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Texts and photos are also available via FTP at cunews.cornell.edu. If you have any questions, send ordinary e-mail to cunews@cornell.edu.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Long-term temperature runs in the Northeast -- four months or more of higher-than-normal or lower-than-normal readings -- are broken up by El Niño weather events, which begin in the Pacific Ocean, according to a Cornell University climatologist. "This is just another small piece to fit into making weather forecasts," said Arthur T. DeGaetano, Ph.D., a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. DeGaetano presented a paper, "Persistence of Northeastern U.S. Temperature Anomalies in Relation to ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) Occurrence," at the American Meteorological Society's Conference on Climate Variations at Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 5. The research was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the regional climate centers. NRCC.Nino.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Robert H. Foote, Cornell professor emeritus of animal science and one of the pioneers in cloning, will testify at hearings on cloning before the New York State Senate Committee on Investigation, at the State Office Building, 270 Broadway, New York City, on Thursday, March 13. The hearings begin at 11 a.m. State Sen. Roy Goodman (R-Manhattan), chair, will conduct the first such hearing to take place in a state legislature since Scottish scientists announced last month the successful cloning of a mammal -- a sheep. Foote.NYC.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- This just in: An earthquake hit part of the Cornell campus on Feb. 26, resulting in severe building damage, broken concrete and a lot of data. "I would say this building is irreparable. It may be that the whole building will have to be demolished," said Richard N. White, the James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering and professor of civil and environmental engineering. But don't worry -- it was a simulated earthquake of a 1/4-scale building, using a shake table in Cornell's "structure lab" in the basement of Thurston Hall. The earthquake, which would have registered about 8.2 on the Richter scale -- a severe earthquake -- was part of dissertation research by Ahmed Abdel-Mouti, a doctoral student sponsored by the Egyptian government in Cornell's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. While his doctoral research is at Cornell, the Ph.D. will be awarded by Aim Shams University in Cairo. Abdel-Mouti and Timothy Bond, manager of the George Winter Laboratory of Structural Engineering, built a 1/4-scale concrete building typical of many buildings in this country and in Egypt -- with a reinforced concrete exterior frame, but with interior, infilled walls. These walls, basically concrete blocks put together with layers of mortar such as that used in common construction, generally are not considered part of the structural integrity of a building, but Abdel-Mouti's experiment, sponsored by the Egyptian government, is showing something different. concrete1.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- More than 80 percent of college undergraduate students are smart enough to take a nap and help restore their mental and physical powers, according to a survey of 802 Cornell University psychology students. That's good news to sleep researcher and longtime nap-advocate James B. Maas, professor of psychology in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. But too many of the best-educated students and too many working Americans, he believes, still fail to acknowledge their need for ZZZZZs, as Maas documents in two upcoming books. drowsy.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Most residents of states surrounding the red wolf re-establishment zones in eastern North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park endorse wolf-recovery efforts and may spend as much as $170 million a year to visit the endangered animals, a Cornell University study has shown. "We found broad and strong public support for re-establishment of the red wolf," said William E. Rosen, the economist in Cornell's College of Human Ecology who directed the eight-state survey. "More than 70 percent of the people we talked with said they want to visit one of the recovery regions, and 27 percent said they would be less likely to visit if the red wolves are removed." redwolf.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a 20-mile radius of York, N.Y., more than 30,000 dairy cows on 100 farms produce as much sludge as 1.5 million people. But with the help of Cornell University agricultural engineers, the community literally may soon clear the air. The community around York will hear a report on Monday, March 24, on the feasibility of a central plant that would remove manure odor, recycle manure for value-added products, improve dairy waste management and perhaps provide energy back to the community. All this, and it would more than pay for itself, too. Manure.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Every wound requires biomaterials to close it. A new book provides comprehensive information on state-of-the-art, innovative biomaterials, devices and techniques used in wound closure. Wound Closure Biomaterials and Devices (CRC Press, 1997; $110) is the first and only complete resource on the complex and rapidly changing field of wound closure materials. Intended for surgeons, dentists and veterinarians, as well as chemists, material scientists and engineers, the 400-page text is edited by C.C. Chu, Ph.D., a fiber and biomaterials scientist and Cornell University professor of textiles and apparel; J. Anthony von Fraunhofer, Ph.D., F.A.S.M., F.R.S.C., and professor in the department of restorative dentistry at the University of Maryland at Baltimore; and Howard P. Greisler, M.D., professor in the department of surgery at Loyola University. chu.book.