All News

From Melissa Joyce Rosen '86President of the Hamilton College Alumni Association   Fallcoming Slide Show Science Center Dedication Video   The Fall Alumni Council meetings were held September 30 – October 1 and over 60 Council members returned to the Hill.  The Alumni Council meetings coincided with Fallcoming, the Celebration of Science and the dedication of the new state-of-art Science building.   It was an incredible weekend with a rich array of activities, from productive Council meetings to stimulating lectures and exciting sporting events – including a football win over Wesleyan! The Alumni Council session kicked off on Friday afternoon with the annual Comstock Scholarship luncheon.  This gathering enables Alumni Council members to interact with current scholarship students.  The Alumni Council Committees met on Friday afternoon. A brief summary is noted below.  Please watch for more details from the Committee Chairs in the coming days.   Led by Chair Mark Rice ’73, the Regional Affairs Committee had a great meeting with 80% of the Regional Presidents and GOLD chairs attending or participating in their Committee meeting by phone. They reported on recent Excelsior campaign receptions and also discussed upcoming Alumni College events and new Alumni College ideas.  Although clearly focused on building the Alumni College programs, the committee continues collaboration with the Career Center and MARC and their continuing support of traditional social, sports and arts events as well.  A current schedule of Regional events is posted on the HOLAC.   The Class Leadership Committee was led by Tom Griggs ’84, president of his class, who filled in for Chair Ana Sierra Leonard K’75 who was unable to attend.  He brought humor to the meeting as well as his leadership. The Class Presidents and Agents discussed the following ideas: an all Kirkland Reunion set on a four-year cycle; a bicentennial year celebration in 2012; and the continuing of the Half-Century Alumni Reunion.  Melissa Joyce-Rosen ‘86, president of the Alumni Association, used the Class Leadership forum to present Tom with a College Key Award for his outstanding service to his class.  Through Tom’s leadership, the Class of 1984 had the most Reunion 2005 attendees of any class present.    Led by Chair Imad Qasim ’79, the executive committee of Ad Hoc Multicultural Alumni Relations Committee (MARC) had a very productive gathering.  They discussed different ways to improve communications between multicultural alumni and students.  Various events are under consideration both on the Hill and in the alumni regions.  A representative of the Admissions Office, Assistant Dean of Admission/Director, Diversity Recruitment Nicole Robertson, attended the meeting and explored how the multicultural alumni can help with recruiting.  Finally, Dr. Bernecea Johnson, the new associate dean of students for diversity and accessibility, briefed the committee on her role at the college and discussed how alumni can help her with her work. Members of the committee volunteered to pursue the various initiatives discussed. On Saturday, MARC also hosted a networking reception with current students that was attended by more than 50 students and Alumni Council members.   The Nominations Committee had a very long and productive meeting.  Chair Julie Ross ’84 led the committee through a review of the Alumni Trustee election process; considered and recommended for nomination three candidates for the Alumni Trustee positions that begin on July 1, 2006; considered and recommended for nomination a candidate for President of the Alumni Association for the term beginning July 1, 2006; considered and nominated co-recipients for the 2006 Bell Ringer award; considered and nominated a recipient for the 2006 Distinguished Service Award; and voted to give Key Awards to four individuals for their exceptional service to the College in the 2004-2005 calendar year.   At the Celebration of Science dinner on Friday night, the Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Charter Trustee Steve Anthony ‘59. The Volunteer of the Year award is presented annually to a member of the Hamilton family who has provided a substantial, lasting contribution in a volunteer capacity.  Steve chairs the Board of Trustee Committee on Buildings, Grounds and Equipment and was involved in all phases of the new Science Building.   The weekend was incredible, from start to finish.  Thanks to everyone who joined us.  Mark your calendar for the Spring Alumni Council meetings that are scheduled for April 7 – 8, 2006.

Ronald Dworkin, the Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law at New York University, will deliver the Truax Lecture at Hamilton College on Monday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. in the Chapel. The lecture, titled “The New Religious Wars,” is free and open to the public.

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was quoted in a Forbes article, "China's Hu Aims to Adjust Economic Growth Model at Key Party Meeting" and also in an article in The Independent, (U.K.) titled, "Democracy Withers Away as China's Leaders Gather." Li suggests that supporting Hu's plan for economic changes may pose a shift in the Communist party's views. According to Li, "For the new leaders, the single-minded emphasis on economic growth without paying attention to social equality, distributive justice, environment and resources will enhance social tensions and public protests, thus undermining the CCP rule."

The Hamilton College Contemporary Voices and Visions Series presents the Squonk Opera Rodeo Smackdown on Saturday, October 8, at 8 p.m., at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts on the college campus.

Gita Rajan, the Jane Watson Irwin Visiting Associate Professor of Women's Studies and three students will be participating in this year's national Women's Studies Conference hosted by Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Rajan will be serving as panel chair and the presentations will be given by students Emily Tobin '06, women's studies/creative writing major; Sarah Stern '07, comparative literature/women's studies major; and Renny Usbay '06, economics major.

Professor of Mathematics Robert Kantrowitz co-authored a paper, "Optimization for products of concave functions," with Michael M. Neumann of Mississippi State University, which appears in the latest issue of Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo. In the paper, Kantrowitz extends several classical optimization results for concave functions on convex sets to the much larger class of products of finitely many concave functions.

Associate Professor of Art History Steve Goldberg served as a member of the program committee for the 2005 New York Conference on Asian Studies held at SUNY New Paltz. He also chaired a panel titled "Critical Reflections on Teaching Asian Philosophy" and presented a paper titled "Authority of Excellence: Teaching Confucius through Visual Art" on Oct. 1.

Assistant Professor of Government Sharon Werning Rivera presented a paper titled "The Russian Elite under Putin: Militocratic or Bourgeois?" at a conference, Postcommunist State and Society: Transnational and National Politics. The conference was sponsored by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.  Co-authored with David W. Rivera, the paper challenges the claim that the Putin-era elite has become dominated by individuals from the military-security apparatus, and argues instead that it is more oriented toward the market than the military.

Dr. James Mundy, director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, spoke on October 5 as part of the William G. Roehrick '34 Lecture Series. Dr. Mundy was the first speaker in a series of lectures titled “College Museums Collections and Directions.” The goal of the series is to experience some of the changing collections at other small museums.

  Alan (Mac) McCullough, Jr. '64 was an inspiring person who lived his life as a passionate quest for truth and knowledge.  An avid reader on many subjects, he had an encyclopedic memory.  He could call upon his vast storehouse of information to build a socio-cultural or political theory for discussion.  His theories were almost unfailingly controversial or unorthodox, though the freshness of viewpoint they embodied was always stimulating.  Possessing unquenchable intellectual and emotional energy, he would not allow any aspect of an issue to go unconsidered or unaccounted for.  He had no regard for political correctness and hence often shocked people with the questions he posed.  Yet the sincerity and good will behind his questions offset any negative impressions that might otherwise have been created.  In short, he embodied all the qualities in a liberally educated man that we hold dear: insatiable thirst for learning, a driving curiosity, a sincere and gracious open-mindedness, a humility about the quest for truth and infectious sense of humor that kept it all in balance.  The goal of the Alan McCullough, Jr. Distinguished Visiting Chair in Political Philosophy will be to provide as stimulating an intellectual experience as Mac McCullough did himself.