The Mainstage series of University of Iowa Theatre will perform Charles Mee's Big Love, opening at 8 p.m., Thursday, March 29, in the David Thayer Theatre of the UI Theatre Building.

Leaders of the Department of Hospital Dentistry at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City announced that Steve Fletcher, D.D.S., will assume the leadership of the Graduate Program in oral and maxillofacial surgery effective today.

The University of Iowa Jazz Repertory Ensemble (JRE) will perform classic big-band scores by the "late greats" of jazz at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in the Mill restaurant in downtown Iowa City.

Eight members of the Ashton family have studied engineering at Iowa and made a mark on the field. A new professorship named for George D. Ashton extends their legacy.

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the Concerto for Violin by Vernon Duke will be performed in orchestral form, thanks to the affinity of University of Iowa School of Music Distinguished Alumnus Scott Dunn.

Robert Hass, former U.S. poet laureate and University of Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty member, will return to the UI as an Ida Beam Visiting Professor, including a free reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 29, in the Buchanan Auditorium in the Pappajohn Business Administration Building.

Journalism faculty member, responding to Iowa's "F" grade on public-records law, notes that the state's open-records law is loaded with exemptions.

The decommissioning of the Tevatron represented the end of an era, but it also is ushering in the next generation of physics by providing valuable equipment to other experiments. At the University of Iowa Yasar Onel is using cast-off equipment to design a calorimeter that can detect secondary emissions from particle collisions in high-radiation environments.

UI psychologist Michelle Voss says lifestyle factors can help offset the loss of brain plasticity, making learning more possible for the elderly.

UI political scientist Wenfang Tang assesses the rise and fall of Chinese politician Bo Xilai.

Judy Blume's works are coming out as e-books. UI journalism faculty member Gigi Durham described Blume as "a flywheel in the 'Our Bodies, Our-selves' mode of feminism."

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will perform in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union on April 26.