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Northeast survived the 11th warmest February in 103 years of record -- warm enough to shatter six all-time temperature records for the month and set or tie 47 daily high-temperature records, according to climatologists at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. "February was a continuation of the winter's warm weather," said Keith Eggleston, regional climatologist at the center. For the Northeast, the month averaged 5.4 degrees warmer than normal, making it the region's 11th warmest February in 103 years of records. The winter season (December through February) was also the 11th warmest on record in the Northeast, with a departure from normal of plus 4.2 degrees. NRCC.Feb97.bpf.html

NEW YORK -- State lawmakers should not move hastily to ban cloning research because it could yield medical breakthroughs that benefit humanity, a Cornell University cloning pioneer told a New York State Senate Committee last week. "We want the public to know that the research on cloning can uniquely advance knowledge in ways that will improve the quality of life," said Robert H. Foote, Cornell professor emeritus of animal science and biology. "In fact, some techniques now used by in vitro fertilization clinics might be technically classified as cloning. For example, relatively infertile couples may be helped to have a baby resulting from their own sexually-initiated, single embryo, by expertly making these two embryos in vitro." He said this basically mimics nature's procedure of cloning when a young embryo splits spontaneously and both halves survive to produce identical twins. Clone.release.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Seriously overweight cats are more likely to suffer diabetes mellitus, lameness and non-allergic skin conditions, a Cornell University veterinarian's four-year follow-up to a feline obesity study has shown. Most likely to be tubby are neutered, apartment-dwelling, mixed breed cats eating prescription cat food. fatcats.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Infrared measurements of Comet Hale-Bopp by Cornell University and NASA investigators are yielding valuable clues about the makeup of the celestial visitor and, perhaps, the origins of the solar system. Using a combination infrared spectrometer and camera designed and built by Cornell University researchers and attached to the 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory, Cornell and NASA scientists have made ground-based measurements in an effort to learn what kind of stuff the comet is sloughing off as it approaches perihelion, that is, its closest approach to the sun. Comet.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University scientists have achieved a "Holy Grail" of materials science -- pure, single crystal growth of any film on a semiconductor substrate, a technique that holds promise to revolutionize electronics. "This is preliminary work, but if it truly works -- and we think it will -- it definitely could revolutionize the microelectronics industry," said Yu-Hwa Lo, Cornell associate professor of electrical engineering who led the work. "This is a whole new way of doing things. The potential is very great, unimaginable really, but we don't know yet if it will actually happen. We have demonstrated that it is possible." Substrate.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Norman R. Scott, vice president for research and advanced studies at Cornell University, today (March 28) issued the following statement upon receiving news that Cornell had not been successful in the latest round of supercomputing competition sponsored by the National Science Foundation: "Cornell University is deeply disappointed by the National Science Board decision not to include the Cornell Theory Center among the two institutions that were awarded the National Science Foundation's new Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program. For the past ten years, the Cornell Theory Center has served as one of the original national centers in supercomputing supported by the NSF under a previous program; that program's support for the Center will now enter a phase-out period. theorycenterstatement.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The attention paid to America's jury system has never been more intense than in the past two years. The juries in the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials were more scrutinized, more second-guessed, more criticized and more praised than perhaps any juries in modern history. But their performances and that of juries in other recent high-profile cases -- Rodney King and the Menendez brothers -- have raised debate over the health of the jury system. Do jurors represent the community? Do jurors comprehend trials? Does the current size of juries and requirements for unanimous verdicts produce just results? For the first time since the end of the O.J. Simpson legal saga, a major university will address these questions in an examination of the jury system that will bring together jury consultants, prosecutors, educators and other experts from across the country. Cornell University's Law School will present "Arbiters or Arbitrary? Redefining the Role of the Jury" on March 7 and 8. All sessions are open to the public and will take place in MacDonald Moot Court Room of Myron Taylor Hall, unless otherwise indicated. jury.