Around College

In March 1988, when the nationwide Campus Outreach Opportunities League (COOL) came to College Hill to discuss student-led volunteering in the wider Hamilton community, Charlie Hartness '88 realized that an organization to foster, harness and develop student interest in community outreach was needed

Two years ago, Associate Professor of English Doran Larson ­visited the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility with a discussion group. Last fall he was back with another group — ­students from his English 442 course, Booked: Prison Writing. Offering a survey of literature composed behind bars — by authors ranging from Socrates to Primo Levi to Malcolm X and postcolonial writers — the course also included a field trip to observe Attica inmates in a creative writing class taught by Larson.

The inventor of one of the world's most effective anti-cancer drugs — who became fascinated with chemistry as a student at Hamilton — has, with his wife, donated $1 million to establish an endowed fund for chemistry research at the College

Winners of the McKinney Prize were Hanbin Yang '12, Rachel Pohl '11, Elijah LaChance '10 and Rebecca Griffin '09. The McKinney is awarded to a member of each class and is based on the presentation of persuasive speeches addressing issues that are socially relevant and of interest to the extended Hamilton community.

As it prepares to commemorate its first 200 years, the College already has been thinking deeply about the next 200: How will the abiding values that define Hamilton inform the future? What does the College do well, and how can it do those things even better? In response to such questions, Hamilton has created a new strategic plan — its first since 2002 — that considers important demographic trends and the potential long-term effects of economic turmoil while also remaining true to the ­College's mission and identity.