Many students woke up Wednesday morning with a few questions after checking their e-mail boxes. Was it okay to walk on the grass? Wasn't it before? Had someone hacked university president Donna E. Shalala's e-mail account? The truth is much simpler. No, the message sent to the student body wasn't an April Fool's Day joke. But it definitely didn't have the serious tone of previous communications from her.

Roni Avissar, a professor at Duke University specilizing in climatology, has been named the new head of the Universiy of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, according to a statement from the university.

Michael R. Halleran, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will become the next provost at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., according to a statement from William & Mary president Taylor Reveley.

Patricia D. White, currently the Jack Brown Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, will replace acting law school dean Paul R. Verkuil who has served in that capacity since former longtime dean Dennis O. Lynch stepped down in May 2008 to return to the faculty.

Miami's months-long pursuit of No. 1 rates recruit Bryce Brown has ended, as Brown announced this afternoon from the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in his hometown of Wichita that he would be signing with the University of Tennessee and new head coach Lane Kiffin.

Canes will play at Providence Wednesday at 7:30 on ESPN2.

The loss likely deals a deathblow to Miami's NCAA Tournament hopes.

Scott Jared Monat, a third-year neurobiology major, was found dead in a kitchen at approximately 6 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, according to The Campus Observer, the student newspaper of National University of Singapore.