English Assoc. Prof. Margaret Blom will be presenting "Tom Sawyer: A True Classic" today from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Peter Kaye room at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

Blom teaches the Victorian novel and children's literature and in 1997 won the UBC Killam Teaching Prize given for excellence in teaching. Her lecture is part of the Favourite Professors Speaker Series which features UBC's best teachers speaking on the topics that interest them most.

Admission is $10 for all talks in the series, a joint presentation of the UBC Alumni Association and the Dept. of Continuing Studies. The next lecture in the series will be held in October. For more information call 822-3313.

UBC's Alumni Association is seeking nominations for the 1998 Achievement Awards.

The awards recognize outstanding achievement of UBC graduates or honorary alumni whose work in professional research, civic, business, arts, community or athletics activities have reflected well on the university.

Nominations may be made for the following awards: Alumni Awards of Distinction; Outstanding Young Alumnus Award; Blythe Eagles Volunteer Service Award; Outstanding Student Award; Faculty Citation; Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Branch Service Award.

Last year's recipients included Honorary Alumnus Award winners former Lt.-Gov. David Lam and the late Dorothy Lam, and Nobel Prize winner Prof. Michael Smith.

Deadline for nominations is April 1. Nominations can be submitted using a form available through the Alumni Association at 822-3313 or through its Web site at www.alumni.ubc.ca/awards/aw-nom.htm.

Awards will be made at the annual Achievement Dinner held in October.

UBC welcomed composer Jean Coulthard back to campus recently to celebrate her 90th birthday and recognize her gift of music manuscripts and recordings to the university.

An advocate, educator and composer, Coulthard is a major contributor to Canadian culture. She has written more than 350 works in virtually all musical genres and is one of UBC's most distinguished former faculty members.

Coulthard joined the newly created UBC Dept. of Music in 1947 and remained on staff as a senior instructor and lecturer until her retirement 1973.

The valuable collection she is giving to the university includes correspondence, family photographs, press clippings and original manuscripts of her compositions as well as published and unpublished sound recordings of performances of her work.

UBC President Martha Piper, Chancellor William Sauder, University Librarian Catherine Quinlan and guests from the music community were on hand for the celebration.

The Science Council of B.C. is seeking nominations of individuals or small teams for the 1998 B.C. Science and Technology Awards in nine categories: new frontiers in research, solutions through research, business and education partnerships, young innovator, volunteer of the year, industrial innovation, entrepreneurial science, career achievement and science communication.

Among last year's award recipients were Metals and Materials Engineering Prof. Indira Samarasekera (New Frontiers in Research Award), and UBC alumni Gary Birch (Young Innovator Award) and Dr. Bill Hunter (Industrial Innovation Award).

The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. For information contact the Science Council at 438-2752 or visit its Web site at www.scbc.org.