two teams swapping runs and exchanging leads. The Crimson Tide closed with a 7-2 run, taking a 38-35 lead on John Petty's 3-pointer with two seconds remaining before the halftime buzzer.

"Kira made some shots for us that gave us some momentum early on," Johnson said. "He's a young guy that's still got a long,

Alabama guard Kira Lewis Jr. (2) drives past Appalachian State f01Ward Bennett Holley (14) in Coleman Coliseum Saturday, Nov. 11, 2018. [STAFF PHOTO/GARY COSBY JR.]

Online

See more photos from the Alabama basketball game at www. tuscaloosanews.com.

longwaytogo.It'sonlyNovember nth. Give him time to grow."

In addition to Lewis, Alabama had three other players in double figures: Petty with 13 points, Donta Hall with 12 (as well as 12 rebounds) and Herbert Jones, who scored 10 points despite

struggling at times from the floor (2-of-11) and the foul line (6-of-16).

"Dazonlngram also got a part of the game ball," Johnson said. "He's been through so much (withanankleinjury.)Hewasn't 100 percent tonight but I don't know if we could have won the game without his eight rebounds and his defense."

Ingram did not play in Alabama's season opener against Southern University.

Isaac Johnson led

Appalachian State with 22

points while Ronshad Shabazz added 21. The Mountaineers shot 60 percent (nine of 15)from the 3-point line but were stung by 22 turnovers that led to 26 Crimson Tide points.

Alabama (2-0) will play away from home for the first time this season on Thursday afternoon when it faces Northeastemin the opening round of the Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C. Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@ tidesports.comor 205-722-0225

36


Plaj;ers' health • zs more

than just physical

CadlBmt

Nick Saban has to worry about the health of 100 players, one of

the responsibilities of his job. He has a large and talented medical staff to help with the necessary decisions.

He also has to deal with 100 young minds, 100 egos, 100 individuals with different backgrounds and motivations. There are assistants in place to help with that, too, of course. But where medical equipment, X-rays andMRis and the acumen of team doctors can measure physical things, the more difficult judgments are of the mind and the heart.

For the better part of Saban's Monday conference, the talk was of muscles and joints, Tua Tagovailoa's knee or Jalen Hurts' ankle. Saban seemed to place both in a "wait-and-see" category, not surprising for a Monday. (He didn't mention off en -sive guard Deonte Brown's turf toe, but Brnwn probably is a "wait-and-see" as well.) He also gave his annual answer to the question about whether he would "rest" players against an underdog non-conference opponent. That answer was "no."

There was another comment from Sab.an, though. It was one that suggested that he is worried about psychology - individual and team - as he is about bumps and bruises.

"As a coach," Saban said, "it's a little difficult sometimes to manage guys that are injured because regardless of the medical circumstance is, the player has to be confident that he can do

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HURT FromPageCl

what he can do to go out and do his job well. That's something we can only evaluate as we go through the week of practice."

There's a good bit to unpack in that statement. Saban doesn't single out any players, so he may be making a broad statement, not a specific one (although the question was about "quarterbacks.) He also indicates that there is no magic wand that makies players 100 percent ready. A tentative player isn't going to perform his best. That makes it seem like this week of evaluation isn't going to be a simple matter of sticking a stethoscope on the sore spot and issuing a "good to go" diagnosis.

There is also mass psychology involved. When Saban bristles about questions that involve holding players out of particular games, he isn't just being a curmudgeon (or an NFL throwback.) He's trying to maintain a culture that took time to instill. The idea is that every game is important,


just as every practice, every bench press, every meeting, every class. Anyone with any sense knows that beating Georgia in Atlanta is going to be tougher than beating The Citadel at Bryant-Denny Stadium. But if Saban starts assigning "easy win" to some games, where do the value judgments stop? If he stands at a podium and says "this is a breather, so X and Y can sit out this week," what message does that send? Furthermore, how do you stop that message? Earlier this season, there were some (not all) fans that wanted Tagovailoa to stay in games that were 42-0 at halftime because of his "Reisman stats" or "he needs fourthquarter experience." Were those outcomes not determined by that tim~?

