Colby News | Colby College

Blevins Poem Featured

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:50:26 GMT

The poem "First Winter in Maine" from the new book Live from the Homesick Jamboree by Professor of Creative Writing Adrian Blevins is featured on the Poetry Daily Web site Nov. 19.

Mack Dominant on Court

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:49:39 GMT

Rachel Mack '12 led NESCAC in three of eight women's basketball individual stats categories in her first year. With the team's opener Nov. 20, the Morning Sentinel profiled Mack, who's from Augusta, Maine.

Ovid on TV

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:29:58 GMT

Theater and Dance Professor Lynne Conner discusses the making of the onstage pool for this weekend's show, Metamorphoses, on Channel 5 news.

Helping Hands

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:37:07 GMT

With the holidays approaching, students, faculty, and staff thought of local families in need when they collected more than four tons of food in this year's Helping Hands food drive sponsored by Dining Services.

Hot Music from China

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:21:25 GMT

Chinese rock bands performing at Colby Nov. 19 are receiving major press. CNN.com, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Out New York, and others are covering the American debut tour of P.K. 14, the Carsick Cars, and Xiao He.

Good for Spark

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:54:15 GMT

In a recent review, NPR's Alan Cheuse calls creative writing professor Debra Spark's new book, Good for the Jews, "a smart, sprightly, sex-drenched and neatly plotted novel."

Selling Boys Short

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:10:16 GMT

Education professors Lyn Mikel Brown and Mark Tappan discuss their new book, Packaging Boyhood, on WCSH-6 TV news. They will hold a book signing in the Colby Bookstore Saturday, Nov. 21.

Corrado in McCain's Floor Statement

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:04:40 GMT

When Sen. John McCain issued a floor statement about the U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, he cited Professor of Government Anthony Corrado, a national expert on campaign finance.

Food Drive's Final Days

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:18:10 GMT

A campus-wide food collection led by Dining Services ends Thursday, when donations will be displayed in Pulver Pavilion. Last year Colby collected more than four tons of food; this year's goal is to top that.

Same Exhibit, New Works

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:44:34 GMT

The Colby museum's 50th anniversary exhibit runs through February, but it doesn't remain the same. More than 40 works have been changed. New artists represented include Christo, Francesco Clemente, and Ed Ruscha.

EAG All-Campus Forum

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:32:04 GMT

The Environmental Advisory Group (EAG) held its first all-campus forum Oct 22 to

provide information about the history, organization, and objectives of campus sustainability initiatives and the EAG,
provide information about campus environmental groups, and
solicit feedback and ideas for improving Colby's sustainability efforts.

Following short presentations and questions and answers with Vice President Doug Terp and Environmental Coalition President Sarah Sorenson '11, more than 50 forum participants viewed information on the College's current environmental initiatives and offered suggestions for future initiatives in the areas of energy, recycling, integrated pest management, transportation, and engagement (see suggestions below).

The EAG will review these suggestions at its working meetings and will communicate a list of priorities later this year. A progress report will be issued near the end of the school year.

Energy

Biomass - cogeneration
Carbon offsets
Dimming dorm hallway lights (every other light out) after 1 o'clock
Turn heat down a couple of degrees in dorms in winter
Need sidewalk lighting on Mayflower Hill Dr. (so it is safe to walk to work)
Look at drafty entrances to buildings
Shut off ALL campus computers and printers (especially Diamond)
Pay-to-print policy will save money and energy and reduce waste
Install light switches to turn off (especially Diamond)
Check out oberlin.edu/dormenergy
Install electricity meters in every dorm
Gather data on air pollutants produced by wood chip burning. It's not just about carbon; wood smoke is #1 source of air toxics in Oregon.

Engagement

Plastics recycling (other than bottles)
Give out reuseable shopping bags
Provide laundry drying racks for sign (alternative to dryers)
Laundry room conservation signs (cold water, no need to dry clothes for 60 min., 7th generation)
Free enviro-friendly laundry detergent in all residence halls
Expand use of environmentally-friendly cleaning products
“Ecolympics” dorm resource conservation competitions (EcoReps)
Dorm energy/recycling competition
Rainwater harvesting
“Green” books club or book list
Ground cover instead of lawn in some areas
Composting containers by waste management area in dorms
Continue reducing the use of pesticides
Information/collection areas to deal with CFL lightbulbs and old batteries.
General recycling in non-dorm buildings
Single-stream recycling
Non-bottle/can recycling: plastic and cans that aren't redeemable
More plastics recycling options
Look at oberlin.edu/dormenergy --- let's do this here. Even if our electricity consumption doesn't produce emissions, this spreads awareness and facilitates competition that will effect people's electricity usage beyond campus

