Hamilton College
Skip Main Navigation
Skip Section Navigation Faculty Newsletter Archive

Faculty Scholarly Activities

Summer 2002

The quarterly report of Hamilton College faculty members' scholarly activities is available in PDF format: Summer 2002.  Current activities appear by date below.  
 

Faculty News - Summer 2002



Collett Presents Lecture and Posters

August 30, 2002
Associate Professor of Physics Brian Collett presented a talk and two posters, which included "FETs Only: Teaching Electronics Without Bipolar Transistors," "Light Atom Energy Levels in Excel" and "Which Chip? Selecting a Microprocessor for Teaching,"at the 2002 summer American Association of Physics Teachers meeting in Boise, Idaho.  More ...

Rowe Receives ASCAP Award

August 29, 2002
Monk Rowe, musician and director of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, has been chosen as a recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) Popular Music Survey Award. This is the sixth consecutive year that Rowe has won this award, which is created for composers/performers who play their own work, was not aired on the radio. According to ASCAP, the awards are based upon the unique prestige value of each writer's catalog of original compositions, as well as recent performances in areas not surveyed by the society.

Li Interviewed for The Economist Article

August 29, 2002
Government Professor and Woodrow Wilson Fellow Cheng Li was interviewed by the British magazine, The Economist, for an article about China's new leaders (June 15, 2002). He argues that a younger group of leaders -- the fourth generation -- "are likely to have been influenced by their experience of the ideologically inspired violence of the Cultural Revolution, making them more cynical about ideology, more open-minded and less confrontational than their predecessors in dealing with factional politics and social unrest."

Lehman Awarded Grant from NSF

August 29, 2002
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant to Hamilton College for the support of a project under the direction of Associate Professor of Biology Herman K. Lehman, in collaboration with Gene E. Robinson of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to study the neural basis behavior in honey bees.  More ...

Tewksbury's Course Selected as One of Four to be Taught Nationally

August 28, 2002
The American Association of Colleges and Universities has selected Hamilton Geology Professor Barbara Tewksbury's introductory geology course as one of four courses to be taught nationally in 2002 as a model course that links the teaching of science to human issues.  More ...

Rowe Invited to Attend Seminar at UC Berkeley

August 10, 2002
Director of the Hamilton Jazz Archive and Lecturer in Saxophone Monk Rowe attended the Advanced Oral History Seminar at the University of California at Berkeley, August 11-16. Rowe was one of 25 people from the United States, Japan and Singapore to be accepted to attend the event and share their experiences in gathering oral histories to learn more about ethical, legal and technology issues. He represented the Hamilton College Jazz Archive.

Katherine Collett Presents Paper

August 10, 2002
Archival Assistant Katherine Collett recently presented a paper titled "Nicola Meets God: Religion During Term and Vacation in 'Antonia Forest's Marlow Series'" at the 2002 Children's Literature Association Annual Conference.

Reynolds Presents at Conference

August 3, 2002
Associate Professor of Biology Patrick Reynolds recently presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Malacological Society. His paper was titled "Multidisciplinary Approaches to Molluscan Phylogeny." Reynolds had also been studying coastal fauna at the National University of Ireland in Galway, and was recently published in Advances in Marine Biology.

Frechette Authors Book on Tibetan Migrants

August 2, 2002
Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies Ann Frechette has authored Tibetans in Nepal, The Dynamics of International Assistance among a Community in Exile (Berghahn Books, 2002). The book explores the influence of foreign aid organizations on the lives of Tibetan refugees in Nepal.  More ...

Klinkner Appointed to James S. Sherman Chair

August 1, 2002
Hamilton College President Eugene M. Tobin has announced the appointment of Associate Professor of Government Philip Klinkner to the James S. Sherman Chair at Hamilton. Appointments to faculty chairs are made by the president, acting on the recommendation of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty David Paris.  More ...

Economics Professor Travels to Latvia, Belgium, Spain and Japan

August 1, 2002
Economics Professor Derek Jones traveled to Latvia, Belgium and Spain this summer to deliver several papers and participate as a discussant on transitional economies, employee participation and information technology.  More ...

Ambrose Appointed to Wertimer Chair

July 31, 2002
Hamilton College President Eugene M. Tobin has announced the appointment of Associate Professor of History Douglas Ambrose to the Sidney Wertimer Jr. Chair at Hamilton. The appointment to the chair is made by the president, on the advice of Vice President and Dean of the Faculty David C. Paris.  More ...

