Twenty-Seven Straight
That's how many years at least one Colby student has earned a Thomas J. Watson
Fellowship for overseas research. This year's winner is Zahid Chaudhary '97 of
Manchester, Conn., who will spend a year in the United Kingdom examining the
influence of literature, film and theatre on the national identity of
Scotland.
New Government
Students have overwhelmingly ratified a near-total revision of the
Student Association (now the Student Government Association) constitution, the
principal feature of which is a separation of governing functions from social
programming. The brainchild of Stu-A President Josh Woodfork '97, the
new constitution proposal received 565 (98 percent) of the 576 votes cast.
Just Plane Nice
There are many examples of the generosity of Colby students, but few as
touching as the recently reported tale of a sophomore international student,
unable to return home since arriving as a freshman, who was given a round-trip
ticket home for spring break by her roommates.
To Name a Few
Jim Boylan's (English) next novel has been optioned for
development by New Line Cinema. The working title of the novel, not yet sold to
a publisher, is A Guide to the Colleges of New England. It is about two
fam-ilies in a Winnebago doing the college tour with their high school-age
children. The chapters are: Yale, Harvard, Bowdoin, Colby, Dartmouth,
Middlebury, Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan. . . . Jeri
Roseboro (associate dean of students) has been elected president of the
executive committee of SOAR (Society Organized Against Racism). Organized to
combat racism on college campuses, SOAR has chapters throughout the
Northeast. . . . Larissa Taylor (history) has been
appointed book review editor for The Sixteenth Century Journal, the
major interdisciplinary journal for the period of the Reformation, with
worldwide membership. . . . Cal Mackenzie's (government)
expertise on U.S. Presidential appointments got him much in the national news,
commenting on the failed nomination of Anthony Lake to head the
CIA. . . . Cheryl Townsend Gilkes (sociology) has
received the Education Award from the Cambridge (Mass.) Branch of the
NAACP. . . . Marc Stein (history) has been appointed to
the editorial board of The University of Chicago's Journal of the History of
Sexuality.
Cotters Honored
Bill and Linda Cotter accepted this year's Diamond Club Award
from the United Way of Mid-Maine at the agency's annual dinner in February. The
Cotters were singled out for their leadership as was the College, not only for
employee contributions to the United Way but also for Colby's broad commitment
to the economic and cultural welfare of the Waterville area.
Smart Colleges
Colby, Williams and Middlebury are the only NESCAC institutions on a
select list of 150 colleges described in Peterson's new Smart Parents Guide
to Colleges. "The best measure of an institution's quality is its
commitment to the needs of undergraduate students," contends Dr. Ernest L.
Boyer in the book, written with his son, education writer Paul Boyer. The elder
Boyer, former president of the Carnegie Foundation, died before the book was
published.
Moosecellaneous
Although Maine students comprise less than 12 percent of the student
body, they make nearly a quarter of the newly elected members of Phi Beta Kappa
(13 of 55). . . . It defies national norms, but 83 percent
of Colby freshmen say that their parents are living with each other.
Fifty-seven percent of the fathers and 36 percent of the mothers have graduate
degrees. . . . More than 5,000 area school children enjoyed one
of the many acclaimed Colby student productions of Charlotte's Web,
performed through January in Strider Theater. Some 20 central Maine grade
schools sent youngsters to attend the free performances, directed by Tina
Wentzel (performing arts). . . . For the period
1966-96, Colby ranks 19th among selective undergraduate colleges contributing
to Ph.D.'s in the geological sciences. . . . Dave Kirtley
'00 (Katonah, N.Y.) has won the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate
Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing, sponsored by Asimov's
Science Fiction Magazine, the University of South Florida and the
International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
(IAFA). . . . Colby was 184 years old on February
27. . . . A national student group, the Forget About U.S.
News Coalition, is urging colleges to ignore U.S. News & World Report
requests for information used to compile its annual rankings. . . .
Participation in the Colby alumni Web site doubled following a promo in the
last Colby magazine. The site now boasts home pages for several classes
from the '70s, '80s and '90s.