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Professor of Religious Studies Heidi Ravven has published an article in the interdisciplinary journal Consciousness & Emotion.  Ravven's piece, "Spinoza's Anticipation of Contemporary Affective Neuroscience," appears in Volume 4 Number 2, 2003. 

Professor of Sociology Daniel Chambliss will lead a discussion titled "George W. Bush: Not at ALL a Conservative," as the Think Tank guest speaker on Friday, Feb. 27, at 12 p.m. in KJ 221. Think Tank is an informal gathering of students and staff that meets weekly to discuss issues pertaining to Hamilton College. Lunches will be provided, or you can bring your own. Think Tanks usually last about an hour. Sponsored by the Levitt Center.  

Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer has been awarded a grant by The Puffin Foundation for his play 99 Things You've Always Wanted to Ask a Black Person. The Puffin Foundation makes grants that encourage emerging artists in the fields of art, music, theater and literature whose works, due to their genre and/or social philosophy, might have difficulty being aired.

Invited to Hamilton College not as an academic but rather as an activist, Medea Benjamin spoke in the Chapel to an attentive audience on February 24.  Her lecture, titled "Globalization, What it is, What's Wrong With it, and What Can be Done to Fix it," provided both information about the global economy and incentive to get involved in changing the global economy.

A religious studies professor at Hamilton College says Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, portrays Jesus as "triumphant action hero" for the first time in film history. Steve Humphries-Brooks, associate professor of religious studies, says "Because of the cinematic style you vaccilate between seeing Jesus as an action hero or as a Caravaggio painting come to life." In addition, said Humphries-Brooks, "No mainstream film on Jesus has pushed the envelope toward anti-Semitism as far as this one.  The Passion goes as far as possible and still maintains plausible deniability."  

Researchers at Hamilton College have identified several methods for successfully determining the structures and thermodynamic values for the formation of atmospheric water clusters, which scientists have speculated may accelerate global warming. The team's findings were published in the March 3 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Steve Humphries-Brooks, associate professor of religion and an expert on portrayals of Jesus in film, was interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) about the Mel Gibson movie The Passion of the Christ, which is opening on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25. Humphries-Brooks' interview will air that morning on the BBC news program "World Service." It can be heard via the Web with Radio Player at the URL listed below. Click on story titled "Controversial film on Jesus opens."

After being introduced by Hamilton College Professor Steve Orvis as “one of the best known social scientists from Africa, ever,” Ali Mazrui presented his lecture, titled "The Roots of Rage: Why is the U.S. Unloved in the Muslim World and Beyond" on February 23 at Hamilton.

The Performing Arts at Hamilton continues the Classical Connections series on Friday, Feb. 27, with a performance by the Elements Quartet at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts. The Hamilton program will feature excerpts from Elements’ recent “Snapshots” project in which the quartet commissioned 15 composers to each write a 2-5 minute piece inspired by a photo they own.  Like a good snapshot, each selection will capture a fleeting feeling or moment in time. The second half of the program is devoted to Beethoven.

Associate Professor of Religious Studies Steve Humphries-Brooks was quoted in a New York Times article (2/21/04) about the upcoming Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ.  The Times article also was published in the Arizona Republic and the Edmonton Journal (Canada).