Want some free tickets to the Billiken Blue Out game this Saturday against Dayton? Billikens After Dark has you covered.

Billikens After Dark is providing free tickets for this Saturday’s game in the Student Life Office, Suite 319 in the BSC. Students must come to the office this week from 9 to 5 and present a student ID.

The game starts on Saturday at 3 pm, but a pre-game student reception will begin around 1:30. At the reception, you’ll get free Mardi Gras beads, t-shirts, and food.

Be sure to get your ticket to support your Billikens in one of the most important games of the season!

Want to help the library out and get some free food in the process? Pius library is looking for students to participate in focus groups to assess its website.

Focus groups are February 8 through 11 from 4 to 5 pm and February 15 to 17, also from 4-5 pm. The library will provide free food to all participants.

Sign up for a focus group (or a free food session, whichever you prefer) through the website at http://libraries.slu.edu/websurvey/usability.html.

Billikens After Dark is putting in the hours to make this Mardi Gras weekend awesome. Staring Friday, February 12, they’ll be hosting free programing for all SLU students.

Friday night, head to Reinert for “Mardi Gras Madness” in the Lobby and Ballrooms from 8 pm to midnight.

On Saturday, Billikens After Dark will be up bright and early to hand out juice and donuts, as well as free Mardi Gras beads and giveaways. Then head over to the Chaifetz Arena at 1:30 for the pre-game student reception before cheering on the Billikens to victory over Dayton at 3. Students can get tickets for free with their student ID in the student life office in the BSC all week.

At 6 pm on Saturday night, the International Student Federation is hosting their annual ISF banquet in the Wool Ballrooms. Tickets will be on sale in the BSC. The show will last until 9 pm.

This Billikens After Dark Mardi Gras weekend is sponsored by the Departments of Athletics, Billikens After Dark, the Cross Cultural Center, the International Student Federation, Men’s Basketball, and Reinert Hall.

Image by Ray Devlin – Licensed under Creative Commons

The Saint Louis University Museum of Art is featuring another installment in their Sip & Serenade series next month.

On Sunday, February 14 from noon – 2 pm (that’s Valentines Day for the unsentimental), SLUMA will present a serenade performed by the University’s Fine and Performing Arts Department. Wine, light appetizers, and chocolate dipped confections will be served.

This event is sponsored by SLUMA and is free of charge.

On Wednesday, February 10, Career Services and the Public Services Initiative at SLU will present Clare Ribando Seelke to speak on what it’s like to work for the federal government. Here’s the event information from Career Services:

Public Service Initiative @ SLU presents: Clare Ribando Seelke is a Specialist in Latin American Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She came to CRS as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) and completed rotations with the State Department in the Dominican Republic and with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington D.C. as part of her PMF fellowship.

She covers Mexico, Bolivia, and Central America, as well as a number of cross-cutting issues such as the Merida Initiative, Gangs, and Trafficking in Persons.

Ms. Seelke holds a Master of Public Affairs and Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Notre Dame. To learn more about the Public Service Initiative at SLU, please visit our website.

The presentation will take place at 5 pm in Busch Student Center Room 253.

Image by adrian, acediscovery – Licensed under Creative Commons

Remember “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”? Who could have guessed in the mid-nineties that witches set in the modern day could produce such hilarity?

On Monday, Caroline Rhea, of “Sabrina” and “Biggest Loser” fame, will be stopping by SLU on Monday, February 8, at 8 pm in the Wool Ballrooms for a free show. Doors will open at 7:30

After the show, Billikens After Dark is presenting the movie “2012″ in the Billiken Club.

A comedian and the apocalypse. What better way to spend a Monday night?

Send all questions and comments to the Student Activities Board.

Zeta Tau Alpha sent us some information on their upcoming “Dancing with the Zetas” and other fundraising efforts:

Join us in ZTA’s second annual “Dancing With The Zetas.”

Come watch your favorite fraternity boys in a dance competition to support breast cancer awareness and education. The event is Wednesday, February 10, at 7 pm in the Wool Ballrooms.

Also, remember to donate your pocket change to the fraternity coin war going on from 10 am to 3 pm on February 10.

