UO E-clips, July 30

UO business school names alum, sports finance expert as new dean (Register-Guard, also picked up by the Associated Press): The University of Oregon has named Dennis Howard, 63, an authority on sports finance and a UO alum, as the new dean of its business school. Provost James Bean said Howard, who most recently was head of the marketing department at the business school, was chosen for several reasons. “He’s an internationally recognized expert in sports finance. He’s very dynamic and that’s an important part of the job -- selling the business school.” Also, Howard has been involved in several important campus wide initiatives, including the Senate budget committee “that helped make sense of all the (basketball) arena finance,” said Bean, who was business school dean until his recent promotion.

My son's "other family" (San Francisco Chronicle): My son often talks about his "other family." He tells me they live in San Francisco, "near Dolores Park." He says the mom and dad are mice and the 10 children are people (not sure how this works biologically). He never reveals their names and always refers to them as "my other family," "my other mom," and so on. … By now, you have probably guessed that Dante's other family is imaginary. Is this odd? Actually, two-thirds of all children have had at least one imaginary friend or personified stuffed animal by age 7, according to a 2004 study conducted by Marjorie Taylor, head of psychology at the University of Oregon.