Common sense is going to prevail. Whoever plays - and Saban did note that thirdteamer Mac Jones "has been getting a lot of reps" - will be monitored closely and not overused. But no coach, certainly not Saban, is going to say that ona Monday if he is mindful of the message heis sending.

Reach Cecil Hurt at [email protected] or 205-722-0225.

38


Offensive fireworlcs went missing, but Tide defense found its spar le

CecllBurt

T he most difficult equation in college football is

especially hard to solve because just when you've worked out one half of the problem, the other half changes.

That's what has made a strategy for beating

Alabama tougher than Fermat's Theorem in the past couple of weeks. Just when LSU and Mississippi State seem to have deciphered the rate of acceleration that made the Crimson Tide offense so explosive in its first eight games, the UAdefense suddenly throws absolute zero into the mix.

In less mathematical terms, even if you can hold Alabama under 30 points in a game, there's still the_

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39

HURT FromPageC1

problem of scoring 31 (or 32, in honor of Saturday's freezing temperatures) yourself.

· There seem to be a number of factors affectirig the offense at the moment. First, give the opponents some credit. LSU and Mississippi State are strong defensive teams, far better on that side of the ball than any of Alabama's earlier foes. Second, starting qu_arterback Tua Tagovailoa looks to be hurting from a year's worth of accumulated hits. That's obvious regardles_s of any amateur di~gnosis of his knee. " Whatever the pre-cise balance of those two factors might be, the effect is obvious. :ragovailoa's longest completion against Missi;ssippi State went for 2 5 yards.In September and October, he was hitting i;~yarders in his sleep and was mixing in some 65-=_plus in there like it \vas the 4 p.m. dinner special at Golden Corral. '· bn the very rare occa -sions he had to throw deep against MSU, the p_as_ses were off, either

because the timing was off or the knee was bothering him, or both.

Nick Saban cited the pressure.

"Two things happen when (teams) pressure," Saban said. "You either handle it and you make big plays because there are fewer guys on the back end or the quarterback gets pressured and you're not able to make those plays. I thought they covered pretty well and we didn't separate real well and we got way too much pressure in the pocket."

The Alabama protection (and the run blocking) seemed affected when guard Deonte Brown had to leave the game with turf toe. Also, everyone knew what Saban and oth-ers preached all week: the Mississippi State pass rush, led by Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons is hellacious. It was educational, if not exactly entertaining, for Alabamafanstoseethat sometimes other teams have NFL talent, too.

State didn't have the talent to match that on offense. IfTagovailoa was roughed up, Nick Fitzgerald was downright mauled by the Alabama pass rush. MSU amassed less than 200 total yards and wasn't


able to flip field position for most of the game.

They had one notable long run after a mistackle in the backfield on an odd-looking option play and their seeming touchdown drive at the end of the first half netted nothing. Debate the block-in-the-back call that negated an apparent MSU touchdown among yourselves, but there was no sustained way to gain yardage against Alabama.

Saban grumbled a bit about "style points," reflecting the idea that Alabama should win by 50 every Saturday. The Crimson Tide is actually beyond that now. Get past The Citadel next weekend (and Lord, how the nation will howl about the scheduling that may give Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Najee Harris and more of the walking wounded a chance to rest) and Alabama is in the College Football Playoff with two more wins. It doesn't matter if they come by a single point.

Winning as Alabama has historically won, with defense, is not a problem. But you can't blame Alabama fans for missing the fireworks.

Reach Cecil Hurt at [email protected] or 205-722-0225.

40


Through all Damien Harris' success, his mother has been there

By: Cecil Hurt

Damien Harris needs no introduction. Alabama's star running back is also the football program's media workhorse whether in the interview room, in front of a television camera or on social media. There are few secrets from his statistics (542 rushing yards this season and 2,736 for his career) to his political views.

But there is one person who knows Damien Harris better than anyone else. His mother, Lynn Harris, has seen the entire career and, with just three home games remaining for the Alabama senior, she's taking the long view.

"To be perfectly honest, I didn't want Damien to play football," she said. "When he was 6, he played basketball in a little rec league and his coach, Mike Goggins, asked me if Damien could play football the next year and I said, 'No, football is awful. Horrible. It's a dangerous sport.' But Mike kept asking and I finally let him talk me into it. And I was scared to death.

