In keeping with a recommendation by the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, the College Curriculum Council is continuing its reviews of concentrations in seven departments this year, said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. On the 2009-10 agenda are East Asian studies, South Asian studies, physics, gender and sexuality studies, American civilization, public policy and American institutions and Latin American and Caribbean studies.

The Residential Council’s competition for the first pick in the housing lottery, held Thursday night in Sayles Hall, showcased a wide variety of student creativity. But there was a common thread among many videos: parody. Spoofs of Law and Order, the Twilight series and the Cutting Crew’s hit “Died in your Arms Tonight” were three of eight entries in this year’s contest.

The flurry of blizzard predictions for Wednesday’s weather was the kind of forecast that mobilizes Facilities Management to prepare the sidewalks for the worst of storms. Though the actual snowfall often falls far short of meteorologists’ expectations, as in Wednesday’s case, Facilities doesn’t take any chances.

As most Brown students were just returning to campus for a new semester, the 360 Degree Experience in Sound on 95.5 WBRU hosted a pay-by-play fundraiser for Haiti Jan. 24. All donations went to the church-based organization Providence-Haiti Outreach.

Tom Sgouros, editor of the Rhode Island Policy Reporter, a newsletter on governmental goings-on, recently published an incisive volume entitled “10 Things You Don’t Know About Rhode Island.”

Brown and McGill University researchers have discovered an important relationship between cells of the immune system — a finding that might someday benefit patients receiving bone marrow and organ transplants.

Many sections are experiencing overcrowding this semester, so much so that students must sit on the floor and, in some cases, windowsills during lectures.

Students in Professor Steven Lubar’s AMCV1550: “Methods in Public Humanities” will unveil their collaborative final project –– an exhibit about the community of Cape Verdean immigrants that inhabited the Fox Point region in the 1930s –– on Saturday, May 9 at the John Nicholas Brown center.

The title of the David Winton Bell Gallery’s current exhibit, “Inappropriate Covers,” contains many shades of meaning.

“Home Across Lands,” a documentary that follows the journey of Eritrean refugees from Ethiopia to Rhode Island, will screen this Thursday, followed by a talk with the film’s director, John Lavall. The event is sponsored by the Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment program.