NKU searches for new music director After Dr. Randall Wheaton left in February after serving just over a semester as director, a search committee has been formed to search for a new one for next semester. Currently, they are reviewing 15 candidates for the position, said Dr. Randy Pennington, head of the search committee. The chair should be chosen in time for the beginning of next semester, he said. For the rest of the semester, Barry Andersen will serve as interim chair. All declined comment as to why Wheaton left. Wheaton declined to comment on why he left as well. He said he is proud of his accomplishments here at NKU and that it was a valuable experience. “I have a love for the students and the University,” Wheaton said.

Biology student to present research on Capitol Hill Tamara Hagen, a senior biology major at Northern Kentucky University, has been selected as one of only 68 students nation-wide to participate in an annual research event in Washington D.C. Data generated by Hagen and NKU pre-med/psychology major Rachel DiTrapani will be presented as part of the annual “Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill” on April 18. The event is sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). Hagen and DiTrapani’s work, which was supported by CUR and by NKU’s Center for Integrated Natural Science and Mathematics (CINSAM), is entitled “Magnesium Deficiency: A Global Gene Expression Study.” The research was carried out under the direction of Dr. Patrick Schultheis, an assistant professor in the department of biological sciences at NKU.