The UA Board of Regents met in Juneau Sept. 24 – 25. The board approved tuition rates for the 2011 – 2012 academic year at $154 per credit for 100- and 200-level classes and $187 per credit for upper-division classes. Several certificate and degree programs were approved including an ethnobotany undergraduate certificate at the Kuskokwim Campus, an environmental studies undergraduate certificate at the Bristol Bay Campus and a graduate certificate in construction management at UAF. The board also gave formal project approval for plumbing and shower repairs at Skarland Hall and approved a new site for a proposed energy technology building at UAF.

UAF and UA Statewide are switching over to Google Calendar from Meeting Maker, effective Nov. 1. Google Calendar uses the UA username and password set up for your Google Apps e-mail. If you have not switched to Google e-mail, you need to do so as soon as possible. OIT recommends all users transfer over to Google Calendar the last week of October. For more information contact the OIT help desk at 450-8300 or helpdesk@alaska.edu.

University employees can now add Bear Bucks to a PolarExpress card, for themselves or one other recipient, via payroll deduction. Amounts deducted will be added to cards by noon each payday. Bear Bucks deductions are non-refundable. The campus card deduction form is available online.

UAF has joined other colleges working to reduce carbon footprints during October by participating in the second annual nationwide Fall Campus Challenge. Staff, faculty and students can track activities like biking, carpooling and riding the bus through Commuter Challenges.

OIT is seeking feedback on TechFest '09. Share your comments online. More than 250 faculty, staff and students participated in nearly 40 IT training workshops and presentations.

If you have switched to Google mail, make sure to change your e-mail address for any listservs you belong to, including the Cornerstone. To change your e-mail for the Cornerstone visit the subscription website, unsubscribe your old e-mail and subscribe your new Google e-mail. You will receive a confirmation message and a link to confirm your new address. For assistance contact the OIT helpdesk at 450-8300.

Carol Lewis, dean of SNRAS and director of AFES, was elected chair of the Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors. Lewis will serve a one-year term.

A paper by Shiva Hullavarad and Nilima Hullavarad, both OEM, and Ping Lan, SOM, "Green Innovation in Energy: Product, Process and Business Innovation Gains for Competitive Advantage" was accepted for publication in the 2009 MRS Spring Meeting Symposium R proceedings.

The UA Press has two new titles available — A Place of Belonging: Five Founding Women of Fairbanks, Alaska by Phyllis Demuth Movius and Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness by Bill Sherwonit. Movius will sign copies of her book Saturday, Oct. 10, at The Material Girls, 3065 College Rd. from 2 – 4 p.m.

The UA Press Fall 2009 Catalog is available online. Books can be ordered online or purchased at the UA Press Distribution Center in the Wells Fargo Building at 794 University Ave. UA students, staff and faculty are eligible for a 10 percent discount. For more information call 474-5831.

The UAF Family Friendly Task Force is seeking input from staff, faculty and students about how UAF can strive to be more family friendly. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey online.

The UA Health in Action program will offer Modified Tai Chi classes on Tuesdays, Oct. 27 – Dec. 22, from 12:10 – 12:40 p.m. in the IARC lobby. The program is free to all UAF faculty and staff.

Disc Golf is coming to UAF. A course has been designed and materials ordered. Facilities Services will set up the course each spring after breakup and take it down when snow arrives.

The Cornerstone Newsletter is now available via a RSS feed. Subscribe to the feed online.

ARSC provides free training for new and current users of high-performance computing resources Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:15 – 11:15 a.m. in 009 West Ridge Research Building. Topics include Introduction to Pingo (Cray XT5 Cluster) Oct. 6, Performance Programming Oct. 8 – 13 and Parallel Shared Memory Programming using OpenMP Oct. 15 – 27.

Students Who Enjoy Economic Thinking present a talk by Gov. Sean Parnell titled "Positioning Alaska's Economy for Growth" Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 1:30 p.m. in Davis Concert Hall. The event is open to the public. For more information call 474-6526.

The University Employee Assistance Program provider, ComPsych, is hosting webinars on select Wednesdays throughout the year including Handling Conflict and Managing Anger Oct. 7. For more information call Anne Sakumoto at 786-1432.

Jamina Gerl, a graduate student in music, presents a piano recital, directed by Eduard Zilberkant, CLA, Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. in Davis Concert Hall. Admission is free. For more information call 474-7555.

