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In July, Tompkins Professor of English Emeritus Austin Briggs taught at the week-long fifth annual James Joyce Summer School sponsored by the University of Trieste in the Italian city where Joyce wrote most of Dubliners, composed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and began Ulysses. Briggs taught one of the three courses offered by the school (a seminar on Dubliners) and delivered the first in a series of 15 lectures by scholars from Europe and the United States, an address on "The Brothel as the Setting for the 'Circe' Episode of Ulysses." A recent review in the James Joyce Literary Supplement of the June 2000 Joyce Symposium held in London singled out Briggs as one of the three funniest Joyceans going; he notes that given the competition, this is much harder than being the funniest Miltonist.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Hamilton College $330,000 to assess student learning in a liberal arts setting over a three-year period. "Hamilton is committed to assessing the impact of a liberal arts education on student learning," said President Eugene M. Tobin. "The public deserves greater accountability, and we are prepared to demonstrate the effectiveness of our educational program to students, current and prospective parents, alumni and higher education opinion leaders."

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In June, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology David Nalbone presented two posters at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society in Toronto: “Differences between high-level and low-level introductory psychology textbooks” and “Attitudes toward abortion: One, two, or more dimensions?” The later was co-authored with Hansmann Scholar Elizabeth Muenk ’02.

In June, Assistant Professor of Physics Seth Major attended the 3rd Banach Workshop on Quantum Gravity in Warsaw, Poland, where he presented the talk "New Results for Quantum Geometric Operators." He also traveled to the GR16 conference in Durban, South Africa, in July, where he spoke on "Discrete Geometry — Possible Tests: GZK Threshold, Cerenkov Radiation and Atomic Energy Levels."

Cheng Li, professor of government at Hamilton College, has recently been appointed to advisory or membership positions at the Hoover Institution, the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, and the National Committee on United States-China Relations, respectively.

David D'Alessandro P '02, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of John Hancock Financial Services, delivered the Family Weekend address at Hamilton College in Fall 1999. His talk, titled "There is Life After a Liberal Arts Degree," appears on the Liberal Arts Career Network Web site.

Two members of the Hamilton College faculty have been appointed to endowed chairs. John H. O'Neill will be the Edmund A. LeFevre Professor of English, and James Bradfield will be the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of Economics. The LeFevre Chair is awarded to a senior member of the Department of English who has demonstrated exceptional dedication and accomplishment as a teaching scholar. The Leavenworth Chair recognizes outstanding teaching, distinguished scholarship, and community service. Both appointments were effective on July 1.

Cheng Li, professor of government, was in Washington, D.C. this week for a live interview with VOA Television's "Strait Talk." During the hour-long program, Li fielded calls from mainland China and Taiwan about Chinese leadership and succession.

Hamilton rising junior Matthew Liptak and Chemistry Professor George Shields have co-authored a paper that will be published in the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry. Liptak has also co-authored a paper that was published in the Journal of Chemical Physics and has another forthcoming in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in August.