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Ann Silversmith, professor of physics, has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the acquisition of equipment for "Thermal and Optical Studies of Sol-gel Materials Containing Rare Earth Ions."  Silversmith applied for the grant with Daniel Boye, professor of physics at Davidson College. According to their proposal, the project will be a “continuation of the fruitful interdisciplinary (physics and chemistry) collaborations between Davidson and Hamilton colleges in a study of the optical properties of doped sol-gel materials."

In May 2004, Phase I of the Science Center construction was "97 percent finished" according to assistant director of construction Bill Huggins. Two months later, professors moved into their new offices, and summer science research students were busy at work in the new laboratories, bringing Phase I to an unofficial close. With the first half of the Science Center construction finished, what is next for the $56 million dollar project? The answer: deconstruction.

Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, wrote an opinion piece for Newsday about the 9/11 Commission report. He stated: "... the commission's report will do little to quell the controversy surrounding 9/11." This op-ed was reprinted in the Newark Star-Ledger and Albany Times Union.

The National Public Radio program Soundprint aired "Voices of the Dust Bowl"  about migrant farm workers from the '30s and '40s. The segment includes the work of Charles "Lafe" Todd '33, professor of speech, emeritus, who recorded "dance tunes, cowboy songs, traditional ballads, square dance and play party calls, camp council meetings, camp court proceedings, conversations, storytelling sessions and personal-experience narratives of the Dust Bowl refugees who inhabited the camps."

A study by Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, was featured in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Klinkner contends that pundits and journalists have needlessly hyped the idea that Americans are segregating along political lines. The article, "The truths that might be false, and how they bear false witness to Campaign 2004," by David Shribman, executive editor of the Post-Gazette, was also published in the Buffalo News.

Hamilton employees and retirees were treated to a summer picnic on the McEwen Quad on June 18. The dinner, that included clams and steak, was topped off with strawberry and blueberry shortcake.

Iowa Governor and Hamilton alumnus Tom Vilsack's name is on the short list of potential running mates for John Kerry. Hamilton College political scientist Philip Klinkner said, "In addition to helping him in the heartland, selecting Tom Vilsack would signal that John Kerry wants a running mate with whom he is personally comfortable." On the campaign trail Klinkner said one of Vilsack's assets will be his wife, Christie, Kirkland '72. Klinkner said, "She is an experienced and popular campaigner. Her endorsement of Kerry before the Iowa Caucuses helped turn his campaign around."

While a student at Hamilton College in the '70s,  Tom Vilsack lost his bid for Hamilton College class president. He reportedly decided then that he would never run for any office again. Now as a two-term governor of Iowa, Vilsack is on the short list of possible running mates for John Kerry. 

Professor of History Maurice Isserman presented a paper titled "Cold War in a Cold Place: The 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition" at a conference held at Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia. The conference featured both American and Russian historians and was organized to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Fulbright Program's Distinguished Chair in American History at Moscow State University. A dozen American historians who have held the chair over the past three decades, including Isserman who was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in 1997, were in attendance at the two-day conference.

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was interviewed by the BBC on China's foreign policy with oil producing countries. The discussion included China's oil-consumption and relations with countries in the Middle East.