Georges and McEnroe Promoted

July 29, 2002
Hamilton College President Eugene M. Tobin announced today that two faculty members have been promoted to full professor. Christophre Georges, an associate professor in the economics department, and John McEnroe, an associate professor of art, were promoted effective July 1. In promoting Professors Georges and McEnroe, President Tobin acted on the recommendations of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty David Paris, the elected faculty members of the Committee on Appointments, senior colleagues in the departments of economics and art, past and current students and a group of nationally recognized scholars.  More ...

Helfant Publishes Article in Current Genetics

July 26, 2002
Current Genetics recently published an article by Visiting Instructor of Biology Astrid H. Helfant titled, "Composition of the Spindle Pole Body of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the Proteins Involved in its Duplication." In her review paper, Helfant focuses on the centrosome in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, referred to as the spindle pole body (SPB). The centrosome is an organelle found in fungi (including yeast) and in most animal cells and is known to play a key role in maintaining the genomic stability of the cell. Upon its duplication, the centrosome forms a bipolar spindle responsible for separating the genomic DNA of a dividing cell.  More ...

Cryer Plays the Duke in Comedy of Errors

July 26, 2002
Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance Mark Cryer is playing "the Duke" in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Cryer can be seen at the Saratoga Springs Shakespeare Festival in Congress Park, Wednesday, July 31 through Saturday, Aug. 3 at 6 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 4, at 5 p.m. Performances are free and open to the public.  More ...

On the Cutting Edge in Geoscience

July 25, 2002
Barbara Tewksbury, the Stephen Harper Kirner Professor of Geology, headed a workshop for professors of undergraduate geoscience from July 28 to August 3 on the Hamilton campus. The workshop is part of the program "On the Cutting Edge: Workshops for Geoscience Faculty," supported by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and DLESE, with funding provided by a $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Hamilton has been awarded more than $70,000 from the grant for 2002, and will receive additional funding each year for the next five years.  More ...

Carter Speaks at Symposium in Sicily

July 25, 2002
Professor of Art Rand Carter spoke at a Friends of Schinkel international symposium in Siracusa, Sicily, in June. Co-sponsored by the faculty of architecture of the University of Catania, the conference was titled "From the Italian Vernacular Villa to Schinkel to the Modern House." Carter's presentation was titled "Schinkel as Traveller."

Shields Organizes MERCURY Conference

July 24, 2002
Professor of Chemistry George Shields hosted the first MERCURY Conference in Computational Chemistry (http://mars.chem.hamilton.edu/conference/) at Hamilton College. This national conference featured seven talks by invited speakers and 28 poster presentations by undergraduates, and was organized by Shields and Jennifer Sturm, system administrator and research support specialist.  Each undergraduate had two minutes to advertise his or her work in front of the entire audience of 70 attendees, followed by a two-hour period where they explained their work in more detail at the poster session.  Shields and Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow Steve Feldgus had 13 of their summer research students present the results of their collaborative research projects at the conference: 
  • Amber Gillis '06 and Becky Shepherd '06, "Energetics of the Hydrogen Atom Abstraction by Diradicals;"
  • JunChan Hong '05, "Conformational Analysis and Docking Studies on Phosphatase Cdc25B Inhibitors;" 
  • Christy House '06 and Meghan Dunn, "pKa Calculations on Amino Acids;"  David Kelland '05, "Substituent Effects on Hydrogen Atom Abstraction by Diradicals;" 
  • Katrina Lexa '05,  "Conformational Analysis of the alpha-fetoprotein Active Site;"
  • Matthew Liptak '03,  "Absolute pKa Determinations for Protonated Nitrogen Compounds;"  
  • Abby Markeson '04, "Investigating the Stereoselectivity of Radical Additions" (joint computational/synthetic project with the synthetic part supervised by Ian Rosenstein, associate professor of chemistry;)
  • Brent Matteson '04, "Conformational Analysis for Absolute pKa Determinations of Amino Acids;" 
  • Emma Pokon '04, "Hydrogen Bonded Clusters;" 
  • Chantelle Rein '03, "The Enediyne Anticancer Antibiotics: A Study of the Bergman Cyclization Barriers of Experamicin A1 using the ONIOM Hybrid Method;" and
  • Sarah Taylor '03, "Computational Approaches to Anti-cancer Drug Design."