"A lot of the kids had started when they were 5 years old in a flag football league in Richmond, so they had a couple of years to adjust. Not Damien. They put him right out there. I was scared to bits and pieces. First, I was scared that my child would get hurt. And I was scared that someone else's child was going to be the one that hurt my child and I was going to have to fight that other child's parents in the stands."

Lynn said she progressed out of that degree of concern but still took a long time to reach a comfort level with Damien's football career.

"Mike Goggins and I butted heads a lot oftimes over different things, but Damien loved it," she said.

Even though it was a Pop Warner League, Goggins' team gave Damien Harris his first taste of being a standout on a star-filled team. The quarterback on Goggins' young team was current Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham. The Stidham family moved away after a few years, but Harris stayed in Madison County, his legend growing through junior high.

When Damien was in eighth grade, the mother made a decision to send him out of Richmond, enrolling him at Madison Southern High School in nearby Berea.

"Same county, different district," Lynn said, adding that she wanted Damien to attend the smaller school for "a number of different reasons," not simply football.

"He changed schools in the eighth grade so he didn't have to go through all the transfer process later, but it was the right decision."

On the football field, even at a small school in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, far from the football hotbeds of Florida and Texas and a few hours from Ohio, Damien was gaining recognition. One person remained skeptical - his mother.

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"In the ninth and 10th grade, everyone around me knew it but I just didn't see it," she said. "Of course he was special in my mind, but I was just hoping he could get an academic scholarship or a football scholarship to Eastern (Kentucky, located in Richmond) or Western (Kentucky). Even UK (University of Kentucky, some 40 miles up the road in Lexington) seemed like a longshot to me.

"But after his sophomore year, all of a sudden, the letters started coming. They were coming from all over the country. It was still amazing to me. I said, 'They want Damien out of little-bitty Richmond or really even little-bittier Berea?' It was so surreal. It didn't feel like reality at all. I look back on it and it's still strange. How was my son receiving this kind of attention? It made me speechless."

With letters pouring in from Ohio State, Notre Dame and nearly every other football-playing power, Damien was intrigued by a team he had watched on television as it won the BCS National Championship Game in 2011 and 2012.

"He was always interested in Alabama," Lynn Harris said. "When he heard from them, he told me he wanted to go on a visit. I was like 'ohhhh-kay.' I mean, this was the championship school. But I decided that with all the schools that were recruiting him, if he wanted to swing for the fences, why not? Ifhe wants to go for a visit, then I said 'Let's go."'

According to Lynn, both she and her son immediately felt that Alabama was the right place.

"That's all it took," she said. "Just one visit."

There was, however, the matter of the home state school. Kentucky made Damien Harris its No. 1 recruiting priority for its 2015 class, and the entire state knew it. What's more, Harris liked UK - his Crimson Tide teammates say he still cheers loudly for Wildcat basketball. So, for a time, the Wildcat staff- and many UK fans in Richmond and Berea-thought the state's most decorated prep star in more than a decade would stay at home.

"Chad Scott (the former UK assistant) recruited him about as hard as you can recruit anybody," former Alabama defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley, who at the time was on head coach Mark Stoops' staff at Kentucky, told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "There was a time we thought we were going to get him. At the end of the day, I get why he came to Alabama. But he was at Kentucky every week. We did about all we could do to get him .... That would have been a program-changer, I think, for Mark, if he would have kept him at home. But that was a tall task."

It was also a stressful time for Lynn Harris.

"For me, I wasn't really on social media at the time," she said. "I stayed home a lot. When I did go out, people were mostly positive. They'd say, 'We'll support Damien wherever he goes.' But when he made the decision, there were a lot of mean, hateful things said. They were hurtful. He was 17 years old and there were grown people saying things like that to him when their opinion about his future didn't matter. They just wanted him at the school they pulled for.

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"It wasn't the (UK) coaches. When he comes home, he will still go visit Coach Stoops. He likes Kentucky. But he loves Alabama."

Although she was happy with the decision, Lynn - who had raised Damien as a single mother for most of his life-was understandably hesitant to see him go.

