It will be hosted by Kris Koenig, director of the Kiwanis Chico Community Observatory (KCCO). The program tonight is “The Study of the Universe.” Engaging interviews with professional astronomers and researchers, including Dr. Michael Seeds, Dr. Phil Plait and Dr. Brent Tully, take the students on a virtual tour of our solar system, galaxy and beyond, introducing the many facets of the science of astronomy, while presenting a sense of scale to our universe.

This 13-week series beginning January 4, 2007 Features the Emmy Award-winning PBS series “Astronomy: Observations and Theories,” hosted by its writer and producer Kris Koenig, Director of the Kiwanis Chico Community Observatory. Each week, Koenig will take participants on a visual journey across the cosmos to teach how we developed our current model of the universe. Leading astronomers will also join in as guest lecturers. The programs will run every Thursday night, January 4 through March 29, 2007, at 7 pm at the Chico Area Recreation District (CARD), 545 Vallombrosa Ave, Chico. Tickets are $3 per adult at the door (Students with ID are free) or you may buy the entire series for only $25 through January 4, 2007. Get your series tickets at local businesses Grace Jr., 331 W. 5th street or Expeditions, 228 Main Street. For complete information on the series visit http://www.ncnhm.org/events/Astronomy.htm

Wednesday, Jan. 17 Chinese Acrobatics and Music Peking Acrobats Laxson Auditorium 7:30 p.m. “The Peking Acrobats regularly pass from the seemingly impossible to the virtually unbelievable.” - Los Angeles Times An annual favorite with north state youngsters, the Peking Acrobats return to Laxson with a new show featuring live music from their Chinese orchestra, special effects and lighting, a multi-screen video system, and even more spectacular gymnastics. This elite group of performers always entertains, amazes, delights, and astounds with their seemingly impossible display of contortions, comedic juggling, gymnastic feats, and graceful dance. $28 Premium $23 Adult $21 Senior $17 Student/Child

ElderCollege allows individuals, 60 and older, to attend University courses on a non-credit, guest basis for a nominal fee, with the permission of the instructor. Call Continuing Education, 530-898-6105 for additional details or visit the ElderCollege site at http://rce.csuchico.edu/eldercollege

“Celestial Cycles” Astronomical events and cycles in the sky had a great influence on society prior to the development of the Scientific method. Students learn what causes the seasons and will be able to define terms like “solstice” and “equinox.” “The Birth of Astronomy” The history of astronomy is one of the oldest of the sciences and the astronomers who set the course for our understanding of the universe. For complete information on the series visit http://www.ncnhm.org/events/Astronomy.htm

Description: CSU, Chico Continuing Education, with Butte County Family Court Services, Superior Court of California, presents Children in Trauma 2007: Recent Advances in Neuroscience, Attachment Theory, and Traumatology: Implications for Psychotherapists and Related Professions. The conference will feature author and educator Dr. Allan N. Schore, Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Please visit http://rce.csuchico.edu/inservice or call 530-898-6105 for more information.

Description: CSU, Chico Continuing Education, with Butte County Family Court Services, Superior Court of California, presents Children in Trauma 2007: Recent Advances in Neuroscience, Attachment Theory, and Traumatology: Implications for Psychotherapists and Related Professions. The conference will feature author and educator Dr. Allan N. Schore, Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Please visit http://rce.csuchico.edu/inservice or call 530-898-6105 for more information.

Get ready for the new Semester and stop by the BMU Audittoium to get your new parking decal.

Jan. 17 - Feb. 28
Eric Richter Wunderkammer: Natural Curiosities

Feb. 7 Reception 5-7pm

Eric Richter earned two BS degrees at Cal Poly, Pomona, one in horticulture in 1981 and the other in landscape architecture in 1991. He moved to Chico from “the vast urban sprawl of Los Angeles” and is fascinated by the landscape, bugs, bones, fungus, and plants he finds hiking and doing field work throughout the area as a utility forester and project manager with Western ECI. “Wunderkammer,” he writes, “is exploring a personal fascination with nature: the native and exotic, the strange and familiar.” Richter’s paintings are inspired by European cabinets of curiosities, collections of the bizarre and beautiful gathered from around the world for study, classification, and entertainment. He asks his viewers to “imagine dark musty rooms filled with preserved creatures, art, and other precious possessions.”

