Scoop up a handful of dirt from your garden or backyard.  It may look like nothing’s there.  In fact, you’re holding some 200 billion organisms, including tens of thousands of different species.  And most of them are in the midst of a vital job: recycling dead plant and animal debris. 

The Department of Hospitality Management will host the “Dash” Gourmet Dinner Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23, which will feature an evening of fine cuisine showcasing culinary seasonings inspired by a diverse array of aromatic herbs and spices.  

Hosted by Advanced Food and Beverage class students at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, the Dash will be held at the Stillings Dining Hall, 20 Ballard Drive. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with a cocktail hour, followed by dinner at 6 p.m. 

On Monday, Feb. 18, weekday bus service between Rochester and UNH began with the Wildcat Transit’s new Route 125/Rochester Express. Seven runs will be offered daily, Monday through Friday.  The ride between Rochester and UNH takes about 35 minutes. The one-way fare is $1.50; passengers with valid UNH student or employee IDs ride free.  

A research center dedicated to ending violence against women is building on its successes.

In her office in Kingsbury Hall, Erin Bell is explaining her research. “When you go to a doctor, they don’t just look at you. They do blood work; they run tests. Bridge instrumentation and testing is almost like an EKG of a bridge. You gather data, and looking at that data you can tell if something needs to be done prior to a collapse.” 

Gail Fensom works in a laboratory. But, instead of pouring over beakers of bubbling concoctions, her experiments are human.

"I would consider myself a teacher-researcher," says Fensom, assistant professor of English and director of the first-year writing program at UNH Manchester. "So my research basically is my students. My classrooms are my research labs and my students are my subjects."

U.S. lodging executives were more optimistic about general business conditions in January than the prior month, according to the UNH Lodging Executives Sentiment Index (LESI) for the current month ending January 2013. The index increased from 53.8 in December 2012 to 61.7 in January 2013.  

The presidents and chancellor of New Hampshire’s public four-year colleges and universities have thanked Gov. Maggie Hassan for her biennial budget proposal, in which she recommends increasing funding on behalf of in-state students to $75 million in FY14 and $90 million in FY15.