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.

Emily Melhorn '01 has been selected as a 2012 artist-in-residence for the National Homestead Monument of America with the National Parks Service. Melhorn is one of five artists who have been offered the opportunity to live at the monument and let their work be inspired by the Homestead Story and the physical environment.

Papers by Professor of Anthropology Tom Jones, Professor of Archaeology Charolotte Beck and Professor of Geosciences David Bailey were published in the April issue of American Antiquity. The quarterly journal is published by the Society for American Archaeology.

Academic achievement prizes, prize scholarships and other recognition of student accomplishments were awarded at Hamilton's 62nd annual Class & Charter Day convocation on Friday, May 4, in the Chapel. Among the top prizes, Susannah Parkin ’13 was awarded the Milton F. Fillius Jr. /Joseph Drown Prize Scholarship, and Jacob Sheetz-Willard ’12 was named the recipient of the James Soper Merrill Prize.

Hamilton College archaeologists were well-represented on the program of the 77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held April 18-22 in Memphis, Tenn. Several students, faculty members and alumni presented research with other Hamilton alumni in attendance.

Hamilton’s Class & Charter Day celebration, an annual convocation recognizing student and faculty excellence during the preceding academic year, will take place on Friday, May 4, at 12:15 p.m., in the Chapel. This year’s speaker is Julie Ross ‘84, president of the Alumni Association. Her remarks are titled “Reflections on Inspiration, Transformation and Hamilton at its Bicentennial.”

The ceremony will be available online via live webcast.

Alice Popejoy '09, who will be a doctoral student in the Public Health Genetics Program at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle this fall, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship for genetics and bioethics research.