News Briefs

Films, videos, photographs, Web sites and digital recordings will be among the student projects on display at the third annual Undergraduate Multimedia Festival, which begins Monday (Feb. 7) at UNC.

Sponsored by the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, the festival is free to the public. The location is the Kresge Foundation Common Room (039) of Johnston Center-Graham Memorial. The festival will go through Feb. 18, and exhibit hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

The opening reception is 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday.

"We began the festival three years ago in an effort to showcase student work from diverse programs in a wide variety of electronic media," said Dr. Randi Davenport, executive director of the Johnston Center. "We knew that faculty increasingly required film, video and Web-based projects of their students, and we wanted the students who produced those projects to screen them for a larger audience."

Festival projects are reviewed by a panel of faculty, staff and graduate students.

For more information, visit www.johnstoncenter.unc.edu or call (919) 966-5110.

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Ardath Weaver, research-grants and data management director of the N.C. Arts Council, will present a lecture titled "Defining Community Values Through the Arts" at noon Feb. 22 on the UNC campus.

Weaver’s lecture, at the School of Government’s Knapp-Sanders Building, will focus on the role the arts play in contributing to community values. She will discuss the arts council’s work with local governments to help them determine the way art contributes to the value of local communities.

The N.C. Arts Council, a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, provides technical assistance, information and funding for the arts statewide. The organization is a steward for state and federal funds appropriated for the arts.

The event is free to the public and sponsored by the Carolina Society for Future Leaders, UNC Student Congress and School of Government.

For more information, contact Dr. Carl Stenberg at (919) 962-2377 or stenberg@iogmail.iog.unc.edu.

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John Prendergast, an international conflict resolution adviser, will speak on "Confronting Genocide in Darfur" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 8) on the UNC campus.

The seminar is free to the public and will be held in room 111 of Carroll Hall.

Prendergast is special adviser to the president of the International Crisis Group. He has focused most of his 20-year career on conflict resolution in Africa and shaping U.S. foreign policy toward the region.

Prendergast has written or co-written seven books on Africa.

Great Decisions and the Duke-UNC Rotary Center for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution are the event’s co-sponsors. For more information, call (919) 843-4887.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu