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Dean of the Faculty Joe Urgo is the editor of two new books on William Faulkner, published by University Press of Mississippi. Both are co-edited with Ann J. Abadie, associate director of Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. The books -- Faulkner and Material Culture and Faulkner's Inheritance -- are collections of essays originally presented at the annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conferences in Mississippi.

Hamilton President Joan Stewart and nearly 100 friends and family members of John Root '44 gathered on April 27 at The Links Club in New York City, to celebrate John's more than 60 years of volunteer service to the College. Although he has served in virtually every volunteer capacity, it is his work with the Committee on the Visual Arts, including more than a decade as its chair, that stands out. In his honor, $260,000 was raised to establish the John B. Root '44 Exhibition Fund. Income from this fund will enhance annual exhibitions at Hamilton's Emerson Gallery, or its successor, currently in planning as part of Hamilton's Excelsior Campaign. Members of Hamilton's arts faculty and Emerson Gallery staff were among those honoring Root.

Cheng Li, William R. Kenan Professor of Government and Brookings Institution Fellow, gave a presentation on the leadership of China and the upcoming 17th Party Congress on June 6, in Washington D.C. at the board meeting of the U.S.-China Business Council. Attending members included Citibank CEO William Rhodes, New York Life International CEO Joseph Gilmour, former U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hill and William Cohen, former U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Carl T. Hayden '63 has been nominated to serve as chair and member of the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Hayden will also serve as chair of the search committee that will conduct a nationwide search for a permanent SUNY Chancellor.

Associate Professor of Economics Paul Hagstrom was a participant in the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research’s Policy Forum, “Can Upstate Cities Save Themselves?,” held on Wednesday, June 6, in Albany. Hagstrom. a participant in a panel discussion with professors from Cornell and University of Buffalo and a senior economist from the Federal Reserve, has done extensive research on the economic impact of refugees in central New York. Other participants included the mayor of Rochester, the president of the Congress for the New Urbanism and the upstate chair of the Empire State Development Corp.

The weather might have been unpredictable for Reunions '07 but one thing attendees could count on was an abundance of things to do during the weekend of May 31-June 3. From history classes to art exhibits, musical performances to sports discussions, building tours to a golf tournament, the weekend was packed with 86 activities from the sedate to the stimulating. Sixty-seven members of the class of 1957 were on hand to celebrate their half-century reunion. A total of more than 1,600 participants came to campus. Here's a brief account of a few of the weekend's events.

George Shields, the Winslow Professor of Chemistry, hosted a panel discussion titled "Drug Design and Global Warming: Undergraduates Making a Difference" as an Alumni College during Reunion Weekend on June 1. The panel gave alumni a chance to learn about the myriad research projects students are conducting in his and Co-Director of the Center for Molecular Design Karl Kirschner's computational chemistry and molecular design lab over the summer, as well as an overview of all science research taking place at Hamilton. After describing the research taking place in the lab and the numerous publications his students have co-authored, science students Katherine Alser ’09, Rebecca Mackenzie '08 and Alexa Schwarzman '09 shared their research experiences.

Lizzy Finan '08 and Will Caffry '09 are conducting field work on lizards in Oregon with Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Pete Zani. The three are working at a research site along Wright's Point in Burns, Ore. Will has been helping Prof. Zani with his research on the side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana, while Lizzy studies the social behavior among the lizards and their home-ranges. Lizzy reports "In the colder morning hours we catch as many lizards as possible to bring back to the lab and collect morphology data. The second (warmer) part of the day we spend mapping the topography of Lizzy's research area and conducting focal observations of the territorial lizard within their individual home-ranges." Read more about Lizzy's experience View photos

The Hamilton campus came to life for Reunions on May 31-June 3 as hundreds of Hamilton men and women and Kirkland women connected with old friends, visited those places that hold fond memories, and rediscovered the magic of the Hamilton and Kirkland experience. The 2007 event was the largest reunion in Hamilton's history, with 1,617 alumni and guests attending. Highlights included presentation of the Bell Ringer Award to Patsy Pogue Couper, wife of the late Hamilton trustee Dick Couper '44, at the annual meeting of the Alumni Association on June 2 in the Chapel. The Bell Ringer is presented each year in recognition of contributions made to the College, its alumni and the community. The Reunion keynote lecture featured Christie K '72 and Tom Vilsack '72, former first lady and two-term governor of Iowa.

Former presidential candidate Tom Vilsack '72 and his wife Christie Vilsack K'72, the 2007 reunion keynote speakers, addressed a large and receptive audience in the college's Chapel on Friday, June 1. The couple described their journey in politics as a family and the processes and decisions involved in being considered for a spot as a vice presidential candidate and then in running as a presidential candidate. They are also the parents of two sons, Jess, a 2000 Hamilton graduate, and Douglas.