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The University of Colorado at Boulder fared well in the U.S. News & World Report's 2004 edition of America's Best Colleges, slated to hit newsstands Aug. 25. In a ranking of the top 50 public national universities offering doctoral programs out of a total of 162, CU-Boulder was ranked 35th, highest in the Rocky Mountain region. Colorado State University was ranked 54th.

The fall 2003 freshman class at the University of Colorado at Boulder is expected to be slightly larger than last year, growing by about 150 students to roughly 5,550 compared to 5,391 in fall 2002.

Associate Professor Stephen Lekson of the University of Colorado at Boulder will kick off the 2003-04 Chancellor's Community Lecture Series on Sept. 3 with a talk on "Ancient Traces in the Wilderness: The Pleasure of Ruins." The event is the first of nine public lectures to be presented by CU-Boulder faculty on the theme of "Healing the West." The series is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Chancellor's Office, the CU-Boulder Center of the American West and the Colorado Chautauqua Association. This is the second year of the "Healing the West" series.

MEDIA ADVISORY CU-Boulder Takes Precautions to Reduce West Nile Virus Among Students Officials of the Wardenburg Health Center, residence hall staff and grounds crews at the University of Colorado at Boulder are taking precautions to reduce the risk of exposure to West Nile Virus for students returning to campus this week.

The CU-Boulder campus will begin a new system of printing from campus laser printers on Aug. 20, implementing a new "Campus Printing Initiative" that is expected to reduce usage by as much as 7.5 million prints per year, based on reductions at other major universities. The program will require anyone using printing sites in ITS labs, housing and the libraries to pay 10 cents for the first page of each black-and-white print, 9 cents for the second side and $1 for each color print.

MEDIA ADVISORY Editors' note: Reporters and photographers are invited to attend. The chancellor will be available for media questions in an informal gathering at his office immediately following the event. Chancellor Richard L. Byyny of the University of Colorado at Boulder will host the annual faculty breakfast to welcome back CU-Boulder faculty and staff on Aug. 28 at 7:30 a.m. at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre.

The University of Colorado at Boulder had to scramble this week to respond to the W32.Blaster.Worm and its attack on vulnerable computers running some of the most popular editions of Microsoft Windows software. Detecting the virus-like worm on its campus network Tuesday morning, staff with CU-Boulder's Information Technology Services department worked around the clock to limit the worm's impact on approximately 30,000 students, faculty and staff.

In celebration of the close encounter with Mars at the end of August, Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado at Boulder will host a Mars Marathon beginning Aug. 26. The planetarium will have "Mars Marathon" events Aug. 26, 28, 29 and 30. The marathon will kick off Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 8 p.m. with "Martian Skies," a live presentation about what the skies look like above Colorado and from the surface of Mars. The audience also will get tips for viewing Mars this month. Admission for the show is $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 for children and seniors.

U.S. Rep. Mark Udall will hold a news briefing and public talk on energy and science issues in the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20. Joining Udall for the discussion in the University Memorial Center, room 247, will be Superintendent Vaughn Baker of Rocky Mountain National Park and CU-Boulder history and environmental studies Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick. Remarks by each participant will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience. The event is free and open to the public.

Mars enthusiasts will have a chance to see their favorite planet up close, relatively speaking, when Earth and Mars have a close encounter in late August, according to experts at the University of Colorado at Boulder. On Aug. 27 Mars will be roughly 34.6 million miles from Earth, the closest it has come in nearly 60,000 years. However, the planets come nearly this close to each other about every 15 years, according to Keith Gleason, manager of CU-Boulder's Sommers-Bausch Observatory.