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Robert J. Swieringa, a professor in the practice of accounting at the School of Management at Yale University and a former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, has been named the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. The appointment was announced to the Johnson School faculty Feb. 27 by Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings. Subject to approval by the Cornell Board of Trustees, Swieringa will take office in July. Swieringadean.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A scenic commuting route and outdoor science classroom, the Cascadilla Gorge Path should re-open to the public this year with the award to Cornell Plantations of state and federal emergency repair funds. Some $63,000 in repair funds from the New York State Emergency Management Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were secured with the assistance of State Assemblyman Martin A. Luster (D-125th) and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-26th). The 0.3-mile Cascadilla Gorge Path, which rises 400 feet as it links downtown Ithaca at Court Street with the Cornell campus at College Avenue, has been closed to the public since the January 1996 flood. Torrents of unusually high water from melting snow and prolonged downpours damaged stone pathways, steps and bridges, that date back to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) projects of the 1930s. cascadilla.fema.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The inspirations for the six original pieces to be performed at Dance Concert '97 at Cornell University are as varied as the performers themselves -- who include a veterinary student and recent high school graduate. Cornell's Department of Theatre, Film and Dance will present its annual dance concert this weekend in the Proscenium Theatre of the Center for Theatre Arts, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 6-8; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 9. Tickets are $6 for students and seniors and $8 for the general public and are available at the Center for Theatre Arts Box Office; office hours are Monday through Friday, 12:30-5:30 p.m., and one hour before performances. For more information, call (607) 254-ARTS. dancerelease.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Epoch, a literary journal based in the English department at Cornell University for the past 50 years, will have four of its stories included in Prized Stories 1997: The O. Henry Awards, one of the nation's most prestigious collections of short fiction. This is the highest number of entries from any single publication, including The New Yorker (which has three winning entries). The Epoch pieces selected for inclusion are "The Balm of Gilead Tree," by Cornell's Robert R. Morgan, the Kappa Alpha Professor of English and an award-winning poet and novelist; "Dancing After Hours," by Andre Dubus, a renowned short-story writer from Massachusetts; "The Taxi Ride," by Patricia Elam Ruff, a fiction writer, commentator and lawyer; and "Catface," actually a suite of three short stories, by newcomer Arthur Bradford. Epoch.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two Cornell University scientists have been honored for their work: Riccardo Giovanelli, professor of astronomy, in astronomy and Watt W. Webb, professor of applied and engineering physics, in microscopy. Riccardo Giovanelli, professor of astronomy, will receive one of the highest honors that Italy, his country of origin, bestows upon scientists. Giovanelli will receive the Cavaliere nell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana "for having brought distinction, with your eminent studies, to the presence of Italy in the Astronomical Sciences and contributing, through your prestigious achievements, to confirm the value of our scientists," according to a letter from the Italian Consul in New York City to Giovanelli. He received the honor Feb. 28 in New York City. Watt W. Webb, professor of applied and engineering physics, has been selected to receive the 1997 Ernst Abbe Lecture Award, a joint award of the Royal Microscopical Society and Carl Zeiss Inc. He received the award during ceremonies March 4 at the Biophysical Society meeting in New Orleans. He also will present his work in a lecture at the New York Academy of Sciences at a later date. Webb received the award "in recognition of his wide-ranging contributions to quantitative microscopy and his significant discoveries in fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy." Awards.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Offering career networking for students and reviewing recent developments at their alma mater will be the focus of the annual spring conference of the President's Council of Cornell Women when it meets on campus March 7 to 9. "Opportunities and Choices: Women and the Changing Work Environment" is the title of the conference, the first session of which will feature a panel of university deans and directors describing recent changes at Cornell as the university adjusts to an environment of shrinking budgets. To be held in the Statler Hotel Amphitheater on Friday, March 7 at 4 p.m., "A New Paradigm -- The University as a Business" will have as panelists Francille Firebaugh, dean of the College of Human Ecology; Mary Opperman, associate vice president of human resources; Tom Dyckman, acting dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management; and Fred Rogers, senior vice president and chief financial officer. pccwadvance.lgk.