Charles A. Nelson III from Harvard University will deliver the 2014 Spiker Memorial Lecture, “The Effects of Early Deprivation on Brain and Behavioral Development” Friday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m. in C107 Pappajohn Business Building on the University of Iowa campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Members of the media are invited to cover a field trip that will bring an estimated 60 middle school students from Columbus Junction, Iowa, to participate in interactive sessions on campus through the University of Iowa College of Education's Project HOPE (Healthcare, Occupations, Preparation, and Exploration).

Jason Urban, printmaking alumnus of the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, will speak at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in Art Building West. The lecture is free and open to the public.

University of Iowa Youth Ballet, a community outreach program of the UI Department of Dance, will offer four weeklong dance workshops this summer: three for children and one for intermediate dancers.

Certified Archivist Trudy Huskamp Peterson will be on the University of Iowa campus Monday and Tuesday, April 7 and 8, as part of the Department of History Visiting Lecturer Series. Peterson is former acting archivist of the United States.

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development recognized research and innovation excellence among UI students, faculty, and staff April 3 with its inaugural Distinguished Research Awards. Recipients were honored Thursday at a private dinner and ceremony at hotel Vetro alongside other distinguished colleagues.

See a roundup of recent University of Iowa activities, research, public engagement, and campus life in Iowa Now Minute 4/4/2014.

Students in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences find the Pomerantz Career Center invaluable in helping them identify and prepare for careers—and the college has the placement rates to prove it.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a joint performance by the University of Iowa’s Johnson County Landmark and the University of Northern Iowa’s Jazz Band One at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, in the Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City. The concert is free and open to the public.

Susan Lagos Lavenz, associate dean of teacher education and student services at UI, says the College of Education is looking at ways to partner with the Iowa City Community School District to place minorities in education jobs.

Concert organist Ann Marie Rigler, a University of Iowa alumna, will present a free concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 6, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

University of Iowa junior Liam Hovey has received a 2014 Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate award for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.