The noon hour turned festive Tuesday, Dec. 17, in the John Colloton Pavilion at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, as the Faculty-Staff Orchestra performed five pieces, concluding the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s "Messiah."

Catch online coverage of undergraduate, graduate, nursing, and engineering ceremonies Dec. 20-21.

University staff, faculty, students, and alumni are accomplishing great things every day. See who's making news with awards, publications, promotion and tenure, and more.

Information Technology Services reminds the campus community to be on guard against unexpected or suspicious email at all times—especially during the holidays. Delete messages that could be malicious, or contact a local IT person or the ITS Help Desk before responding.

Each year the University of Iowa softball team gets together for a party, has a Secret Santa gift exchange, and celebrates the holiday season. But this year the party will be different. Rather than spending money on one another, the Hawkeyes decided to give back.

Mark Pooley, a former Obermann Graduate Fellow and doctoral student in public health, is combining his interest in biking with research to see if events such as the Winter Warrior Bike Challenge can help researchers create circumstances that will encourage more people to cycle.

Using recent advances in DNA sequencing, UI medical student Eliot Shearer, who earned his doctorate in molecular physiology and biophysics in 2012, helped create a single test that screens for all 70 known deafness-causing genes, making diagnostic testing more cost-effective for patients.

Growing up, Quad Cities native Aundrea Watkins bounced between almost a dozen different homes between the ages of 3 and 18. School was her "sanctuary and true stability." The University of Iowa elementary education major is graduating this December and plans to become a teacher to help other students succeed.

There are far more women than men in theater audiences and theater degree programs. Yet men's roles outnumber women's by half, and men write most of the plays that get produced. The UI is collaborating with other Big Ten schools on a program that will support female playwrights and provide female actors with strong roles.

Visitors to the University of Iowa campus will soon be able to enjoy free guest wireless service without having to track down a guest ID to log in, courtesy of a partnership between Information Technology Services (ITS) and AT&T.

"Iowa Now," the University of Iowa's central news and storytelling platform, will publish on a lighter schedule Dec. 23-Jan. 3.

Eliot Shearer used advances in DNA sequencing to develop a single test to screen for all known deafness-causing genes, making diagnostic testing more cost-effective. Shearer is the 2013 Montgomery Dissertation Prize winner in biomedical and health sciences.