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The Charlean and Wayland Blood Fitness and Dance Center has received four design and construction awards since its dedication in 2006. The building was awarded the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) - New York Council Award of Excellence earlier in the year. It was one of only three athletic buildings included in The Chronicle of Higher Education "Campus Architecture" special section in February. In September, it was recognized with the New York Construction's Best of New York 2007 "Best Sports Facility" and also the "Award of Merit" in the restoration category.

"Information Technology and the Dream of Democratic Renewal" is the title of the next Hamilton College Levitt Center lecture in its year-long series, "The Age of Information." Langdon Winner, the Thomas Phelan Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), will present his talk on Thursday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m., in the Kennedy Science Auditorium in the College's Science Center. The program is free and open to the public.

Forty years ago, Maurice Isserman, James L. Ferguson Professor of History, attended the Oct. 21 march on the Pentagon, a protest organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. In an article titled "The Flower in the Gun Barrel" in the Oct. 19 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Isserman recounts his experience as a participant and analyzes the event's importance in the evolution of the Vietnam anti-war movement.

A letter to the editor written by Assistant Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson about a recent New York Times article titled "Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Game at Church" appeared on the publication's Web site on Oct. 14.

In "Positioning for Power at China's Communist Congress" published by BusinessWeek on Oct. 9, Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, is quoted extensively on his views concerning the future leadership of China. "No one in the party has the clout to anoint a successor to Chinese leader Hu Jintao," says Li. In discussing the possible four front-runners who could be appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) in October with a view to taking over the reins in 2012, he noted that they all possess leadership experience, intellectual caliber and - unlike the existing Politburo members - youth.

Responding to a Christian Science Monitor article titled "Climate warming skeptics: Is the research too political?" Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Peter Cannavo penned a letter to the editor that appears on the publication's news site today. The original article addressed those who still doubted the findings of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel reported that most of the increase in temperatures seen in the last 50 years is due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. In response Cannavo wrote, "Rather than acknowledge the torrent of evidence establishing global warming and humanity's role in it, they [skeptics] have resorted to conspiracy theories, questionable science, and reliance on marginal uncertainties in climate science.

Hamilton College has been awarded two related grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will support the work of Eugene Domack, the Joel W. Johnson Professor of Geosciences, and Assistant Professor of Biology Michael McCormick. Both grants will be applied to a series of research expeditions to Antarctica for which Domack will serve as chief scientist as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) International Polar Year program.

The water ways of central New York serve as important laboratories for the study of natural change and societal impacts upon local, regional and even global environment. Hamilton, through the combined support of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (via the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board), now has a vessel capable of providing access to our regional lakes and rivers for the purposes of teaching and research.

Associate Professor of Economics Ann Owens recently published an article titled “Integrating Computer Applications into Economics Electives” in the International Review of Economics Education (Volume 6 Issue 1, 2007). The article advocates for a new way of teaching economics that emphasizes the use of active learning via statistics labs.

Associate Professor of Art History Stephen J. Goldberg presented a paper titled “Frames of Engagement: Video Podcasts and the Teaching of Chinese Culture and Society” on the panel “Sharing Expertise: Podcasts and Web Units for Students and Teachers of Asian Studies” and chaired a panel on “Teaching Together: Simulcasts and Guest Lectures on Asian Studies” at the 2007 Symposium on Asia and the Curriculum. The symposium was held at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs on Sept. 28. “Frames of Engagement” represented a reflection on the suite of six digital video podcasts on which Goldberg and Michael Viveiros, a senior majoring in Asian studies, had collaborated with the support of an Emerson Research Grant this past summer.