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Consider mowing lawns less frequently (e.g., I think Bro's lawn looks terrible, and it's the first thing you see).
Look at Harvard's and other institutions' organic plans.
Make available/post online information about what chemicals were used by Colby and Colby's contractors before the IPM meeting so that people will know what to research and what “similar” and potentially safer alternatives are available.
Have a member of the Biology Department or Environmental Studies Program on the IPM Committee
Control/eradication of invasive plants on campus and in arboretum.

Recycle/RESCUE/Dining

Provide all administrative buildings with organized recycling center - (all in one location) (Financial Services/Health Services/SSW). Make it convenient and easy!!
We need a recycling bin in the Lovejoy Faculty Lounge
Encourage faculty to bring their own mugs
Outdoor recycling (bottles/cans, paper, plastics)
Comprehensive list of recyclables (e.g. plastic type) posted in dorms
Single-stream recycling (one bin for paper, cans, bottles, etc.)
Composting bins in dorms

Transportation

The Jitney shouldn't idle when waiting for passengers!
Buildings: Will the addition to the art building be LEED certified?
Develop rewards/perks etc. to encourage carpooling
Facebook application for students on carpooling
Bicycles for PPD personnel
Explore car-policy cost for privilege to park (revenue to fund conservation efforts)

Colby Names New Dean of Faculty

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:41:38 GMT

Lori G. Kletzer, a professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been named Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, President William D. Adams announced Nov. 9.

Columnist on Race in Media

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:46:31 GMT

Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson visits Colby this week as a Lovejoy Visiting Journalist in Residence. He will meet with students and deliver a lecture Monday about race’s role in the news.

Fleming Advises Congress on Geoengineering

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:58:41 GMT

Professor Jim Fleming addressed the House Committee on Science and Technology on prospects for climate engineering. "In the end, we could end up creating even more problems than we had before," wrote one reporter.

Football Season Down to Bowdoin

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:59:15 GMT

After a tough start, football is now 4-3 and there's just one thing in the way of an outright CBB championship and winning record: Bowdoin, away, Nov. 14.

Uniting Around Difference

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:11:13 GMT

Presenters and students from nine institutions converge at Colby this weekend for Embracing Difference, a conference for networking and sharing best practices for ending racism on campuses and beyond.

About 50 students active in two organizations, Campus Conversations on Race (CCOR) and Students Organized Against Racism (SOAR), will discuss how the organizations run on their campuses—what's working and what's not. Relationships built at Colby will allow students from partner institutions to collaborate and share in the future.

Campus Conversations on Race is a program in place at 13 colleges and universities, mostly on the east coast, that helps facilitate dialogue. Colby joined the CCOR network in 2008. Students Organized Against Racism, which began at Brown University with Horace Seldon as a founding member, develops educational strategies to encourage campus communities "to actively address the insidious nature of racism." Colby joined SOAR [ www.colby.edu/soar], which has 18 member schools, in 1999.

Colby is one of two institutions nationwide to participate in both programs, said Coordinator of Multicultural Student Programs and Support Joseph Atkins, the conference organizer.

The Embracing Difference conference includes three public events:

Keynote Address: John Woodall, The Unity Project
Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
John Woodall is a psychiatrist and founder and director of the Unity Project, a program that develops strength in children and youth. Woodall just returned from Israel, where he is setting up the framework for cross-cultural dialogues between students in Israeli and Palestinian high schools.

Traces of The Trade with Producer and Director Katrina Browne
Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
Katrina Browne is the director and producer of the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. The film explores the history and legacy of her ancestors, who were the most successful slave-trading family in U.S. history. Film screening will be followed by a discussion.

Finding Your Purpose in Life
Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
An epiphany on the Massachusetts Turnpike 40 years ago, days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, inspired Horace Seldon to create Community Change Inc. "It just became clear to me that I must live my life working against white racism," says Seldon, who is white, of the bigotry whites direct toward blacks.