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is a peer-led, learning in retirement organization that offers a wide variety of special classes on topics ranging from poetry and literature to politics and history. CSU, Chico OLLI provides you the opportunity to stimulate your brain and a chance to meet other adults, age 60 or retired, (and spouses of any age). Sign up for peer-led classes, meet your classmates and instructors! Call OLLI at 530-898-6679 and visit http://rce.csuchico.edu/osher or email bdadalt@csuchico.edu.

“The Peking Acrobats regularly pass from the seemingly impossible to the virtually unbelievable.” - Los Angeles Times An annual favorite with north state youngsters, the Peking Acrobats return to Laxson with a new show featuring live music from their Chinese orchestra, special effects and lighting, a multi-screen video system, and even more spectacular gymnastics. This elite group of performers always entertains, amazes, delights, and astounds with their seemingly impossible display of contortions, comedic juggling, gymnastic feats, and graceful dance. For more information: http://www.chicoperformances.com/

“Astronomical Tools” - Footage from the World’s premiere observatories and interviews with the astronomers who use them are highlighted in this program on the electromagnetic spectrum and the instruments used to collect and analyze it. “The Science of Starlight” - This program deals with the hidden data embedded in the electromagnetic emissions of stars and galaxies, and how astronomers extract that information, revealing the mysteries of the cosmos. For complete information on the series visit http://www.ncnhm.org/events/Astronomy.htm

Northern California Local Government Leadership Development Program - Leadership Ethics Time: 9:00 AM to 4 PM. Location: CSU, Chico campus. Continuing Education Building, Rm. 107. Description: Leadership Ethics is designed to increase the understanding of essential ethical considerations from personal, professional, and legal perspectives. This course covers understanding the difference between ethics and values, defining core values, understanding the power of character, the importance of trust and integrity, putting ethical principles into action, and establishing processes for resolving ethical problems.

Chico Unified School District and CSU, Chico Department of Education are delighted to announce the arrival of renowned reading expert Jim Trelease to the Bell Memorial Union auditorium on January 22, 2007. Jim”s decades-long career on the lecture circuit as well as his multiple-edition books The Read-Aloud Handbook, Read All About It, and Hey, Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud have firmly established Jim as an internationally-recognized reading expert. In fact, Jim”s presentations have been known to create complete paradigm shifts in communities with struggling readers. Program contents include building environments that nurture a love of reading in children, effects of silent sustained reading, book selection, valuable lessons from Oprah”s Book Club, the Harry Potter books, and the internet, and tips on luring children away from the television. This event is one not to be missed! There will be three sessions held: 11am-1pm: Chico State Students & Student Teachers 3:30-5 pm: CUSD and other Teaching Professionals 7-8:30 pm: Parents and Public Presentation For more information, contact the Department of Education, 898-6421 or see the http://www.trelease-on-reading.com

The International Forum is a 1.0 unit Credit/No Credit class (International Studies 300). Other topics will address issues involving Africa, China, dying languages, and study abroad opportunities.

The Meriam Library is offering guided tours of the library from 12-12:50pm. Meet in the lobby on the first floor of the library. Monday-Wednesday, January 22-24 Monday-Wednesday, January 29-31 Alternatively, a self-guided walking tour pamphlet is available at the Reference desk on the second floor. http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/tours/self_guided.pdf

Jan. 25 Informal artist”s talk 4:30 pm and Reception 5ñ7 pm Hanson earned her MA in art here in 2001. Jeannene Przyblyski, San Francisco-based art historian and curator, writes: “Hanson”s sculptures and sculptural installations immediately place us in another world. Magical and strange, and also strangely familiaróit is as if we already knew these forms deeply within our own bodies. This sense of seeing the body from the inside-out has something to do with the organic shapes of her sculpturesóelongated, irregular, swollen, stretched, distended. It also has something to do with their material. Transparent packing tape is patiently pressed together, inch by inch, delicate and strong, pliant and substantial, invisible and visible. It is architecture with an almost cellular logic.”

