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ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ alumnus and well-known local restaurant entrepreneur Chris Russell will open his newest establishment this spring at the Williamson Avenue location previously occupied by Brown & Company, which has closed. The restaurant will be called "The Town Table, food and drink," and is part of the university's plan to attract more privately owned businesses to the areas surrounding campus, serving ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ's students, faculty and staff and the entire local community.

Jerry Tolley, who retired Dec. 31 after a 31-year career of service to ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, donated a special clock to the university archives on his last day on the job.

In its annual "Year in Photos" feature, the Office of University Relations has collected some of the best ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ pictures from 2009 in a retrospective slide show.

A program directed by ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ graduate Audrey Seagraves was named a 2009 Tech Awards Laureate cash prize winner of $50,000 for the "Fair Wage Guide," an online calculator managed by Seagraves to assist millions of workers in the developing world who live below the poverty level.

The ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Board of Trustees voted unanimously Dec. 14 to approve a $586 million strategic plan that will guide the university's development during the next decade. "The ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Commitment: Engaged minds. Inspired leaders. Global citizens.," was created over the past 15 months, involving the entire community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends in a discussion about ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ's future.

The Daily Beast, one of the leading new Web-based media outlets, has named ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ one of the decade's hottest colleges. The list of 15 colleges and universities ranks schools that make up a "whole new class of first-choice schools" that have "transformed the collegiate landscape" during the past 10 years.