University of Alabama updates - Page 58

atlanta68 · #**1141** Posted **Apr 23, 2024, 11:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packer16

atlanta, It's not set in stone, but, I believe the plan is to leave a bus lane (or two, if they decide the vehicles should be able to move east and west) and replace the parking area with green space. I know that the BOT wants the fascade on that side of the library to match the more traditional look on the Quad side (something similar to the renovation of Russell Hall). Most of the renovation of the library will include more modern seating area and computers. In the digital age, large libraries housing books is becoming a dinosaur. A large climate-controlled warehouse is located south of the campus that houses most of the older books and journals. If someone wants to check one out, they just order it, then, it's delivered to the library and ready for pick up the next day. I definitely don't miss the old days as far as that goes. RTR

What a polite, informative post, thank you!

Packer16 · #**1142** Posted **Apr 27, 2024, 2:34 PM**

Interesting story. I have a buddy who sells real estate on Smith Lake. He had a lady call him and wanted to look for dockable lots on the lake and that she and her husband planned to build a multi-million $$ home The wife said their daughter was a freshmen at Alabama and really loved it and had already decided to attend graduate school, after graduating. She said her husband was a football coach and they have fallen in love with the area and wanted a home base to live off-season. My buddy, an ex-football coach, said her last name was Lombardi. Then, he realized who this was. He asked her, "Is your husband's name Joe?" (Joe Lombardi, the Offensive Coordinator for the Denver Broncos). She said, "Yes". They picked him up at the airport (she came a couple of days earlier to visit their daughter) and spent the day looking at several lots, ranging from $650,000 to $1.2 million. He liked the $1.2 million lot. So, the grandson of Vince Lombardi will be building and moving to Alabama. RTR

Packer16 · #**1143** Posted **May 1, 2024, 2:46 PM**

A cool story about two out-of-state students meeting at a UA camp, attending UA, developing a relationship, getting married, graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees, then, moving to Birmingham to start their careers.

https://news.ua.edu/2024/04/love-at-...DEzMi40Ni4wLjA.

chadinhsv · #**1144** Posted **May 9, 2024, 6:40 PM**

Those are interesting stories and also shows how National of a brand that UA is. The key is getting them to campus and the grounds facilities basically and state of the art classrooms does the rest.

atlanta68 · #**1145** Posted **May 11, 2024, 4:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadinhsv

Those are interesting stories and also shows how National of a brand that UA is. The key is getting them to campus and the grounds facilities basically and state of the art classrooms does the rest.

Very true, but why is UA not enrolling the most in state students? I wish the Board cared more to figure out the answer.

MdtwnATL · #**1146** Posted **May 15, 2024, 10:39 PM**

I am disheartened by the amount of violent crime happening in parts of Tuscaloosa these days. Seems like every time I look at AL.com or other local news sites, there's another shooting. This could certainly have an impact on attracting Alabama high school students if parents don't consider Tuscaloosa safe.

Also, as far as Tuscaloosa's growth long term, I realize it is definitely more "city" than "community" compared to many college towns, but I would think that increased crime, along with pretty sub-par K-12 public schools, are deterrents for many graduates deciding to stick around after graduating from UA.

I live part time in Auburn, and I can attest that its incredible growth over the last few years has a LOT to do with its stellar K-12 public school system and very nice, safe neighborhoods. There really is no bad side of town. I actually look for it to be a bigger place than Tuscaloosa in coming years. I understand that it has a lot to do with Auburn being a relatively very "young" city and mainly growing with Auburn graduates, but I think Maddox really needs to focus on these areas to make Tuscaloosa a more inviting place for UA graduates and their families post graduation.

chadinhsv · #**1147** Posted **May 16, 2024, 12:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MdtwnATL

I am disheartened by the amount of violent crime happening in parts of Tuscaloosa these days. Seems like every time I look at AL.com or other local news sites, there's another shooting. This could certainly have an impact on attracting Alabama high school students if parents don't consider Tuscaloosa safe.

Also, as far as Tuscaloosa's growth long term, I realize it is definitely more "city" than "community" compared to many college towns, but I would think that increased crime, along with pretty sub-par K-12 public schools, are deterrents for many graduates deciding to stick around after graduating from UA.

I live part time in Auburn, and I can attest that its incredible growth over the last few years has a LOT to do with its stellar K-12 public school system and very nice, safe neighborhoods. There really is no bad side of town. I actually look for it to be a bigger place than Tuscaloosa in coming years. I understand that it has a lot to do with Auburn being a relatively very "young" city and mainly growing with Auburn graduates, but I think Maddox really needs to focus on these areas to make Tuscaloosa a more inviting place for UA graduates and their families post graduation.

