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Buzzing around the auditorium before his presentation, Dr. Paul Linser amicably conversed with Hamilton students and professors about the weather, his visit to the Hill, and his perfectly waxed handlebar moustache. His lecture, which was part of the Levitt Series, took place on Feb. 27 in the Taylor Science Center.

Twenty-five Hamilton students returned to campus 10 days before the spring semester begins to participate in the third Levitt Leadership Institute (LLI).  The program was designed and is led by Ambassador Prudence Bushnell with the assistance of Christine Powers and is intended to provide  leadership training for students. The LLI was made possible by the financial support of Arthur Levitt, Jr. P '81, and the Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation.

Despite the fact that most high school students feel relatively safe in their schools, a significant number are concerned about the possibility of a mass shooting in their school or community, according to a new national poll of high school seniors conducted by Hamilton College’s Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center in conjunction with Knowledge Networks.

When describing the business world, “love” might not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, Jonathan Isham Jr., director of Environmental Studies, faculty director of the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and professor of economics at Middlebury College, explains how it is the very foundation of social entrepreneurship.

On Nov. 9-10, Hamilton’s Levitt Center along with Colgate University hosted Startup Experience, an intensive two-day workshop for students interested in social and commercial entrepreneurship. The workshop was held in the Spencer House on Hamilton’s campus.

Police profiling is not a new phenomenon; in fact, profiling has been used to successfully identify criminals for decades. Yet “profiling,” in the modern world, is steeped in negative connotations and riddled with racial undertones. Milton Heumann, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, spoke on Nov. 7 about the current state of civic equality in New York City.

Returning to the Hill for the first time in more than a decade, economist Robert Frank spoke on Nov. 5 about the relationship between success and luck. A prolific author and co-director of the Paduano Seminar in business ethics at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Frank gave a lecture that was an engaging mélange of economic theory, personal anecdotes and examples from well-known cultural events. Drawing on these, he asserted that success in life is 100 percent dependent on luck.

Russian and Soviet government expert Timothy J. Colton delivered a talk on Nov. 4 on leadership in post-Soviet nations. The lecture was titled “Political Leadership after Communism” and sponsored by the Levitt Center Speaker Series. Colton is the Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies and chair of the Government Department at Harvard University, and the author of numerous books on Russian and Soviet politics.

As Hamilton  prepares for its new bike path, cultural anthropologist Luis Vivanco’s lecture, “Reconsidering the Bicycle,” could not be more timely. Vivanco, director of the Global and Regional Studies Program and founding director of the Global Studies Program at the University of Vermont, spoke about the current global state of using bikes as alternative transportation.

Jen Kleindienst ’09 returned to Hamilton on Oct. 21 to speak to the community about her career in environmental activism and give advice to those interested in the campus sustainability movement.