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To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Michael Harrington’s The Other America on March 6, the publisher Scribner is releasing a new edition. It includes a new introduction by Harrington’s biographer Maurice Isserman, the Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History.  The publisher calls The Other America “a landmark treatise on poverty in America.” Isserman wrote a New York Times op-ed on Harrington's influence  (March 3, 2012).

The year 2012 is certainly one for celebration. It marks not only the 200th anniversary of Hamilton College’s founding, but also the 25th anniversary of an institution that has become virtually synonymous with the College itself: the Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center. Its presence on campus today embodies a value that College luminaries like former President Melancthon Woolsey Stryker (who once penned a three-page treatise on the value of concise writing using only one syllable words) held dear—the ability to write well and clearly.

A study co-authored by Gordon Hewitt, assistant dean of faculty for institutional research, was cited in a New York Times op-ed, “The Indoctrination Myth,” on Sunday, March 4.  The op-ed was in response to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s comment that “There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them.”

Six prizes were awarded across three categories in the annual Public Speaking Competition on Saturday, March 3, in the Chapel. The 18 finalists were chosen after an open preliminary round held in February. Speakers’ presentations were either persuasive or informative in nature, and in one category, students were asked to address an assigned topic.

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio in Albany will feature a reading by Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert on Monday, March 5, as part of the public radio station’s Academic Minute. During his reading, Gilbert examines exactly who is considered middle class, pointing out that there are many definitions.

Members of the Hamilton community again supported the annual America's Greatest Heart Run and Walk, held this year on March 4 in Utica. Donations are still being counted for this year's event,according to Colleen Pellman, a team captain. Last year Team Hamilton had 162 participants and raised $6395 for the American Heart Association. 

“Priestess,” a painting by Kevin W. Kennedy Professor of Art Katharine Kuharic, was recently added to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) permanent collection. The painting is included in “The Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women,” acquired through a gift to PAFA. 

Judy Pfaff, professional sculptor and installation artist, will present a lecture on Monday, March 5, at 4 p.m. in Bradford Auditorium. Pfaff’s visit is part of the Art Department’s Visiting Artist Series, and is free and open to the public.

Professor of History Maurice Isserman published an op-ed about American Democratic Socialist Michael Harrington in The New York Times (3/3/12). In “The Poverty of An Idea,” Isserman notes that libertarian writer Charles Murray has lately kept alive the idea of a “culture of poverty, the theory that poor people are trapped by distorted norms and aspirations and not merely material deprivation." Yet, Michael Harrington was in the forefront of analyzing poverty as a social problem, Isserman notes.

The Hamilton College Department of Dance and Movement Studies will present its annual Spring Dance Concert on Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3, at 8 p.m., in Wellin Hall. The performance will feature student dancers and choreography by Hamilton faculty Sandra Stanton and Paris Wilcox ’95 in addition to guest choreographers Misung Hong, Heather Koniz ’04 and Jeremy Raia.