TUESDAY – Feb 1

Auditions for We, the Students, UMTV’s political talk show, will be 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Studio C on the first floor of the School of Communication building. Students should dress business casual and be ready to debate for or against abortion, gay marriage, or Bush’s current and future success in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Teach For America will hold an informational session for all interested in Flamingo Ballroom A from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Applications for students interested in being elections commissioners during Student Government elections are now available in the SG office in the UC 214.

The Second Annual Study Abroad fair will be from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at the UC Lower Lounge. Past study abroad participants, current exchange students and UM professors doing summer courses abroad will be there to answer questions and give information.

WEDNESDAY – Feb 2

Last day to drop a class without a “W” or to change a class from “for a grade” to “for credit.”

The tailgate party for men’s basketball vs. Virginia Tech starts at 5:30 p.m. outside of the students’ entrance to the Convocation Center.

THURSDAY – Feb 3

UM’s Gallery Night is every first Thursday of the month. Starting at 7 p.m., students can take the Hurry ‘Cane on campus to the Lowe Art Museum, the New Gallery in Coral Gables, and Casa Bacardi. Admission is free on Gallery Nights.

The tailgate party for women’s basketball vs. Duke starts at 5 p.m. outside of the students’ entrance to the Convocation Center.

Attention commuter students: The information desk in the University Center has approximately 500 phonebooks specifically for commuter students who would like one. Please stop by the information desk to pick up a copy.

(U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Move over, Thefacebook. Step aside, LiveJournal. Take a hike, Webshots.

Imeem has officially arrived at Indiana University.

Imeem combines a variety of features already popular through separate Web sites into one download. These include networking, journals, photo albums and chat.

Ted Malone, the vice president of marketing for imeem, said imeem released its software Friday to those with an “@indiana.edu” e-mail account.

Malone and his team visited colleges around the country in early December looking for the right colleges at which to start imeem’s base. The team chose nine colleges as its trial schools -Arizona State, IU, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas, Texas A&M and Western Michigan.

Malone said imeem, which is a Spyware-free program still in its initial stages, is more appealing than a site like TheFacebook because it combines popular Internet features into one place.

“It’s good because we have this journal feature, photo feature, a safe file-sharing feature and an (instant message) feature,” he said. “It’s sort of a one-stop-shop for all of those things. That’s sort of a fun feature of it.”

The imeem team of 13 full-time employees based in Palo Alto, Calif. has been working on its creation for about a year, Malone said.

Imeem is a venture-backed start-up business, which means a larger company, Morgenthaler Ventures, invested funds to help imeem get on its feet.

The University celebrated the successful closing of this year’s United Way campaign, which raised over $900,000. Students and faculty all contributed to the effort to improve and strengthen the community.

In celebration, the annual United Way Leadership Reception, for those who donated one percent of their salary or more, was once again hosted by President Shalala at her home to honor and thank the faculty and staff who helped make the University’s United Way campaign a success.

Despite a rocky start due to Hurricane Frances, which forced the cancellation of the big kick-off event, and the other three hurricanes that hit Florida, the campaign is closing with some impressive results. Two hundred and sixty-three employees gave one percent of their salaries; 57 employees donated $1,000 or more; three employees donated $5,000 or more; five employees donated $10,000 or more; and $82,000 was raised through fundraising projects like raffles, luncheons and bake sales.

Jerry Lewis, vice president of University Communications, who chaired the campaign this year, said, “Once again our faculty, staff, and students have shown just how thoughtful, generous, and caring they can be. Their donations to United Way and the many agencies it supports will make a tremendous difference in the lives of tens-of-thousands of people in Miami-Dade County.”

Henry Latimer, Broward County’s first black circuit court judge and an alumnus of the University of Miami law school, died last Monday night in a car accident on I-595 in Broward. He was 67.

Latimer graduated from UM’s School of Law in 1973 and went on to become a distinguished lawyer and judge in the South Florida community.

“He had a presence about him that was almost larger than life,” Dennis Lynch, Dean of the Law School, said. “When talking with him you could almost feel his fairness and sense of justice. He made you feel comfortable and you understood that this was a man you could trust.”

Latimer’s beginnings were humble and reflect a long history of civil rights activism.

Born in Ocilla, Ga., Latimer’s father died before he was born. He grew up on government aid in Jacksonville’s projects, spending his early years in segregated Florida schools.

He went on to receive his bachelor’s degree at Florida A&M University and a master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University. In 1968, Latimer became a U.S. Labor Department investigator, and two years later enrolled in law school at UM.

When he was trying to break into the legal field, Latimer was often rejected by many of the then-segregated law firms, but he persisted and managed to rise to the top of his profession and gain respect from his peers.

Latimer was appointed as Broward County Circuit judge in 1979 by then-Governor Bob Graham. He was elected to a six-year term in 1980 but stepped down in 1983 to work as a lawyer for a local firm.

In the local community, Latimer was dedicated to providing pro bono work. He worked tirelessly to represent clients who could not afford legal services and considered those clients as important as his largest corporate ones. Much of the free work was done in the name of the Laura Latimer Free Legal Clinic, named for his sister who died in 1968 at age 33.

Latimer was also an influence in the University community.

“He was very concerned for the welfare of students, especially minority students, and he served as an advocate for them, making sure that services and financial aid was available for them,” Dr. Patricia Whitely, vice president of Student Affairs, said.

Latimer eventually went on to become a member on the Board of Trustees, but was always available to talk with students.