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Robert D. Ralyea, a U.S. Army chief warrant officer and a Cornell University graduate student in food science, was given the Meritorious Service Medal one of the Army's most prestigious peacetime awards on Feb. 25. Currently assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Department Student Detachment at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Ralyea now is living in Ithaca to attend Cornell as part of a student detachment and earn a master's degree. Ralyea.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- United Pagan Ministries (UPM), an interfaith religious organization, has joined the spiritual community of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW). In addition to full participation in the joint work of CURW to foster interreligious understanding and respect, UPM is dedicated to providing support, outreach and education regarding issues of importance to Pagans and Paganism, according to its spokespersons. CURW Director Robert Johnson said UPM met all criteria when it applied for membership last year, including participation of 10 full-time students; he supports its membership. pagan.jg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Three Cornell University faculty members in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering recently have earned honors. Albert R. George, the J.F. Carr Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the 1997 recipient of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aeroacoustics Award. John L. Lumley, the Willis H. Carrier Professor of Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the AIAA. Kenneth E. Torrance, professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell, has been selected as recipient of the Mu Tau Sigma Excellence in Teaching Award for the summer of 1996. Engawards.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Five Cornell University seniors have received Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Employee Awards for "exceptional performance, leadership and library service to the campus." At $500, the Fuerst Award is one of the largest awards given to Cornell student workers. The 1997 Fuerst Award winners and their majors, hometowns and libraries are: Eric Beveridge, history, DeSoto, Mo., Law Library; Kirsten Harhay, human development/family studies, Fairport, N.Y., Mann Library; Mohamed Nazri Omar, economics/government, from Malaysia, Management Library; Jeremy Pyper, Asian Studies, Montgomery, Ala., Olin Library; and Melinda Shaw, independent study, Agriculture/Life Sciences, Tully, N.Y., Olin. FUERSTRELEASE.jg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Nelson E. Roth, a partner in an Ithaca law firm and special prosecutor in the recent state police evidence-tampering investigation, has been appointed an associate university counsel in the Cornell University Counsel's Office. Roth, who has been a partner with the law firm of Barney, Grossman, Roth & Dubow since 1981, begins his new duties March 17, according to James J. Mingle, university counsel. nelson.roth.jkp.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Board of Trustees will meet in Ithaca on March 13 and 14. The board of trustees will meet from 9 a.m. to noon and again from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday, March 14, in the Marriott Amphitheater of the Statler Hotel. A 65-minute open session will be held at the start of the meeting. Topics will include a report on the creation of a universitywide Department of Statistical Science; a review of current and future use of information technologies on campus; an update on State University of New York (SUNY) budget discussions and discussion of statutory college tuitions; and the universitywide admissions and financial aid policy. Trustee.adv.3.13.doc.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Tzvetan Todorov, an internationally renowned writer and director of research at the Centre National de Recherches (CNRS) in Paris, will visit Cornell University on March 24--28 as a Clark Fellow. The highlight of his visit will be a lecture titled "History and Ethics" on Monday, March 24, at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. Todorov also will host a seminar on his lecture and his work on Tuesday, March 25, at 4:30 p.m. in the Guerlac Room of the A.D. White House. ClarkRelease.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The biological applications of engineering, or bioengineering, is the topic of the 1997 Cornell Society of Engineers annual conference April 10-12 at Cornell University. Featuring Richard A. Hazleton, chairman and CEO of Dow Corning Corp., and Samuel Fleming, chairman and CEO of Decision Resources Inc., the conference "Frontiers in Bioengineering" will highlight research in the rapidly developing field. Featured will be speakers from the Cornell faculty and from industry. Engconf.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jack H. Freed, Cornell University professor of chemistry, has been awarded the 1997 Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics by the American Physical Society (APS). The APS honored Freed, according to the society, "For his development of new magnetic resonance methods and theory, including computational algorithms for the stochastic Liouville equation, time-domain electron spin resonance methods for the study of molecular dynamics in liquids, applications of ESR to surface science, and the discovery of nuclear spin waves in spin-polarized H atoms." Freed.