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The important community ritual of Matachines music and dance will be discussed by University of Colorado at Boulder Associate Professor Brenda M. Romero as part of the Chancellor's Community Lecture Series on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The talk will be from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Chautauqua Community House at 900 Baseline Road in Boulder and is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.

A new student group called MOSAIC at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been formed to provide students the chance to meet other students of multiple ethnicities. "We would like to give students who do not identify with a single race an opportunity to meet other people in similar situations and to make friends and enjoy the activities we are planning," said founder Masaru Torito, who is of Japanese and Panamanian descent. Activities being planned for the group include guest speakers, movie night, counseling services and workshops.

Planetary rovers, Lego robots and machines that walk on water will be among approximately 60 student-built machines and inventions shown at the CU-Boulder Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory's Fall Design Expo on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Expo is a popular educational event for families and the highlight of the semester for more than 300 undergraduates.

The CU Women's Network at the University of Colorado at Boulder will sponsor an Interactive Theatre performance on Nov. 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Dennis Small Cultural Center, room 457 in the University Memorial Center. According to Jennifer Simpson, coordinator for student affairs, the performance will explore issues of power and difference in supervisor-supervisee relationships.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's Fiske Planetarium will explore the origins of traditions such as menorah candles, solstice bonfires, mistletoe and the Christmas star during the holiday show "Season of Light." The program will be shown on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons during the holiday season. The Friday shows are Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. and the Saturday shows are Dec. 7, Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. The presentation investigates the origins of why holidays are celebrated the way they are and is suitable for all ages.

Coloradans are now getting a chance to see CU's award-winning Solar Decathlon home, which thousands of people visited in Washington, D.C., last month. CU students who designed and built the winning home in the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon will give a one-hour presentation on their experience and open the home for a weekend of public tours. The solar-powered home has been brought back to Colorado and reassembled on the Boulder campus south of the Benson Earth Sciences Building.

A finalist for the position of executive director of University Communications at the University of Colorado at Boulder is scheduled for campus interviews on Monday, Nov. 18, according to Ric Porreca, chair of the committee and senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer. The candidate, Patrick Strickler, is currently the director of communications at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has more than 25 years of responsibility in public relations, public affairs management and journalism and Web and marketing services.

A house fire started by an unattended candle nearly killed a Boulder resident last week, and safety officials fear that University of Colorado at Boulder students could make the same deadly mistake. The increasing popularity of decorative candles in homes and apartments is raising the chances that one of them will cause a loss of life, said Sherry Kenyon, safety coordinator for Boulder Fire Rescue. "CU students are vulnerable to fire," Kenyon said. "In every candle fire we've seen, the student had left the room - and even the house - with the candle still burning.

Last year, the tobacco industry spent an estimated $8.9 billion on marketing its products in the United States - most of which was spent targeting people between the ages of 18 and 24. The University of Colorado at Boulder, in hopes of curbing the number of smokers on campus, is hosting an informational meeting on campus tobacco issues on Friday, Nov. 15.

A campaign to make energy conservation part of everyday campus routines is being targeted to students, faculty and staff at the University of Colorado at Boulder this month with blue and yellow stickers that remind energy users: "When not in use, turn off the juice."