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Jay Williams, the Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies, will be the featured guest on WMHT-TV's (Albany, NY) "Insight," on Thursday, Dec. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Williams will discuss "Christmas With Thomas Nast," an exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The exhibit contains more than 40 original woodblock prints that appeared in Harper's Weekly and other periodicals, on loan from Williams, an expert on Thomas Nast. He'll share his insights into this master illustrator who is best known for his political cartoons.

Professor of Psychology Jonathan Vaughan and Hamilton students Stephanie Godleski '05, Aram Kudurshian '06 and Colby Fisher '03 designed and implemented the Psychonomic Society's new Web-based archive. The Psychonomic Society promotes the communication of scientific research in psychology and allied sciences.

Richard Bernstein '80, chief U.S. strategist at Merrill Lynch, was among five financial experts featured in a USA Today investment roundtable article that provides advice for investors in 2005 (12/20/04).

Professor of Physics Ann Silversmith and Associate Professor of Chemistry Karen Brewer each received $50,000 grants from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. Silversmith's is a joint project with Physics Professor Daniel Boye of Davidson College.

Ann Owen, former Federal Reserve economist and associate professor of economics, was quoted in the San Antonio Express-News article titled "Saving Social Security." Owen said, "I think that a modest amount of Social Security dedicated to private accounts would be fine. But I don't want us to forget the dual purposes of Social Security. One of the purposes of Social Security is redistribution to prevent poverty among the elderly. And can you have private accounts that have that as a goal? Yes, you can. But it can also interfere with that goal."

Ann Owen, former Federal Reserve economist and associate professor of economics, was quoted in the editorial, "Social safety net facing deep slashes," published in The Oregonian on Dec. 18. According to the editorial, Owen points to an unappetizing possibility: The benefit reductions (which would lower federal spending) and the personal accounts (intended to encourage more private investment) probably would not increase total U.S. savings, a major goal of such a program. The reasons: Government borrowing to make the switch would offset reductions in federal spending on benefits. Also, there is scant evidence that individuals would invest, or save, more than they do now; in fact, there is reason to think the effect may go the other way.

Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields presented a seminar at the University of Minnesota's department of chemistry in December.  His lecture, titled "Water Clusters in the Atmosphere:  An Overview of Computational Chemistry Research at Hamilton College," was Webcast live to 35 institutions.  His talk featured the atmospheric chemistry work of Emma Pokon '04, Meghan Dunn '06, and Mary Beth Day '07. 

Michael Keller '67, the head librarian and director of Academic Information Resources at Stanford University, was a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation on Dec. 15. The program was titled "Google's Plan Prompts a Question: What's on the Web?"

"It is likely that Turkey will eventually be admitted into the E.U., but Turkish membership will deepen divisions within and among the member states and strengthen U.S. power in Europe and Central Asia," according to E.U. expert and Hamilton College government professor Alan Cafruny.  Editor of Europe's Ruined Fortress (2003 with Magnus Ryner), Cafruny is co-author of The Union and the World: The Political Economy of a Common European Foreign Policy, (Kluwer Law International 1998), a comprehensive analysis of the broad range of Union policies in both economic and political spheres.

Assistant Professor of Spanish Soledad Gelles received the Class of 1966 Career Development Award.  The award will allow Gelles to do the research necessary to develop the new course, titled “Indigenista Narratives of the Andean Region” (Spanish 271, Special Topics in Latin American Literature).