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Lorrie Shepard, dean of the University of Colorado at Boulder's School of Education, has received a national award recognizing her many contributions in the teacher education field. Shepard was honored with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education's 2006 David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teacher Education. The award recognizes contributions to the field of policy or research in teacher education.

Across the West this month, local newspapers reported that the seven Colorado River states finally reached an agreement on a consensus recommendation for managing the river under drought conditions, as directed by Secretary of Interior Gale Norton. This was especially exciting news to researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems or CADSWES, who developed and support RiverWare, the modeling tool that played a key role in this long and difficult negotiation.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's Lead Graduate Teacher Network, a training and professional development program for graduate student teaching assistants that has been emulated by Harvard University, has been awarded the 2006 TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award.

The speed of objects, light and sound will be on display Feb. 18 during the CU Wizards show titled "Speed!!!" presented by Nobel laureate and University of Colorado at Boulder adjoint physics Professor Eric Cornell. The free public presentation begins at 9:30 a.m. in Duane Physics room G1B30 on the CU-Boulder campus. Cornell will measure different types of speed during an hour-long show that is intended primarily for students in grades five through nine.

The ritual of courtship on Valentine's Day has fallen mainly on the shoulders of men down through the centuries, and men today may think that dinner, flowers and gifts are a lot of responsibility. But according to University of Colorado at Boulder English Professor Michael Bell, modern-day duties are light compared to what men had to endure centuries ago.

Olympians' expectations going into the games often affect how thrilling their victories or agonizing their defeats will be, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder professor. Peter McGraw of the CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business studies human emotions and has found that Olympians often weigh their achievements against their expectations, and the comparisons have a big effect on how happy they are with their medals.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's spring Off-Campus Housing Fair will be held Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom. The housing fair is the kickoff to the fall rental season and more than 75 vendors will participate. The fair allows students, faculty and staff to collect information on housing opportunities from a variety of property management companies and landlords, according to Susan Stafford, director of the Off-Campus Student Services Office.

Elliott West, an award-winning author and distinguished professor of history at the University of Arkansas, will give a public talk at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Feb. 20. West will speak about the reaction to his best-known book, "The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado," at 6 p.m. in the Eaton Humanities Building, room 250. The 1988 book won numerous awards including the Francis Parkman Prize for the year's outstanding book on American history.

For many people, Valentine's Day is a time for candy, flowers and for couples to reflect on their relationships. But it takes more than candy and flowers to make a relationship work, according to Cindy White, an associate professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder's communication department. The key to a good relationship, said White, is communication. "When we talk about communication problems in intimate relationships lots of times what we are talking about are tensions that people are feeling," said White.

A recent decrease in Rocky Mountain snowpack has slowed the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gases from forest soils into the atmosphere during the dead of winter, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.