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University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ Chancellor Richard L. Byyny announced today the appointment of Pauline Hale, former director of public relations and current spokesperson for the Â鶹ӰԺ campus, to the position of executive director of University Communications, effective Feb. 1. The position was vacated in July 2002 when former Executive Director Bobbi Barrow resigned to join Denver Health Medical Center. A national search conducted last fall did not result in an appointment.

MEDIA ADVISORY SORCE Satellite News Briefing at CU-Â鶹ӰԺ Set for Jan. 17 The University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ will hold a news briefing on Friday, Jan. 17, on the launch of an $85 million CU satellite designed and built to study Sun-Earth interactions that affect global conditions including climate change and ozone depletion.

Note to Editors: Reporters and photographers wanting media passes to this event should contact Peter Caughey at (303) 492-4007 or Greg Swenson at (303) 492-3113. Former U.S. Special Ambassador Dennis B. Ross will speak on the Middle East at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ on Jan. 22 in an event hosted by the student government's Cultural Events Board. Ross will speak at 7 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom. The doors will open at 6 p.m.

Displays chronicling the ideals and principles of Martin Luther King Jr. are being featured at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ in honor of the Jan. 20 holiday that bears his name. Exhibits are located in the east lobby of Norlin Library and the second floor of the University Memorial Center and are open for viewing during normal business hours. The UMC display will run from Jan. 15 to Jan. 20 and the Norlin display will run from Jan. 15 to Jan. 31.

Professor Sue Rankin of Pennsylvania State University will speak on "Queer Voices on Campus: Results of a 2001 Campus Climate Study" Jan. 30 at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ at 7 p.m. in Eaton Humanities Building, room 1B50. Rankin serves as the senior diversity planning analyst in the Office of the Provost for Educational Equity and coordinator of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equity. She will share the results of a recently completed Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer campus climate study with students, staff and faculty at 14 universities.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ $6 million to support its Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center. The CU-Â鶹ӰԺ center is funded by NSF's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program, a national network that includes Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell and the University of Chicago among its 29 centers. The award is for six years and is renewable.

Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory at the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ will present three programs Jan. 24, 25 and 28 in memory of the space shuttle Challenger and CU-Â鶹ӰԺ alumnus and astronaut Ellison Onizuka. This month marks the 17th anniversary of the space shuttle's tragic explosion, which killed Onizuka and six others on board.

Swinerton Builders, co-developers of a new student housing project at Williams Village by the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ, is launching a program to increase awareness of the company's sexual harassment policies. According to Derrick Watson, CU-Â鶹ӰԺ coordinator for the Williams Village project and assistant to the vice chancellor for administration, the increased visibility of the policy is designed not only to educate workers, but also to assure CU students, staff, faculty and local community members that Swinerton is committed to promoting a civil working environment.

A host of prominent legal scholars, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will gather at the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ School of Law Jan. 24-25 to discuss the legal career of former Justice Byron White. Titled "Justice White and the Exercise of Judicial Power," the 10th Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference will be held at the Fleming Law Building on the Â鶹ӰԺ campus. All presentations are open to the public but a registration fee is required. Fees are $5 for CU alumni and higher for others.

The best and brightest of Denver's traditionally under-represented students will soon be enrolling at a new high-tech high school, and qualified graduates will be guaranteed admission to the University of Colorado at Â鶹ӰԺ. The Denver School of Science and Technology, which will enroll its first ninth grade class in September 2004, has partnered with both the CU-Â鶹ӰԺ Office of Admissions and the university's Pre-Collegiate Development Program to help increase the number of promising first-generation college students, women and minorities to attend college.