A memorial service for Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke will be held on Saturday, April 2, at 3 p.m. in St. James' Episcopal Church in Clinton, followed by a reception in the parish hall. Bahlke died on Feb. 1 of complications from pneumonia. He was 76 and, although retired, was a frequent presence on campus. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, those wishing may donate to the George Bahlke Travel Fund, established by his wife, family and friends on the occasion of his retirement.

The second annual Milton Marathon drew avid Paradise Lost fans, members of English classes, faculty and interested bystanders to the browsing area of Burke Library on Feb. 27. Margie Thickstun, the Elizabeth J. McCormack Professor of English, organized the marathon for her English 228 class.

Associate Professor of English Steven Yao delivered a lecture titled "Global Literary Studies and the Rising Tide of the Transpacific," as part of the Faculty Research Colloquium Series at UMass, Amherst, on March 1. While there, he also taught a graduate seminar on Global Modernisms.

Ben Franklin probably would have loved the Internet. As colonial America’s most famous printer, Franklin ran a shop that served a very similar role to the Internet as we know it today. He dispersed all manner of information to the inhabitants of the colonies: legal documents, newspapers, and publications like Poor Richard’s Almanack, which Franklin himself wrote under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders.

Some visitors to Burke Library on Feb. 27 were sidetracked by a group of readers in the browsing area who were participating in the second Milton Marathon. Organized by Margaret Thickstun, the Elizabeth J. McCormack Professor of English, the event featured a day-long reading of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.

James Longenbach, the Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of English and Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, both at the University of Rochester, will give a reading on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m., in the Fillius Events Barn. The reading is free and open to the public.

President Joan Hinde Stewart announced the passing of Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke in an e-mail to the campus community on Feb. 1:

Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke died on Feb. 1 of complications from pneumonia. He was 76 and, although retired, was a frequent presence on campus.

Professor of English Vincent Odamtten presented the first Dr. Robert Milton Young Memorial Lecture in African American Literary and Cultural Theory on Jan. 27, at the University of Alabama. The recently established lecture series honors Robert M. Young ’90 who died in January 2010. Odamtten was Young’s mentor while Young was a student at Hamilton. In “The Pleasures of Influence and Reciprocity” Odamtten spoke about his professional relationship with Young.

Associate Professor of English Steve Yao spoke at the Modern Language Association (MLA) annual meeting held in Los Angeles, Jan. 6-9. Yao delivered a paper, "Comparing American Modernisms," on a panel sponsored by the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA). The MLA conference is the main national venue for language and literature scholars in higher education.