Battleship celebrates 60th birthday

April 9 is the 60th anniversary of the Battleship North Carolina’s commissioning in the New York Navy yard. The Mount Olive College Singers will perform their patriotic concert “Celebrate America” April 8 at 3:30 p.m. in the Visitor Center Auditorium. After the concert, the battleship’s former crew in attendance will be saluted and will answer questions from the audience. Afterwards, the audience will sing “Happy Birthday” and eat birthday cake provided by the Friends of the Battleship. For more information, call 251-5797.

Primate researcher to lecture tonight

Dr. Sally Boysen, a renowned expert in non-human primate cognition, will lecture on “Whose Mind Is it Anyway? Current Directions in Chimpanzee Cognition Studies” at 7 p.m. tonight in UNCW Cameron Hall as part of the university’s Honors Scholars Program Lecture Series. This event is free and open to the public. Boysen, professor of psychology and director of the Comparative Cognition Project at Ohio State University and an affiliate scientist for the Living Links Center for Human and Primate Evolution at Emory University, studies the learning capabilities of chimpanzees. According to Boysen, chimpanzees exhibit more complex and sophisticated skills than believed previously. In particular, chimps show several types of numerical skills as well as comprehension of scale models, she said. Boysen will discuss chimpanzees’ apparent use of representation in their natural vocalizations, a finding that sheds light on the evolution and emergence of human language. Boysen will also discuss her research at 3 p.m. tomorrow in Dobo Hall room 103.

Both presentations are sponsored by the Honors Scholars Program, the departments of psychology, biological and earth sciences, the Division for Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Leadership Center.For more information, contact Dr. Kate Bruce, director of the Honors Scholars Program at 962-3374.

SEANC scholarships

The State Employees of North Carolina Inc. Scholarship Foundation is accepting applications for its annual scholarship program. Applicants must be enrolled or have applied to a recognized and accredited post-secondary school, college, trade school or other institution of higher learning. To obtain an application, call Gloria Crowell, at 962-2301. The application deadline is April 15.