The head of one of the top scientific advisory groups in the United States will address "The University and Its Critics" during a public talk at UC Davis from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, in the Wyatt Pavilion. The lecture by Frank H.T. Rhodes, chair of the National Science Foundation's National Science Board, will launch this year's Chancellor's Forum on the Future lecture series. His lecture precedes a two-day meeting of the National Science Board on the Davis campus March 28-29. The board assists President Clinton and Congress in formulating national policies in science, engineering and education, and oversees the operations of the National Science Foundation. President emeritus of Cornell University and a geologist by training, Rhodes chaired the 1987 National Commission on Minority Participation in Education and American Life that produced the report "One-Third of a Nation" and co-chaired the 1988 Business-Higher Education Forum Task Force on Human Capital that produced the report "American Potential: The Human Dimension." President Reagan appointed Rhodes to the National Science Board in 1987 and in 1994 he was elected chair. Tip by Maril Stratton, News Service, (916) 752-3683, mrstratton@ucdavis.edu.