News Briefs

If you can't vote often, at least vote early It’s still not too late to vote early, as these voters are doing at the IMU. Stations in various Iowa City locations, including some on campus, allow registered voters to walk in and exercise their democratic rights without waiting for Election Day. To vote early on campus, go on Nov. 3 to the Landmark Lobby IMU or on Nov. 6 to the 8th floor of JCP. Both voting stations will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Some like it hot, hot, hot

Chili lovers will want to be on hand when President Mary Sue Coleman, Philip Jones, dean of students, Andy Stoll, UISG president, and Chris Galbreath, Associated Residence Halls president, compete at the chili cook-off during the alcohol-free pregame tailgate on Nov. 11 in Lot 14. Plan on arriving two hours before start of the Iowa vs. Northwestern game for chili sampling. Free hamburgers, hot dogs, and chips also will be served. Plenty of soda will be on hand to put out the fire.

Sponsorship for this and all Lot 14 alcohol-free tailgates is by the Stepping Up Project, a community and campus coalition to reduce the harmful effects of excessive drinking. Community cosponsors are Dain-Rauscher and Mercy Hospital.

Lot 14 is located at the northeast corner of Melrose and Grand Avenues and is the University’s designated alcohol-free lot.



United Way campaign continues

The University’s United Way campaign momentum is building as faculty, staff, and retirees reached 57% of their giving goal within the first six weeks of the campaign. Faculty and staff have contributed $164,286 and retirees have given $65,198. UI employees who make a donation to United Way by Nov. 10 will be eligible for a prize drawing. This year’s UI United Way campaign goal is $400,000. The UI campaign runs through November.

Money collected by United Way supports 40 nonprofit health and human service organizations in our community. UI employees can give through payroll deduction, cash gift, automatic deduction from a checking account, credit card, or direct billing from United Way. For more information, contact Jane Hoshi at (38)4-0017 or call United Way of Johnson County at 338-7823 to make a pledge.



UI exit pollsters will hit the streets on Election Day

Once you’ve cast your ballot on Tuesday, you still might not be finished. You might be one of the lucky voters asked to complete an exit poll that will yield valuable data to a research project being conducted collaboratively by Iowa and eight other universities.

David Redlawsk, assistant professor of political science, will send a group of students to 13 polling places in Iowa City and Coralville to conduct the poll. They plan to ask every fourth voter leaving the polls to fill out a brief, anonymous questionnaire. The poll is estimated to take no more than ten minutes to complete. The local poll is part of a nine-city collaborative research project. It will measure voters’ support of local ballot issues and their perceptions of government corruption, then correlate those views with the voters’ demographic groups.

Iowa staff and faculty are requested to complete the exit poll if asked.



Safewalk hours extended

To accommodate the new library hours and concerns about late-night safety, Safewalk is extending its hours of service and will now run from 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. Safewalk is a student-run volunteer organization that provides a campuswide walking escort service for students, staff, and faculty. Safewalk is housed at the Women’s Resource & Action Center.

Safewalk currently has 47 trained volunteers.

University employees and students may call Safewalk any time at (35)3-2500 to schedule a pre-planned walk or regular weekly walks, or call during regular service hours whenever they would like an escort.



TIC’s Quorum Sciences to be acquired by Aurora Biosciences

UI Technology Innovation Center (TIC) tenant Quorum Sciences Inc. will be acquired by Aurora Biosciences Corp. of San Diego, Calif., enabling Quorum to further expand its business and research prospects while remaining in Iowa. The merger announced Oct. 20 will allow Quorum to allocate more resources for additional scientific and managerial staff and expansion at Oakdale Research Park.

Quorum, a biotech "spin-off" at the TIC, was established in April 1998 based on research in the laboratory of E.

Peter Greenberg, professor of microbiology in the College of Medicine. After the merger, Greenberg will remain a UI professor.

According to Greenberg, Aurora intends to leave the Quorum operation in Iowa for the foreseeable future, which will mean new jobs and technology for Iowa. The plan is ultimately to turn discoveries made in Greenberg’s laboratory into commercial products, including a new class of antibacterial therapeutics and industrial products.



Feedback requested on current campus master plan

It has been two years since the current campus master plan was completed. The Campus Planning Committee and the Campus Planning Office are seeking feedback on how campus planning is working in all areas of campus.

Listening post forums have been set in the following major areas of campus: east campus, 2:30-4:30 p.m., Nov. 6, W151 PBB; west campus, 3:30-5 p.m., Nov. 8, Quadrangle Recreation Room; far west campus, 5:30-7 p.m., Nov. 8, Housing Office Conference Room (north end of Hawkeye Drive Apartments); Oakdale Campus, 3:30-5 p.m., Nov. 13, OH Auditorium.

Deans, directors, and department heads are urged to attend or to send a representative to express departmental thoughts, concerns, and recommendations on future campus physical development. All others who are interested are welcome. If you cannot attend a session in your area, you may attend any of the others. For those unable to attend at all, the Campus Planning Committee will place a questionnaire on its web site at www.uiowa.edu/~cpc.

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