Talon Staff

A University blood drive and bone marrow registration is planned for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 29 in the mobile Carter Blood Care mobile in front of the HPC. Participants can choose to donate their blood to UT Tyler alumnus Jeremy Cotham of Longview.

Cotham, 23, graduated with a journalism degree in May and was diagnosed with leukemia in late summer. He is being treated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and is in desperate need of blood and blood platelets.

Jeremy is an award-winning journalist who served as sports editor for the Patriot Talon. Carter is accepting whole blood or platelet donations on his behalf. Cotham’s donor account number is SPON048108.

For information about the blood drive, call Student Life and Leadership, 903-565-5645.

Students snake through the meal line set up near Harvey Lake on Wednesday during Tunes at Noon featuring "Stephen Speaks" band.

Hundreds of Patriots and their families attended the University’s new student orientations in June and July. Participants at the July 17 session received information about the University and its many opportunities.

Good-bye Sports Grill, hello Chick-Fil-A – the cows are coming home to roost.

“Starting in October, we will have a Chick-Fil-A in the UC,” said Greg Lassen, vice president for business affairs said Tuesday in a written statement. The move to lure the popular fast food restaurant to the University was based on input from students, faculty and staff, Lassen said.

The new restaurant will be located in the former sports café, which is being temporarily put out to pasture. “That space will close starting Wednesday to allow the famous cows to begin their work,” Lassen said.

The completed UC will feature a refurbished Subway and overhauled sports café, which will focus primarily on hamburgers. University officials predict those enhancements to the UC will be completed sometime after the first of the year.

A total of 41 teams battled for victory during the 2009 Tyler Patriot Golf Classic at Hollytree County Club, but in the end two groups emerged victorious.

Four University student-researchers received awards during the 2009 Student Research Poster Competition held April 24, Dr. Arlene Horne, associate vice president for research and federal relations, announced.

First place winner Curtis Clark, a graduate biology student from Palestine, won $200 and an all-expense paid trip to a national meeting to present his research, “Effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Elastase Exposure on Epithelial Tight Junction Structure and Function.”

Thirty-seven University business majors are among those newly inducted into the elite Beta Gamma Sigma national business society, President Rodney H. Mabry announced.

Beta Gamma Sigma is the honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB International. The Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is the highest scholastic honor to be attained by University business majors.

Original endeavors of University art students remain on exhibit as part of the annual Meadows Gallery Juried Student Exhibition, showcasing the best work of the academic year, gallery coordinator Ray Sikes announced.

The exhibit will continue in the gallery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Aug. 14.

Tyler’s Stephen Smith earned his 15 minutes of fame Sunday after winning the UT Tyler Suddenlink Patriot Million Dollar Hole-In-One Contest at the Cascades. Smith was among more than 30 hopefuls trying to win $1 million or a 2009 Ford Flex. He came within inches of making the shot. It wasn’t enough to land the big prizes, but he walked away with a set of golf clubs and other parting gifts. Smith was among dozens of amateur golfers, age 18 and older, paying a $1 per shot throughout the preceding week to qualify for the finals. Proceeds from the event fund University scholarships.