Campus and community briefs

Auditions loom for singers and dancers

Singers and dancers are needed to perform with the Big Band Crestmark Orchestra for the annual Celebrate America Show.

The Celebrate America Show is a musical tribute to the American spirit, highlighting the World War II era with a special recognition to veterans.

This once-a-year extravaganza includes a buffet dinner (catered by the award-winning Utah State University food services) followed by a Broadway-style show and topped off with dancing to the music of Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Glen Miller and other famous bands from that great era, performed by the big band, Crestmark Orchestra.

The 2004 show is a musical salute to the life of Bob Hope from his days in vaudeville, to Hollywood, to TV, to entertaining troops. The show takes a trip down memory lane with characters portraying Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, George Burns and Gracie Allen.

Performances will be Sept. 8 to 11 in the Ballroom of the Taggart Student Center. (Sept. 8 is a special student-family performance.) For more information about the show and auditions for singers and dancers, call 753-1551.

Missile defense lecture slated for Thursday

The International Studies Association, the Political Honors Society and the Public Affairs Board announce a lecture from the State Department’s senior adviser for weapons of mass destruction. Kerry Kartchner will present “The Rational Case for Missile Defense” on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the TSC Auditorium.

The lecture will cover the technology and the international reaction to America’s missile defense program, as well as provide an overview of the program itself, and where it is headed in the near future.

Non-profit org. calls for blood donors

Logan LDS Institute is hosting a community blood drive Tuesday, Feb. 3, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

ARUP Blood Services (a local, non-profit blood provider) is asking people to donate blood for the following reasons:

* As of today, there are 60 patients using blood products in the hospitals ARUP serves – 17 of them are babies. Blood given to babies cannot be more than 5 days old, which creates an ongoing need for fresh donations.

* One recent patient was a 37-year-old who used 62 blood units in one day. Each unit generally comes from a different donor. Another patient from over the weekend was a 1-week-old baby boy who used 12 units of blood.

* ARUP’s blood supply is very low on O- and A- blood types.

* One in three people will need a blood transfusion in their lifetime, but only one in 20 of eligible donors choose to donate blood.

Donors are asked to bring a picture ID and allow 45 minutes for the entire donation process.

A donor’s gift of life benefits patients at Primary Children’s Medical Center, University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, Shriners Hospital for Children and the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Ecology Center to host wildlife professor

The USU Ecology Center would like to announce two upcoming lectures that are part of the 2003-04 Ecology Center Seminar Series. Kurt Fausch is a nationally renowned professor from the department of fisheries and wildlife biology at Colorado State University. He will give two lectures focusing on the ecology and management of stream fishes. His recent work emphasizes areas of invasive species ecology and landscape ecology. The first seminar on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. will address the direct and indirect effects of biological invasions and their subsequent predictability. In his second seminar on Thursday, Jan. 30, at 3 p.m. he will discuss the importance of landscape perspectives in stream fish ecology. Both seminars will be held in Natural Resources Building, Room 105. For more information, call the Ecology Center at 797-2555.