Life is hard for most of the students at Eaton Academy near Detroit. But they are focused on bettering themselves while serving others — using KU as their conduit. A partnership with KU has allowed the students to consider college and also help Audio-Reader at KU.

This week, while Mount Oread shivers in the Kansas winter, KU law professor Andrew Torrance and five students (inset) are holding class on beaches in the Virgin Islands, getting an up-close look at one of the most biologically diverse sites on the planet.

Three KU professors will show their film this month to audiences at the Sundance Film Festival, one of the pre-eminent celebrations of independent film. "The Only Good Indian," filmed primarily in Kansas, used several KU students on the film as well.

Adrian Melott, professor of physics and astronomy, has found more evidence that biodiversity on Earth grows and shrinks in a regular 62-million-year cycle, give or take a few million years.

Derrick Darby, associate professor of philosophy, has received nearly $40,000 from the Spencer Foundation to conduct research that will examine the nation's obligation to diminish educational inequality.

KU, which offers incoming freshmen a four-year fixed-rate tuition, ranks among the best educational values in the nation, according to the Princeton Review. KU is among the 100 Best Value Colleges 2009, which includes 50 public and 50 private institutions.

A new overlook structure north of Lawrence will provide a spectacular view of the Kansas River valley, Lawrence and KU. The viewing platform is the result of combined efforts of KU architecture students and Lawrence residents Dick and Sue Himes.

KU art student Matthew Farley has turned the Chi Omega Fountain into a public art display to draw attention to the use of bottled water in the U.S and on campus. "Frozen Assets" is made from about 1,000 empty water bottles and is on display through January.