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Jack F. Matlock, Jr., former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, will join the Hamilton College faculty this spring as the Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs.

At the annual December meeting of alumni leaders in New York City, Hamilton College's board of trustees announced that the institution has received more than $100 million in gifts toward its $175 million capital campaign goal. Publicly announced at last December's alumni meeting, the Excelsior Campaign is focused on raising funds for several major initiatives. Campaign priorities include support for new and expanded campus facilities, scholarships and faculty development.

Lydia Hamessley, associate professor of music, recently published an article in Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture (Winter, 2005). In the article, "A Resisting Performance of an Appalachian Traditional Murder Ballad: Giving Voice to 'Pretty Polly,'" Hamessley explores the way that contemporary musicians perform murder ballads, a genre that pervades southern Appalachian folk repertoire.

Researchers at Hamilton College in collaboration with the polling firm Zogby International conducted The National Youth Hot Button Issues Poll. High school seniors were selected for this eighth in the Hamilton Youth Poll series as representatives of a rising generation of Americans and potential voters in November 2006. One thousand high school seniors from across the U.S. were contacted by phone for this study of attitudes on abortion, guns and gays. The poll was funded by Hamilton's Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Brian J. Glenn, visiting assistant professor of government, recently published an essay in Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society on Pulitzer Prize winner David Hacket Fischer's new book Liberty and Freedom. The book examines how Americans understand the concepts of liberty and freedom by studying how they are symbolically depicted over time. Glenn noted the importance of clearly defining the terms liberty and freedom, and how the book identifies struggle in the expansion of rights in America and beyond.

Tim Elgren, associate professor of chemistry, published the lead "analysis" article in the winter 2006 issue of Peer Review, titled "Undergraduate Research Experiences: Synergies between Scholarship and Teaching." The theme for the winter issue is "Undergraduate Research: A Path to Engagement, Achievement, and Integration." Elgren is the recent past president of the Council on Undergraduate Research and continues to serve on its Executive Board.

Hamilton College Sociology Professor Dennis Gilbert and students from his public opinion polling class will announce the results of the national youth "Hot Button Issues" poll, on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 10 a.m., at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Gilbert and his students collaborated with the polling firm Zogby International to conduct the poll on the issues of abortion, guns and gays.

Cheng Li, William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was quoted in a Reuters article on Dec. 21. The article, titled "China province slides from boom to basket case," discussed how a recent police shooting is the latest in a string of crises that have turned Guangdong from an economically thriving area to one plagued by political disorder. Li, commenting on the political future of the party secretary, said, "Zhang Dejiang might leave Guangdong, but not the Politburo. Public accountability or popularity is relevant, but only to rising stars, not to those who are already in the Politburo." Li was also interviewed on Voice of America on a live radio-TV simulcast on Dec. 22 for a discussion of local government relations with the central government in China.

First Lt. Michael Cleary, a graduate of the class of 2003, was killed Tuesday, Dec. 20, in Samarra, Iraq. On Tuesday, he had led his unit to a bomb factory which his unit destroyed and was returning from the mission when the unit was ambushed by insurgent forces. Cleary served with E Company, 1st Battalion and 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division and had graduated from Airborne School, Ranger School and Anti-Terrorist School.

At the annual December meeting of alumni leaders in New York City, Hamilton College’s board of trustees announced that the institution has received more than $100 million in gifts toward its $175 million capital campaign goal. Publicly announced at last December’s alumni meeting, the Excelsior Campaign is focused on raising funds for several major initiatives. Campaign priorities include support for new and expanded campus facilities, scholarships and faculty development.