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Political analyst Charlie Cook predicted a “photo finish” in this year’s presidential election during his visit to ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Monday in which he also weighed in on challenges for Democrat Barack Obama and the choice of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

More than 200 recent graduates have made gifts and pledges to join IGNITE, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s new young alumni giving program that was launched in August.

Blake Russell, a 2001 graduate of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's physical therapy program, finished 27th overall in the women's marathon of the Beijing Olympics with a time of 2 hours, 33 minutes and 13 seconds. She was the sole American to complete the race and is profiled in the summer issue of The Magazine of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ.

The regional chapters of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Alumni Association will host members of the Class of 2008 at a series of Welcome to the City events. These gatherings are designed to enable ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s newest alumni to get to know other alums in their cities while maintaining ties to ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ.

"The Phantom" played to sold-out audiences in February 2008 and was the largest-scale production of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's Department of Performing Arts. View two photo galleries and a video of opening-night events.

Hemmerly-Brown, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves 210th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, spent one year serving in Iraq. Read about her experiences in her blog.