"I had made up my mind that I was going to move to Tuscaloosa with him. It had been just me and him for so long. My first daughter was not born until Damien was 15. Before that, it was just us. But I had a conversion with (longtime UA running backs coach Burton) Bums and he gave me some advice. He said, 'I know you are used to being with him, but let him have this first year away from home. Let him grow.' And I am so glad that I had that conversation. It not only helped Damien. It helped me, too."

The freshman year, which included the huge leap from a small high school in Berea to the nation's dominant college program required an adjustment period - including the patience to wait behind Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry. But Harris blossomed in his sophomore and junior years, so much so that he had to make the choice between his senior season and the NFL last January.

For many, Damien's decision to come back for a fourth year was a surprise. Mothers, however, knew more than most.

"For the most part, I left it up to him," she said. "He was 21. That's not quite a full-grown adult, but it is old enough to make your own decisions. I could only advise. But it was really a nobrainer for Damien.

"You see, he just loves school. Ever since kindergarten, he would get up in the morning with enthusiasm and say, 'Mama, let's go to school.' He's always enjoyed it. He's a social butterfly. He loves being around all the people.

"He might come back to school next year ifhe could," she added with a laugh.

Alabama fans wouldn't mind that at all. Neither would Lynn Harris.

"He loves Alabama. And I love it, too."

43

Wall Street Journal Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Fewer Students Come From Abroad BY MICHELLE HACKMAN

AND DOUGLAS BELKIN

U.S. enrollment of international students declined for the second year in a row, a setback for American colleges and universities, which have seen students from abroad as a financial buffer against the falling number of U.S. highschool students graduating each year.

The number of new international students enrolling at American institutions fell by 6.6% during the 2017-18 academic year, on top of a 3.3% decline the year before, according to a report by the Institute of International Education released Tuesday. The drop takes the number of new students back to the level seen three or four years ago.

Meanwhile, the total number of international students in the U.S. plus those working here on a student visa rose by 1.5% this year. That was down from average annual growth of 6.1 % over the past decade, a period during which enrollment of international students doubled.

Foreign students are big business: They pumped $42 billion into U.S. college and university coffers in the 2017-18 school year alone.

Students from abroad are still flocking to the coasts but are less interested in the South and Midwest.

The shift is due to a combination of politics, fear, geography and branding, said Alejandra Sosa Pieroni, an international recruitment expert with Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a company that consults with colleges to improve enrollment.

"Students are not feeling welcome in some states, so they are looking beyond those states and heading to places

Mohamed Gumaa, a master's engineering student from Sudan, on campus at Texas Tech University.

where they will feel welcome," she said.

The slowdown comes as U.S. schools struggle with demographic and revenue challenges because of the falling number of Americans graduating from high school.

As a result, U.S. colleges and universities have become increasingly dependent on revenue generated from international students. Public colleges and universities often charge international students more than what domestic students pay.

The U.S. is also losing students to English-speaking countries such as Canada, Australia and the U.K., which have all seen growth in the past year.

''We're hearing that they have choices; we're hearing that there's competition from other countries,'' said Allan E. Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education.

Graduate schools were

Looking Elsewhere The number of international students newly enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities is down, partly because of competition from countries such as Canada, Australia and the U.K.

150,000

,.: Under9raduate I Graduate

100,000

so.ooo 11

0 ,j

.. 1

! I

H '.

2008 '09 'JO '11 '12 '13 '14 - 15 '16 '17 '18 Note: Year is end of academic calendar. Source: Institute of International Education

hardest hit among all segments of the higher-education market: Enrollment fell by 2.1%,

"It has become increasingly difficult to get a student visa in my country with the policy nowadays," said Mohamed Gu-

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

maa, a master's engineering student from Sudan who is attending Texas Tech University.

China remained the largest single source of international students, accounting for about a third of all students who come to the U.S. for

postsecondary degrees. The number of students

coming from Canada and Mexico, meanwhile, fell by 4.3% and 8.1%, respectively.

The Northeast enjoyed the highest rate of growth in the number of overall international student visas at 3.4%, followed by the West at 1.9% and the South with 0.9%. International student visas in the Midwest fell 0.4%.

