Carnegie Mellon University

The Piper

CMU Community News

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September 29, 2011

News Briefs

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is offering CMU faculty, staff and students discounted tickets to several cultural district performances in October and November. Shows include "Last in Line," "Black Dance Festival," "Skippyjon Jones," "The Priests in Concert," "Blast" and "Million Dollar Quartet." To order tickets, go to http://www.culturaldistrict.org and use the promo code CMU1112 to receive the discount.

CMU ranks 20th among institutions that compete in NCAA Division III (no athletic scholarships) in the NCSA Athletic Recruiting's Collegiate 2011 Power Rankings, which assesses the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA athletic programs. The rankings are calculated by averaging student-athlete graduation rates, academic rankings provided by U.S. News & World Report, and the strength of athletic departments as determined by the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup. Fewer than 6 percent of colleges and universities earn a spot in NCSA Athletic Recruiting's Top 100. See the rankings at http://www.ncsasports.org/about-ncsa/power-rankings

Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 Smiley Award for Innovation in Technology-Assisted Person-to-Person Communication, which recognizes clever contributions in the spirit of the original smiley symbol, :-).  The competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students, or small student teams from any part of Carnegie Mellon. The winning entry will receive a $500 cash prize from Yahoo! Incorporated. Entries are due by Jan. 20, 2012. For more details, go to http://www.cs.cmu.edu/smiley/sa.html.

The Carnegie Clan student group is seeking chili recipes for its 8th Annual Homecoming Chili Cook-off, Saturday, Oct. 29. Faculty, staff and student organizations, residence halls and teams of three or more are welcome to enter. Register your recipe by Oct. 3 by sending email to cmuchilicookoff@gmail.com.

The CMU Credit Union is offering special rates for new and used car loans through Oct. 31. For new vehicles the rates are 2.5 percent for 36 months; 2.75 percent for 48 months; and 2.9 percent for 60 months. For used vehicles the rates are 3.53 percent for 2010-2011 models and 3.72 percent for 2004-2009 models. Pre-approved loans are good for 30 days.