All UNC managers are invited to the University Managers Association (UMA) Campus Conversation on Nov. 18. It will be held in Room 203 of the Campus Y at 11:45 a.m. Jerri Bland, director of ConnectCarolina, will talk and answer questions about the PeopleSoft implementation.

http://uma.unc.edu/about.php

PlayMakers Repertory Company’s production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” runs through Dec. 20 at the Center for Performing Art. (Click here for a story about the production.) Among the campus events scheduled in conjunction with “Nickleby” are the following:

Dec. 4–5 – The Program in the Humanities and Human Values will offer a seminar on “The Victorian World” that will focus on Victorian life, examine costumes as an expression of class, gender roles and conspicuous consumption, and consider Dickens’ depictions of children and the Victorian nostalgia for childhood innocence. snipurl.com/t6cyb

Through Dec. 6 – The Ackland Art Museum has selected work from its permanent collection to present “The Illustrated World of Charles Dickens,” a selection of drawings, illustrations and prints that illuminate the early Victorian world and literary culture of Dickens’ England.

Dec. 2 – Marc Napolitano will speak at the Ackland Art Museum from 1 to 2 p.m. about “Scribblings, Sketches and Stagings: The Progress of Dickens’ Art in the Victorian Popular Consciousness.” His talk is part of the Lunch with One series, with a fee for non-members.

Nov. 20–21 – StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performing Arts will present a Process Series performance, “Downriver,” about bluesman Lemonhead Harris. Dana Coen, who teaches screenwriting in the Writing for Stage and Screen Program, wrote the show’s screenplay. “Downriver” will be held in Gerrard Hall at 8 p.m. eda.unc.edu/node/252

Nov. 20–21 – UNC Opera will perform Cavalli’s “L’Egisto” with the UNC Baroque Ensemble in Hill Hall at 8 p.m. Call 843-3333 or see music.unc.edu.

Dec. 10 – The N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra will perform “My Favorite Things: Holiday Jazz Concert” in Memorial Hall at 7:30 p.m. Call for tickets: 843-3333.

Nov. 19 – Michael Renov, professor in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, will deliver the inaugural lecture for UNC’s new Interdisciplinary Program in Cinema. Renov’s talk will be titled “Civil Rights on the Screen” and will be held in 104 Howell Hall at 3:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public; a reception will follow. E-mail imurphy@email.unc.edu or call 962-4958.

Nov. 19 – Entrepreneur Ping Fu will share her personal journey from a Chinese prison to a Research Triangle Park technology company when she talks about “The Story of an Entrepreneur” as part of Global Entrepreneur Week hosted by the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative. The free lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Koury Building. A reception will follow in the dining room of the Kenan Center. R.S.V.P to cei@unc.edu.

Nov. 22 – The Institute for the Study of the Americas will host a talk by Enver Casimir titled “Legacy of a Champion: Kid Chocolate and Sport as Nationalist Expression in Cuba.” The film will be presented following the talk, which will be held in the Stone Center’s Mandela Auditorium at 6 p.m.

Nov. 23 – Hans Hahn, professor at Frankfurt University in Germany, will speak at the Carolina Seminar in African Ecology and Social Processes from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 4003 of the FedEx Global Education Center. E-mail Barbara Anderson (b_anderson@unc.edu).

Dec. 3 – The Carolina Innovations Seminar will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in 014 Sitterson Hall with the topic “Top Ten IP Mistakes Made by Emerging Companies” presented by Randy Whitmeyer of Hutchison Law Group. snipurl.com/eea30

Dec. 3 – Chouki El Hamel, associate professor at Arizona State University, will speak at the Carolina Seminar in African Ecology and Social Processes from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 4003 of the FedEx Global Education Center. E-mail Barbara Anderson (b_anderson@unc.edu).

Dec. 2 – Alumna Suzy Barile will read from her new book “Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle and a Yankee General” at 3:30 p.m.

Dec. 3 – Omid Safi, professor of religious studies, will read from his book “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” at 3:30 p.m.

Dec. 9 – Professor emeritus Tom Stumpf and George Morgan, a textbook buyer in Student Stores, kick off the holidays in traditional Carolina style by reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in English and Latin, respectively. It is always a favorite: the Grinch, free cookies and hot chocolate. The fun starts at 4 p.m.

The Center for Global Initiatives’ amateur photography exhibit to celebrate International Education Week also will be on display at the center through January 2010 in the galleries on the second and third floors.

Donate books through Dec. 10 on behalf of Book Fairy, an organization that donates children’s books to the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at UNC Hospitals.

