Academics
- Making more monuments: Just like modern cities, ancient settlements got more productive as they grew<p class="p1">Living in bigger, denser settlements allowed the inhabitants of ancient cities to be more productive, just as is true for modern urbanites, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Santa Fe Institute.</p>
<p class="p1">As modern cities grow, they obey certain rules. As the population increases, for example, the settled area becomes denser instead of sprawling outward. This allows people to live closer together, use infrastructure more intensively, interact more frequently, and as a result, produce more per person.</p>
<p>The Leeds School of Business is pleased to announce the launch of a new scholarship program aimed at supporting CU-Boulder employees, allowing them to earn an MBA from the Leeds Evening MBA program.</p>- <p>Two University of Colorado Boulder programs that teach kids to code have received Google RISE Awards to support their efforts to attract girls and underrepresented minorities to computer science.</p>
<p>The two programs are the Scalable Game Design project, which hooks kids on coding by empowering them to build their own video games, and AspireIT, which connects high school and college women with K-12 girls interested in computing.</p> - <p>The University of Colorado Boulder is ranked No. 6 in the nation for graduates serving as Peace Corps volunteers with 62 alumni currently serving around the world, the Peace Corps announced today.</p>
<p>In the annual Top Colleges list, CU-Boulder has held a position in the top eight nationally among large institutions for the past 13 years, ranking in the top three for nine of those years. CU-Boulder also has been the state leader among Colorado institutions of similar size each year since 2003.</p> - <p class="p1">The <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/leedsmba/evening-mba"><span class="s1">Evening MBA Program</span></a>, offered by the CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, is going south -- in a good way. Beginning in May, the program -- offered since 2000 on the CU-Boulder campus -- also will be available at the <a href="http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/southdenver/Pages/default.aspx"><span class="s1">Liniger Building at CU South Denver</span></a>, located at 10035 Peoria St. in Parker, Colorado.</p>
<p>Sabrina Sideris, program director of CU-Boulder's <a href="http://communitystudies.colorado.edu/">INVST Community Studies</a>, takes great pride in working with CU students to help them learn to become engaged citizens and leaders.</p>
<p>John A. Ikard, president and CEO of FirstBank Holding Company, will deliver a talk titled "Leading an Ethical Organization in a Sometimes Unethical World" on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 5:30 p.m. in the Wittemyer Courtroom at the Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado Boulder campus.</p>
<p>Literary Buffs, a new student group on campus that aims to connect undergraduates of all disciplines who share an interest in poetry, fiction, music and art, will host its first annual Literature and Arts Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 3-6 p.m.</p>
<p>The University of Colorado Boulder has announced Thomas Krannawitter, Ph.D., as a finalist for the position of Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the 2015-16 academic year. Krannawitter will visit the CU-Boulder campus and give a talk titled “The Problem of Slavery in the American Founding.” He will explore what the existence of slavery in the early days of the United States, and efforts made to end it, tell us today about the American character.</p>- <p>A research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered a mechanism in the brain that is key to making cocaine seem pleasurable, a finding that could lead to a drug treatment for fighting addiction.</p>
<p>The findings build on past research also involving CU-Boulder that found the same mechanism in the brain also interacts with heroin, oxycodone, morphine and other opioid drugs to amplify their addictiveness. The latest study suggests that the mechanism plays a key role in the addictiveness of many abused drugs, possibly including methamphetamine and alcohol.</p>