University of North Alabama

The ShoalsFest music festival returns to Florence next week. Six-time Grammy winner Jason Isbell is the driving force behind the event. His musical roots in the Shoals run deep. One of Isbell’s mentors was David Hood. He’s a bass guitarist with the group known as the Swampers.

It’s tough to know where to start with singer/songwriter Jason Isbell. He has six Grammy awards. Variety Magazine once called him the “Poet Laureate of Rock.” Another critic compared Isbell’s writing style to William Faulkner and John Prine.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Isbell got a part in director Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated film "Killers of the Flower Moon."And of course, Isbell founded the annual ShoalsFest musical festival, which is returning to Florence next week.We’ll touch on all that on APR notebook

For an eighth year, the University of North Alabama is preparing to celebrate French film through the university's French Film Festival next week. This year's festival will feature six movies and is set to begin March 3 and conclude March 19.

The University of North Alabama Esports Team is the reigning victor of the Fall 2024 College Halo National Championship, capping off a season with an undefeated record. The Lions finished the season 10-0 in regular season play, 4-0 in the postseason and achieved an overall map count of 33-1.

A team of University of North Alabama faculty is working to understand and address gaps in STEM higher education for rural, academically talented, low-income students through a collaborative grant led by Mississippi State. The National Science Foundation has awarded them a $2M grant to collect data and create research networks for the programs.

The University of North Alabama (UNA) Marching Band, the Marching Pride of North Alabama, is being selected to represent the State of Alabama and perform in the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®. This will mark the first Parade appearance by the UNA Marching Band.

The University of Alabama and the University of North Alabama are both reporting record-breaking enrollment numbers for the fall semester of 2024. Approximately 10,600 students are making UNA their choice for their higher education. Meantime, a record-breaking number of in-state first-year students highlights UA's fall 2024 total enrollment of 40,846 attendees.

The University of North Alabama is honoring North Alabama’s First Peoples with new mural unveiling. The display titled “Tears and Triumphs: Honoring North Alabama’s First Peoples" can be found at the Collier Library.

The 2024 college football season gets underway at the historic Cramton Bowl in Montgomery. The North Alabama Lions and Southeast Missouri State Redhawks will meet in the 10th annual FCS Kickoff on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. CT.

The Earth is passing into the orbit of the comet Temple-Tuttle. As a result, stargazers can expect to see the annual Perseid meteor shower reach its peak, with the best times to look for the Perseids on the mornings. The last morning to see the peak is Aug. 13.