All new or gently used books for ages 1 through mid-teens are welcome. The need is especially great for Spanish-language books at the preschool level and picture books or easy readers in English.

Drop-off locations are located in the lobbies of the following libraries: Davis, House Undergraduate, Wilson, Health Sciences and Law, as well as in the lobby of Manning Hall, Peabody Hall and the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building.

In addition, the Bull’s Head Bookshop will offer a 25 percent discount on books purchased for donation to the book drive. At the time of purchase mention the Book Fairy book drive to the staff. A list of suggested books is available at www.librarything.com/catalog/bookfairy_unc.

Friends of the Library will wrap up the drive by accepting donated books at the annual Winter Stories program on Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. in the lobby of Wilson Library.

For information about the drive, contact Rebecca Vargha (962-8361 or vargha@ils.unc.edu).

Nominations are due Nov. 30 for 2010 University Awards for the Advancement of Women, sponsored by the offices of the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. The awards recognize contributions to the advancement of women at the University and may be given to three individuals each year: one faculty member, one staff member and one undergraduate/graduate student/postdoctoral scholar.

Nominations may be made online (snipurl.com/snmak) with separate submission of supporting letters. For more information, contact Donna Bickford, director of the Carolina Women’s Center (dbickford@unc.edu or 843-5620).

Nominations are due Dec. 9 for the 2010 Oliver Max Gardner Award, presented by the UNC Board of Governors to a UNC system faculty member “who, during the current scholastic year, has made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.” Complete nominating information is online: snipurl.com/t7d0e.

The UNC student body has funded a $30,000 project to install blue emergency call boxes on Chapel Hill streets, the first not located on campus. They are installed at 407 Merritt Mill Rd., the corner of Church and Short streets and on Mallette Street at Colony Court.

The Town of Chapel Hill also installed a new type of street imprint material on a crosswalk on Country Club Road at Boundary Street and Battle Lane. The location was selected to be a demonstration site by a private contractor working with the town.

The second annual Eve Carson Memorial 5K for Education race will be held on Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. Check-in for the race, which begins on Polk Place in front of South Building, will start at 8 a.m.

Named for Carolina’s former student body president in honor of her commitment to service, the race is designed to bring together the campus and local communities to benefit education. Participants of all ages and skill levels are welcome, and walking is an option.

Two-thirds of the proceeds will go to the Eve Carson Scholarship Fund and the remainder will be split between the First Book literacy organization and Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, where Carson volunteered as a science instructor.

For more information and to register, refer to www.educationforeve.com. The registration fee is $15 before Nov. 21 and $20 on race day.

The 17th Winter Stories Program for Children of All Ages will take place Dec. 10 in Wilson Library. Refreshments will be served at 5 p.m. and the program will be from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. in the library’s Pleasants Family Assembly Room.

Brian Sturm, associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and SILS students Katherine Lukmire, Jane McMahon and Vickie Shore will tell stories from around the world. Instrumental music will be provided by guitarist and SILS library assistant Kate Barnhart, flutist and Davis Library music cataloger Laurie Neuerburg, violinist Steven Wiggins, and guitarist and SILS student Carrie Stubblefield. www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/news

An initiative that will determine how Triangle area universities access, manage and share ever-growing stores of digital data launched this fall with funding from the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies Inc. (TUCASI).

The two-year TUCASI data-Infrastructure Project (TIP) will deploy a federated data cyber infrastructure – or data cloud – that will manage and store digital data for UNC, Duke, N.C. State and the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) and allow the campuses to more seamlessly share data with each other, with national research projects, private sector partners in Research Triangle Park and beyond.

RENCI and the Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) Center at UNC manage the $2.7 million TIP. The provosts, heads of libraries and chief information officers at the three campuses signed off on the project just before the start of the fall semester.

The TIP includes three components – classroom capture, storage and future data and policy, which will be implemented in three phases. In phase one, each campus and RENCI will upgrade their storage capabilities, and a platform-independent system for capturing and sharing classroom lectures and activities will be developed.

In phase two, the TIP team will develop policies and practices for short- and long-term data storage and access. Phase three will establish policies for adding new collections to the TIP data cloud and for securely sharing research data, a process that often requires various restrictions. snipurl.com/t83cq

Join the UNC Library for a panel discussion about comic book collecting Nov. 21, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., in Wilson Library’s Rare Book Collection Reading Room. Panelists will include Libby Chenault, Rare Book Collection librarian; Daniel Breen, collector and donor; Andrew Neal, owner of Chapel Hill Comics; and Ben Bolling, English department doctoral student.