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A panel of historians will examine the opposing lives and political philosophies of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 1:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The panel will be moderated by the Sidney Wertimer Associate Professor of History Doug Ambrose and will include Hamilton Associate Professor of Government Rob Martin, West Point Professor of History Robert McDonald and James Read, an associate professor of political science at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University of Minnesota. The panel was organized by the Sigma Phi Society Educational Foundation, which also funded travel expenses for the West Point and College of St. Benedict and St. John's University professors to come to the Hill.

Author and internationally recognized human rights attorney Geoffrey Robertson will lecture at Hamilton College on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the Science Center auditorium. He will speak on the necessity and difficulty of bringing tyrants before the bar. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Associate Professor of Art History Stephen J. Goldberg will present a digital-slide lecture titled “Uses of the Past in Chinese Landscape Painting” at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, in the auditorium at the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute (MWPAI). Goldberg’s presentation will mark the opening of an exhibition titled “Chinese Paintings from the Henricksen Collection” at the institute. A lecture titled “From Collection to Exhibition” by Sewall Oertling, professor emeritus at SUNY Oswego, will follow.  Both presentations are free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Edward Wales Root Sculpture Court open to institute members and their guests.

Professor of French John O'Neal wrote an article, "Two Uticas with one spririt of warmth" for the Utica Observer-Dispatch (Sept. 3, 2006). The piece resulted from O'Neal's trip to Utica, Tunisia, in July, when he traveled there to present a paper at the Fourth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities. In the OD article he wrote that his experience in Tunisia "is a tale of international exchange and understanding." O'Neal recounted how he and his wife, Nancy, took a taxi one day to the Utica musueum, only to find it closed for renovations. "When we explained that we had traveled all the way from Utica, N.Y., to visit the museum, we were shown around personally by a guide who happened to be on the premises that day. After the visit to the museum, he escorted us to the actual archaeological site, where he showed us a number of historical treasures among the ruins," O'Neal wrote. He said the trip was a chance "to see international exchange at its best, especially in the land that gave our Utica its name."

John Werner '92, executive director of Citizen Schools in Boston, been selected as one of the 2006 Ten Outstanding Young Leaders (TOYL) awardees by the Boston Jaycees. Citizen Schools is a leading national education initiative that uniquely mobilizes thousands of adult volunteers to help improve student achievement by teaching skill-building apprenticeships after-school. The TOYL Awards will be presented at a black-tie gala on Thursday, September 21, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston. All are welcome to join in honoring these individuals. Tickets for the awards ceremony dinner are now available. For more information regarding TOYL contact: Alyssa Vanderpool, 2006 President, Boston Jaycees 888-274-8682 x205 or president@bostonjaycees.org; www.bostonjaycees.org/toyl.

Hamilton's first fraternity, the Sigma Phi Society, will celebrate the 175th anniversary of its founding on the Hill in conjunction with the 175th National Convention on September 15 and 16. Of special note is a panel discussion sponsored by the Sigma Phi Education Foundation held in the Chapel on Saturday, September 16 at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend the panel entitled "Hamilton vs. Jefferson - Politics, Personalities and Passions". A panel of historians will examine the opposing lives and political philosophies of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The panel of experts will be moderated by the Sidney Wertimer Associate Professor of History Doug Ambrose and will be composed of Hamilton Associate Professor of Government Rob Martin, West Point Professor of History Robert McDonald and James Read, an associate professor of political science at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University of Minnesota.

Dr. Alice D. Dreger, from the Department of Humanities and Bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, spoke at Hamilton on September 11 and 12. Her lecture on Monday, “The Role of Doctors in the Future of Normal,” focused on the medical community’s ideas about and treatment of individuals born with “socially-challenging bodies.” Dreger’s research has focused on such conditions as intersex, conjoined twins and cleft lip.

Professor of Chinese Hong Gang Jin was recently elected as vice president of National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), a national organization for languages which are less commonly taught in the U.S. Jin also organized an International Conference on Chinese Language Education in July, co-sponsored by Hamilton College and Duke University and held at Beijing Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.

Elena Filekova ’08 spent her summer in New York City interning with the ING Funds of Funds Group. Filekova’s internship was one of 13 funded by a Hamilton grant this summer. While pursuing internships is an increasingly popular move for students, the realities pose certain problems. Most of the available positions are unpaid, requiring students to fund their own housing and living expenses as well as working for free, all in pursuit of the elusive resume-booster “work experience.”

Armando Bayolo, visiting assistant professor of music, has recently been commissioned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to compose a work for the National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble and the Great Noise Ensemble. The work will be a tribute to artist Mark Rothko and will use his rarely seen Harvard Murals as inspiration. The work will be performed at the National Gallery at the end of the 2007-2008 concert season.