The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association s Mid-Winter Ball is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, at the B&O Railroad Museum, 901 W. Pratt St., from 8 p.m. to midnight. The black-tie event will feature music by Voom Voom and Her Paradise Gardens, a 13-piece orchestra, a raw bar and open bar, and a cocktail buffet by Cameo Caterers.

Cost for the ball is $60 per person for alumni and their guests, and $50 per person for newer alumni ( 88 to 97 graduates) and their guests. For more information, call Korkud Egrican at 410-516-0363.

The Homewood/Peabody Women's Forum will hold a Book Drive the week of Feb. 2 through 6, to benefit the Family and Children's Center. The Hopkins community is asked to donate books, gently used magazines, children's books, coloring books and any picture books to an organization that provides services for needy people. The books will be given to the Family and Children's Center to be used in community outreach.

Book bins will be located in the Levering Union lobby by the Union Desk and on the sixth floor lobby of the Wyman Park Building. For information about the book drive, call Barb at 410-516-4777 or Helen at 410-516-8459.

The Howard Hughes Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship awards a stipend of $3,000 to 25 undergraduates from either the School of Arts and Sciences or the School of Engineering. Students who qualify will conduct laboratory research with a faculty sponsor. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, Feb. 27.

Areas of research opportunity include biology, chemistry, sociology, psychology, and biomedical and other areas of engineering.

Each student should submit a completed application, letter of support from a lab sponsor, letter of recommendation from a faculty member, college transcript and a three-page proposal outlining the research project the student will be working on during the summer.

The application is available on the Web at http://www.jhu.edu/~as1/app1.htm. To receive application materials, contact Gary K. Ostrander, associate dean for research, or Jenny Elliott, administrative assistant, at 224 Mergenthaler on the Homewood campus, at 410-516-8215 or by e-mail, jelliott@jhu.edu.

The English Language Program of the Language Teaching Center will offer two courses for graduate students next semester:

Academic Writing (370-604) prepares students to complete graduate student writing tasks with greater skill and confidence. (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 to 11:50 a.m.)

Communication Strategies in the American Classroom (370-601) is designed to assist international graduate students with their English and teaching. (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 to 10:50 a.m.)

For information, including classroom locations, contact Doris Yaffe Shiffman at 410-516-5122 or dshiffman@jhu.edu, or call the Language Center at 410-516-4466.

The Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences sumer session offers Hopkins students, visiting undergraduates and pre-college students an opportunity to take courses at Hopkins in two five-week terms, from June 1 to July 3 and from July 6 to Aug. 7. The compact courses provide full credit for undergraduate offerings in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and computer science. The summer session also offers an intensive English language program for those whose first language is not English.

The summer Pre-college Program places academically talented high school students in college classes, allowing them to earn college credit. Participants may choose the residential or commuter option and take up to two courses in one of seven programs. College workshops, tours of Hopkins facilities and social activities complement the academic experience.

Catalogs with a complete list of course offerings and application forms are available from the Office of Summer Programs, 230 Mergenthaler on the Homewood campus; by phone, at 410-516-4548; e-mail, summer@jhu.edu; or at the Web site www.jhu.edu/~sumprog. JHU undergraduates may pick up a registration packet and catalog from the Office of the Registrar, 75 Garland Hall, after March 23.