All News

Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Golf Coach Robert Simon was interviewed for a Christian Science Monitor article (4/19/04) about pro golfer Tiger Woods' recent visit to military boot camp. "...It makes the soldiers feel good, and it doesn't hurt anyone - I don't see anything at all wrong with it," said Simon, who studies values and ethics in sports.

A feature story recently published in The Weekly Standard magazine focused on a study conducted by Government Professor Philip Klinkner and Visiting Instructor of Government Richard Skinner '92. Their study, "Black, White, Brown and Cajun: The Racial Dynamics of the 2003 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election," suggested bias and unexpected support from the so-called "David Duke vote" were decisive in Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco's victory over Bobby Jindal.

Professor of the Theatre and Dance Leslie Norton has a new book which has just been published and released by McFarland & Company, Inc. Léonide Massine and the 20th Century Ballet provides a biography of the great Russian choreographer and a detailed analysis of his major ballets, including those for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and American Ballet Theatre. It offers a study of Massine's works from an array of perspectives. By examining the music and composers, set design and literary sources, the book places his works in the larger context of the dance, opera, visual art, literature and theatre of the period.

Professor of Government Verena Blechinger-Talcott recently gave two talks on corruption in Japanese politics. The first, on February 25 at Cornell University, was titled "Pay to Play: Changing Institutions and Incentives for Corruption in Japanese Politics." The second, on March 5 at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian Studies in San Diego, was titled "How Corruption Persists: Institutions, Actors and Incentives: The Case of Political Finance."

De Bao Xu, associate professor of Chinese, published two books in linguistics: Studies in Sociolinguistics and Studies in Semantics, China Social Sciences Publishing House, Beijing, April 2004. He also published the 2nd edition of his translated book, A Short History of Linguistics (R.H. Robins, Longman; 4th edition), China Social Sciences Publishing House, Beijing, April 2004. The three books were edited and finished in Taiwan in 2002-2003 when Xu and Hong Gang Jin (professor of Chinese) were on sabbatical leave. Both were awarded a research grant from the National Taiwan Sciences Council plus an apartment in Taipei and an office at National Taiwan Normal University. As part of their research projects, they both taught a course ("Chinese Pedagogy" and "Teaching Methodology and Materials in Classical Chinese" respectively) at the Graduate Institute of Chinese as a Foreign Language at National Taiwan Normal University.

Professor of English Vincent Odamtten and students Sean O'Connell '05 and Janine Knight '05 each presented a paper at the 30th anniversary conference of the African Literature Association held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from April 14-18. Odamtten chaired a panel titled "Broadening the Horizon: Amma Darko and other Africana Women Writers," at which O'Connell and Knight presented their work.

Nalo Hopkinson, author of speculative science fiction stories involving strong Caribbean female characters, read excerpts from her novels on April 16 at Hamilton College. Professor of English Gillian Gane introduced Hopkinson, noting that she is the author of three novels, Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, and The Salt Roads, and two collections of short stories, as well as editor of other collections. Hopkinson also hosted a writing workshop on April 17 for Hamilton College students and community members.

Dr. David P. Faxon '67, professor of medicine & chief of cardiology at the University of Chicago Hospital will present a lecture, "The Impact of Technology in Cardiology:My Experiences with Angioplasty," on Tuesday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in KJ Auditorium. Faxon is former president of the American Heart Association. The lecture is sponsored by the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and co-sponsored by the Dean of Faculty. It is free and open to the public.  

Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer is performing in The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman at Swine Palace, the professional theatre at Louisiana State University. Cryer is portraying eight different characters in the production, which will be open through May 9.  Following the brutal, hate-inspired murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998, the play’s creators traveled to the scene of the crime, Laramie, Wyo., and interviewed residents of the small town. The interviews were adapted into a moving, poignant script that asks the audience to consider how such a heinous crime and the media scrutiny that followed could affect an entire community’s existence.

Professor of Religious Studies Heidi Ravven published an article, "Spinozistic Approaches to Evolutionary Naturalism," in Politics and the Life Sciences, vol. 22, No. 1.  Her essay is part of the Harrison Symposium III on "How well adapted is evolutionary ethics?" The Harrison Symposia are part of the University of Maryland's Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda. The Harrison Program's mission is to "promote research, teaching and public dialogue on ecological security, long-term sustainability, energy and environment policy, and global governance--and on the ideas that influence them."