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Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Sociology Dan Chambliss has been appointed to fill an unexpired term as a member of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through Dec. 31. He will also stand for election to a full term which would run until Dec. 31, 2005. Chambliss was nominated by Hamilton College President Eugene M. Tobin.

Religious Studies Professor Richard Seager was interviewed for a Wichita Eagle article about a new Buddhist temple in Wichita that is hoping to attract people of all faiths and races. Seager, the author of Buddhism in America (Columbia, 1999), said the new temple is similar to those created by other ethnic Buddhist groups in America. As a group attracts non-Asians, a parallel congregation often forms. "You begin to get people who like the chanting, and the monks do classes in seated meditation because that's what a lot of Americans like." "You get this other congregation going who really doesn't know about Vietnamese holidays."

Maurice Isserman, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History, and Todd Rayne, associate professor of geology, spent 10 days in June retracing the Lewis and Clark expedition route from St. Louis, Mo., to Astoria, Ore. Isserman and Rayne will recount the historical and natural sites they visited and introduce the new sophomore seminar, "The Lewis and Clark Expedition," on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 4:15 p.m., in the Red Pit.

Philip Klinkner, The James S. Sherman Professor of Government, was recently quoted in the Florida Times-Union. In the article, "Officials Hope Blacks Show for Primary," Klinkner said, "The thing about spoiled ballots is, you don't know if it was yours, and I bet most people felt that their vote was counted." He added, "People show up to vote when they feel a candidate can improve their lives, or when a challenger poses a perceived danger."

Members of the class of 2006 participated in the College's matriculation ceremony, held annually in the Kirkland Cottage. President Eugene M. Tobin, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty David Paris and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Rit Fuller were on hand to greet the first-year students and invite them to sign the historic College Register.

An article that appeared in the Denver Post said, "Hamilton College 'Muslim America' Poll released in May says more than half of the 500 Muslims surveyed said they knew individuals who were victims of anti-Muslim discrimination, harassment or assault following September 11."

Associate Professor of Physics Brian Collett presented a talk and two posters, which included "FETs Only: Teaching Electronics Without Bipolar Transistors," "Light Atom Energy Levels in Excel" and "Which Chip? Selecting a Microprocessor for Teaching,"at the 2002 summer American Association of Physics Teachers meeting in Boise, Idaho.

Monk Rowe, musician and director of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, has been chosen as a recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) Popular Music Survey Award. This is the sixth consecutive year that Rowe has won this award, which is created for composers/performers who play their own work, was not aired on the radio. According to ASCAP, the awards are based upon the unique prestige value of each writer's catalog of original compositions, as well as recent performances in areas not surveyed by the society.

Government Professor and Woodrow Wilson Fellow Cheng Li was interviewed by the British magazine, The Economist, for an article about China's new leaders (June 15, 2002). He argues that a younger group of leaders -- the fourth generation -- "are likely to have been influenced by their experience of the ideologically inspired violence of the Cultural Revolution, making them more cynical about ideology, more open-minded and less confrontational than their predecessors in dealing with factional politics and social unrest."

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant to Hamilton College for the support of a project under the direction of Associate Professor of Biology Herman K. Lehman, in collaboration with Gene E. Robinson of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to study the neural basis behavior in honey bees.