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Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics Derek Jones recently gave two talks at the Helsinki Center for Economic Research in Helsinki, Finland. On Feb. 2, he presented a paper he wrote with Panu Kalmi and Antti Kauhanen, "Human Resource Management and Performance in Retail Trade: Evidence From an Econometric Case Study," at the annual meeting of the Finnish Society for Economic Research. On Feb. 22, Jones presented a paper titled "The Productive Efficiency of Italian Producer Cooperatives: Evidence from Conventional and Cooperative Firms" at a seminar titled "Labour and Public Economics."

Seventeen members of Hamilton's class of 2006 were elected this month to the Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest honor society. They are: Ming Chen, Gregory Gencarello, Karen Haedrich, Sharon Hakim, Elisabeth Krainer, Allison Krutul, Emily Luidens, Megan Malone, Josephine Paz, Kosta Popovic, Anne Schlesinger, Sarah Schmidt, Sarah Schol, Daniel Seeger, Matthew Smith, John Steinberg and Tristan Tomlinson.

On Friday, February 24, Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald will present a lecture titled "Not Just a Nature Film" at 4:10 p.m. in the Red Pit of the Kirner-Johnson Building. As part of the Faculty Lecture Series, MacDonald will talk about the recent success of nature films like Luc Jacquet's "March of the Penguins," Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin's "Winged Migration," Andy Byatt and Alastair Fothergill's "Deep Blue," and Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man." He will discuss why critics need to consider them more seriously. He will present brief excerpts from films by French nature-film pioneer, Jean Painlevé, the Walt Disney Studio, and National Geographic. This event is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty.

Gregg Mitman, professor of science and technology studies in the programs in history of science and history of medicine at the University of Wisconsin presented a biology seminar on February 20 titled “Breathing Space: An Ecological History of Allergy in America.” The talk was based on Mitman’s book to be published in the spring of 2007.

The Hamilton College Performing Arts Contemporary Voices and Visions Series continues on Friday, Feb. 24, with the Cyrus Chestnut Jazz Trio at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.

Hamilton College Associate Professor of Religious Studies Richard Hughes Seager is the author of a new book, Encountering the Dharma (University of California Press), which examines Japan's Soka Gakkai Buddhism movement. Seager's research for a previous book, Buddhism in America, piqued his interest in Daisaku Ikeda, the organization's longtime president, and the history of modern Japan.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Tim Elgren gave an invited presentation titled "Undergraduate Research Experiences: Synergies Between Teaching and Research" at the national meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in St. Louis, on Feb. 18. Elgren is the past-president of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Author Jennifer Donnelly will speak to the Hamilton community on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Science Auditorium (SCCT G027). Donnelly is the author of the novel A Northern Light, set in the Adirondacks near the turn of the last century, about a young woman struggling to decide whether her future lies in the park of beyond it. The novel is framed around the fate of Grace Brown, the victim of upstate New York’s most infamous murder case. Donnelly will talk about her inspiration for writing A Northern Light and her approach to researching background materials. This lecture is in conjunction with the Sophomore Seminar Forever Wild: The Natural and Cultural Histories of the Adirondack Park (Soph 220) and is free and open to the public.--Laura Trubiano '07

Vivian Ling, NEH Professor of the Humanities in the East Asian Languages and Literatures Department at Colgate University, will give a lecture titled "From Rapprochement to Engagement: Relating to the Chinese in the Post-Mao Era," on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 4:10 in the Science Auditorium (G027). Ling was professor and chairperson of the East Asian Language and Literatures Department at Oberlin College from 1970-1994, general director of the Stanford University Inter-Universities Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, Taiwan University, and then Qinghua University in Beijing from 1994-2001, and most recently field director of Associated Colleges in China administered by Hamilton College from 2002-2004. This talk was organized by the East Asian Languages and Literatures Department.--Laura Trubiano '07

Dr. Kenneth R. Miller, professor of evolutionary biology at Brown University, and author of Finding Darwin's God, (A scientist's search for common ground between God and evolution), will lecture at Hamilton on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The lecture, sponsored by the student group Biology Matters, is free and open to the public.