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Graduate students with degrees in Chinese from the East Asian languages and civilizations department at the University of Colorado at Boulder are getting positions at prestigious universities all over the nation -- a notable accomplishment for a small and relatively new humanities program. "The word is out that our program trains people very well and we are gaining recognition nationwide," said Paul W. Kroll, director of graduate studies in Chinese.

This Friday, Nicholas Cage and Martin Scorsese team up in the chilling movie "Bringing out the Dead" about a paramedic who is haunted by the ghosts of people he couldnÂ’t save. The film is just one in a number of so called "supernatural thrillers" that have been spooking the competition at the movie theaters this fall. Besides the fact that Halloween is drawing near, CU-Boulder Film Studies and English Professor Bruce Kawin believes these movies are making it big because they play on millennium anxiety and tug at peopleÂ’s uncertainties about life after death.

An analysis of sediments from the subtropical Atlantic Ocean deposited during EarthÂ’s last glacial period indicate sudden temperature fluctuations were as large as those seen in the warming at the end of the last ice age, raising concerns about future climate change.

WHO: University of Colorado at Boulder chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity WHAT: Area kids and families are invited to wear their costumes and come to a community Haunted House, complete with pumpkin carving and free candy. All activities are free and open to the public. WHEN: Friday, Oct. 29, between 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. WHERE: 911 17th St.

The University of Colorado at Boulder — through the Graduate School and the Center for Humanities and the Arts — has received a $10,000 Woodrow Wilson Innovation Award to help establish a new Humanities Internship Program. The award was one of seven given to university departments and programs in the humanities that use creative approaches to encourage doctoral students to consider jobs in the "real world" outside their schools. CU-Boulder received one of three awards for $10,000, and four universities received $5,000 awards.

Daniel Vigil, associate dean for student affairs at the University of Colorado School of Law, was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the newly formed Colorado Legal Services on Oct. 1. "I find it a great honor and a great challenge being elected chairman," said Vigil. "I look forward to providing and improving legal services to those who are unable to afford it."

Anton Andreev, a 31-year-old assistant professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has won a prestigious and highly competitive $625,000 Packard Fellowship. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation cited Andreev and 23 other recipients as among the most promising science and engineering researchers at universities in the United States. Other 1999 recipients included young faculty members from Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Cal Tech and the universities of California, Wisconsin and Chicago.

Star Wars, Titanic, Forrest Gump and Jurassic Park — the top-grossing movies of all time. What made these films successful? A CU-Boulder business professor says she knows the answer. Ramya Neelamegham, a marketing professor at the CU-Boulder College of Business, developed a mathematical model that determines which movies will enjoy success at the box office and which will fail.

The next CU Wizards show "Where Chemistry Meet Physics" on Saturday, Oct. 30, will spook children into learning through a Halloween theme with chemical reactions turning orange and black and self-lighting candles in pumpkins. CU-Boulder chemistry and biochemistry Professor David Nesbitt will present the hour-long show at 9:30 a.m. in the Chemistry building, room 140, on the CU-Boulder campus. The show is free and open to the public.

WHO: Campus volunteers are participating in community service projects as a part of Make A Difference Week, a nationwide movement to get citizens involved in community service. Representatives come from a variety of departments across campus. WHAT: Volunteers will board CU shuttles on campus to go to the Habitat for Humanity site in North Boulder. They will help with building projects throughout the day. WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Friday, Oct. 22.