The Financial Aid Office presents Finan˘ial $ense, a series of workshops held each Thursday at 1 p.m. in 413 Gruening. The workshops are open to all faculty, staff, alumni and students. Money Realities takes place Oct. 8 and Understanding Credit takes place Oct. 15. Workshops can also be scheduled for a group or to replace a canceled class. For more information call Ashley Munro at 474-1934.

UAF HR is offering UAKJobs training including UAKJobs Hiring Proposal Wednesday, Oct. 7. Both take place from 1:30 – 3 p.m. in the Rasmuson Library computer lab. Class size is limited and registration is required. For more information call 474-7700.

Music at One, free recitals by UAF music students, take place throughout the semester on Thursdays from 1 – 2 p.m. in Davis Concert Hall. The next recital will be Oct. 8. Admission is free. For more information call 474-7555.

Outdoor Adventures offers trips and rental equipment to students, faculty, staff and alumni. Outdoor Adventures also offers the outdoor skills series once a month with the next class Thursday, Oct. 8, and north campus hikes twice a month with the next hike Tuesday, Oct. 13. Upcoming trips include the Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs hike Sunday, Oct. 18, and Fire, Ghosts and Roasts Saturday, Oct. 31. For more information call 474-6027. For more information call 474-6027.

The UAF Toast of Alaska Toastmasters Club holds meetings Tuesdays from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in 201 O'Neill. The next meeting is Oct. 6. For more information contact Mary Sue Dates at 474-7596 or fbtoast@uaf.edu.

The IAB Life Sciences Seminar presents "Population Structure and Management Units in Large Mammals" by Kris Hundertmark, IAB and Department of Biology and Wildlife, Friday, Oct. 9, at 3:30 p.m. in 214 Elvey.

The UAF Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Women is hosting the fifth annual Women Faculty Luncheon, Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 12:30 p.m. in the Wood Center Carol Brown Ballroom. For more information contact Jane Weber at 474-5356 or ffjw@uaf.edu or Jayne Harvie at 474-7964 or fysenate@uaf.edu.

The Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning and Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, with the U.S. Geological Survey, have created the Alaska Fire Science Information Consortium pilot project. The project includes a Fire Science Technology Transfer workshop Friday, Oct. 16, from 8:30 a.m. – noon at the National Park Service Building at 4175 Geist Rd. and Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System webinar Tuesday, Oct. 27. The program was funded through the Joint Fire Science Program. For more information contract Sarah Trainor at 474-7878 or sarah.trainor@alaska.edu.

Theatre UAF presents How I Learned to Drive, written by Paula Vogel and directed by Carrie Baker, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16 – 17 and Oct. 23 – 24, at 8:15 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. in the Salisbury Theatre.

Check out the UAF Weekly Science Calendar, sponsored by the Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research, for science-related events at UAF.

Visit UAF's online calendar for information on UAF events or to publicize an event.

Collin Macheel, mining and geological engineering student, received the Lemke Award for his abstract and presentation "Numerical Simulations of Variably Saturated Flow with Energy and Phase Change in Northern Latitude Peatlands" at the 2009 annual meeting of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists.

Ryan Cooper, Alaska EPSCoR graduate fellow, is the 2009 winner of the Robert I. Larus award, given to the outstanding presenter at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science Arctic Division science conference. Cooper won for his presentation "Morphometric and Genetic Delimitation of the St. Matthew and Singing Vole."

Nanook swimming takes on Seattle University Friday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 10, at noon. Both meets are in the Patty Center pool.

Nanook volleyball takes on UAA Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Patty Center gym.

The Alaska Nanook athletic event scores from last week are: Home games – volleyball vs. Saint Martin's, 3-0, and vs. Western Oregon, 2-3; swimming, Blue vs. Gold, 92-64 (Blue); hockey vs. Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, 6-1.

Oct. 15: All application materials (PDF) for December 2009 graduation are due. For more information call 474-7523.

Nov. 2: Applications for Alaska EPSCoR's integrated faculty development awards (PDF) are due.

Nov. 9: Applications for the Harold T. Caven Professorship are due.

Nov. 16: Proposals for the Angus Gavin Memorial Migratory Bird Research Grant are due.

Cornerstone banner photo by Todd Paris, UAF Marketing and Communications.