Despite the hope that President Obama’s clear victory last November might lead to a reduction in partisan polarization, the results of new survey conducted by the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College indicate that American are as divided as ever. Full poll results will be released on Tuesday, May 21, at 10:30 a.m. at www.hamilton.edu/PostElectionPoll.

Professor of Religious Studies Heidi M. Ravven published a book titled The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, the New Brain Sciences, and the Myth of Free Will (The New Press, 2013).

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate recently made presentations at Ithaca College and at the University of Toronto during the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Eastern International Regional Meeting.

Professor of French Joseph Mwantuali was interviewed with Coco Ramazani, the subject of his book Tell This to My Mother, on New Hampshire Public Radio on Friday May 10.

Hamilton College’s highest awards for teaching were presented to three faculty members during the annual Class & Charter Day ceremony on May 13.  Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Abhishek Amar and Rob Knight, assistant professor of art, received awards. Assistant Professor of Government Ted Lehmann was named the recipient of Student Assembly’s Sidney Wertimer Award.

Six Hamilton faculty members were recognized for their research and creative successes with the Dean’s Scholarly Achievement Awards, presented by Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds during Class & Charter Day on May 13. The awards recognize individual accomplishment but reflect a richness and depth of scholarship and creative activity across the entire faculty.

Alan Cafruny, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs, been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow during the 2013-14 academic year.

Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi presented an invited lecture on May 1 at Utica College. Her lecture, “Seeing Women’s Labor: social reform and photography in India,” considered the complicated history of 70 photographs taken by Pranlal Patel in Ahmedabad, India, in 1937.

Five Hamilton artists are represented in a new catalog of works from the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) 2012 member show. The artists included are Professors of Art Bruce Muirhead and William Salzillo, as well as Amy Buchholz ’81, Jake Muirhead ’86 and Michael Hew Wing ’99, who also designed the catalog.

A paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Mathematics Sally Cockburn and former Visiting Professor of Mathematics Joshua Lesperance is the cover article in the April 2013 issue of Mathematics Magazine, published by the Mathematical Association of America.