Briefs

Board of Trustees meet:The Cornell University Board of Trustees will hold its first meetings of 2005 at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, Jan. 21 and 22. The full board will meet from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21. The first 15 minutes of the afternoon session will be open to the public. The rest of the meetings and a meeting Saturday, Jan. 22, from 9 to 11:45 a.m., will be closed. The meetings will be in the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Education Center, 1300 York Ave. Among topics of discussion will be a report from President Jeffrey Lehman and reports from the chairs of the standing committees of the board. In addition to the full board meetings, the following committees with open sessions will meet Thursday, Jan. 20, Friday, Jan. 21, or Saturday, Jan. 22:the Buildings and Properties Committee will meet briefly in open session to approve project and budget status reports at its 9:30 a.m. meeting, Thursday, at the Cornell Club of New York, 6 E. 44th St.; the Audit Committee will have an open session at the beginning of its meeting at 4 p.m., Thursday, at the Cornell Club of New York, during which various reports will be discussed, including the annual report; the Committee on Academic Affairs and Campus Life will have a brief open session at its meeting at 3:30 p.m., Friday, in Room A-126 at Weill Cornell Medical College for approval of research scientist and principal research scientist titles; the Land Grant and Statutory College Affairs Committee will meet in open session at 7:30 a.m., Saturday, in Room A-126. Reports to the committee will be presented by Provost Biddy Martin, Vice Provost Francille Firebaugh and two vice presidents, Carolyn Ainslie and Van McMurtry. There also will be a panel presentation on distributed systems of outreach and applied research.

Travel grants:Do you need to travel abroad for your graduate research? The competition is now open for the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies' 2005-06 International Research Travel Grants for Cornell graduate students' travel between April 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006. Applications are available at the Einaudi Center (170 Uris Hall), Graduate School (143 Caldwell Hall) or at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/fundingopps/travelgrant.asp. The application deadline is Feb. 1.

Two English-as-a-second-language programs offered:Two non-credit part-time courses will be offered at Cornell this spring for visiting scholars and anyone else seeking improvement in basic English-language skills. The first course, Life in the United States -- Communicating across Cultures, will be offered from Feb. 3 through April 28 (Thursdays, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room B15, Rockefeller Hall) and will include conversational activities, interactive presentations, and discussions to give practice in speaking, pronunciation and listening skills. Reading, writing and grammar activities will help reinforce vocabulary and conversational skills. Field trips are scheduled to provide opportunities for discussion with native English speakers and insight into American culture and history. The second course, Images of American Culture, will be offered from Feb. 7 to May 2 (Mondays, 6 to 8 p.m., Room B15, Rockefeller Hall) and will focus on American culture and on English skills needed for successful communication. Class activities will include discussions of films, television programs, and magazine articles. Oral presentations and debates will be filmed during the class and later analyzed in individual conferences with the instructor. The fee for each course is $500 and includes books and materials. Participants are welcome to sign up for one or both courses. Enroll online at http://www.sce.cornell.edu/exec. For more information, contact Cornell's School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at 255-7259 or e-mail cusp@cornell.edu.