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Construction of a new humanities building at the University of Colorado at Boulder will be launched with groundbreaking ceremonies Thursday, April 2, on the campusÂ’ historic Norlin Quadrangle. The building, which will house classrooms and several humanities departments, is the first fully state-funded humanities facility at CU-Boulder since the Hellems Building was completed in 1921, according to Chancellor Richard L. Byyny. Most campus buildings have been built with a combination of funding sources, such as revenue bonds, private donations and other sources.

The Graduate School of Business Association at CU-Boulder is hosting its 6th annual Barney Ford Benefit to raise money for scholarships that will build a more diverse student population. This yearÂ’s event will be a beer tasting and silent auction at Trios Grille and Wine Bar in Boulder at Canyon Boulevard and Broadway from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, April 9. Tickets, which are available at the door, are $25 per person. All proceeds go to the Barney Ford Scholarship Fund.

Over 2,000 American Indians and First Nation Peoples from more than 30 tribes in the United States and Canada will rendezvous at the University of Colorado Events Center in Boulder on April 4-5 for the second annual Red Nations Cultural Unity Celebration Contest Pow-wow. A pow-wow is a cultural celebration featuring native speakers, performers, writers and artists. This yearÂ’s event is sponsored by the CU-Boulder American Indian Student Organization Oyate (pronounced O-ya-tay). There are 164 American Indian students enrolled on the CU-Boulder campus.

Patricia Nelson Limerick, the renowned University of Colorado at Boulder history professor who also serves as the official self-appointed "University Fool," will put on white face paint and make her almost annual tour of campus on April 1. Limerick's goal this year is to seek out the most "valuable" people on campus. If she is successful at locating those people early in the day, she will then look for the "happiest" people in the university.

An assembly of huge stone slabs found in EgyptÂ’s Sahara Desert that date from about 6,500 years to 6,000 years ago has been confirmed by scientists to be the oldest known astronomical alignment of megaliths in the world.

William Hooke, director of the U.S. Weather Research Program for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and chair of the White House Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction, will speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, on "Natural Extremes: Their Impacts on Society and Implications for Global Change Policy." Hooke will speak in room G-125 of the Duane Physics building on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus.

The Sewall Residential Academic Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder has inaugurated the Sewall Teaching Fellowship, honoring one faculty member annually who is known to be among the universityÂ’s best teachers. Michael Grant, a professor in the environmental, population and organismic biology department, is the first recipient of the fellowship. Grant will teach a new course title "Recent Â鶹ÊÓƵies in Biology and Their Ethical Implications" at Sewall during the next academic year.

Lars Eighner, author of the widely acclaimed memoir on homelessness, “Travels With Lizbeth,” will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Thursday, April 2. Eighner’s address, "A Global Concept of Right and Duty," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel. The talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Sewall Symposium Series. Eighner plans to focus on how population pressure affects human rights and responsibilities.

The CU-Boulder School of Law will honor eight alumni award recipients at the 17th Annual Alumni Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 4, at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. The banquet is an annual gathering to recognize distinguished alumni in a number of categories established by the School of Law. A cocktail reception will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner following at 7 p.m. The welcome address will be given by Dean Hal Bruff and the ceremony will be led by Carl “Spike” Eklund ‘71, chair of the Law Alumni Board of Directors.

University of Colorado President John Buechner will draw on his academic background as a political scientist as well as his experience as a public official in an address on Western political behavior sponsored by the Center of the American West at CU-Boulder. Buechner will discuss “Politics of the West: Governing Our States” on Thursday, April 2, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., in room 235 of the University Memorial Center on the campus. The event is free and open to the public.