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Minnie Bruce Pratt, a faculty member at the Union Institute, Cincinnati, has been named to hold the Jane Watson Irwin Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies chair for the 2002-2003 academic year at Hamilton College.

Professor of Anthropology Douglas Raybeck was quoted in Newsday on the planned anniversary media coverage of September 11. Raybeck, a psychological anthropologist, said that in the aftermath of September 11 most people have strived to regain normalcy in their lives and that the planned media coverage could erode their progress. In the Newsday article, "Covering The Terror, Again: First anniversary of September 11 a media event to remember," Raybeck defined a narrow audience for 9/11 coverage "Is there an audience for this… Yes, but it’s very small - those who were personally involved in the tragedy and the same people who gawk at traffic accidents."

Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert recently participated in a State Department sponsored digital video conference (DVC) between Washington and Beijing. The DVC examined the impact of September 11 on Muslims living in the United States. Gilbert was invited to participate in the conference as a result of his leadership in the Hamilton College Muslim American Poll.

As chair of a panel on information ethics at the August 2002 Computing and Philosophy Conference at Carnegie Mellon University, Ken Herold, director, Library Information Systems, gave a presentation, with Marti Smith of Drexel University, on "Information Ethics: Perspectives from Librarianship and Information Science." Herold is also a guest editor of a special issue of the journal, Library Trends, Winter 2004, devoted to the philosophy of information.

Hamilton College's Emerson Gallery is offering an intriguing, concurrent trio of print exhibitions this fall. Opening on Monday, August 26, this graphic triple-header includes one gallery devoted to contemporary, large format prints from the Emerson Gallery permanent collection. The second gallery focuses on Hamilton Painting and Printmaking Professor Bruce Muirhead's collection of the best Hamilton student prints gathered over 30 years. The third gallery is slated for the Southern Graphics Council Student Juried Exhibition.

Professor of Philosophy Bob Simon was interviewed for an Oakland Tribune article Aug. 9, 2002 about ethics and morality in sports, particularly baseball. Simon is the author of Fair Play (Westview Press), a book about sports and social values. In the Tribune article, Simon noted, "Baseball, historically in America, has represented kind of an ideal. Baseball meant coming through in the clutch, showing courage, making smart plays." "We trade on that underlying morality, and the steroid issue undermines that. Maybe baseball properly should be held to a higher standard."

Hamilton President Eugene M. Tobin announced today that Thomas A. Wilson, associate professor of history, has been promoted to full professor. In promoting Wilson, President Tobin acted on the recommendations of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty David Paris, the elected faculty members of the Committee of Appointments, and senior colleagues in the department of history.

Senior computer science major Mark Breitinger spent his summer trying to find new meaning in images. Unlike many who search for meaning in images, Breitinger isn't looking for the metaphorical, the subtle or the figurative; he is looking for the binary. Binary data, that is, containing hidden messages embedded into the images we view everyday on the Internet.

A group of 12 incoming Hamilton College first year students are spending their final week before the beginning of school serving the greater Utica community. The program, established by College Chaplain Jeffrey McArn aims to show this new crop of Hamilton students the opportunities for service in Utica. This is the first year for the pre-orientation program that began on August 19 and runs through August 23. Among other community service activities the group has painted for Habitat for Humanity, worked with children at the Jesus Christ Tabernacle of David Community Center, visited the Refugee Center and the Abraham Hospice House.

Richard I. Queen, a 1973 graduate of Hamilton College, and retired Foreign Service officer, died on Aug. 14 in Falls Church, Va., of complications related to multiple sclerosis. In 1979 Queen was one of 66 people taken hostage by Islamic militants at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. He was released in July 1980, after 250 days in captivity, when Iranian doctors discovered he had an undetermined illness that was then diagnosed as multiple sclerosis.