MidTown: These are very good points about why Tuscaloosa struggles to keep graduates in town. I would like to point out that Northport is a very attractive place to live and is just across the river. Also, I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way but the demographics is way different if you compare Tuscaloosa to Auburn and there is a culture that needs to make drastic changes if Tuscaloosa will ever want to be seen as a "safe" city. Kudos to Auburn though, they have a great model but they have built in advantages with Atlanta being close by and their demographics. Tuscaloosa is in the poorest region of the country

MdtwnATL · #**1148** Posted **May 19, 2024, 11:41 PM**

Prime example:

https://www.al.com/news/2024/05/exch...2-injured.html

chadinhsv · #**1149** Posted **May 20, 2024, 12:28 PM**

MdTwnATL: You will get no arguments from me on the crime that plagues Tuscaloosa. But I will point out that it isn't just Tuscaloosa. It seems to be all over the country, even that pristine Auburn area you think is real nice. There have been numerous stories this year on Auburn students getting assaulted

https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/aubu...-on-video.html

Uber/Lyft drivers being assaulted by auburn students
https://www.wrbl.com/news/local-news...brutal-attack/

A rideshare driver sexually assaulting students

https://www.wtvm.com/2022/04/13/aubu...t-near-campus/

I don't bring these up as a "Gotcha" to AU, but I'm just pointing out that it's an issue all over the country

chadinhsv · #**1150** Posted **May 22, 2024, 6:35 PM**

Well well well. If it's not another national championship for UA! For the 8th year in a row UA has won the NASA lunabotics competition. Yet again publishers can take their school/college rankings and shove it! I know and all the important folks know that UA is MUCH better than their "rankings"

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uplo...5f?emrc=c3b75d

Look who we were in competition with

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uplo...te-release.pdf

A few notables that are interesting: Auburn, Colorado School of Mines, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, NYU, Ohio State, Purdue, Tennessee, United States Military Academy, Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech.

I believe almost all of those schools mentioned above is ranked higher than us in almost every publication known to man. Yet we continue to kick tail.

Packer16 · #**1151** Posted **May 23, 2024, 5:33 PM**

And, they hang their Championship banners with pride (as they should), just like the Football and Basketball programs. They are great "attention-getters" when Engineering School recruits are passing through while touring the facilities. RTR

Packer16 · #**1152** Posted **May 23, 2024, 5:42 PM**

This project has received wonderful public and private support. And, aligning with NOAA is another feather in their cap to not just doing a project, but, doing it "right". I can't wait for it's completion and we get to measure the results. Coach Saban has been the gift that just keeps giving. RTR

https://patch.com/alabama/tuscaloosa...l-water-center

Packer16 · #**1153** Posted **May 23, 2024, 9:57 PM**

And, the beat goes on. RTR

https://news.ua.edu/2024/05/ua-stude...n-competition/

chadinhsv · #**1154** Posted **May 28, 2024, 1:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packer16

And, the beat goes on. RTR

https://news.ua.edu/2024/05/ua-stude...n-competition/

Another great find and another great victory for our Engineering department. Here is a list of some of the schools we beat...........AGAIN!

FAU, UGA, Georgia State, George Mason, Auburn (LOL), Johns Hopkins, Iowa, Kentucky, NC State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Stony Brook, Syracuse, Tennessee (haha), Virginia, Vanderbilt, VCU, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, William and Mary, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Texas A&M. Those are some pretty elite schools

atlanta68 · #**1155** Posted **Jun 4, 2024, 5:28 PM**

There is no question that UA has just as many if not more top students than most other flagship schools. The problem is that UA has far more of the bottom tier students, which almost entirely explains the rapidly declining rankings. Till we raise the admission bar, UA's rep will continue to lag. Rep should not be important, but it is in terms of the ability of our grads to make more money AND UA's ability to attract even more of the best AND mid range students (Auburn excels at attracting the upper mid range students like those with ACTs of 26-29), less so the top students) and faculty.

As for Tuscaloosa's crime problem, I think that probably plays a role, even though Auburn certainly has had its share of crime. Recall that guy who killed an Auburn student and burned her dead body up , just off campus?

If UA had a rep for higher standards, as AU and UGA have, the crime problem would not matter that much in terms of its effect on academic recruiting. I believe that UA will be able to maintain its growth in the long run if it would simply raise standards. It already has so much going for it, just imagine what improved academic rep would do! It is possible the growth would be even greater. The Board seems too self satisfied to care.

Packer16 · #**1156** Posted **Jun 4, 2024, 10:10 PM**

New BAMA Engineering grads make more $$ than Auburn Engineering grads (Auburn's highlight program), according to Payscale. Check out #121. And, our programs will continue growing and will eclipse Auburn in numbers in the next very few years. STEM makes money and our STEM is growing at a record pace. RTR
https://www.payscale.com/college-sal...rs/engineering

chadinhsv · #**1157** Posted **Jun 5, 2024, 2:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packer16

New BAMA Engineering grads make more $$ than Auburn Engineering grads (Auburn's highlight program), according to Payscale. Check out #121. And, our programs will continue growing and will eclipse Auburn in numbers in the next very few years. STEM makes money and our STEM is growing at a record pace. RTR
https://www.payscale.com/college-sal...rs/engineering

Boom!!! Love it!

atlanta68 · #**1158** Posted **Jun 5, 2024, 5:50 PM**

What is Auburn's rank? It is not pulling AU's up for me for some reason. I just visited the link and found the three UA system Engineering program, and UA is #121, while UAH is #91. UAB is far behind at #182. Even if UA is ahead of AU in this ranking, it should be doing better than having a #121 ranking. I never said AU is the perfect model to emulate. AU is not as good at recruiting the elite students, so it is not surprising UA might beat them in this ranking. I want UA outperforming UGA and UF and other flagship programs at most things. And the percentage of UA students in engineering is significantly smaller than AU's. So we need to think about the pay potential for the non engineering UA students too. UA's students deserve better.