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Dick Couper, a member of Hamilton College’s class of 1944, was honored as the College’s Volunteer of the Year at the Alumni Council dinner during Fallcoming Weekend on Oct. 8.  

As part of Hamilton College’s Fallcoming celebration, NPR commentator/author Frank Deford will give the keynote lecture on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel, followed by a book signing and reception at 9 p.m.  It is free and open to the public.

Ann Frechette, the Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies, published "Sexuality, the Media, and Intercountry Adoption: Recent Changes in China-U.S. Adoption Policy," in Asian Anthropology, volume 3, August 2004. She was invited to serve, for the third year in a row, on the screening committee for the Social Science Research Council's International Dissertation Field Research (IDRF) program. Frechette also presented a paper, "Cultural Heritage in the China-U.S. Adoption Process:  Parental Intentions, Aspirations, and Rationalizations," on a panel on transracial adoption at the Boston Asian Students Intercollegiate Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in October.

It’s 8:59 a.m. and Sam Pellman is anxiously awaiting the start of Professor Edith Toegel’s third-semester German class. He did his homework, he studied his vocabulary, yet still he knows the next hour will be a tough one. He only hopes he can get through it without looking like a fool. Though he is sitting in an ordinary classroom, Pellman is no ordinary Hamilton student — he has been a member of the music department faculty for 24 years. What could possibly prompt a professor to take on such a venture while teaching a full course load? It’s the simple fact that Pellman is, he confesses, “one of those poor souls who just can’t give up on the idea of being a student.”

Lecturer in Art Sylvia de Swaan presented a slide lecture in September on process and editing in relation to her long-term photographic projects at Chester College. She also exhibited work at Periferic Biennal, at the Vector Foundation, Iasi, Romania, and at "Un-staged" international group exhibition, Amsterdam, Netherlands. de Swaan has also been invited to serve on the board of directors of Light Work, an international residency and exhibition program for photographic arts in Syracuse, N.Y.      

Award-winning biographer Ron Chernow spoke in the Hamilton College Chapel on Sept. 30, delivering a lively lecture titled "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Imagined America." Chernow discussed the academic, personal and professional life of the first secretary of the treasury.  

The Levitt Public Affairs Center held a DebateWatch event for Hamilton students, faculty, staff and community members on Sept. 30. A large crowd gathered to watch the first presidential debate on television. After the Bush-Kerry debate concluded, the TV was turned off, and some of the viewers stayed around to discuss their impressions in small groups moderated by members of the Hamilton College Debate Society. Two more DebateWatch events will be held on Oct. 8 and Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. in the Bristol Hub.

Dee Britton, visiting instructor in sociology, presented a paper for the 2004 Conference of the International Visual Sociology Association held in San Francisco in August. The paper was titled "Memory in Stone: From ‘Lest you forget’ to ‘We won’t forget’" and examined memorials and public policy implications in memorialization projects.  

Kirk Ormand, professor of classics at Oberlin College, gave the classics department's Winslow Lecture on Sept. 29. His talk, titled "Electra In Exile," focused on the political and social meaning of setting, gender, and exile in Euripides' version of the Electra myth. The talk was part of the Winslow Classical and Archaeological Lectureship.

John Adams, visiting professor of communication, was quoted in the MSNBC article, "Bush, Kerry and Davy Crockett? Classic TV show gets to heart of upcoming debate." Adams said, "Kerry cannot afford to alienate or belittle voters who may look up to Bush. Everybody has a stake in looking up and Kerry doesn't want to make it seem like the people who identify with Bush's 'country-ways' are in some sense deficient. It is a real challenge."