After two months of classes and a full slate of activities, it became official on Friday: The new Allen Hall is open. Allen Hall – home to the UO's School of Journalism and Communication – got its grand opening on what was the warmest day of 2013, to date. Ribbon was cut and guests were guided through the renovated and expanded building by student ambassadors from the SOJC.

UO alumni Bret Jacobson, 33, and Ian Spencer, 29, have formed an Arlington, Va., company called Red Edge, which offers digital services for politically conservative causes. The two worked on the Commentator, the UO’s conservative alternative paper, where they learned about media messaging. Jacobson served as the Commentator's publisher and ran unsuccessfully for ASUO president in 2001. Spencer was the paper's editor-in-chief in 2005.

If the conscious mind—the part you consider you—accounts for only a fraction of the brain’s function, what is all the rest doing? David Eagleman will answer that during a free public lecture, “The Secret Lives of the Human Brain,” at 7:30 p.m. March 5 in 182 Lillis Hall, 955 E. 13th Ave. Our behavior, thoughts, and experiences are inseparably linked to a vast, wet, chemical-electrical network called the nervous system, said Eagleman, a neuroscientist and director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action at Baylor College of Medicine.

Silicon Shire, a consortium of over 150 technology companies in the Eugene-Springfield area, hosted a business mixer earlier this year at the University of Oregon's Ford Alumni Center. The well-attended event gave UO students and faculty a chance to mingle with representatives from local tech firms specializing in computer gaming, biotech, web and media, mobile and embedded applications, networking and security, business and educational software, and industrial optimization – all located in the university's backyard.

The University of Oregon School of Music and Dance will host participatory Balkan folk dance, as well as a public master class with celebrated violinist Stefan Jackiw. The school will also host the opening event of Eugene’s annual Irish Cultural Festival with a traditional Irish music concert by international artists the Paperboys, and will welcome Adam Unsworth, a hornist from the University of Michigan, for a concert and master class.