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Joyce M. Barry, environmental studies lecturer, has published an essay in the inaugural issue (Spring 2008) of Environmental Justice. Barry's article, "A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens: Women's Activism, Environmental Justice, and the Coal River Mountain Watch" examines the environmental justice efforts of the Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW) in Whitesville, West Virginia.

Professor of Geosciences Barbara Tewksbury delivered the commencement address at Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences graduation ceremony on May 10. The title of her address was "Insights from Apollo for Teaching and Learning Geoscience in the 21st Century." 

Will Caffry '09 has been awarded a Sigma Xi grant-in-aid of research in the amount of $496 to travel to Oregon this summer to conduct research on lizards with former Hamilton Biology Professor Pete Zani. Both Caffry and Lizzy Finan '08 conducted this research last year, as did Jon Milgrom '08 in 2006. Caffry independently applied for a grant. He will join Zani in Oregon on May 20 for five weeks to conduct research on the behavioral ecology of lizards.

Students in the New York City Program recently visited the United Nations where they had a tour and lunch in the delegates lounge as part of a final student project/presentation. Students in the program this semester are Marketa Crandle '10, Nick Eugenio '09, Sofia Guerron '10, Gillian Hawley '09, Robin Joseph '09, Harry Jung '10, Meredith Kennedy '09, Carlyle McWilliams '09, Sarah Moore '09, Ed Odre '09, Travis Talmadge '09, Rita Tran '09, Lyndra Vassar '09 and Xiaolu Xu '10. Vivyan C. Adair, the Elihu Root Peace Fund Professor of Women's Studies, is director of this semester's program, Globalization: The City as Text.

Hamilton College is participating in the International Polar Year (IPY) via Larsen Ice Shelf System – Antarctica (LARISSA), a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded and Hamilton College supported initiative. The program has been launched and has established a Web presence. LARISSA brings an international, interdisciplinary team together to address a significant regional problem with global change implications.

The drawing, painting, photography and printmaking of 14 locally based artists including Visiting Instructor of Art Sylvia de Swaan will be featured in an exhibition titled "Open Focus" at the Kirkland Art Center in Clinton. The opening reception will be held on Sunday, May 11, from 3 to 5 p.m. The exhibition runs through June 4. Other artists in the exhibition include several Pratt at Munson-Williams-Proctor professors.

Five members of the Hamilton faculty were recognized for their research and creative successes through a new series of awards presented at the 2008 Class & Charter Day on May 9. The Dean’s Scholarly Achievement Awards were instituted in three categories this year by Dean of Faculty Joe Urgo. Derek Jones, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, received the Career Achievement Award; Associate Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin was awarded Early Career Achievement; and Assistant Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson, Associate Professor of English Naomi Guttman and Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi all received the Notable Year Achievement awards.

Academic achievement prizes, prize scholarships and other recognition of student accomplishments were awarded at Hamilton's 58th annual Class & Charter Day convocation on Friday, May 9, in the Chapel. Among the top prizes, Casey Green '09 won the Milton F. Fillius Jr./Joseph Drown Prize Scholarship and Marco Allodi '08 was awarded the James Soper Merrill Prize.

Hamilton College's highest awards for teaching were presented on May 9 to five faculty members. Professor of Biology Ernest Williams Jr. received the Christian A. Johnson Professorship; Associate Professor of Physics Brian Collett was awarded the Samuel & Helen Lang Prize for Excellence in Teaching; Associate Professor of English Catherine Gunther Kodat received the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award; Assistant Professor of Anthropology Haeng-Ja Chung was honored with the John R. Hatch Excellence in Teaching Award; and Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Mark Oakes received the Sidney Wertimer Award.

Nathan Goodale, visiting instructor in anthropology, published a chapter in Recent Advances in Paleodemography: Data, Techniques, Patterns, edited by Jean Pierre Bocquet-Appel. The chapter, titled "The Demography of Prehistoric Fishing/Hunting People: A Case Study of the Upper Columbia Area," considers the role of demography and the evolution of socioeconomic systems among hunter-gatherers. The volume stemmed from a session at the international conference the 25th World Population Congress, July 2005 in Tours, France. This publication represents the third related to Goodale's M.A. thesis research.