The University of Alabama Birmingham is launching a network to help advance more women to positions of leadership in higher education.
Officials say the new Alabama Network for Women Leaders in Higher Education is part of the American Council on Education (ACE) Women's Network. That’s a national system identifying leaders in higher education and connecting them to support and development networks.
Janelle Chiasera is a founding member and chair of the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences at UAB. She says there is a need for women's development in higher education because current research shows only 26 percent of college and university presidents are women.
Chiasera says the gender imbalance in leadership is similar in other industries.
Google wants to talk about history education today, and an Alabama teacher will take part.
Google plans to webcast a “hangout” session with the National Assessment of Educational Progress today to explain the importance of history classes. In 2014, only 18% of students in the nation scored well in U.S. history on national assessments.
Chasidy White is a National Assessment Governing Board member. She teaches World History at Brookwood Middle School in Vance. White says the statistics and data in the session will show others that there is a need for improvement in history courses across the nation.
“We wanted to just open the conversation for citizens in the United States, first to understand that history is important and to spread the word that students need to be preforming at a higher level.”
The Google Hangout Session can be found on the National Assessment of Educational Progress website.
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials say seven fatalities were reported on the state's roads and waterways over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Sgt. Steve Jarrett released a statement saying ALEA responded to four fatal traffic accidents and three boating fatalities between Friday morning and Sunday night.
Traffic accidents in Butler, Madison, Pickens and Sumter counties killed three drivers as well as a pedestrian.
Jarrett says marine patrol officers investigated three boating deaths in Limestone, Lauderdale and Colbert counties. None of the people who died in those incidents was wearing a life jacket.
On the roads at least, it was an improvement from last year. Jarrett says the agency investigated 10 traffic fatalities during the 2014 Fourth of July weekend.
The Montevallo Historical Commission is meeting today.
Their job is to discuss the city’s guidelines and designation of a downtown historical district. Many buildings in the city’s downtown area will become a part of the historical district.
Herman Lehman is Montevallo's City Clerk. He says having the historical designation will be beneficial to the city.
“More than anything, it helps to maintain the character that we already have. If you look at other cities around the state that aren’t as old, you’ll see them starting to recreate city centers. Older towns like Montevallo, we have this place that has been around since the late 1800s and, in order for us to maintain that, we have to be able to protect it.”
The commission’s meeting will be held at Parnell Memorial Library at 6:30 p.m.