Wilson Elected to SSCR Board

July 22, 2002
Associate Professor of History Thomas Wilson was elected to a three-year term as a board member of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. SSCR has more than 100 members from international colleges and universities.

Ravven Publishes Journal Article

July 17, 2002
Religious Studies Professor Heidi Ravven is the author of an article, "Further Thoughts on Hegel and Feminism," that was published in a special volume (volume 33, Number 2, Spring/Summer 2002) of the Owl of Minerva: Journal of the Hegel Society of America devoted to "Feminism and Hegel's Antigone Revisited."  More ...

Ravven Gives Invited Paper

July 17, 2002
Religious Studies Professor Heidi Ravven delivered a paper at the Platonism, Neoplatonism, and Literature conference at the University of Maine, in June. Her paper was titled "Stoic and Neo/Platonic Resonances in Spinoza's Preliminary Formulation of Ethics." The conference was sponsored by the International Society for Neoplatonic studies and the National Poetry Foundation.  More ...

Orvis Publishes Article in African Issues

July 16, 2002
Associate Professor of Government Stephen Orvis published "Moral Ethnicity and Political Tribalism in Kenya's 'Virtual Democracy'" in African Issues.

In his article, Orvis focuses on the close relationship between politics and ethnicity that is so prevalent in Kenya.  As he follows the political history of the nation, Orvis discovers the ways in which the Kenyan political scene is changing.    When the one-party system was abolished in the early nineties it created a "double-edged sword," where political tribalism was able to flourish, and where public debates and democratic principles began to take root.  Orvis demonstrates that while it is easy to see the negativity and violence associated with tribalism, we must look more closely in order to uncover the beginnings of a more accountable, democratic Kenyan government. 

 More ...

McEnroe and Pokinski Publish Book

July 9, 2002
A new book, Critical Perspectives on Art History, by Associate Professor of Art John McEnroe and Associate Professor of Art Deborah Pokinski demonstrates that art history has significant connections to real life. The book introduces students to the complexity of issues and approaches that characterize the study of Western art history today.  More ...

Elgren Presents "Innovative Chemistry Curricula"

July 3, 2002
Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Chemistry Tim Elgren gave two presentations at the Ninth National Conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research. The talks were titled "Innovative Chemistry Curricula that Support Undergraduate Research" and "Institutionalizing Research for All". The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is a national organization that strives to support faculty members and their research activities at primarily undergraduate institutions. Elgren is finishing his second three-year term as an elected member of the council. He co-chairs the CUR Summer Fellowship Committee.

Raybeck: President Elect

July 1, 2002
Hamilton College Professor of Anthropology Douglas Raybeck has been elected president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research. The Society of Cross-Cultural Research (SCCR) is a multidisciplinary professional association of behavioral scientists "dedicated to the use of scientific method in understanding human behavior in all times and places." The term of president lasts one year, and Raybeck is scheduled to assume his duties in 2003.

Oerlemans' Book, Romanticism and the Materiality of Nature Reviewed

June 28, 2002
A new book by Associate Professor of English Onno Oerlemans, Romanticism and the Materiality of Nature, received a positive review in the British newspaper The Guardian. "His (Oerlemans) perceptive readings of the Romantics uncover a keen sense of nature's materiality, but also reveals a nature that is 'strange and unknowable,' irredeemably 'other.'"

Islamic Thought Today Featured in Alumni College

June 7, 2002
Russell Blackwood, the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, treated an Alumni College class to a lively discussion titled "Islamic Thought Today: The Gates of Ijtihad" during an alumni college class on June 6.  More ...

Margie Thickstun Delivers Paper on Paradise Lost

June 4, 2002
Professor of English Margaret Thickstun delivered a paper,"God as Father in Paradise Lost," at the 7th International Milton Symposium in Beaufort, South Carolina, June 4th-8th.

Luciano Presents Paper at A.L.A. Convention

June 1, 2002
Assistant Professor of English Dana Luciano presented a paper, "Representative Mourning: Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Keckley" on the 19th century women's narratives of trauma and healing panel during the American Literature Association's annual convention in Long Beach, CA.

Scenes @ Hamilton

The Main Quadrangle The Main Quadrangle
See more in the Virtual Tour!