The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 11

TheBesertSun Tuesday, May 8, 2007 Section I 1 SSI I ELANTAHON SHUTTERS FA00LY-, Breaking local news on your cell phone Sign up for text messages at thedesertsun.com Qffl) 399-1300 is community editor Monica Torline phone 778-4625 fax 778-4654 e-mail localnewsthedesertsun.com FOR HOME DELIVERY ASSISTANCE PHONE: 322-5555 i I wnci factory LA QUINTA Police: Weekend deaths unrelated UC RIVERSIDE. Chance minutes into the mass. Riverside County Sheriffs Investigator Juan Zamora said the two La Quinta deaths were unrelated. Both victims' identities were being withheld until their next of kin was notified. an assault with a deadly weapon in the 51-000 block of Eisenhower Drive at 1 1:16 p.m.

that night. When they arrived, the victim "appeared to have succumbed to injuries from the assault," according to a report. No further details about the weapon used, the man's injuries or the circumstances surrounding the incident were available Monday evening. The following morning, parish headed ioners heading into the nearby St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church's 9:15 a.m.

Mass discovered an apparent suicide victim slumped in a chair near the church building. Police were contacted Sunday and approached the slumping figure slowly, as he appeared to be asleep holding a gun. As police handled the situation, church goers were not allowed to leave the sanctuary until about 45 OF TRIBUTE mm TANKFUL xv. STAFF REPORTS Two violent deaths occurred in La Quinta over the weekend. One was the result of an assault and the other was an apparent suicide near a church.

Investigators are still looking for suspects in a La Quinta assault that left a 26-year-old Indio man dead Saturday night, according to the Riverside County Sheriffs Department. Officers responded to a report of INDIAN WELLS If ImB rs. Aft'A 1A I imilrlifl.lm.Hr' 1 if i Desert Sun reporters Marcel Honored Michelle Mitchell and Mariecar Mendoza contributed to this report several programs. She and her husband also began hosting the annual Spartans of the Desert, a two-day fundraising reunion for alumni, in Palm Desert. Her recent donation will be used to create endowments and will allow for the college to have "smart classrooms" with state-of-the-art computer equipment.

Most importandy, however, the gift will, allow the college to offer the first doctorate program at San Jose State University, Meyers said. "This is a woman of vision and generosity," Meyers said. "She will make it possible for our college to go from good to great." Pwtoi 7aya Gra! The Desert Sun ABOVE: A mural depicting Dr. Reynaldo Carreon's life is being completed on a water tank in Dr. Carreon Park in Indio on Monday.

LEFT: Antonio Garcia (left) looks at the water tank while positioned in a crane as Xavier Cazares Cortez places some markings on the mural. Isaac Aden is also helping to complete the artwork. Dr. Reynaldo Carreon, M.D. was a philanthropist dedicated to encouraging and aiding Americans of Mexican descent to pursue higher education.

He donated his private land for a park and water wells in the city of Indio, co-founded John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, and helped create the Coachella Valley Mexican Chamber of Commerce. Through the Reynaldo J. Carreon M.D. Foundation, more than 325 Coachella Valley students have received more than $850,000 in scholarships.

Dr. Carreon, considered an Indio pioneer, died in 1991. f7C, JT; x'Sf'fn 3 France Cordova secures post at Indiana campus CITY NEWS SERVICE The chancellor of the University of California, Riverside is leaving to become president of Indiana's Purdue University, it was announced Monday. France Cordova, 59, who took the helm at UCR in July 2002, was selected for the top job at Purdue after a seven-month search by that university's Board of Trustees. "The breadth of her expertise, as we might expect from an astrophysicist, enables me to make a powerful statement: Dr.

France Cordova's resume is truly out of this world," Purdue Board of Trustees Chairman J. Timothy McGinley said in a statement. "She is truly a Renaissance person." Cordova, whose resignation is effective July 1, said "the opportunity to lead one of America's great universities is a wonderful privilege for me. In a message to faculty and students, Cordova said leaving UCR "was an extremely difficult decision for me. UC Riverside is, in my opinion, the most special of all the campuses of the great UC system." UC President Robert Dynes called Cordova's impending departure a "real loss for the University of California." "France has provided superb leadership for UC Riverside as chancellor and has demonstrated great potential for even higher levels of achievement still ahead of her," Dynes said.

"Purdue University clearly recognized that." According to UCR's Kris Lovekjn, Cordova's base salary at UCR is $286,000, while Purdue's retiring president, Martin Jischke, makes $406,950. Cordova was UCR's seventh chancellor. Before coming to Riverside in 2002, Cordova was vice chancellor for research at UC Santa Barbara, a position she took after serving as NASA's chief scientist? where she worked on such projects as the Hubble Space Telescope. INSIDELOCAL Anew King? Who won the crown for best Elvis impersonator? B3 i'TT jW 8 i i ii iTi mtm Lurie gives university $10 million gift HLfc PHUIO, 1HH DfcbERT SUN University of California, Riverside Chancellor France A. Cordova talks to Dr.

Lawrence Cone of Palm Springs before her lecture at UCR's Palm Desert about the new medical school at the University of California, Riverside. Cordova is credited with many successes during her UCR tenure, including preliminary approval for a medical school: securing funding for UCR's Palm Desert Graduate Center, which now offers MBA and MFA' programs; increasing UCR's endowment by 43 percent in two years; and adding 1 .8 million square feet of new and renovated space, including a base for a $53 million genomics institute. Cordova earned a doctorate in physics from Caltech in 1979 and spent a decade at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a member of the Space Astronomy and Astrophysics Group. After that, she worked in the Department of Astronomy at Perm State. In 1993, Cordova joined NASA as a scientific adviser, earning the space agency's highest honor the Distinguished Service Medal for contributions in observational and experimental astrophysics.

Cordova will oversee the five-campus Purdue University system, which includes 69,000 students. UCR's current enrollment is slightly less than 17,000, according to the UCR admissions office. News From Every City Lottery Obituaries Opinion B2 B4 B4-5 B6-7 CORRECTIONS We correct errors of fact promptly and courteously. If you have a correction or clarification, please call Managing Editor Rick Green at 778-4637 or rick.green thedesertsun.com MVlf lfflHi'i-' "It's real exciting that a philanthropist can see that quality education is the foundation of our democracy." Susan Meyers dean of the College of Education at San Jose State University, on Indian Wells resident Connie Lurie's 10 million gift to the campus Woman gives to her alma mater3 San Jose State By Mariecar Mendoza' THE DESERT SUN A Coachella Valley resident has made a historic donation to the California State University system. Connie Lurie of Indian Wells presented 1 0 million to her alma mater, San Jose State University, to benefit the university's College of Education.

The donation was announced Friday and is the largest individ- ual gift given to a college of Education in the 23-campus CSU system, said San Jose State University spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris. "It's real exciting that a philanthropist can see that quality education is the foundation of our democracy," said Susan Meyers, dean of the College of Education stories and at the university. Lurie, wife of Bob Lurie, former owner of the San Francisco Giants for 17 years, graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and psychology. After moving to the desert, she continued her ties with the university by making donations to photos Publish your Always wanted to be a neighborhood journalist, but didn't know thedesertsun.com, are looking for Coachella Valley residents who how? The Desert Sun and our Web site, can write stories and submit photos from your neighborhood, school, company or organization. We'll publish your work on our Web site, and some of your stories or pnuius cuuia appear in our prirueu euiuurib.

vve re luuwng lur ueuiuneu writers anu pnuiugrapneii) wnu nave a yuibe un life in our desert. Interested? E-mail your name and telephone number to Chris Lopez at chris.lopezthedesertsun.com.