You hungry? Mention ZTA when you order Papa Johns and 20% of your purchase will go toward breast cancer awareness and education on Februrary 10 from 10 am to 10pm.

Every wanted to send carbonated beverages through the mail to the person of your dreams? Hooray! the AED Pre-Health club has found a way.

Send a can of orange Crush soda to let them know how you really feel. AED will have a table in the BSC from 11 am to 2 pm from Monday through Thursday next week.

For one U.S. greenback, you can anonymously send your crush a Crush. But be weary, for one dollar more, the object of your affection can find out who sent the delicious orange beverage.

If you don’t have a crush, maybe you could just pick some random dude.

I think Neil DuRoss could use one. Just sayin’.

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Pius library is hosting an exhibition of books published and other scholarly activities that SLU’s faculty have published in the past decade. The display is on the second floor of Pius.

The Department of Theological Studies will be holding a reception on Tuesday, February 9, 2:15-3:30 pm. Stop by for h’ors d’oeuvres and to chat with SLU’s theology faculty about their work.

The display will run until the end of February.

For more information about what’s going on in Pius in February, check out the library’s February enewsletter.

Grab your iPod and your favorite playlist, all you aspiring DJs. Now is your moment in the sun. Or at least your moment in the florescent glow of the DJ booth.

KSLU, Saint Louis University’s student-operated radio station, is recruiting for radio shows in the Spring semester.

No experience is required. Email programming.KSLU@gmail.com for more info about how to get involved.

Chartwells has a lot coming up in the next month. Here’s a few things they let us know about:

Billiken Dining has launched an initiative called Be A Flexitarian. A flexitarian is someone who actively incorporates meatless meals into his/her diet but isn’t necessarily a vegetarian. By making a slight change in our diets and simply eating one meat-free meal a week, we can make an impact on both our health and the environment. Be-A-Flexitarian options are available in Fusz Food Court, the Grand Marketplace, and Ameren Cafe.

This Febuary, celebrate Black History Month with classic African American cuisine. No matter your background, everyone can celebrate Black History Month and enjoy the comfort of classic African American cuisine, check out some of classic recipes in Ameren Café & Grand Marketplace. In Griesedieck and Reinert, join us every Tuesday in February during lunch for some great African American cuisine.

Billiken Dining is introducing a better way to snack. Snack Smart features healthy snacks numerous healthy grab-and-go impulse products that will satisfy that snack crave, this snacks will keep you focused, energized and alert. Snack Smart is available in Fusz Food Court, Marketplace, Terra Ve, Ameren, Subway and The Bean. Billiken Dining launched a Balanced Choices limited time offer in some of the retail restaurants. Balanced Choice provides you a simple way to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Got something on your mind about foodservice? Stop by Wednesday, February 3, from 6-8pm in the BSC room 251 for a free meal, enjoy some great appetizers like cannelloni bites, feta cheese & sun-dried tomatoes. Meet and greet other students, faculty and staff and Billiken Dining management, and let us know your thoughts about food service To view more specials, promotions menus and much more please visit us at www.dineoncampus.com/stlouis

Image by teresia – Licensed under Creative Commons

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and SLU Food Drive will be hosting a food drive at Chaifetz on Wednesday, February 3.

Students who bring two non-perishables to the Men’s Basketball game against St. Bonaventure at 7 pm will receive a free student ticket.

All food and water collected will go with Randolph World Ministries (http://www.randolphworldministries.org/) to aid their efforts in Haiti.

For more information and to view the Men’s Basketball schedule, check out www.slubillikens.com.

The Black Student Alliance and the Great Issues Committee will host Dr. Cornel West on campus February 11 as the Black History Month Keynote Speaker. The Great Issues Committee writes:

One of America’s most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the Black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his “ferocious moral vision.” Currently the Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies at Princeton, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his best-selling book, Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, selling more than half a million copies to date.

BSA and GIC are providing free tickets for early entry to the SLU community in BSC 319 (Student Life). Tickets will grant access into the Wool Ballrooms at 6:15. At 6:40, non-ticket holders and the general public will enter the ballrooms for the 7:00 presentation.

