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, prolific author, popular speaker and beloved religious studies professor, is retiring from ���˶��� to be closer to his children and grandchildren on the East Coast.

A record 85 ���˶��� students will take part in 27 individual, new pieces of theater, dance and film at the ���˶��� Fringe Festival on April 20 and 23 at 7 p.m., April 21 at 8 p.m. and April 22 at 3 p.m. at various locations in and around �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s Porter Theatre.

Carol Houston, who serves the Watts community as senior pastor of Bethel Unspeakable Joy Church, speaks at Saturday, May 6, at 9:30 a.m. on Carr Field. President Gayle D.

�±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s , a student-performed variety show and competition between residence halls, celebrates its 56^th anniversary on Saturday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

Fourteen graduating art majors will offer the capstone art projects, which span painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, performance and video, April 6-May 6 at the ���˶��� Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free, public opening reception for “As of Yet Unknown” is Thursday, April 6, from 4-6 p.m.

The month of April features several free concerts with select ensembles of ���˶��� students and faculty. For more information, please call the music department at (805) 565-6040.

The Choral Masterworks Concert, featuring selections by Georg Philipp Telemann, Thomas Linley Jr. and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is Sunday, March 26, at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 305 East Anapamu Street. Admission is $10, students are free. For more information, please contact the music department at (805) 565-6040.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams open play in the 2017 NAIA Division I National Championship on March 16.

���˶��� students will find it easier to complete a minor in thanks to a new program beginning next year. Open to students from all majors, the minor requires five computer science classes.

General Stan McChrystal addressed more than 700 people at �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s 12th annual President’s Breakfast in the Fess Parker Grand Ballroom on March 3. Later that morning, he fielded questions from four ���˶��� students during convocation on campus, speaking to about a thousand people. At both events, he discussed challenges presented by the rapid pace of technology, globalization and our increasingly complex society.

John Blondell, ���˶��� professor of theater arts, directs a Lit Moon Theatre production of William Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” presenting the king’s Machiavellian rise to power and short reign, on March 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. in �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s Porter Hall Black-Box Theatre.

The ���˶��� Festival Theatre offers “Blood Wedding,” a tragedy written by Federico García Lorca, one of Spain’s most revered and controversial dramatists, Feb. 24-25 and March 2-4, at 7:30 p.m. in �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s Porter Theatre. General admission is $12; $7 for students, children and seniors. Tickets may be purchased online at .

Eight high schools from the greater Southern California area will compete in the 29^th annual High School Mathematics Contest at ���˶��� on Saturday, Feb 4, from 1-6:30p.m. in �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s Winter Hall. The contest begins at 1p.m. with the Chalk Talk Derby, a five question written exam and the annual College Bowl competition complete with buzzers, modeled after the 1960’s TV show, College Bowl.

The spring 2017 ���˶��� Faculty Recital features works by women composers Friday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in �±���ٳ��DzԳ�’s Dean Chapel on lower campus. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the ���˶��� Music Department at (805) 565-6040.