When Ingrid Hale, director of Colgate's Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE), looks up from her desk to see who has walked through the center's doors, odds are it is a female student.

"There is a gender disparity in volunteering not only on our campus, but also at colleges across the country," said Hale. "Unfortunately, there exists a stigma that it is either not manly to volunteer or that more important activities should take up a man's time."

Colgate Hunger Outreach Program (CHOP) is sponsoring events this week to spread awareness on campus and in the community about hunger and homelessness in the United States.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week includes events such as food drives, panel discussions, and a 13-hour famine -- all with the goal of creating interest in these global concerns.

Colgate University has been selected as a site for hearings involving New York Regional Interconnect's proposed $2.1 billion high-voltage power line project.

The Oct. 20 hearings will be in the university's Hall of Presidents. Information forums will be held at 1 and 6 p.m., followed by public statement hearings at 2 and 7 p.m.

"Nothing is wasted."

That was the slogan of this year's annual campus salvage operation organized by Colgate's Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE).

Volunteers collected items that Colgate students either donated or left behind after moving out of residence halls. They are then given to nonprofit organizations in the greater Hamilton area and in Utica.

For spring break this year, nine Colgate students will roll up their sleeves and dig in to help others -- literally.

Accompanied by Daniel Mandell, assistant director of the COVE, the group will head to the Dominican Republic this Friday to plant vegetable gardens and lead educational sessions on nutrition for the community of El Mangito.

The idea for this trip sprouted from Marla Pfenninger '08, who interned in the Dominican Republic last summer thanks to the Dr. Merrill Miller Endowed Fellowship.

New York's first lady, Silda Wall Spitzer, visited Colgate Tuesday to learn about cooperative partnerships between local not-for-profit organizations and the university.

The visit was arranged by the Partnership for Community Development (PCD), an innovative local economic development organization that was recently recognized as a model for fostering town-gown relations in New York.