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Maurice Isserman, the James L. Ferguson Professor of History, participated in a 45-minute discussion and call-in show with former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett on Bennett's nationally syndicated radio program, Morning in America, on Friday, August 15. Bennett contacted Isserman after reading Isserman's op-ed that appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, August 10, in which he compared the recent avalanche on the Himalayan mountain K2 with a similar accident that occurred in 1953.

Assistant Professor of English Katherine H. Terrell has published a chapter in Cultural Diversity in the British Middle Ages: Archipelago, Island, England, edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen for Palgrave Macmillan's series "The New Middle Ages." Terrell's chapter, "Subversive Histories: Strategies of Identity in Scottish Historiography," examines medieval Scottish historiographical responses to Geoffrey of Monmouth's origin myth of Brutus, finding that even as Scottish chroniclers challenge this myth and the English claims of hegemony that it comes to represent, their persistently dialogic engagement with Geoffrey's text reveals the hybridity underlying their constructions of identity.

Although school is out for the summer, Hai Lin '10 is still keeping busy on campus. The rising junior is working on two separate projects in the math department, one with Professor of Mathematics Larry Knop studying regression towards the mean, and another investigating preferential recruiting with Associate Professors of Mathematics Sally Cockburn and Timothy Kelly.

Associate Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin recently published a research article, "Automorphisms and Distinguishing Numbers of Geometric Cliques," in Discrete and Computational Geometry with co-author Michael Albertson. In this paper Boutin and her co-author give conditions under which the symmetries of a maximally connected geometric network can be removed by labeling its vertices using only two labels.

According to a recent press release, Charles A. Prescott '69, P'12 won a second four-year term as chair of the Consultative Committee to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) at the Committee's first plenary congress in Geneva, Switzerland. The UPU is a special body of the United Nations that serves as a forum for the discussion of the development and refinement of the international postal network. The UPU established the Consultative Committee in 2004 to provide advice on issues unique to the postal sector.

Madeline Caudle '10 (Denver, Colo.), Savannah Knell '10 (Mount Kisco, N.Y.), and Jackie Marra '10 (Simsbury, Conn.) are working with Jean Burr, assistant professor of psychology, on the Social-Psychological and Academic Readiness for Kindergarten (SPARK) Project. The project aims to predict readiness for kindergarten by looking at friendship quality, or a measure of the positive and negative aspects of the relationship in preschool children.

Silin Li '11 is uniquely placed to study the effects of globalization. The rising sophomore from Shenyang, China, is spending the summer researching the growing presence of McDonald's and other Western fast-food restaurants in Beijing and in his hometown. The collaborative project with Professor of Government Stephen Orvis is one of 18 student research projects this summer funded by the Levitt Center's Research Fellows Program. The students receive a summer stipend and spend 10 weeks working intensively with a faculty mentor on an issue related to public affairs.

Geoffrey Hicks '09 (Newton, Mass.) believes in the power of stories. As a creative writing major, he says he was inspired by the playwright August Wilson, whose works about the African-American experience in the 20th century twice won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Hicks has spent the summer researching the importance that stories can have, studying folklore to explore the pride and culture of American slaves, a project that he hopes will provide the foundation for his own future creative work.

If the housing market is all about location, the stock market is all about diversification. Any financial adviser worth his salt will tell you that a diversified portfolio is an essential part of a responsible investment strategy. So with the recession and the credit crunch, how can a good investor find a hedge against risk? For some, the solution is to place money in international securities. That way, if the Brazilian economy collapses, you can still rely on your Bolivian securities.

Adirondack Adventure, Hamilton's eight-day outdoor program for incoming students, and its sister program USE, welcome 228 members of the class of 2012 – nearly half the class – on Aug. 15. The popular pre-orientation program features 27 trips that focus on hiking, canoeing, rock climbing or kayaking at beginning, intermediate or advanced ability levels. All trips are conducted in various locations in the Adirondacks.