All News

"Watch out for the mountain lions," Megan Herman '09 (Orchard Park, N.Y.) heard from her co-workers at as she left for her first morning run at her summer job. Although Herman didn't take the warning seriously, it wasn't intended as a joke: the rising senior is far from home this summer, working in Fraser, Colo. at Crooked Creek Ranch summer camp, and when she returned from running, the other interns were upset that she hadn't taken a running buddy along. Herman is using her EMT training and organizational skills to work as a summer EMT intern at the camp, which is run by Young Life, a non-denominational Christian organization that focuses on reaching out to adolescents through youth groups and camps.

Visiting Instructor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale, recent Hamilton graduate Lara Cueni '08 and Curtis Osterhoudt of the Los Alamos National Laboratory presented their paper "Cultural Transmission and the Production of Material Goods: The Mathematical Expression of Identity in Notched Points" at the 6th World Archaeological Congress in Dublin, Ireland on July 3.

"Doing the Right Thing – and Thriving," an article in the July 3 edition of InsideHigherEd.com, highlighted Hamilton's decision to eliminate merit aid and the subsequent rise in traditional measurements of academic quality in the incoming Hamilton class. In the article, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Monica Inzer discussed the fact that the college was doing a better job of attracting the kinds of applicants it wanted without merit aid offers.

Run for the Fallen, the 4,113-mile cross-country relay run created by Hamilton alumnus Jon Bellona '03, is featured in the July 3 issue of USA Today in an article titled "Runners mark miles for fallen troops." Bellona organized the run in honor of Michael Cleary '03, his Hamilton roommate who was killed in Iraq, and all of the soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Hamilton rising senior Eric Kuhn '09, who spent the academic year at the London School of Economics, has recently written several articles for The Huffington Post. In his latest, "Political-Ish Summer Reads," Kuhn selected six top political fiction books and interviewed the authors, who range from the former executive director of the Christian Coalition to the author of the new Indiana Jones novel.

For those who are troubled by the slump in the housing market, traveling to China is like stepping into a parallel universe: demand is up and prices are soaring, and in response builders are building. These conditions result from the new way in which the nation determines who gets what housing: while the Chinese government had allocated shelter since the rise of the Communist Party during the late 1940s, the Party has recently allowed for market forces to take hold instead. Working on a Levitt Research Fellowship under the supervision of Economics Professor Stephen Wu, Cindy (Yuanxin) Zhu '11 is going on-site in China to collect real estate transaction data and talk to Chinese citizens who are affected by the transition in order to dissect the Chinese housing market's explosion.

Professor of Classics Shelley Haley spent two weeks in June in Kansas City, where she graded and collected samples for the AP Latin: Latin Literature and Vergil exams.  Later in the month she participated in the program of the 85th annual meeting and 61st annual Institute of the American Classical League. She was a respondent to the plenary panel dealing with the College Board's decision to eliminate the AP Latin Literature exam option after the 2009 administration. Haley also presented a paper titled, "Fair Maiden, Fair Maiden" Skin Color Terminology in Roman Literature and Latin Inscriptions," and she reprised her role as Anna Julia Cooper for the vice-president's panel, "Representing Our Ancestors."

Hamilton alumni participate in annual giving at extraordinary levels. For the 27th consecutive year, more than half of the Hamilton alumni family contributed to their alma mater! Doing so expresses that alumni recall their own time of transformation on the Hill and want to perpetuate that experience in the lives of Hamilton students today and tomorrow. All those who work at Hamilton offer their sincere and deep appreciation for all the good things that your gifts make possible.

Local history can be difficult to incorporate into the needs of the present. In the Mohawk Valley and particularly in Utica, the debate continues over whether historic sites should be preserved or the often dormant, rundown buildings should be demolished to support needed economic development. While spectacular renovation efforts on buildings such as the Hotel Utica and the Stanley Theatre take showcase preservation, many abandoned buildings in Utica are demolished to promote relevant modern use of the space, or because they are potential targets of arson. Arson is the top destroyer of historic buildings, and this year, 22 have been confirmed in the Utica area.

Seven prints by photographer Sylvia de Swaan, who is working with Gregory Huffaker '09 on an Emerson grant this summer, have been purchased by Colgate University's Picker Gallery for their permanent collection. The photographs are part of de Swaan's "Return" series. The curator is Joachim Homann.