News Briefs

Pardon me, would you kindly remove your head? Iowa’s favorite papier-mâché-noggined raptor mingles with prospective undergraduates and their families at the Nov. 10 Hawkeye Visit Day at the IMU. Six times each year, the Office of Admissions hosts these events at which applicants tour the campus, hear the latest on admission and financial aid, sample residence hall food, and meet current students. And, of course, rub elbows with the occasional mascot. Photo by Rex Bavousett.

Books bound for Japan

The UI Center for the Book (UICB) has provided a ceremonial gift to be presented by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and First Lady Christie Vilsack to governor Tom Amano of Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture when the Vilsacks travel to Japan this week. The visit commemorates Iowa’s 40-year sister state relationship with Yamanashi Prefecture. The gift will consist of six guest books handmade by the UICB using traditional and innovative book production techniques.

The Iowa City-based Iowa Yamanashi Prefecture Friendship Committee commissioned the books, the largest of which will be given to Amano to record the names of Yamanashi Prefecture’s important visitors. The remaining five will be given to the state’s dignitaries, according to Tim Barrett, director of the UICB. The calligraphy, cover printing, and all of the papers used in the books were produced in Iowa City.

The UICB was chosen to create the guest books after Christie Vilsack toured the UICB facilities and was impressed with the work done there.



Whites endow new law chair

Blair and Joan White of Wilmette, Ill., have funded an endowed chair at the College of Law. Their gift, made to the Iowa Law School Foundation as a part of the Iowa Law School Endowment Campaign for the 21st Century, will create the H. Blair and Joan V. White Chair in Intellectual Property Law.

Earnings from the Whites’ $1.5 million endowment will be used to support the activities of the chair recipient and provide an annual salary supplement to finance research, travel, computer equipment, and other materials that are critical to enhancing the research and teaching of intellectual property law at the College of Law.



UI posts gains in study abroad, international students at Iowa

International Programs and the Office of the Registrar report that the number of UI students studying abroad and the number of international students attending the University both have increased in the latest reporting period. These increases are in line with national trends reported by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in its annual Open Doors report, released Nov. 13.

The Open Doors report shows a 14 percent increase in U.S. students studying abroad in 1998-99 and a 5 percent increase in international students studying in the United States in 1999-2000, the most recent years for which figures are available.

In 1998-99, 671 UI students studied abroad, a 10 percent increase over the previous year. UI international student enrollment in the 1998-99 academic year increased to 1,697, a 6 percent rise. In 1999-2000, 705 UI students studied abroad, and as of fall 2000, international student enrollment stood at 1,797. IIE does not have national figures from these years for comparison.

For more information about UI study abroad figures, contact Phil Carls at (33)5-0353. For more information on international student enrollment at UI, contact Gary Althen at (33)5-0335 or Lois Gray at (33)5-2026. To learn more about the national trends, visit the IIE web site at www.opendoorsweb.org.



Faculty, staff invited to attend reception for CIC senior staff

On Dec. 8, the Office of the Provost is playing host to the Committee on Institutional Cooperation senior staff. There will be a reception at the Museum of Art, Dec. 8, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. All members of CIC groups and committees, as well as other interested faculty and staff, are invited to attend.

The CIC, established in 1958, is the academic consortium of 12 major teaching and research universities. Its programs and activities extend to all aspects of university activity except intercollegiate athletics. The members of the committee, the chief academic officers of the CIC institutions, meet three times annually to establish CIC guidelines and procedures, to discuss proposed initiatives and evaluate existing programs, and to address collective concerns and policy issues common to these institutions.



Iowa Shares campaign half way to goal

The Iowa Shares 2000 campaign is receiving support from University employees.

"We are half-way toward our goal," says Monique DiCarlo, Iowa Shares campaign campus coordinator and the director of the Women’s Resource and Action Center. The Women’s Resource and Action Center is one of the 16 members of Iowa Shares.

"University employees’ financial support for Iowa Shares means that the Women’s Center can facilitate our ‘Women and Money’ workshops and continue our new educational programs targeting young women," DiCarlo says.

The unique aspect of Iowa Shares is the member groups’ focus on going beyond direct service solutions and working on the root causes of social injustices. While some of the Iowa Shares member organizations, like the Women’s Center, provide counseling, support groups, or shelter, they also have social change missions to enhance communities through policy analysis, education, and advocacy. For more information or to receive a pledge card, please call Monique at (33)5-1486.



Take a survey, win a prize

If you’ve still got that fyi survey sitting in a pile of papers on your desk, you have until Dec. 1 to dig it out and send it in. Three lucky survey-takers (who have included their names at the top of the survey) will have a chance to win one of three $30 gift certificates from the Iowa Memorial Union Bookstore.

The fyi survey is a chance for the editors, designers, writers, and web staff to hear what University faculty and staff do and don’t like about this publication. The results will help us to better meet the needs and pique the interests of readers. Comments are especially appreciated, but each returned survey is valuable to us—and potentially to you too. Who couldn’t use a $30 gift certificate right before the holiday season?



Benefits deadline nears

Don’t forget that Nov. 17 is the deadline for faculty and for P&S staff to enroll in the 2001 University benefits programs. Staff who aren’t changing dependents and/or beneficiaries on their policies or switching care managers in the UI Care plan may enroll on-line through Nov. 19. Passwords for use with on-line enrollment were sent in campus mail in October.

The deadline for merit staff benefits enrollment is Nov. 20.

For more information, call (33)5-2676.



Reserve lists due in Dec.

The deadline for the submission of spring semester reserve lists is Dec. 14. Faculty members who have not received forms may obtain them from their branch librarian or from Reserve Services in the Main Library. If you have questions, call either your branch library or Main Library Reserve Services, (33)5-5912.



Cocoa and Carols returns

Familiar holiday songs, Santa Claus, and hot chocolate will all be part of the performance when the Old Gold Singers present their holiday spectacle Cocoa and Carols at 8 p.m., Dec. 2 and 2 p.m., Dec. 3 in Hancher Auditorium.

An ensemble of the School of Music, the Old Gold Singers will be led by UI graduate assistant Kevin Kriegel.

The program features well-known Christmas carols and a "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" sing-along. As is traditional for Cocoa and Carols, hot cocoa will be served to guests in the lobby after the performances. For ticket information, contact Hancher Box Office at (33)5-1160.

"Devi seated on throne," a work in papier-mâché by an unknown artist of Gujerat, India, is part of Experiencing Devi: Hindu Goddesses in Indian Popular Art, an exhibition of more than 50 art works in various media from the Georgana Falb Foster Collection, a recent donation to the museum. The exhibition runs from Nov. 25 to May 27, 2001.

Young jazz trumpet star Nicholas Payton and his band will mark the 100th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s birth in the "Armstrong Centennial Celebration" at 8 p.m. Nov. 17, in Hancher Auditorium. For ticket information, call Hancher Box Office, (33)5-1160.