Women's conference will feature AZ Gov.

An Arizona Women's Conference, "Chart Your Own Course," will be held Sept. 14 and 15 at the Radisson Hotel City Center.

Conference highlights will include presentations by guest speaker Columba Bush, Florida's First Lady, and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Other programs will focus on women's health, education, employment, earnings and political participation.

The conference is open to UA employees, and the Diversity Resource Office will award free registration and lunch costs to a limited number of employees, based on individual circumstances or departmental need.

The deadline for conference registration is Aug. 20.

For more information contact Jennifer Eckstrom at 792-3293.

Davis appoints new vice provost to post

Beth Mitchneck was appointed last week as vice provost for academic affairs by Executive Vice President and Provost George Davis.

Mitchneck will assume her new position Aug. 11 and will work in the Provost's office until a replacement for former vice provost Libbie Ervin is found.

Mitchneck is currently the associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She is also an associate professor of geography and regional development.

Flandrau open late for Mars close-up

The Steward Observatory is joining the Flandrau Science Center in celebration of Mars' closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years with additional hours from on Aug. 27 and 28.

Both nights, the university's largest telescope on campus will be open from 10 p.m. ÷ 2 a.m. so the public can view the red planet at 1,000 times the size it appears to the naked eye.

The Steward Observatory is located at 933 N Cherry Ave.

Admission is free.

Search narrows for med college dean

Three candidates in the search for the College of Medicine's dean will have met with faculty and staff in open meetings this month and in September.

The candidates, Drs. Jose Jalife, Keith A. Joiner and Kenneth J. Ryan, were recommended by the College of Medicine Dean's Search Committee last week.

The first meeting will take place Aug. 18 with Joiner. Joiner is a medicine, cell biology and epidemiology professor at Yale University. He is also chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases, associate chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, and director of the Investigative Medicine Program at Yale University School of Medicine.

The second meeting will take place Aug. 22 with Jalife. Jalife is a professor and chairman of pharmacology, professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of the Institute for Cardiovascular Research at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y.

The third meeting will be Sept. 3 with Ryan, a professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at the UA. Ryan is also the dean for academic affairs and serves as the dean of the College of Medicine.

Following the meetings, President Pete Likins, Executive Vice President and Provost George Davis and Vice President for Health Sciences Dr. Raymond Woosley will begin the final phase of the search.