Learning English is one of the most daunting tasks for newly arriving immigrants in the United States, and it can be a task that is accompanied by little support. Anna Zahm’13, Grace Parker Zielinski ’14 and Melissa Segura ’14, have spent their summers working to combat this problem by providing much-needed assistance to English language adult students at the Utica access site for the Madison-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).

Professor of Anthropology George “Tom” Jones was part of a multi-authored report published in the July 13 issue of Science Magazine. The paper describes cultural stratigraphy, radiocarbon dates, stone tool technology and ancient DNA recovered from human coprolites (dessicated feces) at Paisley Caves, Oregon. This site contains the earliest directly dated human remains in North America.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Chaise LaDousa’s article “On Mother and Other Tongues: Sociolinguistics, Schools, and Language Ideology in North India” has been included in the new edition of Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication.

As is the custom at Hamilton, the Dean of Faculty recognizes retiring faculty and hosts a reception in their honor at the last faculty meeting of the academic year. On May 16, Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds honored four professors retiring this year: Professor of  Anthropology Charlotte Beck; Jim Bradfield, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of Economics; Professor of Government Ted Eismeier; and  Jay Williams ’54, the Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies. Following are the tributes Reynolds read.

An essay by Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies and Anthropology Chris Vasantkumar titled, “What Is This 'Chinese' in Overseas Chinese? Sojourn Work and the Place of China's Minority Nationalities in Extraterritorial Chinese-ness,” has been published in this month's issue of The Journal of Asian Studies (vol. 71, no. 2).

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.

Hamilton’s highest awards for teaching were presented on May 4 to five faculty members. Ian Rosenstein,Christopher Vasantkumar, Andrew Dykstra, Heather Buchman and Patty Kloidt were honored at the Class & Charter Day ceremony.

Six members of the Hamilton faculty were recognized for their research and creative successes with the Dean’s Scholarly Achievement Awards, presented by Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds at Class & Charter Day on Friday, May 4. The Awards recognize individual accomplishments, but reflect a richness and depth of scholarship and creative activity across the entire faculty.  The awards were made in three categories: Career Achievement, Early Career Achievement and Notable Year Achievement.

Professor of Archaeology Charlotte Beck and Professor of Anthropology Tom Jones have published chapters in two new books from the University of Utah Press.

It is not often that an archaeology class has the opportunity to excavate a site of probable historic significance without leaving campus. Having examined a previously discovered inscribed stone at the class’ site, members of the Archaeology of Hamilton’s Founding course have unearthed two additional inscribed stones in their first month of digging. The most recent was uncovered on Sept. 29 and is related to the other two, according to Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale, who developed and teaches the course.