DURHAM -- Energy visionary Amory Lovins, one of Time magazine's "Heroes for Our Planet," will give a free, public talk at Duke University at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Lovins' talk will take place at Love Auditorium in the Levine Science Research Center on Duke's West Campus. He will discuss "Profitable Solutions for Climate, Oil and Proliferation."
The talk is the 2009 Duke Environment and Society Lecture, sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment.
A physicist by training, Lovins is chairman and chief scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colo., and chairman emeritus of Fiberforge Inc. He advises governments and major firms worldwide on advanced energy and resource efficiency.
A Q&A with audience members will follow Lovins' talk. A free public reception will precede it at 5:15 p.m. The talk and Q&A will be streamed live to the Web at www.nicholas.duke.edu/deanseries, with the opportunity for members of the Web audience to send in questions via e-mail and Twitter.
Robertson to add 4 scholars
CHAPEL HILL -- Four students at UNC and Duke University will be invited to join the Robertson Scholars Program, a comprehensive leadership initiative in which students receive full four-year merit scholarships and study at both Carolina and Duke.
The new scholars will enter the program in the spring semester.
To date, only about 36 high school seniors each spring have been eligible to be chosen as Robertson Scholars at Carolina or Duke. The program's board of directors approved the new initiative to invite first-year students recently after gleaning feedback from more than 30 Duke and Carolina administrators and faculty.
The initiative is a pilot program to take place this year and next, adding four students each to the Robertson classes of 2013 and 2014. The program will host information sessions on both campuses from Nov. 9-19 for interested students.
The sessions will be at Duke: Smith Warehouse, Bay 7, second floor, 4 p.m. Nov. 9, 10, 12 and13. At UNC: 116 Murphey Hall, 4 p.m. Nov. 16, 17, 18 and 19.
Currently 140 Robertson Scholars study at the two universities. Students enroll at one campus or the other but take classes at both. They also spend one semester in residence at the other university. The scholarship funds tuition, room and board and fees and provides laptop computers and three summers of domestic and international experiences.
NCCU fund honors late son
DURHAM -- Robert Lee Dobbs, a 1960 graduate of N.C. Central University, has established the Curtis Lee Dobbs Memorial Endowment Fund to honor his late son, who passed away at the age of 18 in 1985.
Dobbs established the $50,000 endowment to provide scholarship opportunities for sophomores, juniors and seniors who are track and field athletes and maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
Dobbs received numerous awards while he was a student at NCCU. In 1997 he was inducted into the Alexander M. Rivera Athletic Hall of Fame, honoring him for his collegiate track career.
New Duke panel to provide books
DURHAM --The newly established First Book-Duke University board will distribute free books to children in literacy programs in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.
Duke University's Office of Durham and Regional Affairs formed an official First Book Campus Advisory Board through the national nonprofit organization First Book. The advisory board, composed of Duke staff and students, is set to begin accepting applications from eligible Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership programs within a few weeks.
First Book is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, First Book has distributed more than 60 million free and low-cost books to disadvantaged children and the programs that serve them.
-- Compiled by Neil Offen
