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The Sophomore Seminar "1968" will host a panel discussion, "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times?  Life at Hamilton College in 1968," on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn. The panel will feature members of Hamilton's class of 1968, including Stephen Fuchs, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, Hartford, Conn.; Stuart D.  Horowitz, library media specialist, Harborfields High School, Greenlawn, N.Y.; Dr. Lawrence Kerr, surgeon, Binghamton, N.Y.; and John Oates, former superintendent of schools, Taconic Hills Central School, Craryville, N.Y. This event is sponsored by Sophomore Seminar 285, the Kirkland Project, and the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. Free and open to the public.

Sharon Rivera, assistant professor of government, organized a panel titled "Political Leadership in the CIS" at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held November 20-23, in Toronto.  She also presented a paper at the panel on "Putin, the West, and the Roots of Russian-American Cooperation."

Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer has been awarded a NYSCA Individual Artist Grant from the New York State Arts Board & Onondaga County for his play, "99 questions you've always wanted to ask a black person." Cryer worked on the play with Jared Johnson '02, who conducted interviews of people in New York City during the summer to arrive at the questions. Cryer calls the play "timely, interesting and entertaining, and an educational tool that is a positive answer to a problem that plagues our community and society as a whole."

Professor of Religious Studies Heidi Morrison Ravven presented the final Faculty Lecture of the semester on November 21. Her lecture was titled "Did Spinoza Get Ethics Right? Some Insights From Contemporary Affective Neuroscience," based on her recent research on the connections between 17th century philosophy Baruch Spinoza and findings of contemporary neuroscientific research.

Mary Bonauto '83 was the lead counsel in the landmark November 18 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that ruled to allow gay marriages. Bonauto is the civil rights project director for the Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). A graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, she concentrates on impact litigation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, as well as people living with HIV or AIDS. 

Tom Meehan, a 1951 graduate of Hamilton, was featured in the December 1 issue of Time Magazine in a story about his career writing Broadway plays. Meehan is known for writing the Broadway hits "Annie," "The Producers" and "Hairspray." The article notes: "At Hamilton College in upstate New York, he earned the senior writing prize of $350 before graduating and moving to New York City."

Dr. Luigi De Luca presented the Classic Department's Winslow Lecture on November 19, the second in the series which features classics students who have gone on to interesting careers.  De Luca is a biological chemist and head of the Differentiation Control Section of the Laboratory of Cellular Carcinogenesis and Tumor Promotion at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md. He has also recently earned a master's degree in classics from the University of Maryland, and is now teaching Latin to middle schoolers part-time. De Luca spoke about his experience in studying the classics.

Christopher Foreman, Chair of the University of Maryland's Social Policy Program and author of a book titled The Promise and Peril of Environmental Justice, gave a lecture of the same name as part of the Levitt Center's 2003-2004 Series, "Environment, Public Policy and Social Responsibility." Foreman spoke about the movement known as "environmental justice," which seeks fair treatment and involvement for all groups of people in relation to negative environmental consequences. In other words, environmental justice seeks to ensure that disadvantaged or minority communities do not bear the brunt of environmental risk: a combination of civil rights and environmentalism. Foreman's lecture addressed both the positive and negative aspects of this movement.

Professor of Anthropology Douglas Raybeck presented his paper, "Values, Modernization and Islam in Kelantan, Malaysia: A Thirty Year Perspective" at the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting in Chicago on Nov. 20. The paper is on Raybeck's research, with Victor DeMunck of SUNY New Paltz, into the effect modernization has had on values in Kelantan, Malaysia. Raybeck first visited Kelantan in 1969, and returned in 2001.

A discussion panel on Homelessness and Urban Renewal in Utica will take place on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. in the Chapel. Moderated by Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research, Levitt Center, the panel will feature local specialists discussing the causes, magnitude, and effects of homelessness in America's cities, with an emphasis on Utica. They will also discuss efforts to  revitalize troubled urban communities. This event is part of Hunger and Homelessness Week, sponsored byHamilton Action Volunteer Outreach Coalition (HAVOC).