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Associate Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin gave invited talks at Hobart-William Smith College and at Skimore College over break. In her talk "Graphs and Symmetry" Boutin introduced graphs and their symmetries with the goal of helping the audience to develop intuition about the subject. She then showed some of the questions and results that have arisen in this area in recent years. Boutin's talk at Skidmore College was part of their annual Pi Mu Epsilon ceremony to induct new members. Pi Mu Epsilon is the national mathematics honor society.

John Stauffer, author and professor of English and American literature and language at Harvard University, will present a lecture titled “Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and the Great Books” at Hamilton College on Tuesday, March 30, at 4:15 p.m., in the Science Center’s Kennedy Auditorium. He will discuss his bestselling book Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln (Twelve 2009). The lecture is free and open to the public.

Professor of Biology Sue Ann Miller has published an invited commentary titled “Integrative anatomy courses serve undergraduate and preclinical anatomy curricula” in the March/April issue of the journal, Anatomical Sciences Education, a publication of the American Association of Anatomists. Her Letter to the Editor was published in “early view” on-line on February 22 and is now in print copy [Anat Sci Educ 3:105–106 (2010)].

Hamilton seniors Kevin Rowe and Max Wall have been awarded prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowships for 2010-11. Rowe’s project is titled “Farm to Table: New World Cities and the Changing Landscape of Cuisine” and Wall’s is “Preserving Cultures: Exploring Fermented Foodways.” The two were among only 40 national winners of the Fellowships. This year, 150 finalists competed on the national level, after their institutions nominated them in the autumn. Each fellow receives $25,000 for a year of travel and exploration outside the U.S.

Visitors to campus these days will be able to get a good sense of what the renovated Emerson Hall is going to look like when it's christened as the new student center in July. “We’re on schedule. A couple weeks of good weather have been huge,” said project manager Bill Huggins, associate director of Physical Plant (the Construction branch).

A group of eight Hamilton students on an Alternative Spring Break volunteer trip to Mullins, S.C., were featured in a news article on the SC Now Web site (3/25/10). They're building a house as part of the Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge.

The Hamilton College Jazz Archive is coordinating a jazz artists in residency program sponsored by Dr. Allen Mead '88, Dr. Phil Mead '59 and Ann Mead. Saxophonist Eric Alexander and pianist Harold Mabern will be in residency on the Hamilton campus from March 30-April 1. A highlight will be a performance by the duo on Wednesday, March 31, at 8 p.m., in the Fillius Events Barn. Late night jazz in the pub will follow featuring guitarist Paul Kogut '88. Admission is free for both concerts.

A group of nine Hamilton students traveled to Burgaw Elementary School near Wilmington, N.C., on their Alternative Spring Break trip, March 21-27. Through this outreach program, they’re helping students with homework and participating in after-school activities. Students on the trip are Trang Nyugen '13, Jennifer Hightower '12, Kristen Scherb '13, Spencer Gulbronson '12, Clare Browne '12, Joelle  Adler '13, Meghan Woolley '13, Ada Horne '13, and Meghan Carter '12. They were featured on Burgaw's school Web site.

With the approach of spring, seed catalogs have begun to appear in mailboxes. One of these, the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) catalog, includes two rare seed varietals cultivated in Hamilton’s 1812 Garden. The garden was registered as a Listed Member of the SSE in 2009.

Gwen Simmons ’10 presented a poster at the Northeastern/Southeastern Geological Society of America Joint Section Meeting held in Baltimore on March 15. She was in the Modern Surface Processes Session of the conference. Simmons' poster was titled “Beach Nourishment on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.” The work was based on her senior thesis with Prof. Cynthia Domack in the Hamilton College Geosciences Department.