ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus and Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist Dave Barry will headline ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s two Convocation ceremonies during the 2011-2012 academic year.

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ will devote its annual spring Convocation for Honors on April 7, 2011, to an in-depth examination of five great problems facing humanity. Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, will moderate a panel discussion titled "We can be better: Courageous voices confront our greatest challenges." Distinguished panelists will explore tough choices that must be made to respond to threats to our democracy, economies, public education, the environment and civil stability around the world.

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ senior Drew Gardner travels to Washington, D.C., this week to share with lawmakers his research on concussions in student-athletes during the annual Posters on the Hill event sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Though the United States faces daunting challenges, from a massive national debt to misunderstandings between people of different faiths to partisan gridlock, five distinguished panelists who visited ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ on April 7 for the annual Convocation for Honors program said today’s students have the potential to restore their nation’s global reputation for innovation, education and religious freedoms.

What does it take to be a good reporter? NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has several thoughts, including: “Know your audience. Know your subject.” One of America’s most acclaimed journalists on Friday shared with ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students his views on the media, technology, and on balancing work and family in a Whitley Auditorium question-and-answer discussion sprinkled with wit and wisdom.

What would Satan say about nuclear weapons? Or politicians and their mistresses? Or Disney World? And would he say it in a … blog? Such is the premise of Devil's Ink: Blog from the Basement Office by ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ professor Jeffrey C. Pugh, who uses Lucifer’s point of view in a new book critiquing cultural institutions that readers may assume are necessary without considering the evil they can create.

The ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Opera Workshop gives two performances this week of Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, one of the most beloved comic operas in history. Tickets to the April 7 & 9 shows are available to the public at the door for $7 or are free with an ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ ID.

Two ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students were among a group of US university students who were selected to travel to South Korea as part of the Korea-US Youth Network during Spring Break.

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Law is holding the inaugural Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition March 31 through April 2. Seventeen law schools and more than 30 teams of law students are participating in the competition, which will take place annually. More than 100 have volunteered to serve as judges for the competition, including The Honorable Steven M. Colloton, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and five justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Writer and filmmaker Molly Secours will provide a critical perspective of racism and privilege as it affects all aspects of life in the keynote speech Saturday in Whitley Auditorium during the 2nd annual Diversity Leadership Conference.