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Professor of Chinese Hong Gang Jin presented a workshop at the annual Wisconsin State Language Teachers Conference on Nov. 4. Her workshop, on Form-focused and Task-based Instruction, offered an opportunity for language teachers to explore effective classroom interaction through a combination of form-focused instruction and communicative tasks.

Rand Carter, professor of art history, spoke at the International Network for the Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism conference in Venice from Nov. 2 to 5.  The theme of the conference was "The Venice Charter Revisited.” 

Doug McAdam, professor of sociology at Stanford University, gave a lecture sponsored by the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center in the Events Barn on Nov. 2. McAdam, a scholar of social movements and contentious political issues, spoke on the topic of “The Long-term Civic Impact of Youth Activism: The Curious Contrast Between Freedom Summer and Teach For America.” McAdam has recently completed a study on the civic effects of the Teach For America program on young people, and spoke about the contrast between those results and the results of his famous study on the Mississippi Freedom Summer.

Visiting Assistant Professor of English Emily Rohrbach contributed an article, “Anna Barbauld’s History of the Future: A Deviant Way to Poetic Agency,” to European Romantic Review 17:2 (2006).

David Paris, the Leonard C. Ferguson Professor of Government and senior fellow of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), presented a talk at an assessment conference titled “Closing the Loop: Using Findings for Improvement” sponsored by the New England Educational Assessment Network on Friday, Nov. 3, at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Paris’ presentation, titled “The Assessment Loops: Lessons Learned from Hamilton College’s Assessment Project,” described Hamilton’s assessment project and some of the lessons learned about feedback loops. According to Paris, the key to successful feedback is constant focus on student perceptions and recognition of the several loops involved in assessment. Paris’ presentation will also connect Hamilton’s project with some undertaken by the AACU.

Brian Rosmaita, assistant professor of computer science, presented "Accessibility Now! Teaching Accessible Computing at the Introductory Level" at The Eighth International Association for Computing Machinery SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '06), held in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 22-25.

Bill Purcell ’76, mayor of Nashville, Tenn., will be honored as one of nine “public officials of the year” from across the country, a prestigious award for effective leadership, by Governing magazine. David Ewing, senior vice president for government relations and community improvement at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, nominated Purcell for the award based on the mayor’s work on education, public safety and economic development. Purcell, formerly a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, took office in 1999 and is credited with “…Nashville’s emergence as one of the top business locales in the country” in the November issue of Governing magazine.

Associate Professor of Philosophy Todd Franklin co-edited the recently released Critical Affinities: Nietzsche and African American Thought. The book explores the multifaceted relationship between the philisophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and various dimensions of African American thought. Franklin and co-editor Jaqueline Scott focus on unmasking and understanding the root causes and radically inflected symptoms of various manifestations of cultural malaise. Franklin also contributed a chapter titled "Kindred Spirits: Nietzsche and Locke as Progenitors of Axiological Liberation."

Leide Cabral ’10 will speak as a panelist at a policy discussion on Thursday, November 2 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The panel, convened by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and Citizen Schools, will discuss the skills young people need to succeed in the new global economy and the venues where they can develop these skills. The event is intended to promote new policies and practices, and the list of expected guests is impressive and diverse.

Students on the Hamilton College Semester in Washington met on Nov. 1 with Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who has served on the Court since 1994. Justice Breyer discussed the role of the Supreme Court and took questions from students. He also briefed students on Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy and Whorton v. Bochting, the two cases on which the justices were hearing oral arguments that day. After the meeting with Justice Breyer, students were in the Court for oral arguments.