News Briefs

Rare Amana photos topic of lecture

The author of Picturing Utopia: Bertha Shambaugh & the Amana Photographers will be discussing the book and showing slides at 8 p.m., April 26 in Sham-baugh Auditorium. In this volume, published by the University of Iowa Press, Abigail Foerstner, a writer on photography for the Chicago Tribune, North Shore magazine, and other publications, provides rare insight into the history of the most successful and long-lived religious utopia in the history of the United States.

The volume also explores the photography of Bertha Horack, a 19-year-old Iowa student who photographed the Amana colonies beginning in 1890. Horack later married UI professor of political science Benjamin Shambaugh. The book includes photographs taken by Bertha Shambaugh, and recounts her experiences both as an Amana photographer and as the center of an active intellectual and social world in Iowa City.

Foerstner also will be reading at 5:30 p.m., April 27 at the Amana Museum in Amana.



Time to renew

Books due June 1 and checked out on a faculty loan can now be renewed for the next academic year. Main Library books should be brought to Circulation Services at the Main Library; branch library books should be renewed at the owning library. Library staff can provide a list of books checked out on-line when presented with an ID card.



Russian elections focus of conference

What does Vladimir Putin’s victory mean for Russian policy toward the U.S.? Can the newly elected legislature work with Putin to solve issues such as crime, a weak economy, and environmental problems? What role will Russia now play in Asia? What will happen in Chechnya?

These and other questions will be addressed during a public roundtable at 3:30 p.m., April 24, in the Illinois room, IMU. The session is part of an April 24 and 25 conference, Russia’s Parliamentary and Presidential Elections: An In-Depth Assessment of Outcomes and Effects.

The conference will bring to the University several top scholars writing in English on Russian politics today.

The conference is funded by the Benjamin F. Shambaugh Fund of the Department of Political Science and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.



Strand, Sontag to read works

Poet Mark Strand and essayist and novelist Susan Sontag will read at the University on two consecutive evenings. As part of the Live from Prairie Lights series, both readings will be broadcast live on WSUI, 910-AM.

Pulitzer Prize winner and former United States Poet Laureate Mark Strand, an alumnus and former faculty member of the Writers’ Workshop, will read from his work at 8 p.m., April 26 in room 321 of the Chemistry Building.

Sontag will read from her new novel In America at 8 p.m., April 27, in Macbride Auditorium.

The readings are free and open to the public.



Tickets on sale now for new Hancher season

Tickets are now on mail-order sale for the 2000-2001 performing-arts season at Hancher Auditorium. The free brochure that details the season’s 35 music, theater, and dance attractions is available from the Hancher box office, (33)5-1160. The new season also can be explored on-line at www.uiowa.edu/~hancher.

Advance ticket-buyers enjoy the best choice of seats and can take advantage of volume discounts on most events. Purchases made before the end of June can be paid through Hancher’s installment plan. UI faculty and staff may select the option of payroll deduction.

UI students, senior citizens, and audience members 17 and younger qualify for special discounts to most events.

Hancher box office hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. From the local calling area, dial (33)5-1160.



See concrete float!

The UI Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers will serve as the host for the Midwest Regional Concrete Canoe Competition at 1:30 p.m., April 22 at the Lake Macbride beach. This free event is open to the public.

Technical presentations and displays on canoe design will begin the competition at 8:30 a.m., in room W10 of the John Pappajohn Business Building.

The 1:30 p.m. competition at Lake Macbride will include four races: men’s sprint, men’s long-distance, women’s sprint, and women’s long distance. The fifth race will be a coed sprint.

The winning team will advance to the national competition, June 24-26, at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo.

In addition to the UI team, competing universities include: the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, South Dakota State University, and North Dakota State University.



Wheatley to speak on quality, organizational change

The concluding lecture in Iowa’s Core Values Lecture Program will focus on the core value of quality. Margaret Wheatley, who has consulted to a wide variety of Fortune 500 clients as well as educational and non-profit institutions, will deliver a keynote address titled "Meaningful work, inclusionary processes, and the freedom to act." The lecture will be from 1:15-3:30 p.m. on May 15. Admission to this event is free. To register, e-mail dorian-walker@uiowa.edu.

Wheatley also will lead a Staff Development workshop titled "Organizational change: An entirely new approach" from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on May 15. There is a $79 fee for this event. To register, send payment to Staff Development, 121-51 USB, by May 1.

Participants in each event will receive a written confirmation and the location of the event through campus mail. For further information or a brochure for either of these events, call Staff Development at (33)5-2687.



Annual KidFest is April 29-30

RiverFest will be fun for all ages this year with KidFest making its third appearance at the annual event. Kids and their parents can enjoy the booths, entertainment, and events that make up KidFest as families explore Rollin’ on the RiverFest 2000.

KidFest is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 29-30 in Hubbard Park, next to the Iowa Memorial Union. In case of rain, KidFest will move to the Second Floor Ballroom in the IMU.

KidFest offers activities and art events for kids. There will also be science demonstrations, storytellers, and a juggler.

Children ages 12 and under can compete in a 50-yard dash to be held after RiverRun at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.