McGill Homecoming may be ho-hum for some, but not for 95-year-old alumnus Torrence Gurman (centre, at right), who has been turning up every five years since his graduation in 1922.

To celebrate his birthday earlier this year, he asked friends and family to help him endow a modest annual cash award for a physics student. So, among the many special events at last month's Homecoming was the presentation of the first ever Torrence L. Gurman Prize in Physics to third-year student Benjamin Levitt (as chair of the department Jean Barrette looked on).

Not only did Gurman give a prize, he also prepared and presented a paper on particle physics to the faculty members and staff who had gathered in the Rutherford Museum for the occasion. With his son and daughter-in-law, who accompanied him from his home in Massachusetts, the energetic alum also attended the Leacock Luncheon, the Chancellor's dinner and took an escorted tour of the campus.

McGill's very own FM radio station hits the 10-year mark next month and is marking the anniversary with celebrations around the theme "Marching Strong a Decade Long." CKUT began life as Radio McGill in 1960, received its cable licence in 1982 and became an official CRTC-sanctioned FM station on November 16, 1987.

The station is unique in its programming  covering the spectrum musically, politically and culturally  and unique in its structure. There is a small paid staff, but all DJs, producers and announcers are volunteers, as are most of the people who form the committees responsible for programming and administration. It takes more than 300 volunteers to put together the 100 programs that air around the clock every week.

Special programming begins November 8 at 90.3 on your radio dial and a special event will be held at Club Soda on November 20. A cabaret-style show will feature marching music set to every possible beat, along with step dancers and drag queen majorettes. For more station information, contact Louise Burns, 398-4975, or Lisa Uddin, 398-6787, local 0283.

This week's snowy weather is a harbinger of what lies ahead, and before winter really sets in, the McGill Chaplaincy Service remind us that not everyone is equipped to face it. For many of our international students, a Montreal winter will be a rude awakening. Putting together all the paraphernalia to face frigid temperatures can be very expensive, so the Chaplaincy Service is collecting winter coats, scarves, hats, mitts and gloves to help students stay warm and healthy. Donations can be made at the Birks Building, 3520 University (near Milton), on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Spend a lot of time searching McGill's phone book for people who don't spell their names the way you spell them? Ever tried to find somebody at Macdonald when you don't know their department? Help is at hand  literally.

With a keyboard and a mouse, you can now find the phone numbers, faxes and e-mail addresses of everyone at McGill by using the new electronic directory available through the University's home page.

You can also get information about departments and buildings, and a great feature is the "sounds like" option for dealing with mumbled voice messages or a slightly fuzzy memory. Telecom Office director Gary Bernstein says that the information is updated twice a month, so if you need to change your own or your department's listing, check the back of the phone book   the paper one, that is  and fill out the revision form. Bernstein promises it won't be long before you'll be able to do that electronically, too.

To find just about everything else at McGill, you can make use of Ultraseek, the award-winning search engine technology from Infoseek. After much discussion and research, McGill's Computing Centre signed the necessary licence, and whizzing through our ever-expanding web pages is now the proverbial breeze.