Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and faculty member in the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will join UI Nonfiction Writing Program alumna Eula Biss for a literary benefit at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24, in the Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City.

University of Iowa undergraduates are increasingly planning their coursework with an eye toward the job market. Earning a certificate via one of the university's 21 interdisciplinary certificate programs gives students the opportunity to add credentials to their degrees and make their résumés and transcripts stand out.

The discovery this year of fossil remains of two different kinds of mammoths in rural Mahaska County, Iowa, has surprised and delighted paleontologists and archaeologists at the University of Iowa. Some of those fossils will be on public display Wednesday, Oct. 17, as UI researchers discuss their importance.

Dance Gala 2012, the University of Iowa dance department's major annual event, will feature the early signature piece by legendary choreographer Jennifer Muller, as well as new and reimagined works by dance faculty Charlotte Adams, Eloy Barragán, Deanna Carter, Armando Duarte, Jennifer Kayle, and Alan Sener. The first performance is set for 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25.

Anthony Arnone is accustomed to hearing applause. It goes with the territory of the performing arts, and Arnone, professor of cello in the University of Iowa School of Music, has performed across the United States and around the world. On Sunday, Sept. 9, however, he was cheered as he completed his first Ironman Triathlon.

The PBS NewsHour will profile the Iowa Electronic Markets tonight as part of a feature looking at alternative ways to forecast an election.

James E. Ashton will present a seminar on business ethics as part of the "Grabbing the Globe" seminar series. In 1982, Ashton was dismissed from his position as vice president of engineering in the General Dynamics submarine division when he refused to allow waste and mismanagement to continue.

The University of Iowa International Writing Program will present two free events—a film screening and a reading—on the UI campus Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 16-17.

Writer, translator, and academic Laird Hunt will read from Kind One at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 18, in a free Prairie Lights reading streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

A University of Iowa study shows that CaM kinase II enzyme triggers heart cell death by making the cells’ energy-producing mitochondria leaky. Inhibiting the enzyme in mitochondria protected mice from heart cell death during heart attack and other forms of heart stress. The findings could lead to better therapies for common forms of heart disease.

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Chinese author Mo Yan, a 2004 participant of the University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP). In announcing the prize today, the Nobel Foundation said that "with hallucinatory realism (Mo) merges folk tales, history, and the contemporary."

Infants who have a close, intimate relationship with at least one parent are less likely to experience emotional or behavioral problems in childhood, according to a University of Iowa study. The researchers found that a child can be close to either the mother or the father to reap the emotional dividend, and that closeness with both parents conferred no additional advantage. Results published in...