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The Graduate Teacher Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder has received the 1998 Program Award for Excellence in Professional Development from the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students. The award was presented at the organization's annual awards dinner in Braintree, Mass., in November. It was the only such award presented nationally. The award was accepted on behalf of GTP Director Laura Border by graduate student Tim Benner. Benner, a former president of ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ-Boulder's NAGPS chapter, received a President's Award for outstanding service.

Editors: Enclosed are the names of degree candidates from your area. This list was accurate as of Dec. 18 and is subject to final grade reports. Local students were among the 1,799 students receiving degrees Dec. 19 in winter commencement ceremonies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

When Charles F. Wilkinson delivers the main address during the winter commencement exercises at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Saturday, he will advise the new graduates that their educations are too valuable to be used only for earning a paycheck. Wilkinson, a distinguished professor of law at the university, is recognized as a champion of the American West through his decades of writing and legal work, and he would like the students to dedicate themselves to what he calls "this sacred place."

Pia Griffith, daughter of Don and Alice Renton of Boulder, has received a scholarship from the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education for the 1998-99 academic year. The $1,000 Lillian Gutierrez Scholarship is awarded to a student who is committed to working with members of an underrepresented, ethnic minority group. James Tingley, son of Al and Holly Tingley of Monument, received a scholarship from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was awarded the Martha Hall Adopt-A-Teacher Scholarship from the School of Education for the 1998-99 academic year.

University of Colorado chemistry Professor David Nesbitt will present the final ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Wizards program of the semester, "Chemistry is Fun," on Saturday, Dec. 26. The program will be in the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry Building, room 140, at 9:30 a.m. Nesbitt will use exciting visual displays and experiments to illustrate the basic concepts of chemistry. He plans to produce several explosions, show how liquids mix or don't mix, demonstrate the effects of temperature on chemical reactions and explain how fireworks get their colorful glows.

Brian D. Smith of Decatur, Ill., and Li Zhao of Broomfield have received the 1998 Brian Butterfield Fellowship in Telecommunications awarded by Andersen Consulting LLP. The recipients are first-year graduate students in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado. As this year's awardees, they receive scholarship money and an internship position during the summer at Andersen Consulting's Denver office.

Editors: Ross will be available for interviews from Dec. 28 through Jan. 6. Bertrall LeNarado Ross, who rose from poverty and a broken home to become an honors student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has won a prestigious British Marshall Scholarship that will sponsor several years of advanced studies at a university in the United Kingdom.

Editors: Photos of many of the listed events are available by calling Wynn Martens, 492-7084, or Amy Taylor, 492-6431. Campus response to the "¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ in the Community," campaign during October was positive and overwhelmingly achieved the goal of increasing faculty, student and staff involvement in community programs, according to Wynn Martens, director of community relations at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ-Boulder.

By the fall semester 1999, all 5,400 students at the University of Colorado at Boulder who live in residence halls will have their own high-speed computer connections, allowing them to download reference and educational material quickly from around the world on their personal computers.

NightRide/NightWalk, the volunteer service at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ-Boulder that shepherds students safely to their homes, has expanded its operations to meet the growing number of people dialing 492-SAFE. Cumulative statistics from August through October of this year show the service was used 895 times, more than double the 367 requests recorded in the same three months of 1997.