CVB awards grants
The Greater Grand Forks Convention and Visitors Bureau recently awarded grants to 10 organizations planning upcoming. The Event Funding Program is designed to help support conventions, athletic tournaments and events that attract out-of-town participants and have an economic impact on the community.
The following events and award amounts:
- 2010 North Dakota State Cheer Competition: $1,000.
- 2010 Grand Forks Angels Girls' Holiday Hockey Tournament: $2,000.
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- 2010-11 North Dakota High School Activities State and Regional Events: $6,000.
- 2011 Northeast Region Emergency Medical Services Conference: $500.
- 2011 North Dakota Dental Assistants Conference: $1,000.
- 2011 Little Caesar's North American Showcase: $3,000.
- 2011 FASA Invitational Hockey Tournament: $300.
- 2011 Class B Regional Boys' and Girls' Basketball Tournaments: $1,000.
- 2011 Great West Baseball Tournament: $5,000.
- 2011 Northern Plains District Player Development Camp: $2,500.
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Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis. The next deadline for applications is Jan. 31. For more information about the awards or award applications, contact Julie Rygg at (701) 746.0444 or Julie@visitgrandforks.com .
Entrepreneur event
The Center for Innovation at UND and the Dakota Venture Group will host entrepreneur, award-winning composer, musician and record producer Tim Westergren at the next Entrepreneur Forum series, set for at 5 p.m. today in the Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center on campus.
Westergren founded Pandora Internet radio in January 2000 and now serves as its chief strategy officer of the free streaming Internet radio service that uses complex math to create "stations" appealing to individual musical tastes. He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by TIME magazine in 2010.
Westergren will follow the Entrepreneur Forum with a Pandora "Town Hall" Listener Meet up at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Company, 2100 S. Columbia Rd.
Westergren has won awards for composer and spent 20 years in the music industry as a record producer. He has recorded with independent labels, managed artists, owned a commercial digital recording studio, scored feature films, produced albums and performed extensively. His main instrument is the piano.
UND faculty lecture
Marcia Mikulak, associate professor of anthropology, will present UND's second faculty lecture this year at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the North Dakota Museum of Art. Her lecture is titled "Successful Activism: How the Xukuru Peoples of Brazil Countered Nation-State Violence to Regain Dignity and Constitutional Rights" and will address Mikulak's fieldwork in Brazil.
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Mikulak recently returned from Brazil, where she was on academic developmental leave, and worked closely with Chief Marcos and his Xukuru (pronounced Shoo-koo-roo) tribe. The Xukuru -- whose leadership in the reconstruction of indigenous identity movements in Brazil has assisted in bringing national attention to Brazil's ongoing violence against indigenous peoples -- are a case study of successful activism.
State Higher Ed Board seeks applicants
Dr. Wayne G. Sanstead, chairman of the nominating committee for the State Board of Higher Education, announced the committee is seeking applications to serve a four-year term on the board.
Two positions will become vacant July 1. The nominating committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in Bismarck and will forward three nominations for each vacant position to the governor's office. Board members appointed by the governor must be confirmed by the 2011 North Dakota Senate.
The SBHE is the governing body for the North Dakota University System, which includes the state's 11 publicly supported colleges and universities. The board is comprised of seven members who serve four-year terms, one student member and one non-voting faculty advisor. The vacancies will be created when the terms of board members Jon Backes, Minot and Grant Shaft, Grand Forks, expire June 30. Other current SBHE members are Michael Haugen, Fargo; Kirsten Diederich, Fargo; Claus Lembke, Bismarck; Duane Espegard, Grand Forks; Richie Smith, Wahpeton; Melissa Boner, student member, UND; and Jon Jackson, non-voting faculty advisor, UND.
To obtain an application for the vacant positions, contact Dr. Wayne Sanstead, Department of Public Instruction, 600 East Boulevard Ave., Bismarck, ND 58505-0440 or at (701) 328-4572. Applicants also must submit a background resume and supporting references. Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. Dec. 6.
Drowsy drivers
Two of every five drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel at some point, with one in 10 saying they've done so in the past year, according to a new AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study. More than a quarter of those surveyed admitted they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open in the previous month.
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Eighty-five percent of drivers surveyed felt it was "completely unacceptable" for someone to drive if they are so tired they are having trouble keeping their eyes open.
This week is Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, hosted by the National Sleep Foundation.
A new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data estimates that about one in six deadly crashes, one in eight crashes resulting in occupant hospitalization and one in 14 crashes in which a vehicle was towed involve a driver who is drowsy. These percentages are substantially higher than most previous estimates.
