Your daily dose of news, notes and links from around Kansas University.

• James Page, a former philosophy professor at KU, is a candidate for the chancellorship of the University of Maine system, according to the Maine Campus.

Page, who was an unsuccessful candidate for the University of Maine’s presidency last year, is back again as a leadership candidate for the entire university system.

He taught at KU for six years, and currently serves as CEO of the James W. Sewall Co. The company provides consultation in forestry, engineering, geospatial science and environmental science.

Page is up against Rebecca Wyke, the University of Maine system’s vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Meredith Hay, a special adviser to the chair of the University of Arizona Board of Regents.

• The recent snowy owl “irruption,” as the New York Times called it, is getting even more attention. (Note to self: Use the word “irruption” more.)

Mark Robbins, the KU ornithologist who’s been tracking the birds, made an appearance in the Times this week.

He reports 90 snowy owl sightings in Kansas, and 40 in Missouri this winter.

Robbins also got the phrase “owl jam” into the New York Times, which is something not a lot of people can claim.

• Law students do all sorts of crazy things. This should come as no surprise.

But one thing I’ve always kind of enjoyed about law schoolers is the “Law Prom” that happens once a year.

I have no idea how well-known this is outside of the law school community. But KU — like many other schools across the nation — hosts an annual sort of prom for law school students. It’s called the Barrister’s Ball, and it’s set for Feb. 24.

It sounds like my high school prom, but with a cash bar and a photo booth.

If you’re the kind who likes to nitpick about grammar (and I know you’re out there), you might enjoy this Wikipedia entry, which conveniently sorts the law schools by how they choose to utilize (or not utilize) the apostrophe in “Barrister’s Ball.” (I’ll just go with what KU does, thanks).

• Little-known Andy Hyland fact: I actually went to three high school proms, during my junior year, senior year and my freshman year at KU, when I was still dating a high school senior. I think that’s more than enough proms for me, thanks. I’ll never get enough of your tips emailed to ahyland@ljworld.com, though.