“He would spend countless hours mentoring students and I always knew if I asked Henry to talk with a student about career opportunities, he would be there for that student,” Lynch said.

Latimer is survived by his wife, Mildred Latimer, 62, and daughters Desiree Latimer, 42, and Tracie Kimreka Latimer, 40.

“‘Lat’ was an inspiration and a friend to all who met him,” Georgie Angones, assistant dean of Alumni Affairs at the Law School, said in a statement. “He will always be remembered for his leadership, compassion and acts of kindness.”

The School of Law will be having a “Celebration of the Life of Henry Latimer” on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 5:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.law.miami.edu/alumni.

Angelique Thomas can be contacted at athomas@miami.edu.

So you’re finally graduating college. But what now? While the traditional path finds most students moving on to graduate school or a 9-to-5 job, many discover that neither of these options is right for them. Some diverge from this path to pursue other endeavors. The Next Step series will run every Tuesday to explore some of the alternative options that students have as they leave college and enter the “real” world.

For Alex Ortiz, learning in the classroom goes beyond his college years. Next fall, he will join thousands of graduating seniors and recent college graduates in the Teach for America [TFA] program.

TFA is a national program that recruits recent college graduates to teach in lower-income communities all over the United States, giving children an opportunity to receive an equal education despite the harsh social conditions in which they may live. TFA recruits top graduating students who not only exceed academically, but also possess leadership skills and are driven to make a difference.

“These kids don’t have the same opportunity to learn as kids in suburban areas,” Ortiz said. “It’s a gross negligence if you don’t allow people to have equal education.”

Ortiz will be one of thousands of “corps” that are selected every year to teach for two years after graduation in the lowest income communities in the U.S., where schools report low reading and learning levels among children.

Ortiz, a neuroscience major, will teach science at the secondary level-middle or high school-in New York City.

“I hope to see firsthand the inequality that exists in society, especially with inner-city kids,” Ortiz said. “This is different, and it goes beyond learning from a textbook.”

According to its official website, “Teach for America is building the movement to eliminate educational inequity in this country.” By recruiting students from all over the country from different fields of study, TFA has made a difference in the lives of more than 1.75 million children for more than 14 years.

Ortiz first became passionate about social issues after participating in the Alternative Spring Break program at UM. He is now part of a UM team that collaborates with a TFA manager to coordinate events to raise awareness of the program on campus.

“Some people want to help but they don’t know how, because these programs are not promoted,” he said. “But programs like this give you alternatives and invaluable life experiences.”

Students interested in joining TFA do not have to be education majors in order to apply; all fields of study are welcomed. Students receive a teacher’s salary as set by the school district where they will be working.

Before starting their two-year commitment, new corps are trained over a six-week course during the summer. Here, they are given guidance on what techniques work in the classrooms and which ones have failed.

Ortiz is looking forward to the experience and later plans to attend law school to continue working against social inequality.

“I know that these kids will learn from me, and I will learn from them,” he said. “College is a time of growth, but you realize that as an individual you also have to give back.”

An information session on TFA will be held tonight at 7:00 p.m. in UC Ballroom A, and a CNN documentary screening on TFA will be shown at Cosford Cinema on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

For more information on TFA, visit TeachforAmerica.org.

Vanessa Krause can be contacted at v.krause@umiami.edu.

The official unveiling of the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music’s high-tech library, the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center, took place last Sunday. Faculty, friends, alumni and trustees-with mango martinis in hand-gathered outside the building during the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony to express gratitude to all those who helped make the endeavor a success.

“This marks the third major contribution of the Weeks, and we are profoundly grateful,” William Hipp, dean of the School of Music, said in his opening remarks. “Very few schools of music can boast having a free-standing music library and technology center.”

The Weeks, longtime benefactors of the University, initiated their string of philanthropic contributions to the School of Music in 1998 with the L. Austin Weeks Center for Recording and Performance. Soon after, they created the L. Austin Weeks Music Scholarship Endowment, which provides financial assistance to over 20 undergraduate students each year.

Dean Colson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said that he is not surprised with the contribution.

“She is really one of those special people in the world,” Colson said of Marta Weeks.

“Marta is a wonderful human with a strong sense of ethics,” UM President Donna Shalala said. “She is a model for philanthropists.”

The Frost School of Music possesses one of the nation’s major university music library collections. The new, 28,000-square-foot library houses the music school’s extensive collections of media, from books and videos that were previously in the Richter Library to scores and recordings that were in the Pick Music Library. It also provides research and study areas such as reading, seminar and music listening rooms.

“This is a marvelous addition to the school-it was much needed,” said Dottie Drennan, who received her Ph.D. from the School of Music in 1975.

The library’s lobby is named and dedicated to the memory of Austin Weeks’ mother, Una Austin Weeks, as part of a lasting tribute to her.

“When students first entered the lobby, I saw their eyes go big and their jaws drop. They were in awe of the facility,” Hipp said.

The advanced technology center will play a crucial role in increasing technological literacy for graduates of the Frost School of Music.

“I took music lessons a long time ago, and the technology now is mind-boggling,” said Marta Weeks, who already has a favorite spot in the library.

“Our experience at Miami slashes and trashes the idea that libraries aren’t needed,” William Walker, the University librarian, said. “We can expect this to be a hotbed of activity. This is a library that was sorely needed, and we are deeply indebted to the Weeks family for making this possible.”

The Weeks Music Library and Technology Center is the first of many construction projects still underway in efforts to revamp UM.

Shalu Patel can be contacted at s.patel16@umiami.edu.