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Nobel laureate Thomas Cech of the University of Colorado at Boulder has been selected to become the next president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute by the organizationÂ’s trustees beginning in January of 2000. Cech, who has been a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator since 1988, will continue as a distinguished professor at CU-Boulder and professor at the CU Health Sciences Center in Denver. Cech shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman of Yale University for their independent discoveries that RNA can act as a catalyst in cell development.

Graduates in the class of 1999 are entering a strong job market similar to the last two years, according to Gordon Gray, University of Colorado at Boulder Career Services director. "The number of employer interactions with students on campus is unprecedented, " said Gray. "Increases in job postings, resume referrals, interviews and attendance at career fairs reflect a strong market nationally and locally. "The Colorado unemployment rate has never been lower. There are many companies hiring and needing the skills of college graduates," Gray said.

The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded the Youth Crime Watch of America's Casey Local Business/Organization Award. The award was presented at the 12th National Youth Crime Prevention Conference held in Denver March 3-6. The center was selected from hundreds of organizations, schools and community programs that have made outstanding contributions to the prevention of crime, drug use and violence throughout the United States.

Richard "Ric" Porreca, executive director of budget, planning and analysis at the University of Colorado at Boulder, announced today he has accepted the position of associate vice chancellor for resource management and planning at the University of California, Davis. His appointment is effective Aug. 1. Porreca has been head of CU-Boulder's Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis since July 1994. Prior to that time he served in a number of posts at CU-Boulder and for the University of Colorado system administration.

Kristi Anseth, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been selected to receive the Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award for the Rocky Mountain Section of the American Society for Engineering Education. The award, given each year to only one individual in all engineering disciplines at all schools in the Rocky Mountain region, will be presented at the ASEE national meeting in Charlotte, N.C., in June. Anseth also will be recognized at ASEE's Rocky Mountain Section meeting, March 26-27 in Provo, Utah.

Family is the focus for several April events at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder featuring four special programs. * "Love Makes a Family" art exhibit, April 1-14 * Lambda Rising Queer Studies conference, April 10 * Leslie Hoffman lecture, April 10 & 12 * GLBT Parent Panel, April 13 The highly acclaimed exhibit, "Love Makes a Family: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People and Their Families" opens April 1 in the University Memorial Center Fine Arts Gallery Annex.

Graduate students in the College of Business and Administration will host the 7th annual Barney Ford Auction at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 10, at the CU Museum. Autographed sports memorabilia, balloon trips, scenic flights, dinners, hotel stays, lift tickets and gift certificates from numerous Boulder County businesses will be auctioned off.

This spring break, Boulder children can attend several matinees at Fiske Planetarium on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus to break up the week. "Spring Break Matinees" is a series of family shows on a range of topics including astronomy and dinosaurs that will be presented March 23-25. A complete list of matinees follows. Tuesday, March 23 * Stars and Lasers , 10 a.m.

"Oh Give Me a Home! Homeless Resistance in Three Western Cities," a lecture by University of Colorado at Boulder sociology Professor Dan Cress, will be presented from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 1, in room 235 of the University Memorial Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by the Center of the American West.

Local children will have the opportunity to learn about music during spring break at the next CU Wizards show on Saturday, March 27, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Jim Faller, who is a JILA fellow, chief of the Quantum Physics division of NIST and CU-Boulder physics professor, will present "The Physics of Music" at 9:30 a.m. in the Duane Physics building, room G1B30. NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The event is free and open to the public.