Â鶹ÒùÔº

It is celebrated every year, and yet no one knows the true origin of April Fool's Day. Some historians say its roots date back to ancient Rome and resemble the festival of Hilaria, while others say April Fool's Day got its start in 16th century France. According to CU-Boulder English professor and folklore historian Michael Bell, one of the problems is that so much of what is written about folklore is based on fabrication and hearsay.

Editors: Photographers are welcome at the April 5 dedication ceremony, which will include Bruce Benson and Bruce Curtis unveiling the new "Bruce Curtis Building" sign. The building is located at Broadway and College Avenue on the CU-Boulder campus. A dedication ceremony for the University of Colorado at Boulder Museum of Natural History's new $6.1 million museum collections building renovation will be held Friday, April 5, at 4 p.m. on the north side of the building.

Note to Editors: Photographers are welcome to take pictures as the exhibit is being set up between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 1. Starship 2040, an interactive NASA exhibit revealing what a commercial spacecraft might be like four decades from now in the year 2040, will visit the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder on April 2 and April 3.

Three University of Colorado professors have been awarded a $238,000 grant to improve computer software that helps people in companies and organizations make better decisions. CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business Professors Fred Glover and Manuel Laguna, along with CU-Denver business Professor Gary Kochenberger, were awarded the one-year grant by the Office of Naval Research.

The University Libraries at the University of Colorado at Boulder is presenting an exhibition titled "The Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of World War II" now on display in the third floor northwest gallery of Norlin Library through April 6. The exhibit will be marked with a reception and program on Friday, April 5, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Two University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have combined their artistic talents in a photography and art exhibit in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the International Year of the Mountain.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's ATLAS information technology center today announced a $100,000 pledge from Microsoft Research of Redmond, Wash., to enhance the center's leading-edge research efforts, according to Chancellor Richard Byyny.

An international symposium about how democratic governments treat non-citizens in their countries during wartime, "Alien Enemies in Wartime: Race, Ethnicity and Civil Liberties," will be held at the University of Colorado at Boulder April 4-6. The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will begin Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at the Colorado Chautauqua Association's Community House on Morning Glory Drive in Boulder's Chautauqua Park.

The CU-Boulder Center of the American West has received a $60,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation to remind Westerners of both the positive and negative impacts that energy development and fossil fuel use have had on the region. "We hope to take advantage of the national attention now focused on energy to lay the foundation for a better informed, more reflective public discussion in the future," said history Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick, chair of the center's board.

The impact of HIV and AIDS on American politics and culture will be the topic of a presentation titled "AIDS at 20: A Political History" on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Eaton Humanities Building, room 1B50, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The lecture will be given by Steve Sanders, an administrator and political scientist at Indiana University in Bloomington. Sanders uses slides and video clips to illuminate the political history of HIV/AIDS as a feature of American life and a global epidemic.