"There seems to be a higher level of comfort" in big cities and coastal regions, said Brad Farnsworth, vice president of Internationalization and Global Engagement at the American Council on Education, a Washington lobbying group representing colleges and universities.

Carol Spradling, director of the school of computer science at Northwest Missouri State University, said international enrollment at her school began declining precipitously two years ago, following a "perfect storm" that included President Trump's election with his tough talk on immigration and the shooting of an Indian immigrant worker in Olathe, Kan.

The downturn, she said, had a huge impact on her school's finances.

Schools in New England have seen gains.

Kregg Strehorn, assistant provost for enrollment management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said the question that most often comes up when talking to international families is whether they should be concerned about guns.

"That plays in our favor because I say, 'Oh, let me tell you about Amherst, Massachusetts,' " he said, referring to the town's safe reputation and tough gun policies.

44

Both firms seek to lure already scarce tech workers as they expand in New York

BY ERIC MORATH AND LAUREN WEBER

Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google are planning to recruit thousands of : employees in New York City, pitting the two behemoths against one another and other businesses for already-scarce talent in the area.

Amazon will bring more than 25,000 jobs to New York and another 25,000 to Northern Virginia, it announced Tuesday. Google, meanwhile, plans to double its workforce in New York City to more than 14,000 workers over the next 10 years, its chief financial officer said Monday at The Wall Street Journal's WSJ Tech D.Live conference.

The competition for talent will be stiff, recruiters say. But the two companies each have some distinct requirements that set them apart from other employers-and from each other, according to an analysis that labor-analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies conducted for the Journal. For example, the companies favor different coding languages and technical approaches for software projects.

Amazon declined to comment on its specific hiring plans in New York. A Google representative didn't respond to requests to comment.

Burning Glass analyzed jobs each company posted over the past 12 months. Of the more than 42,000 jobs Amazon listed, the highest concentration were in three occupations-software-development


engineers, software-development managers and so-called solutions architects. Among the 14,000 jobs Google posted over that period, the three most in-demand roles were for software development engineers, program managers and marketing managers.

Amazon wants more software engineers who are wellversed in the coding languages Microsoft C# and Java. It also is seeking pros who have experience using a technical approach called object-oriented analysis and design and-not surprisingly-Amazon Web Services, the company's unit that hosts other firms' data in the cloud.

Google, on the other hand, wants more people with Linux and JavaScript knowledge. Both companies covet employees skilled in the programming language Python, which is often used for big-data projects. But 62% of Google's job postings for software engineers

ask for that skill, compared with 36% for Amazon. Nationally, only 19% of employers' job ads ask for Python.

More than a fifth of Amazon and Google software engineer job postings sought machine-learning skills, compared with less than 3% nationally. And 63% of both firms' ads sought engineers who know the C++ language, often used for building applications and operating systems, compared with 13% nationwide.

Amazon originally said it would locate a second headquarters in a single location for 50,000 workers. But the company now plans to split its second hub between New York City and a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., to ensure it has the best access to technology talent across multiple regions.

"These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to

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45

continue inventing for customers for years to come," Amazon's founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

Amazon's New York office will be in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City. In Virginia, it chose the Crys-

The firms have some distinct requirements that set them apart from each other.

tal City area of Arlington, just outside Washington. Burning Glass found that these metro areas have an above-average share of workers who are software developers. By that measure, the nation's capital has an edge, most likely because of the many military and government contractors in the re-

gion. But New York is likely to

have a higher number of prospective hires, Burning Glass found, using total jobs postings for software engineers in the city as a proxy. Only the Bay Area beats New York in terms of numbers of software engineers, the analysis found.

Expanding in New York suggests Amazon and Google are more concerned about having access to thousands of potential employees rather than fostering an urban tech scene that might be more important to newer, smaller companies, said Tom Stringer, head of the site selection and business incentives practice at consulting firm BDO USA.

Smaller cities such as Austin, Texas, have been successful in creating a tech culture that entrepreneurs gravitate toward, he said. In those places, younger companies can make business connections at cafes, the gym or a local uni-


versity. "It's really the only way these smaller companies can compete for talent," he said.

''With bigger companies, it's about growing to scale," he said. "The attraction to New York is the volume of people with diverse skill sets."

