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Heather Buchman, assistant professor of music, gave a paper at a symposium on music and nature at Syracuse University in September. The paper, "An Ecology of Musicians and Nature: Contemporary Challenges, Creative Responses," examined whether the increasing sense of urgency about the environmental crisis since 2000 has been reflected in the thinking and work of composers and performing musicians.  Buchman interviewed six composers for this project, including Professor of Music Sam Pellman and former visiting professors Gabriel Gould and Aaron Travers. Both Gould and Travers wrote compositions for Hamilton College instrumental ensembles in 2006 with nature as a central theme. Buchman sees this as not a coincidence, and offers that a new level of engagement in the music community on this issue is a healthy trend in the art music world.

Associate Professor of Religious Studies Steve Humphries-Brooks wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Albany Times Union (Sept. 23, 2006). The op-ed, "Movies fail to tell the whole story," discussed the depiction of Jesus in such recent films as "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Passion of the Christ." Humphries-Brooks wrote "These two Hollywood films show us two sides of American theology post 9/11. Their release became another occasion for the 'culture wars,' broadly seen as the confrontation between liberal and conservative America. The movies, like much of American politics since 9/11, spin the cultural clash as the secular liberals against the Christians. But the battle is actually between two thoroughly Christian audiences."

Neal Keating, visiting assistant professor of religious studies, is the curator of “Native Perspectives,” an exhibition of contemporary Native American / First Nations art that opened on Sept. 22 in the Emerson Gallery at Hamilton, and will run through Dec. 30. The exhibit derives in part from Keating’s long-term ethnographic research on contemporary and historical Native American art, which he began in 1997. The exhibit features works by two important artists, George Longfish (Seneca / Tuscarora) and Shelley Niro (Mohawk), both of who have received extensive critical acclaim and international recognition for their art. Niro’s works include two series of hand-painted photographs, the first of which is called “A Taste of Heaven” and the second, “This Land is Mime Land.” Longfish’s works include five paintings, two prints, one photo-montage, and an installation. A catalog of the exhibition that includes an interpretative essay by Keating is also available.

Jen Sadowsky is spending the fall of her junior year in the Cooperative Education Program between Hamilton and the New England Center for Children (NECC).  She recently described her duties as a participant in the program, "At the New England Center for Children, I am currently working with nine kids (ages 7-12) diagnosed with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. Many of them have severe communication and social deficits, and some are completely non-verbal. We deal with a lot of challenging behaviors and constantly use positive reinforcement to reward the kids for doing their work and having good behavior." 

Rebecca Heald '85, a University of California, Berkeley, cell biologist is one of 13 researchers selected this week to receive the 2006 Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The annual award, totaling $2.5 million over five years, is designed to fund "high risk" research with potentially high payoff for human health. 

Robert Simon, the Marjorie and Robert McEwen Professor of Philosophy, gave the Warren Fraleigh Distinguished Scholar lecture at the 34th annual meeting of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport held at Niagara Falls, Canada, in September. The title of his lecture was "Deserving to be Lucky: Reflections on Luck, Desert, and Fairness in Sport." In the lecture, Simon argued first that luck does not ruin or spoil athletic contests which often are conceived of as tests of pure skill, and second that initial inequalities in natural ability and environment do not preclude justifiable attributions of desert in sport although it may lessen their significance. In a section of his paper, Simon discussed colleague Dan Chambliss's book Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers.

The Hamilton College Debate Team will host a public debate on Monday, September 25. This event will feature members of the British Debate Team, as well as members of Hamilton's and Hobart and William Smith College's team. British debaters are Gavin Illsley, the current European Debating Champion, and Fraser Campbell, who is active in the British Labour Party. The debate will be in the Science Center, room 3024 from 7-8 p.m. and is sponsored by the Department of Communication.

Tim Elgren, professor of chemistry and chair of the biochemistry/molecular biology program, presented a lecture titled "Harnessing the Power of an Enzyme" at Colgate University. The lecture focused on the recent work of students in his lab and work resulting from a year-long sabbatical leave at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. The focus of Elgren's research is currently the preparation, stabilization, and characterization of novel catalytic bio-materials.

The Hamilton College Classical Connections series opens on Saturday, Sept. 23, with a performance by the Cassatt String Quartet at 8 p.m. The performance will take place at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts. Tickets are $15 general admission with discounts for groups, senior citizens and students. All seating is general admission. For more information or to order tickets, call the box office at 859-4331.

Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Philosophy Kirk Pillow has joined the steering board of the Consortium on High Achievement and Success. CHAS, a 36-member consortium of highly selective liberal arts colleges, promotes the sharing of best practices among member institutions dedicated to enhancing educational outcomes for all students, with an emphasis on the needs of students of color. CHAS-coordinated projects have played a significant role in Hamilton's diversity initiatives for several years, including science faculty workshops, collecting student narratives, meetings of academic support professionals, and data sharing across the consortium. Pillow will join steering board colleagues from Barnard, Colby, St. Lawrence, Trinity and Vassar in planning the initiatives of CHAS, including a President's Forum in New York scheduled for December.