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Sun Microsystems of Sunnyvale, Calif., has donated $195,000 in major computer equipment to the University of Colorado at BoulderÂ’s space program that is expected to strengthen CUÂ’s already formidable international role in astrophysics. The donation includes 13 new workstations, two computer servers and two state-of-the-art disk arrays. The Sun equipment will be used by undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral students and faculty, said Michael Shull, chair of the astrophysical and planetary sciences department.

From computers and fuel supplies to emergency services and snow plowing, systems at CU-Boulder are being tested and checked to ensure they can cope with anything the so-called Millennium Bug can throw at them. "Guarded optimism" is the key phrase among the many people contributing to the Y2K contingency plan as the university prepares itself for any possible problems.

Middle school girls who will enter the seventh or eighth grade this fall are invited to attend an Energy Education Workshop offered by the Women in Engineering Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In the months leading up to the new millennium, people can expect some eye-catching meteor showers in the night sky but nothing on the cataclysmic, world-threatening scale of the movie "Deep Impact." ThatÂ’s the prediction from Katy Garmany, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and director of the universityÂ’s Fiske Planetarium. Garmany says star-watchers who can escape the glare of city lights and find a nice dark place in the mountains or grasslands of Colorado could be rewarded with a couple of spectacular shows.

A state-of the-art, $962,000 optical-measurement facility based at the University of Colorado at Boulder funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles will be dedicated on campus at the JILA facility June 28. A joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, JILA was founded in 1962. JILA is world-renowned for its innovative developments in lasers and optical science.

Silvery-blue ice clouds known as noctilucent clouds that appear each year in the far northern and southern latitudes in the middle atmosphere were spotted over Colorado for the first time on June 22.

The University of Colorado Board of Regents approved a revised CU-Boulder campus diversity plan at its June 24 meeting held at the University of Colorado at Denver. An annual "report card" containing data and campus input will be issued each year to document progress. The plan, "Diversity and Equity: A Blueprint for Action," contains input from campus groups that was not included in the original plan approved by the board in December 1998.

University of Colorado Regents approved a five-year contract Thursday, June 24, with Ceal Barry, head coach of womenÂ’s basketball at CU-Boulder. Under the contract, Barry will receive compensation worth at least $219,600 per year. The multi-year contract is permitted under Colorado statutes as one of six such agreements allowed for each state university. BarryÂ’s contract is effective with the 1998-99 fiscal year, continuing until June 2003.

Bill Reynolds, owner of the W.W. Reynolds Cos. in Boulder, and his wife, Jane, have given a $1 million gift to the University of Colorado at BoulderÂ’s College of Business and Administration. The Reynolds, along with their sons John and Forrest and BillÂ’s father, Vergyl, all have degrees from CU. The gift will be used to supplement graduate and undergraduate programs at the Real Estate Center at the College of Business, including the academic internship program -- the undergraduate capstone course for a certificate in real estate.

The Clifford Calhoun Public Service Award, given to a CU-Boulder law student or faculty member who contributes to the public service mission of the law school, was awarded to law Professor Mark Loewenstein in a May luncheon ceremony on campus.