The University of Oregon will host a panel discussion, The State of Communicable Disease in Lane County, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Willamette Hall, room 100.

The event is free and open to students, faculty, staff and community members.

Two extra evenings this year bring additional excitement to the University of Oregon’s annual Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead Celebration.

The free celebration runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 29 and 30 and Nov. 1 and 2 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout that country and around the world in other cultures.

Fourteen of the University of Oregon's tenured faculty members were honored at a luncheon on Friday (Oct. 25) with Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Each of the recipients was awarded $20,000 in recognition of his or her research, teaching and leadership.

The University of Oregon's Office of Equity and Inclusion has begun discussions with individuals and organizations – on- and off-campus – about creating positive changes in the UO’s equity, inclusion and diversity behaviors and policies.

The discussion continues on Thursday, Oct. 31, when OEI hosts a “Breakfast for Diversity Champions” with UO President Michael Gottfredson and OEI expert-in-residence A.T. Miller, an associate vice provost at Cornell University. The event is from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Ford Alumni Center.

Economic indicators, unemployment and job polarization were among the themes at the 10th annual Oregon Economic Forum.

Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN's College GameDay met with local reporters outside the network's temporary office in the UO's Johnson Hall on Friday, and had nothing but love for Eugene and the University of Oregon.

"I think we've been here maybe more than anyplace else in the past five years," Herbstreit said.

"I love this place. I love the weather. I love the team. I love Eugene, and like to go for a run down by the river."

Former UO cheerleader and alumna Mimi Sommerville was joined by football players from 55 years ago, current players including De'Anthony Thomas, and others on Thursday to place a plaque commemorating a yellow buckeye tree given to the UO following the 1958 Rose Bowl. The event was organized by the College of Education in conjunction with UO Athletics.

The tree – now 60 feet tall and a fixture outside the Lillis Business Complex – was a sapling when it was planted by Sommerville and others following the 1958 game, in which the UO lost to Ohio State, 10-7.