For more information, email gic@slu.edu or call 314-977-1519.

In the year 1823, five years after SLU began, a new generation of Jesuit missionaries arrived in St. Louis.

Crossing the Divide” Jesuits on the American Frontier contains the records these men left behind in their encounters with new cultures, languages, and religions.

The exhibition displays dictionaries of Native-American languages as well as incredibly accurate maps and detailed journals. Of significant importance are the sketches and water colors of Nicholas Point, S.J., and the Moses Linton album, a chronicle of the work and travels of Pierre De Smet, S.J., which is on display for the first time.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, February 25 at 5:30 pm. The exhibition will run until June 27.

The Simon Rec is featuring handball as part of its Lifetime Sports Series, which introduces students, faculty, and staff to sports they can play for the rest of their lives.

The Rec Center will be hosting Lary Bozay, the president of the Missouri Handball Association and a Hall of Famer, to demonstrate the sport of handball on Wednesday, February 3 at 4 pm.

The Simon Rec will also give away gloves, eyewear, and handballs.

Take advantage of this great opportunity to learn a sport that you could be playing well into your nineties.

Image by Brian Auer – Licensed under Creative Commons

The 10th Annual Sam and Marilyn Fox Atlas Week Program will be held the week of March 22-26. The theme for the 2010 Atlas Program is “Global and Local Justice: The United Nations Millennium Development Goals.”

Hauwa Ibrahim will deliver the keynote address at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, March 24, in the Wool Ballrooms

She will focus on one Millennium Development Goals in particular, “Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.”

Ibrahim was one of the first female lawyers from Northern Nigeria and has served as defense counsel in more than 100 cases defending poor and marginalized people particularly women and children and especially those condemned under the Islamic Sharia law.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Play Powell Hall first.

The Saint Louis University String Orchestra has been confirmed to perform at Powell Hall on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:00 pm, as part of their On Stage at Powell Series. It will be a free concert, with no tickets or reservations needed.

The SLU String Orchestra is open to any faculty, physician, staff or students from SLU who has played violin, viola, cello or bass for at least three years. No audition is required. Rehearsals are at 7 pm every Thursday in the Refectory in DuBourg Hall. The SLU String Orchestra is a collaborative project between SLU’s music program, the School of Medicine, Saint Louis University Cancer Center and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

For information, contact Chris Wintrode at cwintrod@slu.edu.

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Friday, February 12 from 8 pm the Reinert RAs along with Billikens After Dark are holding a Mardi Gras (Vendredi Gras?) celebration.

Come by the Reinert Banquet Rooms to play casino games, Rock Band, a beer-goggle obstacle course, cake, free food (which I guess includes cake), mocktails (are drinks food?), and more until midnight.

There is no cost to this event, which means that it is completely free.

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Each semester a faculty member will be selected from student nominations to speak for the Last Lecture series.

The Last Lecture series provides an informal format for selected faculty to share reflections from their life and to speak to students as if it was their last lecture ever. There are not any rules for the lecture – the faculty member will be speaking from the premise, “If you knew this was your last lecture you would ever give, what would you share with students?”

Nominations from students will be accepted through February 26, 2010. The faculty member selected will be asked to speak during April 2010.

Nomination forms can be picked up in 319 BSC in the Student Involvement Center or via the website.

Submit nominations to Student Involvement Center in 319 BSC or via email to lastlect@slu.edu.

This program sponsored by the Division of Student Development and the Office of the Provost.

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Freshman and transfer students, as well as the FYE leadership from this year, are invited to the first All-FYE trivia night on Saturday, February 6.

Over $300 in donated prizes are up for grabs from Cafe Ventana, Vito’s, Fitz’s Rootbeer, Qdoba, Buffalo Brewing, and more. Prizes will be given both to the winning teams and as attendance prizes. There is no entrance fee.

Come individually or as a team of 4-6 people to DuBourg Hall 157 at 8:00 pm for a battle of wits the likes of which have never been seen! (Because this is the first year they’ve done it).

Image by RaeA – Licensed under Creative Commons