Alumni began arriving from near and far on Thursday, May 31, to begin the Bicentennial Reunion weekend festivities. Thursday’s highlights included a tour, “The Legacy of Trees on the Hamilton Campus,” guided by Arboretum Director Terry Hawkridge  P’01, and “Giants in the Earth,” a talk and tour of Hamilton’s Cemetery, led by Hamilton Alumni Review Editor Emeritus Frank Lorenz.

Jake Muirhead '86 recently had a solo exhibition, New Prints by Jake Muirhead, at The Old Print Gallery in Washington, DC. The show featured twenty still lifes and landscapes, which the Georgetowner called "captivating and elusive, like sensory memories, leaving the audience contemplating a strong and immediate intimacy with the works."

As Hamilton celebrated the 200th anniversary of the signing of its charter this past week, Don Spencer ’59 was celebrating his birthday as well. While turning 200 might initially seem like a grander feat than turning 76, Don Spencer’s 76th birthday was far from unremarkable. That’s because Spencer turned 76 while riding a bicycle in the midst of a nearly 500-mile journey from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Hamilton’s Bicentennial Alumni Reunion in Clinton, N.Y.

Stephen Durfee '85, a pastry chef instructor at The Culinary Institute of America, will represent the United States in January 2013 as one of three team members at Coupe Du Monde de la Patisserie (World Pastry Cup) in Lyon, France.  Durfee will be the chocolatier on the team and work with a sugar artist and an ice carver to compete against 20 teams from Europe and Asia.

This May, Just World Books published Watches Without Time: An American Soldier in Afghanistan by U.S. Army Capt. Matt Zeller '04.  The book is a collection of the letters and emails Zeller sent to family and friends during the eight months he spent as an embedded combat adviser with the Afghan security forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan during 2008.

The Hamilton College chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, initiated 21 members of the Class of 2012 to associate membership at the annual banquet in the Science Center Atrium on May 18. Family members in attendance enjoyed a program of observations by mentors about the students, their research, and student plans to continue in research.

Singer Joe Williams H’88, a major participant in the establishment of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, is the subject of a documentary that will be screened on Wednesday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. at The Other Side in Utica. Monk Rowe, The Joe Williams Director of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, will present the film.

Among members of the Class of 2012 who graduated on Sunday, May 20, was Josephine (Josie) Jones, who learned in January that she is a direct descendant of  George Albion Calhoun, the College's first graduate in 1814.  Jones' mother, Jody Clark Jones, made the discovery while researching her husband's family genealogy. The story of the two century connection, which is especially meaningful in Hamilton's bicentennial year, is featured in the Spring 2012 Hamilton Alumni Review. Josie Jones was also interviewed for a story on local Fox affiliate WUTR.

In his address at Hamilton College’s Bicentennial commencement, A.G. Lafley ’69, former chairman and CEO of the Procter & Gamble Co., urged the Class of 2012 to embrace the choices life hands them because they will learn something from each one they make. “While you can’t control the twists and turns that will push and pull your life in unanticipated directions, you can control the person you choose to become,” Lafley said. He shared a few things he’s learned since he graduated from Hamilton in 1969.

The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization focused on producing in-depth education journalism, published an interview with Daniel Chambliss, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology, on May 17.  “Q&A with Dan Chambliss: A successful college education can come down to a single conversation” focused on the Mellon Foundation-funded longitudinal study initiated by Chambliss in 2001. The article reviewed some of the study results, which will be included in a forthcoming book titled How College Works, and what implications the results might have for U.S. higher education.