Members of the public, the media, local and state government, and University of Iowa officials will participate in a day of special events dealing with a free press and open government Thursday, Oct. 3 on the UI campus.

The Kennedy Center is creating a new partnership in Iowa City as part of its Any Given Child Program. Members of the news media are invited to attend the news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the Iowa Community School District Education Services Center, 1725 North Dodge St. in Iowa City.

Along with Hancher, the UI’s School of Music started construction recently. Both are major flood recovery projects on campus that are expected to be completed in 2016.

More than 1,400 writers from more than 140 countries have attended the University of Iowa’s International Writers Program since its inception in 1967, making it one of the strongest centers for international literary exchange in the United States.

Amy Belfi, a fourth-year graduate student in the UI Neuroscience Graduate Program, is using crowdfunding to help support her study on the link between music and autobiographical memory. Her goal of $1,500, to be raised by Oct. 18, will be used to compensate study participants and defray their travel costs.

Several University of Iowa groups are working with the City of Iowa City to organize an Iowa River Cleanup project on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers, age 18 or over, are invited to help pick up trash along the banks of the Iowa River.

The University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program will present a free public performance by the JACK Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus. The concert, which will feature clarinetist Derek Bermel, is part of the JACK’s extended residency Oct. 6-13 at the UI School of Music.

A survey conducted by the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa shows that while most children in Iowa have a medical home base, some are being left behind, including those with special-needs, on public insurance, or who are African-American. A webinar on the findings will be Friday, Oct. 4 at 2 p.m.

The University of Iowa and the state Department of Natural Resources have reached a cooperative agreement that will transfer some groundwater and geological research to the school's Department of Hydroscience and Engineering.

The University of Iowa plans to develop a large supply of biofuels to replace coal in the campus power plant through its Biomass Partnership Project, which will provide opportunities for growers within a 50-mile radius of Iowa City to produce dedicated energy crops on marginal ground.

University of Iowa Recreational Services is offering another session of Bootcamp, a fitness class that combines functional sports training exercises, metabolic conditioning, and partner and group exercises.

A University of Iowa study shows that mothers with prematurely born babies benefit emotionally and mentally from one-on-one sessions with a hospital nurse. The pilot "listening visits" may provide a framework for helping pre-term infant mothers combat anxiety and depression. Results published in the Journal of Perinatology.