The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free concert by the University and Concert Bands at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 6, in the Second Floor Ballroom of the Iowa Memorial Union.

University of Iowa officials recently installed the campus’s first hearing loop system, which provides unprecedented sound clarity for people with hearing aids and cochlear implants, and there are plans to install five more over the next few years.

Two UI students, Kyra Seay and Tess Haverkamp, recently traveled to China on the Rivers as Bridges program that examines the sister-river relationship of the Mississippi River in the U.S. and the Yangtze River in China.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Geoffrey Nutter will read from his poetry at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, 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 Department of Theatre Arts will present the 2013 Iowa New Play Festival, the most ambitious new-play festival in collegiate theater, with readings and staged productions May 5–11 in the UI Theatre Building. The full productions of new scripts from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop will be presented at 5:30 and 9 p.m. May 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11.

Stephanie Patterson, a graduate student in bassoon performance in the University of Iowa School of Music, embraced her entrepreneurial side in order to highlight women composers. Using Kickstarter, Patterson raised funds to present a concert, "Iowa Celebration of Women Composers," on Friday, April 19 in Iowa City.

A 10-member delegation from one of Russia’s premier research institutions visited the University of Iowa this past week to gather ideas to help improve its growing university. The visit was hosted primarily by the UI College of Education's Belin-Blank Center.

UI political science professor Tim Hagle comments on the impact of a speech delivered by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to a Washington, D.C. think tank.

Writers’ Workshop graduate Andy Douglas will read from his memoir, "The Curve of the World," the story of his seven-year odyssey in Asia as a yogic monk, at 7 p.m. Monday, May 6, 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.

University of Iowa School of Music faculty Nicole Esposito and Alan Huckleberry will present a program of works for flute and piano by Mozart, Griffes, Taffanel, Leroux, and Prokofiev at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus. The concert is free and open to the public.

Facebook will soon make a home in central Iowa while Google is also adding a new data center in the state, inspiring UI experts and students to discuss what impact this will have on the economy and future employment opportunities.

UI wrestling coach Terry Brands and UI Nonfiction Writing Program Founder Carl Klaus were among residents sharing books that were meaningful to them at the third Community Book Talk hosted by UNESCO City of Literature as part of World Book Day.