Related article on CCOR

Reflecting on the Election

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:25:50 GMT

Tune into Maine Public Broadcasting's Maine Watch to see Government Professor L. Sandy Maisel analyze results of the Nov. 3 election. The program airs Nov. 6 and 8 and is available online.

Young Alum a MaineBiz "Nexter"

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:37:25 GMT

Megan Williams '04, executive director of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, a Waterville nonprofit, was named to the MaineBiz 2009 Next List. She's one of a handful of "young go-getters" recognized for her passion for making Maine a better place.

Fleming to Testify Before House Committee

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:31:02 GMT

Professor of Science, Technology, and Society James Fleming will testify on Capitol Hill Thursday, Nov. 5. Addressing the House Committee on Science and Technology, he will discuss the history of weather and climate control and its governance.

At the hearing titled Geoengineering: Assessing the Implications of Large-Scale Climate Intervention, Fleming will present his oral remarks and take questions from members of Congress who serve on the committee. The goal is for the committee to receive an introduction to geoengineering and establish an understanding of its associated challenges, according to invitations from the committee. Other presenters are Ken Calderia of Stanford University, John Shepherd of the Royal Society of London, Alan Robock of Rutgers University, and Lee Lane of the American Enterprise Institute.

On Oct. 30 at an MIT symposium, Engineering a Cooler Earth: Can We Do It? Should We Try? Fleming gave a talk titled Historical Perspectives on 'Fixing the Sky.' CNN.com quoted Fleming in an article about the event: "It's the inadvertent, 'engineering through pollution' argument, and I don't really agree with it," Fleming said. "I'm a historian of science, and I believe humans have been intervening on purpose for much longer than people will admit. So one of the lessons of climate engineering, I think, is that some climate engineers insist they're the first generation to purpose [sic] this deliberate manipulation. ... I think history says otherwise."

Fleming's research interests involve the history of the geophysical sciences, especially meteorology and climate change. In 2003 he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for pioneering studies on the history of meteorology and climate change and for the advancement of historical work within meteorological societies." He held the Charles A. Lindberg Chair in Aerospace History at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution in 2005-06 and the AAAS Roger Revelle Fellowship in Global Stewardship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2006-07.

Fleming's books include Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control (Columbia University Press, 2010), The Callendar Effect (American Meteorological Society, 2007), Historical Perspectives on Climate Change (Oxford University Press, 1998), and Meteorology in America, 1800-1870 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990).

Mitchell Speech Broadcast

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:34:18 GMT

Special Envoy George Mitchell's Oct. 22 speech will air on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. It will also be available as a Goldfarb Center podcast.

Music from Colby Launches

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:56:37 GMT

For the first time in decades, the Colby Symphony Orchestra will perform off-campus, Sunday, Nov. 1 at Messalonskee High School in Oakland. This is the first in a series of off-campus concerts called Music from Colby.

He-Man Halloween

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:20:37 GMT

"Halloween costumes for boys have gone all He-Man—big, brawny, and bulky," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The article quotes Professor Lyn Mikel Brown and mentions her new book, Packaging Boyhood, which she cowrote.

Reisert on Referendums

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:36:20 GMT

With Election Day approaching and several important referendum questions in Maine, Professor Joseph Reisert writes that, "'The people who drive the referendum process do not necessarily speak for the people of the whole state." Read more in his Morning Sentinel column.

Colby Students Contribute Time

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:37:52 GMT

Scores of Colby students have volunteered at the Evening Sandwich Program in Waterville, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Read more in the Morning Sentinel.

CBB Ride for Charity

web@colby.edu (Colby College) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:25:49 GMT

For the second year, Colby's men's lacrosse team is using its athletic ability to benefit Maine causes. On Oct. 27, they will ride a bicycle relay from Colby to Bowdoin to Bates and back, to benefit the Waterville Public Library. (See Channel 5 coverage.)

Lacrosse players will set out from Colby at 4 a.m. to begin their 156-mile ride, which will finish at approximately 3 p.m. at Pulver Pavilion. Those not riding will be moving more than 20,000 children's books upstairs from the library basement.

The Waterville Public Library is in the midst of a $3.1 million capital campaign, raising funds to renovate the historic Carnegie building.

This is the third fundraiser organized by the Colby men's lacrosse team since last fall, when Head Coach Jonathon Thompson arrived at Colby. In 2008-09 the team raised money for Pulmonary Fibrosis and for Maine-based U.S. Marines (see Morning Sentinel article).