Â鶹ÒùÔº

With about 20,000 people expected to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder commencement exercises May 11 at 9:30 a.m. in Folsom Stadium, attendees should plan to arrive early.

Hurricane evacuation and world-class bicycle wheels were the two topics that six students from the University of Colorado at Boulder modeled while competing against math teams from around the world. Both CU teams placed in the competition, one receiving a meritorius award and the other an honorable mention.

Special recognition ceremonies will be hosted by most University of Colorado at Boulder schools and colleges in addition to the main university commencement ceremony on Friday, May 11, at 9:30 a.m. in Folsom Stadium. Following is a schedule of special events in the schools and colleges to honor the graduates, their families and guests. * May 10 at 3 p.m. in Macky Auditorium, School of Journalism and Mass Communication recognition ceremony, with reception to follow. Jim Gray, an NBC sports reporter and CU-Boulder alumnus, will be the speaker.

The Student Organization for Alumni Relations has announced the 2001 teaching award recipients of the 40th Annual Teaching Recognition Awards at CU-Boulder. Presented each spring since 1962, SOAR's Teaching Recognition Awards honor faculty members who excel in the classroom. The SOAR awards are the only faculty honors in which the selection and administration is done by CU-Boulder undergraduate students. Awarded in four class-size categories, each winner receives $1,500 from the CU Parents Association and the Alumni Association's Directors Club.

Beyond its core focus of supporting CU-Boulder's five foreign language departments on campus, CU-Boulder's Anderson Language Technology Center has existing outreach programs and several new ones planned for fall 2001 to expose Coloradans to foreign language offerings not widely available in Colorado. ALTEC Director Kuan-Yi Rose Chang believes the CU programs will help schools throughout the state improve their foreign language instruction and help the state gradually expand foreign language offerings in public schools.

Taiwan native Kuan-Yi Rose Chang is on a mission to broaden the cultural awareness and foreign language skills of University of Colorado students and Coloradans. An adjunct professor of Spanish and Chinese and director of CU-Boulder's Anderson Language Technology Center (ALTEC), Chang believes that globalization and the rapid growth of minority populations in the United States increasingly demands that Americans broaden their understanding of other cultures. Part of the broadening process also should include expanding Americans' foreign language skills, she says.

Chancellor Richard Byyny has announced that 18 new Boettcher Scholars have chosen to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder next fall, ranking CU-Boulder as the top school in Colorado, public or private, for attracting new Boettcher Scholars.

Science Discovery at the University of Colorado and the CU Museum of Natural History will provide hands-on activities as part of the Pueblo Zoo's "Dinosaur Day" on Saturday, May 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program will be presented regardless of the weather. Other presenters include the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Canon City's Dinosaur Depot.

CU-Boulder Professor Naomi Soderstrom is teaching an innovative approach to accounting that has threefold benefits: it saves companies money, reduces environmental degradation and makes students more effective accountants.

University of Colorado at Boulder doctoral student Jennifer Kugel is one of 13 students from around the nation selected to receive the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award in 2001. Sponsored by the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the award is given to top students at or near the completion of their studies in the biological sciences.