Jan. 25 Informal artists” talk 4:30 pm and Reception 5ñ7 pm Dan has been drawing, painting, and taking photographs in and out of a journal for years. He”s been a drummer in many bands, most recently The Comfy Chairs. He”s now a student at the San Francisco Art Institute. He”ll be showing paintings, collage, and photos. Susan has been keeping a journal and making collage boxes for years. Here you”ll have a look at her (often unfinished) small boxes along with glimpses into her collage journal. She is the author of two books published by Random House: poemcrazy: freeing your life with words (now in its 19th printing) and the forthcoming (June 2007) tentatively titled foolsgold: making something from nothing. Susan has an interdisciplinary MA in art and writing from CSU, Chico.

California State University, Chico, School of Social Work will be hosting an Informational Meeting regarding their Bachelors and Masters Programs in Social Work on January 25, from 6pm - 8pm in Butte 221. Questions: Call 898-6204.

“The Sun - Our Star” - The astronomers of the National Solar Observatory guide this award-winning program about our sun. Guest Presentation - A National Solar Observatory Astronomer will discuss the Sun’s thermostat and its role in global warming. For complete information on the series visit http://www.ncnhm.org/events/Astronomy.htm

Steele examines the idea of critical reading in relation to Samuel Richardson”s novel Clarissa. In order to historicize the activity of critical reading, she looks at the letters of one of Richardson”s correspondents, Hester Mulso, and some reading practices employed by the characters Lovelace and Belford. Both the internal and the external readers demonstrate reading practices we might, now, deem critical. Given Mulso”s retreat into a fictional persona and the novel”s condemnation of Belford and Lovelace as bad readers, however, Steele suggests a more contingent characterization of reading practices in terms of gender, generation, and spiritual belief. For information, contact Robert O’Brien, Department of English, x6873.

Northern California Local Government Leadership Development Program - Leadership Ethics Location: Redding City Hall Community Room, 777 Cypress Avenue. Time: 9:00 AM to 4 PM. Description: Leadership Ethics is designed to increase the understanding of essential ethical considerations from personal, professional, and legal perspectives. This course covers understanding the difference between ethics and values, defining core values, understanding the power of character, the importance of trust and integrity, putting ethical principles into action, and establishing processes for resolving ethical problems.

Pianist John Milbauer and cellist Burke Schuchmann present Beethoven’s heroic Sonta in A Major. Milbauer is joined by five woodwinds in a performance of Poulenc’s sparkling Sextet, a work which blends neoclassicism with the irreverent expressions of the circus and the music hall. Advance tickets: $15 Adult, $13 Senior, $6 Student/Child (General Seating) For more information: http://www.csuchico.edu/hfa/chicoarts/springchmber.html

CSU, Chico’s Janet Turner Print Museum, located upstairs in Laxson Auditorium, hosts the 1st California State University System Printmaking Invitational from January 29-March 4. Students and faculty from colleges in the CSU system were invited to submit work for this non-juried competition. Work from 20 faculty and 20 students from 15 CSUs will be exhibited. The Janet Turner Print Museum is open 11am to 4pm Monday through Friday. Additional work is displayed in Ayres Hall, first floor cases. A public reception for participating artists will be held Friday, Feb. 2, 2007. Call Catherine Sullivan at 898-4476 for more details.

The International Forum is a 1.0 unit Credit/No Credit class (International Studies 300). Other topics will address issues involving Africa, China, dying languages, and study abroad opportunities.

“…the best traditional Irish band going.” - Chicago Tribune Six-time Grammy winners and eighteen-time Grammy nominees, The Chieftains have performed before millions of fans on every continent in their 32 years of touring. With 42 albums, several movie soundtracks, and collaborations with The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Los Lobos, Ry Cooder, and many others, The Chieftains are not only Ireland’s premier musical ambassadors, but also the most enduring and influential creative force in Celtic music. For more information, see http://www.csuchico.edu/upe/performance/index.php?page=performances&performer=Chieftains

The Meriam Library is offering guided tours of the library from 12-12:50pm. Meet in the lobby on the first floor of the library. Monday-Wednesday, January 29-31 Alternatively, a self-guided walking tour pamphlet is available at the Reference desk on the second floor. http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/tours/self_guided.pdf

Thomas Kren has a B. A. (1972) from Oberlin College and an M.A. and Ph.D. (1978) from Yale University in the History of Art. He has been curator of the Department of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles since the founding of the department in 1984. The Getty has one of the finest holdings of European manuscript illumination in the United States.