Flandrau Science Center launches "Ring World"

The Flandrau Science Center will introduce "Ring World," a new planetarium show about NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, just as the spacecraft arrives at the ringed planet.

"Ring World" follows the Cassini mission on its seven-year, 2 billion-mile journey to this mysterious world and its entourage of moons. The show is narrated by John Billingsley, known for his role as Dr. Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise.

Combining state-of-the-art computer animations with mechanical visual effects and a newly upgraded digital sound system, "Ring World" is one of the most advanced productions ever presented in the Flandrau's planetarium theater. Production of "Ring World" was funded by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and directed by Brian Sullivan of Sullivan Presentations in Salt Lake City. Sullivan himself was the production designer at Flandrau from 1978 to 1983.

"Ring World" is currently running Thursday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. Flandrau Science Center is located on the northeast corner of University Boulevard and Cherry Avenue. Ticket prices are $5.50 for adults, $4.50 for seniors and $4 for children.

Up-to-date information can be found at www.flandrau.org, or by calling 621-STAR.

UA College of Humanities announces Latino Policy Research Initiative

Bridging the gap between academic scholarship and public policy for the betterment of Latino communities in Arizona and the Southwest lies at the core of the University of Arizona's College of Humanities Latino Policy Research Initiative (LPRI).

The LPRI is a public policy research initiative designed to generate a program of evaluation of public policies. LPRI will communicate findings to policymakers, business and community leaders to implement changes in public policies as needed. The LPRI director, José Luis Santos, says that the impetus for the initiative is the growth in the state's Latino population, largely fueled by young school-bound children. The initial focus is to examine the educational system in the face of the Latino and other under-represented populations' academic and economic achievement.

"Our idea is to amass scholars and take an interdisciplinary approach to look at existing policies, evaluate what's working and what isn't. As institutions of higher learning, we continue to talk about increasing access for Latinos in the higher education pipeline. We really can't speak to that sincerely without addressing the K-12 system. We have to take a comprehensive system-wide approach," said Santos.

Santos said the Latino population in the state of Arizona had a surge of 88 percent between 1990 and 2000, as reflected by the most recent United States Census. Latinos represent 25 percent of the state's population.

"This intense demographic growth in our state and in others makes this a critical population with specific issues," said Santos. "As these issues relate to our state, we want to focus our efforts on education and how to improve the condition of Latinos in education through policy."

Santos, a recent UA graduate with a doctorate in higher education economics and finance policy, says that eventually the findings of the LPRI will provide enough objective data on critical Latino public policy issues to state and federal legislators.

"The centerpiece of this initiative is concrete policy research and change," said Santos. "When you look at the educational system at present within the racial and ethnic context in our schools, many laws and policies are still addressing the ills from the segregated past. We can't wait another 50 years for a shift in educational policy. The need is here and now."