David Michael Ryfe will be the next director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

UI cello professor Anthony Arnone has teamed up with pianist Grethe Nöthling, a musical arts doctoral student at UI, to offer a series of free concerts for small audiences in people's homes around the state.

Kaylia Duncan and Anna Lynch have contributed to the remarkable achievement of University of Iowa graduate students by each winning the 2014 Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award.

The Iowa Summer Music Camps, presented by the University of Iowa School of Music, will offer four camps in 2014, focusing on piano, musical theater, percussion, and jazz. Application deadline is May 2; an early bird discount applies to applications submitted by April 18.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free recital by Jamaican pianist Paul Shaw at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Michelle Huneven and Mona Simpson will read from their new novels at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop will present a free reading by poet, performer, and librettist Douglas Kearney at 8 p.m., Monday, April 14, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Glenn Schaeffer Library, adjacent to the Dey House.

A group of UI students will take their ideas from the classroom to the community through a new Engaged Social Innovation track within the interdepartmental studies major; up to 12 honors students will be selected for the three-year program.

The University of Iowa will host a range of activities and events to commemorate Earth Month, which runs for most of April. A selection is highlighted below for the media, while the events, where noted, are open to the public.

University of Iowa student Erin Church discusses the undergraduate research opportunities she's had working with associate professor Teresa Treat in the UI Department of Psychology.

Carl and Claire Stuart’s shared journey began on the University of Iowa campus. Nearly 45 years and thousands of miles later, that journey continues.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present the Iowa Brass Quintet’s spring concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus. The concert is free and open to the public.