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Activities in support of the Day of Silence, a national effort focusing on discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, will be held April 10 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. An orientation session also will be held on April 9 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hellems Arts and Sciences Building, room 201. According to Bruce Smail, director of CU-Boulder's GLBT Resource Center, the National Day of Silence provides an opportunity for the CU-Boulder community to highlight voices silenced on college campuses.

Patricia Nelson Limerick, the renowned University of Colorado at Boulder history professor who also serves as the official "University Fool," will put on white face paint and make her annual tour of campus on April 1. Limerick will begin her tour at 10:30 a.m. in her office at the Center of the American West on the west side of Macky Auditorium, room 229. The tour is expected to last about an hour.

It is celebrated every year, and yet no one knows the true origin of April Fool's Day. Some historians say its roots date back to ancient Rome and resemble the festival of Hilaria, while others say April Fool's Day got its start in 16th century France. According to CU-Boulder English professor and folklore historian Michael Bell, one of the problems is that so much of what is written about folklore is based on fabrication and hearsay.

Editors: Photographers are welcome at the April 5 dedication ceremony, which will include Bruce Benson and Bruce Curtis unveiling the new "Bruce Curtis Building" sign. The building is located at Broadway and College Avenue on the CU-Boulder campus. A dedication ceremony for the University of Colorado at Boulder Museum of Natural History's new $6.1 million museum collections building renovation will be held Friday, April 5, at 4 p.m. on the north side of the building.

Note to Editors: Photographers are welcome to take pictures as the exhibit is being set up between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 1. Starship 2040, an interactive NASA exhibit revealing what a commercial spacecraft might be like four decades from now in the year 2040, will visit the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder on April 2 and April 3.

Three University of Colorado professors have been awarded a $238,000 grant to improve computer software that helps people in companies and organizations make better decisions. CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business Professors Fred Glover and Manuel Laguna, along with CU-Denver business Professor Gary Kochenberger, were awarded the one-year grant by the Office of Naval Research.

The University Libraries at the University of Colorado at Boulder is presenting an exhibition titled "The Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of World War II" now on display in the third floor northwest gallery of Norlin Library through April 6. The exhibit will be marked with a reception and program on Friday, April 5, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Two University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have combined their artistic talents in a photography and art exhibit in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the International Year of the Mountain.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's ATLAS information technology center today announced a $100,000 pledge from Microsoft Research of Redmond, Wash., to enhance the center's leading-edge research efforts, according to Chancellor Richard Byyny.

An international symposium about how democratic governments treat non-citizens in their countries during wartime, "Alien Enemies in Wartime: Race, Ethnicity and Civil Liberties," will be held at the University of Colorado at Boulder April 4-6. The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will begin Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at the Colorado Chautauqua Association's Community House on Morning Glory Drive in Boulder's Chautauqua Park.