Even so, the companies may need to lure workers to New York City if they find their reputations and high salaries aren't enough to attract those already living there. Convincing people to move for a job is challenging, and getting experienced workers, particularly midcareer professionals with families, to give New York City a try might be tough.

''People don't like to relocate. They live in a place for a reason," said Bhushan Sethi, workforce strategy leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "New York City is a wonderful place, but the infrastructure, housing, and cost isn't for everyone."

46

The New York Times Wednesday, November 14, 2018

1j,coon~ Rape Case Puts University in Glare Again

By Tiffany Hsu, Raymond Zhong and Carolyn Zhang

MINNEAPOLIS - When the Chinese billionaire Richard Liu was arrested two months ago in Minneapolis on suspicion of rape, he wasn't in town for business. Mr. Liu, a 45-year-old internet tycoon, was a student at the University of Minnesota, taking in lectures by day and enjoying dinner parties by night.

As prosecutors weigh whether to charge Mr. Liu, the case represents a setback for a university that has made progress on how it handles sexual misconduct. In recent years, the university has dealt with a series of sexual assault and harassment episodes involving students and faculty members, which have prompted a state audit and new campus policies. Now, the university is once again in the national conversation, and the focus this time is on a relatively new and lucrative academic program.

Mr. Liu, who has denied wrongdoing, was in Minnesota for a global business program, aimed at Asian executives, that is on track to generate over $10 million for the school in tuition since starting last year. His accuser, who has not been publicly identified, is a young Chinese student at the university who volunteered for the program.

The case "puts the university administration in an impossible situation" as it tries to simultaneously protect its students and its reputation, said Kristen Houlton Shaw, the executive director of the nonprofit Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis.

"The program he's participating in is a major moneymaker - it brings in these highfliers and heavy hitters from around the world," she said. "Their prospective students are watching."

The police conducted an initial investigation into the rape accusaCONTINUED ON PAGE B3

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The New York Times Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Tycoon~ Rape Case Puts University in Glare Again FROM FIRST BUSINESS PAGE

tion Md passed along the findings to the Hennepin County attor-11ey's office, which says it has no deadline for deciding whether to press charges.

Mr. Liu was released less than a day after his arrest, and he returned to China. His company, JD.com, which takes in more revenue each year than any e-commerce competitor but Amazon, says he was falsely accused.

The university has not publicly spoken about the episode, and would not say whether it had started its own investigation. The university declined to say whether Mr. Liu was still enrolled in the program or eligible for a degree.

"The University of Minnesota cannot comment, per federal law, on matters related to any specific allegations involving any student at the university," said Caitlin Hurley, a spokeswoman for the school.

Ellen Schneider, a senior there, said many fellow students had not even heard about Mr. Liu's arrest until she wrote a column in the school newspaper criticizing the university's response. "It is just disappointing;• Ms. Schneider said. University administrators "did not take a stand as they should have done."

The University of Minnesota has been a draw for Chinese students. At the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, the second language on many signs is Chinese. The main university campus east of downtown is ringed by bubble tea shops, hot pot restaurants and grocery stores where Mandarin is commonly heard.

The university counts more than 3,000 students from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. There are more than a dozen campus groups geared toward Chinese students, including a drama association, a music club and a Christian organization.

Like similar programs at other schools, the university's global doctor of business administration program caters to wealthy professionals like Mr. Liu who seek the cachet of an advanced degree. Some 236 students were enrolled as of early October.

The program, in conjunction with the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, currently charges each student hundreds of thousands of dollars. The University of Minnesota expects to get as much as $85,000 per student from the latest class.

The majority of the coursework is completed in China, but one

week of the students· sernnd year is spent in Minneso,a. For Mr. Liu's class, the school arranged for lectures as well as entertainment, including dinner cruises and a football game.

With such programs, universities see the deal as: "We offer you a serious title, you give us a lot of money, and we give you a lot of work," said Thomas Graf, the founder of a website called DBA Compass.

The university's Carlson School of Management, which runs the program, has declined to discuss Mr. Liu's arrest.

Sri Zaheer, Carlson's dean, called the program "extremely selective." It appeals to business leaders who "want to reflect on their own careers, who want to figure out what it is that made them successful," she said.

