Brandy Todd, of the University of Oregon's Oregon Center for Optics, was crowned 2013 Eugene Slug Queen in a raucous ceremony Aug. 9 in downtown. Todd will use her new celebrity to promote science to young girls and boys. More details coming at AroundtheO.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley is on the UO campus today for a 10 a.m. press event in the Knight Library Browsing Room to announce the introduction of "pay it forward" style legislation.Vice President for Research and Innovation Kimberly Espy will provide a welcome. State Rep. Phil Barnhart (D-Eugene) is also participating, along with student body presidents from the UO, LCC and OSU. 

The Office of Government and Community Relations has launched a website to provide information about the university's new institutional governing board

When Al Jazeera America launches later this month, a familiar University of Oregon economist may get some airtime.Tim Duy, professor of practice in the Department of Economics and senior director of the Oregon Economic Forum, was interviewed Wednesday for about 30 minutes for a segment the network is planning on the Federal Reserve System.

A new University of Oregon initiative produced significant improvements in preschoolers’ behavior and families’ quality of life for those under the poverty line, UO researchers found.