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's Committee on U.S.--Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) will host a "Sweatshop Fashion Show" on Friday, March 28, to highlight the treacherous working conditions of garment industry workers in the United States and Latin America. The show will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium; suggested donation is $2 to $5. "High school and college students are the biggest market for the major brand names in the fashion industry," said CUSLAR spokesperson Patricia Campos. "By raising awareness about the practices of fashion producers, we hope to help students become educated consumers and in that manner pressure the fashion industry to clean up its act." Sweatshop.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- For nearly 125 years, historians have assumed that a letter Cornell University Founder Ezra Cornell wrote and placed for posterity into the Sage Hall cornerstone had addressed the university's coeducational status. After all, the campus building was to house the Sage College for Women at the only public coeducational institution of higher education in the eastern United States. But historians could only assume; Cornell made no copy of his letter and showed it to no one at the time. No one but Cornell himself knew its contents. Until now. sagecornerstone.jg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sileshi Semaw, a renowned paleoanthropologist whose research team has unearthed some of the oldest known stone tools, will discuss his work in a public lecture at Cornell University on Tuesday, March 25, at 3 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall. Semaw is the lead author of a study published earlier this year in the British scientific journal Nature (Jan. 23, 1997) that describes his discoveries, with collaborators from Rutgers University, of nearly 3,000 stone tools in Gona, Ethiopia, between 1992 and 1994. These remarkably sophisticated tools have been dated at 2.5 million years old, making them the oldest known human artifacts. Similar tools found in other parts of Ethiopia previously were thought to be 1.8 million years old. ethiopian.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tschumi, two influential architects who have made their marks designing urban parks and cities, will deliver the 1997 Preston H. Thomas Memorial Lectures at Cornell University. The subject of this year's lectures is "After Architecture: Globalization and the Normative." Koolhaas will speak March 24 and 25. Tschumi will speak March 27 and 28. All lectures, which are free and open to the public, begin at 5:30 p.m. in 200 Baker Lab on the Cornell campus. The lectures are sponsored by the Department of Architecture. prestonthomas.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- With more than 42 million people enrolled in managed care programs, social workers and other human service professionals have become increasingly concerned about ethical dilemmas and issues related to client advocacy, access, regulation and consumer protection. To address these issues, a seminar, "Social Work in the Managed Care Environment," is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Faculty Commons of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall at Cornell University. Open to the public, the seminar is intended for human service professionals and students. social.work.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell Plantations officials are asking for the return of about a dozen yucca plants stolen from a site on Judd Falls Road and a bronze plaque that is missing from the Mary Rockwell Azalea Garden on Tower Road. The tall, spiky yuccas were dug up sometime this month from a planting at the "jug handle" intersection of Judd Falls and Plantations roads. Although the yuccas are not rare, they were a longtime feature of the landscaping in that area and apparently were removed during the recent warm weather, according to Hal Martin, facilities manager for Cornell Plantations. yucca.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- May R. Berenbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor of entomology and head of the department, will discuss plants, chemicals and insects in a lecture titled "Chemical Co-Evolution: Plant Poisons, P-450s & Papilionids" at the Boyce Thompson Institute Auditorium, Wednesday, March 26, at 3 p.m. on the Cornell University campus. The lecture, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc. Berenbaum.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jan Schlichtmann JD '77, the principal plaintiffs' attorney in a major environmental civil case documented in the paperback best seller A Civil Action, will participate in a panel discussion on "The Uncivil Handling of a Civil Action: Legal Ethics Issues, Life as a Litigator and What About Justice?" March 26 at 4 p.m. in Room G90 of Myron Taylor Hall of the Cornell Law School. The presentation is free and open to the public. Schlichtmann represented eight families in Woburn, Mass., in their case brought in 1982 against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods for allegedly leaking toxins into drinking water wells, which, the plaintiffs said, caused a variety of health problems, including a dozen cases of childhood leukemia. This nine-year legal battle, which was fraught with controversial decisions from the judge and seemingly endless delays, brought an $8 million settlement from W.R. Grace and a not-guilty verdict for Beatrice Foods. It also left Schlichtmann broke. civilaction.