James Nelson Jr., professor emeritus of physical education, athletics and recreation, and former wrestling coach at Carleton College, died Tuesday, July 11, at his home in Sun City, Ariz. He was 79.

Frank Louis Wolf, 76, professor emeritus of mathematics at Carleton College for 37 years, died Saturday, July 1, at his summer home in Bay Lake, Minn. He was a longtime resident of Northfield. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Sept. 16 in Carleton’s Skinner Memorial Chapel.

Carleton College has received a $900,000 four-year grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to strengthen undergraduate education in biology and other natural sciences. With this grant, Carleton becomes one of 12 colleges nationally to have received four consecutive HHMI grants since the first awards were made in 1988. Carleton will use the grant to broaden access to science through student research projects, to support pre-college and outreach programs, and to provide curriculum, equipment and laboratory development.

The Carleton College women’s basketball team will travel to Thailand, June 12-29, to compete against Thai university teams, conduct basketball clinics and provide humanitarian assistance to villagers in the country’s northern hill tribe communities.

The Journal of Japanese Gardening has named Carleton College’s Japanese garden one of the 10 highest-quality gardens outside of Japan. In an effort to determine the gardens most worth visiting, the journal surveyed 39 Japanese garden specialists in Europe, North America and Australia, and Carleton’s garden was ranked number seven among more than 300 public gardens.

As Carleton College’s celebration of Pride Month 2000 draws to a close, a new, brightly-colored mural hangs in a campus building as a permanent reminder of the College’s ongoing support of acceptance for all.

The Carleton College Great Hall will be transformed into an English parlor on Friday, April 14, with country dance music from the mid 1600s, guests floating around in empire-waist gowns and breeches, and cucumber sandwiches aplenty.

When she discovered the summer job choices in her hometown of Eugene, Ore., didn’t fit her interests of environmental advocacy, community building, and education, Ani Kameenui sacrificed fast cash for a worthier cause. Together with a high school friend, the Carleton College junior founded, organized and now oversees Whole Earth Kids (WEK), a grassroots, non-profit organization that runs free summer camps about environmental issues for children primarily from low-income families.

The student body at Carleton College will be treated to its first new indoor recreational space in 35 years when the College opens its state-of-the-art $15 million Recreation Center on April 3, 2000. The 80,000 sq. ft. building creates a new recreational environment for the campus and provides a much-needed facility for Carleton’s active students, 75 to 90 percent of whom participate in recreational, club and varsity athletics during any given term.

The bells atop Carleton’s Willis Hall can once again be heard chiming the hour, thanks to the generous gift of Charles and Sarah Schilling, 1936 graduates of the College who have fond memories of the bells during their years on campus.