A Physics Today artcle titled “When condensed-matter physics became king” includes two Colby connections. Its author, Joseph Martin, was a faculty fellow in Science, Technology, and Society 2013-14. While at Colby, he became familiar with the Bern Porter Collection in the Special Collections Department. Porter, a 1932 Colby graduate, drew a Map of Physics in 1939, which...
Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, was quoted in the Feb. 17 Portland Press Herald article “Maine governor looks ahead after turbulent LePage era” that compares the style of Maine’s Governor Janet Mills to her predecessor, “viewed by critics as a blabbermouth and bully systematically shifted the course of state government to the right...
Biddy Mason Speaks Up, a new book by Arisa White, assistant professor of English, was the focus of the Feb. 8 New York Times “California Today” article “Meet Biddy Mason, a Black Woman Who Helped Build Los Angeles.” The Times reporter was curious about why White decided to write about Biddy Mason and alternative ways of portraying historical figures. “A...
James Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, was quoted in a Feb. 8 CNN piece titled “Cli-fi (climate fiction) on the big screen changes minds about real climate change.” Climate change fiction genre—cli-fi—”seems to help people believe in actual climate change, even when Hollywood’s version of the science is a bit...
Professor of Education Adam Howard’s article “Making Class: Children’s Perceptions of Social Class Through Illustration” was published by Teachers College Record and was the topic of discussion on TCR’s “The Voice” Jan. 23. Howard cowrote the article with his former student Karlyn Adler ’11, now a lead kindergarten teacher at The School at Columbia University, and Katy...
Professor of Education Adam Howard was interviewed Jan. 28 by Askia Muhammad on WPFW’s “Monday Morning QB” show. Howard discussed his research on what lessons students at elite schools are taught about themselves and others, focused particularly on all-boy schools. Listen to the interview starting about 28 minutes into the show. WPFW-FM Pacifica is a Washington, D.C.,...
Professor of Education Adam Howard conducted a Q&A with Vox regarding the confrontation between a Native elder and Kentucky teenager Nick Sandmann. There has been “increasingly contentious public conversation around the episode,” Vox wrote, and Howard says we may be missing the point. “The student’s behavior was the embodiment of privilege,” Howard told Vox, “and nothing that came after...
Dan Shea, professor of government, wrote an opinion piece in the Portland Press Herald titled “Can average citizens rise to the occasion in response to Mueller’s findings?” The Jan. 18 piece questions if average citizens are still able to see their role as fundamental in a democracy, or if they’re swayed by partisan identification. “Can we break...
The FiveThirtyEight data journalism site recently featured an interactive personality test developed by Associate Professor of Psychology Christopher Soto and collaborator Oliver John. The test, known as the BFI-2, measures the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative emotionality, and open-mindedness. The FiveThirtyEight feature shows how your personality compares with the average American adult. You can take the test and see...
“Bugs in our Backyard,” a citizen science project by Associate Professor of Biology Dave Angelini and Biology Research Technician Josh Steele, was named one of the Top 18 projects for 2018 on the CitSci aggregator site SciStarter. The project encourages K-12 students to take surveys of bugs in their backyards, schoolyards, and neighborhoods; the surveys are...
Damon Mayrl, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded a Project Grant for Researchers grant from the Louisville Institute for his project titled “A Changing Wall: Local Religious Leaders and Church-State Interaction in a New Era.” Mayrl and his co-researchers plan to interview 150 religious leaders across the country “to document the changing landscape of church-state relations...
The article “Science and Culture: Journal entries, maps, and photos help ecologists reconstruct ecosystems of the past” recently posted by PNAS, includes the work of Loren McClenachan, the Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. The article mentions her 2017 study, in which “her team used 18th-century British nautical charts to estimate changes...
Garry Mitchell, deemed “an excellent painter,” was included in a Portland Press Herald art review about Maine’s 2018 arts scene. Mitchell, associate professor of art, topped the list for what reviewer Daniel Kany called “his elegant and poignant show at Speedwell Projects.” The show “was a lesson in how to begin to take on political subjects,”...
An article by Aaron Hanlon, associate professor of English, was published in the Chronicle of Higher Education Dec. 7. Titled “Lies About the Humanities—and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” Hanlon outlines four categories of what he says are “bad theories about the humanities,” including “the humanities are ‘noncognitive’ and humanities professors push left-wing ideas on students.”...
Luis Millones, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Spanish, was the lead in a Washington Post story about personalized learning at King Middle School in Portland, Maine. Millones, an immigrant from Peru, was interviewed by seventh-grade girls for a project on immigrant stories. What did he miss about his country, the girls asked. “I miss the sound of...
Walter Hatch, associate professor of government, penned an op-ed for Crosscut titled “Why conservative think tanks thrive in liberal WA.” The Dec. 20 piece looks at the history and influence of conservative think tanks in the progressive state of Washington. Hatch focuses on three think tanks: Washington Policy Center, the Discovery Institute; and Freedom Foundation, noting that “conservative organizations...
Shreya Chakdar, visiting assistant professor in physics and astronomy, has been named a KITP Scholar by the University of California Santa Barbara. KITP, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, targets its scholar’s program specifically for physics professors at primarily undergraduate institutions and invites them to make three two-week visits to the institute over three years. Chakdar,...
In a Dec. 14 New York Times op-ed titled “Is Environmentalism Just for Rich People?” Neil Gross, Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, discusses the issue of whether or not environmentalism is a “boutique issue, a cause only the well-off can afford to worry about.” Gross compares the situation with the recent Yellow Vest protests in France and the...
Tim Hubbard, associate professor of economics, and students in his auctions class have partnered with Friends of Waterville Public Schools to create an online auction to raise funds to help cover the costs of lunches for local students. In a WABI-TV news story about the auction, Hubbard said, “My students are engaged in every step of...
The Nov. 29 “Match Book” column in the New York Times, titled “Women and Maine,” includes many writers associated with Colby, such as Professor of English Debra Spark and her novel Unknown Caller, described as having “a sharply hooked premise and well-conceived structure.” Other Colby-affiliated writers in the column include Monica Wood, who taught multiple times as a sabbatical replacement; speakers...
