News Briefs

Get wild about wildflowers

As part of Environmental Awareness Week, wildflowers will be planted on the Rice campus Oct. 27. Students, faculty and staff are invited to meet at 3 p.m. on the west side of the Wiess College Commons to participate in the planting. The flowers will be planted on the open hill by Reckling Park, a small plot by Wiess College and near Harris Gully.

The event is hosted by Facilities Engineering and Planning; the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum of Rice University; and the Center for the Study of the Environment and Society (CSES).

For more information, contact Renee Pean, CSES assistant, at <renpean@rice.edu> or 713-348-5736.

Backup child care available

Rice benefits-eligible faculty and staff, graduate students and undergraduate students will be given preferential placement on all Montessori Country Day School waiting lists.

To take advantage of this service, please contact Belinda Givens, HR department coordinator, at 713-348-4759 or Elaine Britt, director of benefits, at 713-348-6074 prior to registering your child.

Montessori Country Day School is located at 5117 La Branch St. in the Museum District.

Carter, Reagan topic of lecture

“A Profile of Two Presidents: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan” will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 30 in 117 Humanities Building. Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Tulane University, will present the lecture, sponsored by the Department of History.

Lecture to look at policy debate over climate change

Andrew Dessler, associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, will discuss “The Use Of Scientific ‘Uncertainty’ in the Policy Debate Over Climate Change” Nov. 2.

Dessler will discuss the argument that the science used to study climate change is too uncertain to base action on. He will also discuss how people make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

The lecture will be held at 4 p.m. in 131 Anderson Biological Laboratories. The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences.

SYZYGY celebrates 30 years at Rice

The Shepherd School of Music will celebrate the 30th anniversary of SYZYGY, New Music at Rice, with the first in the series of concerts Oct. 27. The concert will be held at 8 p.m. in Duncan Recital Hall, Alice Pratt Brown Hall.

This weekend at Rice Cinema

The Rice Cinema will show “A Prairie Home Companion” Oct. 27-29 at 8 p.m.

The Robert Altman comedy follows the last night of a radio variety show and the usual mishaps and fortunate accidents that occur, including a visit from the angel of death and a corporate raider.

For more information, visit <http://ricecinema.rice.edu/schedule.cfm>.

Fondren book drive Oct. 28

The Friends of Fondren Library at Rice University will accept donations of new and used books Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Star Motor Cars, 7000 Old Katy Road.

Hardbacks and paperbacks are needed. Donations should be boxed or double-bagged. Because of minimal resale potential, the Friends of Fondren cannot accept old encyclopedias, magazines, books damaged by insects or dirt, outdated technical books and directories, condensed books, catalogs and damaged or yellowed paperbacks.

For more information, contact Friends of Fondren Library at 713-348-5157 or <fofl@rice.edu>.

Flu shots available today, next Wednesday

Benefits-eligible faculty, staff and Rice retirees can get a flu shot today or next Wednesday, Nov. 1, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. in Kelley Lounge, Rice Memorial Center.

Nonbenefits-eligible faculty and staff and all spouses or domestic partners can also get flu shots at cost — $22 per shot — by paying for the injection at the time of service. Shots are provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, visit <http://people.rice.edu/benefits.cfm?doc_id=7983>.

Open house at the Rice Campus Observatory

The Rice University Campus Observatory will hold an open house Friday, Oct. 27, beginning at 7:15 p.m., weather permitting. Visitors will be able to view Uranus, and other telescopes will be set up to view the first-quarter moon, double stars, star clusters and nebulae. For updated information, call 713-348-4939 or visit <www.ruf.rice.edu/~ruco/open_houses.html>.