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John Leshy, solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior, will speak at the University of Colorado School of Law on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. on "Shaping the Modern West: The Role of the Executive Branch." The talk, in the Lindsley Memorial Courtroom in the Fleming Law Building on campus, is sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center and is free and open to the public.

CU-Boulder physics Professor John Taylor, locally known as CUÂ’s Mr. Wizard, will present "Johnny and Jane Need to Know More Math," an interactive lecture about the importance of understanding mathematical concepts, on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 250 of the Humanities Building. The lecture, co-sponsored by CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard L. Byyny and the CU Office of Community Relations, is part of the new "Campus Lecture Series" scheduled monthly through May in CU-BoulderÂ’s new Humanities building.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will undergo a comprehensive evaluation visit April 17-19 by a team representing the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Evaluations for NCA accreditation occur every 10 years. CU-Boulder has been accredited by the commission since 1913.

The mysteries of black holes and the bizarre phenomena associated with these extreme objects will be discussed at Fiske Planetarium on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder during Professor Andrew HamiltonÂ’s "Black Holes and Relativity" show. Hamilton will present the live astronomy show on Friday, Feb. 4 and Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. The show includes recent Hubble Space Telescope observations of possible black holes in distant galaxies and a look at other evidence of black holes in our own Milky Way galaxy.

Editors: Reporters are invited to attend Feb. 5 and can report on the competition and the process but cannot report on details of the business plans. CU-Boulder students will evaluate real business plans to determine which ones are worthy of funding at the Feb. 5 western regional Venture Capital Investment Competition in Boulder. The CU students will compete with students from five other universities. Professional venture capitalists will select the winning team. CU-Boulder is hosting one of four regional competitions showcasing 26 schoolsÂ’ students.

CU-Boulder finance students will compete to win $7,500 in a stock trading competition sponsored by KTLK 760 AM radio called The Great Market Wise Collegiate Stock Trading Challenge. The challenge positions students from Front Range universities against each other and will run through April 28. The team with the highest portfolio value at the end of the challenge will win funds for a university scholarship.

CU-Boulder students interested in learning about the AFL-CIO and who want to develop skills for union organization and campaign drives can sign up at CU-Boulder for a four-week educational internship to be held this summer in various locations around the country. Program recruiter Fernando Bribiezca is at CU-Boulder to talk to students and discuss workplace inequality. He will make presentations based on his own experiences and will be on campus until Feb. 3.

Editors: Joseph LeDoux will be available for press interviews before the lecture between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Contact Steven Maier at (303) 492-6275 to arrange an interview. Joseph LeDoux, groundbreaking researcher in the biology of emotions and author of the 1996 book "The Emotional Brain," will give a talk at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, in Old Main Chapel on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus.

Note to Editors: Photographers are welcome to attend this event. The Minority Arts and Sciences Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder will announce a new mentoring partnership with the Kalmia Dreamer Class of the I Have a Dream Foundation on Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. in the MCD Biology Building fourth floor interactive room. MASP, housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, is an academic excellence program emphasizing study leading to a bachelor's degree in selected science, mathematics, humanities and social science fields.

Several space shuttle experiments flown by the University of Colorado at Boulder-based BioServe Space Technologies Center in October 1998 show promise for developing new biomedical products, according to recent research results.