UNSCOM official returns to alma mater to speak April 9
Charles Duelfer, deputy executive chairman of the UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), will be the featured speaker at the History Department's 1999 prize reception and Phi Alpha Theta induction ceremony, on Friday, April 9. The event will be held in the Konover Auditorium of the Thomas J., Dodd Research Center and is open to the public. A reception will follow.

Duelfer, a 1974 UConn graduate with a bachelor's degree in history, worked at the White House and at the Politico-Military Bureau of the State Department, where he was involved in efforts to resolve conflicts in Chad, Libya, and Grenada. He joined UNSCOM, the arms control agency charged with monitoring Iraq's biological and chemical weapons and long-range missiles, in 1993. Interested in the intersection of science, technology and international relations, at UConn Duelfer studied 18th and 19th century Europe, where he believes the Industrial Revolution and scientific progress altered the conduct of diplomacy and statecraft. He went on to earn an advanced degree in defense analysis at MIT. Duelfer was featured in the winter 1998 issue of Traditions.

Awards will be presented to Erica Pierson and John Ramos - Undergraduate History Excellence Award; Cherie Sweeney - Connecticut 350th Celebration Scholarship; Scott O'Neal - Harry Marks fellowship; Jonathan Michaels - Van Dusen Scholarship; and Wendy St. Jean - Graduate Student Teaching Award. Graduate student Annette Pontillo will be recognized as the first recipient of the Aldo de Dominicis Fellowship in Italian-American History, and a number of students will be initiated into Phi Alpha Theta, the history honors society.

Museum offering greenhouse tours this month
The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at UConn will lead weekend tours of the research greenhouses of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology on April 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25. The greenhouses have more than 3,000 species of tropical food and flowering plants. Registration is required by mail in advance, at $6 per person. For information, call (860) 486-4460.

The tour includes orchids, "living stones," cacti, coffee, tea, papyrus, bananas, vanilla, and many other plants from around the world. The greenhouses are home to one of the most diverse collections of living plants in New England. The plants are used for teaching and research. Plants also are shared internationally with such botanical gardens as Kew Gardens in England. Specimens from the greenhouses have helped restore species that were becoming extinct in the wild.

March of Dimes Campaign to hold sponsored walk April 25
Walk America, March of Dimes Campaign, is holding a five-mile sponsored walk on Sunday, April 25. Registration begins at 9 a.m., the walk at 10 a.m., from Windham High School in Willimantic. President Philip E. Austin is honorary co-chair of the March of Dimes Walk America, with the assistance of Bill Simpson of the UConn Co-op and Cindy Adams, associate dean of allied health. They are establishing 50 teams to raise contributions toward the goal of $5,000. To volunteer, call Simpson at (860) 486-2551 or Adams at (860) 486-0007.

Division of Continuing Education wins marketing award
The Division of Continuing Education has won a bronze award from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) 1999 Awards of Excellence in Marketing. The division won the award for its 1998 Summer Sessions catalog, which was selected from a pool of 478 entries submitted by more than 72 educational institutions.

The awards will be presented in April at the UCEA annual conference in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony sponsored by The New York Times. Acknowledgments for the catalog include designer Juan Castillo of the division's

Marketing Communications Department; freelance illustrator Phillip Dvorak; and Christine Dimock, Lisa Ward, and Ellen Greenwood of the Office of Credit Programs.

Honors Program to hold open house at new S. Campus site
The Honors Program invites members of the University community and friends of the University to tour the program's new facilities, meet staff, and receive information about the program's initiatives, on Wednesday, April 7, from 3-5 p.m., in South Campus, Building A, Room 124/125.