This January many students opted for exotic off-campus internships such as shadowing a neurologist (a Colby alum) in the labs at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine; park preservation in three of Costa Rica's national parks through Amigos de las Américas; marketing and public relations at Fox Sports Radio in Augusta, Maine; film production at Overbrook Entertainment in Beverly Hills; and working with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an NGO that fosters better relationships between the U.S. and China. Listen to the latest
"Inside Colby" student podcast—about independent Jan Plans. Meanwhile, students who spent the fall semester abroad are returning from 29 countries this month. While some programs included many Colby students, others had just one: Solo Colbians studied in the Czech Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and more.
The Blacksmithing and Furniture Making Jan Plans, now in their 16th year at the Colby-Hume Center, have more elbow room this year with the completion of the new Dr. Kevin Scott Young '83 Blacksmith Shop. The 2,900-square-foot building, named in memory of the protegé of Dr. Alan Hume, was completed in time for the six blacksmithing students to take to the forges, and it allowed the eight woodworking students to expand into the old forge quarters. Students go at it, hammer and tongs, at least 35 hours a week under the guidance of artisan-craftsmen Doug Wilson (blacksmith) and Kevin Rodel (furniture maker). They learn, among other things, the roots of expressions like "too many irons in the fire." Said Arielle Adams '07J, "We go home tired."
The men's soccer team earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Award for the sixth straight year. The 2005-06 list, posted in December, requires a minimum composite team GPA of 3.0, and Colby was the only NESCAC men's team on it. The team posted a 3.26 composite GPA and was one of just 81 men's teams in the country so recognized. The entire list is online.
Noah Charney '02 is still working on his Ph.D., but his scholarly work caught the attention of The New York Times Magazine—not to mention the F.B.I. and the Italian Carabinieri. The December 17 issue explores Charney's study of the world's third-largest black market—art theft. The article calls it "a field he [Charney] appears to have invented: the use of art history, combined with the more conventional tools of criminology, psychology and deductive logic, to help solve modern-day art thefts and to prevent future art crimes." The article is available online (subscription only).
The National Wildlife Federation awarded Colby special recognition for campus ecology in 2006. Colby was cited for a range of sustainability initiatives including silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center, the commitment of Dining Services to buy locally produced foods, and the College's waste reduction through the RESCUE program. For more, visit the National Wildlife Federation Web site.
Three Colby professors were cited this winter for outstanding publications. The Modern Language Association (MLA) awarded Cedric Gael Bryant, Colby's Lee Professor of English, the 2006 Joe Weixlmann Award for the year's best essay about 20th-century African-American literature in the African American Review. His essay was titled "The Soul Has Bandaged Moments." Fernando Gouvea, the Carter Professor of Mathematics, and his former colleague Bill Berlinghoff received the Beckenbach Book Prize for Math Through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others (review online). Science, Technology, and Society Professor Jim Fleming received the 2006 Atmospheric Science Librarians International Choice Award for his latest book, The Callendar Effect, about the scientist who established the carbon dioxide theory of climate change. The American Meteorological Society offers a description of the book.
William Fong '08, an American studies major from Glendale, N.Y., will receive a Freeman Award for Study in Asia. The $5,000 grant from the Freeman Foundation will support his studies this spring in Beijing, China, on the Associated Colleges in China program. According to Freeman-ASIA, "awardees are expected to share their experiences with their home campuses . . . and to spread greater understanding of Asian peoples and cultures within their home communities." Read more on the Freeman-ASIA Web site.
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