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On May 17 Levitt Scholar, Rebecca Karb '02 spoke to James Davis’s Clinton High School economics class about the implications of living wage legislation. She explained the effect of regional variations on the cost of living and the impact on employers of raising minimum wage rates. Becky’s presentation was based on her senior thesis in Public Policy with advisor, Associate Professor of Government Gary Wyckoff, for which she was granted honors.

Shauna Sweet '03 described some of her experiences thru-hiking in her Levitt Scholar topic, "The Appalachian Trail as an American Pilgrimage." American narratives come together on the Appalachian trail: an adventurer on a perilous journey, a solitary sojourner into the wilderness, a rugged outdoorsman striking across the countryside. This trek along the east coast provided the basis for a sociological research project, and was also the topic of her presentations to school students. Shauna traveled to high schools in the local area including Mohawk, Waterville and Whitesboro, and gave a presentation during spring break at Gardiner High School back home in Maine. She will make another presentation to a biology class at her alma mater, Hall Dale High School in Farmington, Maine.

Public Policy major Matthew Eng ’02 recently completed a senior thesis titled “Wage Determination in the Local Public Sector.” The project helps academics figure out what factors affect wages (employee characteristics, community demographics, etc.) and helps local communities determine fair wages for their municipal employees. The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Oneida County sponsored the project. However, Matt met on a regular basis with a CCE committee known as the Local Government Education Committee (LGEC). The committee consists of representatives from several local governments and community organizations in Central New York. Matt collected his data through interviews and a survey of municipal workers in Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, and Montgomery Counties. The Executive Summary provides an overview of the theories used, statistical methods applied, and conclusions made in the project.

The Boston Globe (5/29/02) profiled H. Philip West Jr., a 1963 graduate of Hamilton College and executive director of Common Cause in Rhode Island. Dubbed "the godfather of political reform in Rhode Island," by The Providence Journal, while at Hamilton West "began his own activism on a modest scale, working to make campus fraternities less exclusionary and pushing the local Methodist church to undertake community projects."

Professor of English Vincent Odamtten attended an International Conference on The State of the Art(s): African Studies and American Studies In Comparative Perspective, at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana where he gave a presentation on "Pedagogy and the Challenge of Developing an Africana Studies Program in a Small Liberal Arts Institution" which is to be published as part of the conference proceedings.

Professor of Government Cheng Li received a research grant from the United States Institute of Peace, an independent institution established by the U.S. Congress to promote peaceful resolution of international conflicts.

Assitant Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin published an article "The Isometry Dimension and Orbit Number of a Finite Group", with Michael Albertson,in Congressus Numerantium 150 (2001), pp.79-85.

Since leaving the Hill in 1963 H. Philip West Jr. has been a busy man working to make a difference. His work continues currently in Rhode Island where West is engaged in a battle to curtail the corruption he claims is ingrained in Rhode Island's political culture, reports the Boston Globe. West is the leader of Rhode Island's branch of the public interest group Common Cause.

Professor of French Roberta L. Krueger has published "Beyond Debate: Gender in Play in Old French Courtly Fiction" in Debating Gender from the Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance, edited by Thelma Fenster and Clare Lees (Palgrave Press, 2002). She also published "'Nouvelles choses:' Social Instability and the Problem of Fashion in 'Le Livre du Chevalier de la Tour Landry,' 'The 'Menagier de Paris,' and Christine de Pizan's 'Livre des Trois Vertus,'" in Medieval Conduct edited by Kathleen Ashley and Robert L. A. Clark (University of Minnesota Press, 2001). This year Krueger was an invited speaker at Cornell University for Quodlibet, an organization of graduate students in medieval studies, to whom she presented "Christine's Treasure: Household Economies in the 'Livre des Trois Vertus.'" She also gave a paper titled "Dysfunctional Families in Christine de Pizan's 'Cite des Dames'" at the annual Romance Languages convention at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Krueger was elected to a three-year term as a member of the Delegate Assembly Organizing Committee of the Modern Language Association. This group sets the agenda and brings forth business at annual meetings of the Delegate Assembly, MLA's legislative body.

Following are remarks by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Todd Whitman at Hamilton College commencement, May 26.