The University of Minnesota has taken steps to improve its handling of sexual misconduct. "Whether it be in the classroom, the residence hall, the department meeting or at the tailgate party, we at the university have our own sexual misconduct crisis," the university's president, Eric W. Kaler, said last year.

In 2016, the college paid $282,000 to resolve sexual harassment complaints against its former athletic director, who resigned. The same year, several university football players were accused of gang-raping a female student. Though local authorities did not press charges, the university suspended or expelled several students, at one point leading the team to boycott events.

Early this year, the school suspended a star basketball player after an allegation that he had sexually assaulted a woman in his dormitory in 2016.

Last year, 68 sexual assault incidents were reported to the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, with 12 reported to law enforcement officials, according to data collected by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The previous year, 47 incidents were reported and fewer than 10 sent to police.

Advocacy groups say the uptick at many schools is the result of women having become more comfortable reporting assaults in the # Me Too era. The number of rape cases reported by tt.e University of Minnesota to federal regulators in 2016 - 0.39 incidents per 1,000 students - is in line with fouryear public schools of comparable size, according to data from the Department of Education.

The University of Minnesota

HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFlCE, VIA AP

Richard Liu after his arrest.

has started training faculty and students on dealing with sexual misconduct. This year, it began requiring nearly all campus employees to inform the school when told about an episode of sexual misconduct.

A review made public _ this spring by the Minnesota legislative auditor determined that the university had resolved allegations of sexual miscondu.ct by school employees in a satisfactory way in the past two years.

Ms. Shaw of the rape crisis center said that Mr. Kaler, the university's president, had "done a lot of good" in addressing complaints

A setback for a school and a lucrative new academic program.

about how the school handles sexual assault cases.

This summer, Mr. Liu and other executives in the Carlson program took classes on topics like family wealth management and global branding, and visited local companies like 3M and General Mills. The evenings were for entertainment, including cruises on the Mississippi River and Lake Minnetonka.

On Aug. 30, a group, including Mr. Liu and his accuser, dined at a Japanese restaurant called Origami, according to a restaurant employee who was working that night and text messages exchanged between the accuser and the assistant of an executive who invited her to dinner. The messages were exchanged over WeChat, a Chinese messaging app. The New York Times reviewed screenshots of the messages.

Dozens of bottles of wine were brought in from a nearby liquor store, Lake Wine & Spirits. Two

store employees confirmed rf.' · ceipts showing wine purchases to(aling thousands of dollars.

Mr. Liu's accuser had been invited to the dinner by another executive m the Carlson program, whom she had met while serving as a program volunteer, according to the statements she made to the police and WeChat messages sent to her by the executive's assistant. The executive asked her to sit next to Mr. Liu, she told the police.

The following day, the woman sent WeChat messages to friends saying that Mr. Liu had raped her after the dinner. She told them that she had been "way too drunk" and unable to stop Mr. Liu from touching her while they were in the back seat of a limo, which she also recounted to the police.

When she was driven to a house she did not recognize, she asked to be taken back to her apartment, according to her statement to the police. There, Mr. Liu forced himself on her, she told the police. She told him "no" several times, she said.

A Carlson School administrator, Mandy Xue Bai, called the police in the morning after hearing about the alleged rape, according to the statements to the police. Ms. Bai also encouraged the woman to report the incident to the police. Ms. Bai declined to comment.

"I am so very proud of our client's courage, in coming forward and placing all of her trust and faith in the American justice system," said Wil Florin, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Liu's accuser.

Jill Brisbois, one of Mr. Liu's lawyers, said that he was "unable to defend himself" because he "does not want to interfere with the process" while county attorneys decide whether to file charges.

"It is unfair to publish a onesided story when once a determination has been made, all evidence will be disclosed to the public that will tell the complete story and we believe his innocence will be apparent," she said in a statement.

JD.com says that there has been no disruption to day-to-day business. Mr. Liu has cooperated with Minneapolis law enforcement officials, the company said in a statement, and will cooperate further if requested.

Tiffany Hsu and Carolyn Zhang reported from Minneapolis. and Raymond Zhong from Beijing. Matt Furber and Christina Capecchi contributed reporting from Minneapolis.

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