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When it comes to engaged learning, students in the fall semester public administration senior seminar on food and agriculture public policies learned that it doesn’t get any more hands-on than processing chickens themselves, from the final clucks to the customer sales on a small Orange County organic farm.

Through a special Facebook project, many members of the �鶹��Ƶ family have written personal tributes to those who bring light into the our community. Read what they have to say, watch a special video to get into the spirit, and then leave your message. Take time to give a simple gift, and let someone at �鶹��Ƶ know how much they contribute to life at our university. Links to the video and the Facebook page are below…

A special report by the Chronicle of Higher Education on graduation rates at 1,400 four-year colleges and universities highlights �鶹��Ƶ's improving rates at a time when many other schools are experiencing declining numbers. In this study, �鶹��Ƶ ranked #16 out of more than 300 private master's-level universities, the top school in the Southeast in this category.

Congratulations to students accepted as part of Early Decision on Wednesday, December 1. When students in the Class of 2015 arrive at the university in August 2011 they’ll join the ranks of generations of alumni who have called �鶹��Ƶ home.

An �鶹��Ƶ junior has been named the District Outstanding Brother of the Year for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., an annual competition that judges nominees on criteria that include involvement in the organization, academic standing, campus involvement and leadership.

Parents, students, community leaders and �鶹��Ƶ administrators gathered Tuesday for a half-day conversation on the future of Jewish culture on campus as the number of Jewish students continues to grow and as the university embarks on a commitment to global engagement and diversity in its newest strategic plan.

�鶹��Ƶ senior Teri Horn has received the North Carolina Campus Compact’s fifth annual Community Impact Student Award for making significant, innovative contributions to her campus’ efforts to address local community needs. Horn was one of 34 college students across the state to receive the honor.

In May, NASA will point its Chandra X-Ray Observatory toward a black hole 150 million light years from Earth to collect data for more than three straight days, the longest observation ever made on such a cosmic feature. Leading the team behind the deep space research will be Dan Evans, one of �鶹��Ƶ’s newest faculty members, and a rising star himself in the realm of astrophysics.

�鶹��Ƶ senior Anthony Rizzuto has been named the recipient of a 2010 Eastern Analytical Symposium Student Research Award, a highly competitive national prize in the chemistry field given each year to six undergraduate researchers.

Colonnades, �鶹��Ƶ's literary magazine, received a 2010 national Magazine Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press over the weekend at the organization's joint conference with College Media Advisers in Louisville. The Pacemaker is the highest honor ACP gives to its members.