Two articles in the DU Magazine

There are two new articles that focus on DU Faculty...

The Trouble with Tamarisk"The problem with tamarisk is that it's able to establish itself and effect other changes to the ecosystem that are harmful to the original plants and animals," says Sher, who also directs research, herbaria and records at the Denver Botanic Gardens. "It changes the structure of the forest." Imported from Asia in the 1800s as an ornamental, tamarisk spread from gardens to natural waterways, boosted along the way by planting programs to control erosion. It spread across the West, and concentrations are now found on an estimated 2 million acres throughout the Western and Southwestern U.S.The People ProblemAccording to U.S. Census Bureau projections, Colorado is on track to add a million more residents by 2015. The population is expected to grow by still another million by 2025, bringing the total number of residents to 6.4 million. Much of that population will gravitate to cities, particularly those in the sprawling Front Range.

Wiley InterScience - now back online

Wiley InterScience recently completed the transition of Blackwell content to the new platform. Penrose staff have now updated most/all of the records to reflect the new web-based location of the content. Please let us know if you have any problem accessing a Wiley or a Blackwell journal.

Educational Benefits Of Social Networking

Educational Benefits Of Social Networking Sites UncoveredScienceDaily (June 21, 2008) — In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested.Go to the site for more info...

Firefox and LibX

If you downloaded the new Firefox version 3.0, make sure that you also update to the new version of LibX for Firefox, too.

New Journal Citation Reports

The rumor is true, the new Journal Citation Reports is out with data from 2007 publications. Hence, the new journal "Impact Factors" are available.

Another good graduation speech

Got this from the Blue Skunk Blog, which I found from Stephen Abram.

Everything I know in 15 minutes -- Everything I have learned about education and life over the past 55 years summed up in 15 or 20 minutes. (Graduation address for Nova Southeastern University June 7, 2008)

"I've been asked to give a commencement address tomorrow down in Ft. Lauderdale. Here are my current thoughts about what I'm addressing. My solemn pledge is not to go longer than 20 minutes.

Congratulations graduates of the Fischler School of Education and Human Resources. You have demonstrated intelligence, perseverance, and great tolerance for uncomfortable chairs for long periods of time. Many of you completed much of your coursework before laptops and wireless connectivity allowed you to endure tedious lectures by multi-tasking and updating your Facebook page. To all of you, my deepest admiration."

Etc., etc., etc....

Timely thoughts for new graduates

Here is a bit of inspirational verbiage from the venerable Denver Post -- "Please don't change the world."