Please be advised that the University Relations office will be closed from noon, Monday Dec. 24 , through Jan. 1.

Record Research. Grant funding awarded faculty for research grew 27 percent in the last fiscal year and has soared more than 250 percent — from $13 million to more than $33 million — in the last three years.

Sign of the Times. Fresno State’s Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies developed the first program in California to grant a bachelor’s degree in sign language interpreting, and will graduate its first students in May 2002.

e-Business. Dr. Tomasz Wielicki has been named director of the new Digital Economy Center scheduled to open in February at the Craig School of Business.

Maddy Professor. Former Fresno Mayor Daniel K. Whitehurst will teach and direct the Maddy Institute of Public Affairs at Fresno State. Its mission is to elevate citizen participation and government performance at all levels through leadership education for public service.

War Expert. Classics Professor and military historian Victor Davis Hanson, a regular columnist for the National Review Online, has been interviewed by media throughout the country about terrorism and the war in Afghanistan. (Here’s a sneak peek at a Web site we’re working on for the Classics Program. While incomplete, it does have an excellent bio on Professor Hanson. Here’s his page at the National Review Magazine, one of the top two political magazines in the U.S.)

Valley Views. Surveys conducted by the California State University, Fresno Consortium for Social and Economic Research Centers discovered fascinating local opinions on three issues:

Valley Supports Higher Ed Changes

Valley Favors Equal Access to Medical Care

Most Satisfied With Their Financial Situation

Preparing for Non-Profit Jobs. While public and private sector employment rates are sagging, the job outlook is healthy in the nonprofit sector and Fresno State’s American Humanics Certificate Program offers professional training and a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

Hoop it Up For Books. Bulldog basketball is in full swing and so is “Baskets for Books,” a fund-raising program initiated by men’s Coach Jerry Tarkanian and his wife, Lois to buy books for the Henry Madden Library. The Tarkanians pledged $100,000 to start the fund in 1998 as a demonstration of their support of academics at Fresno State.

New Wines. Fresno State President John D. Welty has honored by the university’s enology program with the introduction of two new wines: the 2000 President’s Reserve Chardonnay and the 2000 President’s Reserve Primitivo.