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Patricia Nelson Limerick, a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder and one of the pioneers of the trend known as "New Western History," will deliver three Carl Becker Lectures at Cornell University March 31 through April 2. She will deliver the lectures, which are free and open to the public, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 165 McGraw Hall as follows: -- Monday, March 31: "From Covered Wagons to Recreational Vehicles, Colt Revolvers to Nuclear Arms: Reappraising Continuity in Western American History." Tuesday, April 1: "The Atomic West: The Cold War and the Contamination of the Wide Open Spaces." Wednesday, April 2: "Something in the Soil: Rocky Flats, Denver and the Perceptions of Risk." BeckerLectures.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A five-day intensive professional development program for health executives is slated for May 4 through 9 at Cornell University. The Health Executives Development Program, now in its 39th year, will feature 24 experts speaking on macroeconomic realities, health-reform imperatives, strategic alliances and new technological developments, including how new information systems technologies are affecting health care quality and delivery. healthexec.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Before Uyen Nguyen ever got to Cornell University last fall, an upperclassman wrote to welcome her to campus and say he'd be her mentor during her first year here. "It's easy to feel lost here because Cornell is such a big university, but having a mentor made me feel like I belonged, that people actually cared about me," said Nguyen, a freshman from New York City in Cornell's College of Human Ecology, who met with her mentor and his small group of "mentees" throughout her first semester skating, sharing coffee, pizza, donuts and other assorted snacks and meals, taking a library tour together, going to a hockey game, shooting pool and meeting every other week with their faculty adviser. "Having a mentor made me feel more connected." partnership.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles (RIBs), Southside Community Center's bicycle program, urgently needs volunteers on a regular basis to work two to six hours weekly, both from home or on-site at its new home on South Corn Street. RIBs needs one or two volunteers to help with management of the program as well as to staff the RIBs facility and work from home, making phone calls and schedules. None of these volunteer positions require any knowledge of bicycles. ribs.bikes.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Debora Kuller Shuger, professor of English at the University of California at Los Angeles, will visit Cornell University in April to deliver a lecture titled "Glutinous Gums and the Stream of Consciousness: The Theology of Milton's Comus" on Monday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall. The lecture is presented as part of the University Lectures series. Univlecture.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell Political Forum, a 12-year-old student organization at Cornell University that publishes the award-winning quarterly journal of the same name, will host a panel discussion on China on Monday, March 31, at 8 p.m. in Auditorium D of Goldwin Smith Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Joining the panel will be Harry Harding, dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University and one of this country's foremost experts on U.S.-China policy. Also serving on the panel from Cornell will be Bruce Reynolds, editor of the China Economic Review and a visiting professor of economics at Cornell from Union College; Thomas Christensen, assistant professor of government; and Vivienne Shue, the Frank and Rosa Rhodes Professor of Chinese Government. Moderating will be Tsu-Lin Mei, the Hu Shih Professor of Chinese Literature and Philosophy. Chinaforum.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- "There will be no genuine third party, and certainly no real transformation into a multiparty system, without a constitutional revolution," says Theodore J. Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University. Join Lowi on Thursday, May 8, at 7 p.m., when he will give a talk to the Cornell Club of Greater Hartford titled "So, Where Is That Third Party?" at the Tumble Brook Country Club, 376 Simsbury Road, in Bloomfield. The trip is a reprise to Lowi's highly successful visit to the area in 1990. The cost of the lecture is $15 for members of the Cornell Club of Greater Hartford, which is sponsoring Lowi's visit, and $20 for all others; fee includes dessert buffet. Checks should be made payable to the Cornell Club of Greater Hartford, c/o Tom and Cathy Bartell, 6 Robin Road Simsbury, Conn. 06070. The reservation deadline is April 24. Lowiadv.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Six valuable plants have been stolen from the Clement Gray Bowers Rhododendron Collection at Cornell University, and Cornell Plantations officials are hoping for their return. Two of the rhododendrons are irreplaceable, according to Plantations Curator Mary Hirshfeld, because they are hybrids that were propagated from an original parent plant. One of the three medium-sized rhododendrons, which were gifts to the university, is a memorial plant in honor of Christopher Allan Holmberg. Three other stolen rhododendrons were dwarf varieties that took 11 years to reach their height of less than 24 inches, Hirshfeld said. The total value of the plants is estimated at $800-$1,200. rhodo.