Hamilton College President Joan Hinde Stewart announced today the appointment of Tracy Adler, former curator for the Hunter College Art Galleries in New York, as the inaugural director of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art.

When Mark Kasdorf ’06 graduated from Hamilton, he didn’t know the first thing about entrepreneurship—the jargon, the strategies, the possibilities. “It was a whole world that wasn’t visible to me,” he said. “I wanted to make the world visible to Hamilton students.” And in 2011, Kasdorf did just that. He organized the first Hamilton Pitch Competition, inviting students, alumni and friends to propose their ideas for new businesses to a panel of judges. On the weekend of March 30 to April 1, the second annual Pitch Competition took place in Kirner-Johnson’s Red Pit.

The Idaho Library Association has named John Held '75 the 2011 Trustee of the Year. He has served on the Payette Public Library board since 1995 and was board chairman from 2001-2010.

Brian Levin-Stankevich ’72 was named president of Westminster College on March 27. He is currently the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a position he has held since 2006, and was previously interim president of Eastern Washington University.

On the eve of its 10th anniversary, the Hamilton College Mock Trial team finished third in the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) on March 23-25, and qualified for the national championship tournament in April. Team captain Tyler Roberts ’12 won an Outstanding Attorney award and Patrick Bedard ’14 won an Outstanding Witness award.

The New York Times Green blog has featured an article about a panther project that Caitlin Jacobs '07, a graduate student at the University of Florida, is helping to research. Ranchers in south Florida have begun reporting that panthers are now preying on their calves. In Spring 2011 several calves were documented and confirmed to be killed by panthers.

In late 2011, researchers including Jacobs began tagging calves in an effort to collect evidence to substantiate the claims; the Florida panther had been all but extinct in the 1970s.

What does one pack for a trip to an Antarctic island?  Items not found on a typical packing checklist, as some Hamilton students learned this week when they prepared for an expedition to Robertson Island.  It’s week two of the Antarctica 2012 research expedition, aboard the ship Nathaniel B. Palmer for Natalie Elking ’12, Manique Talaia-Murray ’12, Andrew Seraichick ’13, Elizabeth Bucceri ’11 and Associate Professor of Biology Mike McCormick. 

Participants in the first Levitt Leadership Institute cohort headed to Washington, D.C. for the  second phase of the program during spring break. Led by Prudence Bushnell, former U.S. Ambassador to Kenya and Guatemala, the group continued their focus on the study of leadership, a program that was enhanced by daily meetings with Washington leaders. Funding for the entire program was provided by Arthur Levitt Jr.

On March 21, students in the Program in Washington traveled to Alexandria, Va., to meet with Alicia Davis Downs ’97 and Michael Dubke ’92 to discuss technology, media and the 2012 election.