The Gerdin family of Solon, Iowa, has made a $12 million gift commitment to the University of Iowa to support the new UI Children’s Hospital. The gift, from the Gerdin Family Foundation, is the largest to date for the Children's Hospital's $50 million building campaign.

L. Michael White, Ronald Nelson Smith Professor of Classics and Religious Studies and Director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins at University of Texas at Austin, will visit the University of Iowa campus Oct. 22-24 as an Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Bret Anthony Johnston, the University of Iowa’s first Frank N. Magid Visiting Writer in Residence, will read from his work at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 1, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the UI Writing University website.

Elliott Drive will be reduced to one lane from Carver-Hawkeye Arena to just south of the Dental Science Building drive from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22 through Friday, Oct. 26.

Sandra Daack-Hirsch, a clinical geneticist and assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Nursing, is the new environmental and public health ambassador for the State Hygienic Laboratory.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a guest euphonium recital by Neal Corwell at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31, in the University Capitol Centre recital hall. The performance, which is free and open to the public, will include some of Corwell’s original compositions.

"Trees in Your Pocket" by botanist Thomas Rosburg is now available in paperback from the Bur Oak Books series of the University of Iowa Press. The book provides identification and natural history information for about 40 prominent deciduous species found in the Upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.

Mike Meyer would rather talk with his right foot. Meyer, a shy and almost reluctant junior kicker for the University of Iowa football team, made a lot of noise once again Oct. 13 during the Hawkeyes' 19-16 double-overtime victory at Michigan State.

The University of Iowa is taking on Northwestern in a competition beyond the gridiron: To determine who can recruit the most volunteers to participate in research studies. The contest begins on Oct. 22 and ends on Oct. 29.

The University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William LaRue Jones, will perform works by Richard Strauss, Benjamin Britten, Patrick Harlin, and Felix Mendelssohn in a free concert featuring faculty pianist Uriel Tsachor at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31, in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union.

University of Iowa students may participate in professional seminars and workshops during the 2012 Iowa Museum Association annual conference, Sunday, Oct. 21 through Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Iowa City. This year’s event is hosted by UI Pentacrest Museums.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the composition of Sylvia Plath's Ariel poems, members of the Writers' Workshop faculty will join Robyn Schiff, director of undergraduate writing at the University of Iowa, to read from the collection at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 30, in a free Prairie Lights reading streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.