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Former Israeli prime minister and Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres will give a public lecture at Cornell University on Wednesday, April 30, at 8 p.m. in the Newman Arena of the Cornell University Field House. The lecture is titled "Battling for Peace." Tickets are available as follows: -- For students: $4 with a Cornell I.D. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 9, at 10 a.m. in the Willard Straight Hall ticket office on a first-come, first-served basis. From April 9 to 11, there will be a limit of two tickets per student. Ticket office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shimon.jkg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Richard N. Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, will give the Harry S. Kieval Lecture In Physics at Cornell University on Monday, March 31. The lecture, "Laboratory Measurements of Extraterrestrial Visitors," will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Schwartz Auditorium, Rockefeller Hall. Refreshments will be available from 4 to 4:20 p.m. in the first floor hallway. Zare, chairman of the National Science Board and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, was a member of the research group that reported last year that a Martian meteorite contains fossilized evidence of microbial life. Zare's chemistry laboratory provided the technique, called laser mass spectrometry, for analyzing the meteorite. Zare.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sol M. Gruner, a Princeton University physicist, has been appointed director of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University, effective Sept. 1. Gruner, on the Princeton faculty since 1978, also will be a professor of physics at Cornell. He replaces Boris W. Batterman, the Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of Engineering and professor of applied and engineering physics, as CHESS director. Batterman has been director since 1978. CHESS.lb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Francis A. Kallfelz, D.V.M., has been appointed a James Law Professor of Medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. His appointment was approved by the Cornell Board of Trustees at its March meeting. A member of the college faculty since 1966 and director of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital since 1991, Kallfelz conducts research in the areas of clinical nutrition, mineral metabolism, metabolic diseases of domestic animals and veterinary nuclear medicine. He earned the veterinary degree, with distinction in (1962), and doctoral degree in physical biology in 1966, both from Cornell University. kallfelz.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's summer day camp for children of employees is now accepting registrations for the 1997 season. University Summer Day Camp will be held June 24 through Aug. 15, in two-week sessions. Attendance is limited to children who will enter grades one through eight this fall. Camp director Dick Taylor said the 1997 University Summer Day Camp will have its headquarters in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house on the corner of Campus Road and Stewart Avenue, but "the entire Cornell campus will be the 'campground' where campers explore, learn about the exciting things happening around campus and, most importantly, have a fun-filled summer." CUDayCamp.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A behind-the-scenes tour of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine awaits visitors at the college's annual open house, Saturday, April 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each spring, students in Cornell's DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) program host an open house of college facilities. This year's event will be the 31st to demonstrate the veterinary education experience while bringing visitors face to face with many of the animals veterinarians care for. Admission and parking are free for the open house. VetOpen97.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is planning a broad range of cultural and educational programs throughout "Gaypril," Cornell's way of celebrating LGBT heritage, instilling pride and strengthening solidarity during the academic year. (Gay pride is celebrated nationally in June.) The capstone event will be Cornell's participation in a National Day of Silence on Wednesday, April 9, when participants will take a vow of silence from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to Carlisle Douglas, coordinator of Cornell's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Resource Office, the event serves to raise awareness of the silence that members of the LGBT community face daily, to increase visibility of the community and its supporters and to provoke discussion of what can be done to end the silence. More than 80 U.S. and Canadian colleges and high schools are participating in the National Day of Silence. Gaypril.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Issues of reproductive rights and violence against women take the spotlight in a national conference, "Bodies, Boundaries and Beyond: The Impact of the Law on Women," to be held April 4 through 6 at the Cornell University Law School. "This conference recognizes the differential impact of various laws on the bodies of women of color, women of various classes and lesbian and bisexual women," said conference organizer Kelly Corbett, a Cornell law student. "Perhaps most importantly, this conference provides hope through a recognition of the proactive work that certain feminist and activist organizations are pursuing." women.dg.html