WELL VERSED
Wes McNair (English), who rejoins the faculty second semester, had poems from his newest collection, Fire, featured on the Dec. 17 and 19 Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. If you missed them or want to hear them again the program is archived online at http://almanac.mpr.org. Wes is on an NPR roll; his poetry was featured July 13 on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon (http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat) and on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday with Liane Hansen (http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun) in an Aug. 11 interview with Poet Laureate Billy Collins, who called Wes's The Town of No his current favorite collection.
EUTROPHIA IN VASSALBORO
Eight student researchers gave Vassalboro residents, environmental
officials and Webber Pond dwellers the good news and the bad on Dec. 5,
when this year's Problems in Environmental Science class reported on
its study of Webber Pond. The lake is eutrophic, meaning it's
sufficiently polluted to have annual algae blooms. The good news is
that it's better than it was 45 years ago, when poultry- and dairy-farm
runoff still was adding loads of nutrients that fertilize the blooms.
Among possible remedial steps, students suggested that an intake pipe
for the Natanis Golf Course irrigation system could be extended to draw
off the deepest, dirtiest water, thus removing the most phosphorus-rich
layer for watering greens and fairways.
COMING: "CHERISHED POSSESSIONS"
The art museum is gearing up for a blockbuster summer-into-fall show titled Cherished Possessions: A New England Legacy.
Assembled by the Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities (SPNEA), this is the first touring exhibit of the society's
renowned collection of fine and decorative arts, and its debut is at
Colby in mid-July. After it closes here in October, the show will
travel to Hawaii and Fort Worth, Texas. Details are on the museum's Web
site; visit http://www.colby.edu/museum/exhibits/spnea.html.
ACCORDING TO BRO
In a Dec. 9 op-ed in the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, President Bro Adams
called on government officials charged with monitoring foreign students
to try not to exclude the stellar students that U.S. colleges have
recruited abroad. The piece, titled "International Students: A
Risk-Benefit Analysis," concludes: "Given the political realities that
currently confront us, the idea (and ideal) of an international and
multicultural community of scholars and students is one whose time has
come for America's best liberal-arts colleges. We need the support,
understanding and cooperation of our leaders and the American people as
we pursue that ideal." The full text is online at http://www.colby.edu/president/articles/orlandosentinel.shtml.
MOORE ON LOVEJOY
Greg Moore, editor of the Denver Post, has been tapped and has accepted a term on Colby's Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award selection committee. After 16 years at The Boston Globe, seven as managing editor, Moore was named editor at the Denver Post last year. A long profile in the Nov. 18 Editor & Publisher said he's made history there. "With The Sunday Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News'
circulation now at 789,137, Moore's arrival makes the combined Sunday
paper the largest in the country, perhaps ever, with an African
American as editor."
PETE WROTE THE BOOK
Richard "Pete" Moss (history) was a source in the New York Times
"Week in Review" story Dec. 8 about the Augusta National Golf Club's
refusal to admit women. Moss, who literally wrote the book on country
clubs (Golf and the American Country Club, 2001), explained that
the founding members of many of the nation's clubs were trying to
re-establish the homogeneous village and its sense of control. "The
irony is, if they were trying to run away from immigrants, well, why
did they then hire one to two thousand immigrant caddies to carry their
bags?" he said in the Times.
DECISIONS ONLINE
For the second year the Admissions Office is letting applicants know
whether they were accepted through a password-protected Web page. Think
people are eager to know? In the 48 hours after decisions were posted
and the site was activated, 70 percent of the early decisions
applicants had logged on to check.
SUCCEEDING HENRY
When President George W. Bush chose Thomas H. Kean
to head the special commission to investigate the September 11
terrorist attacks, he chose a Colby parent and a 1996 honorary LL.D.
recipient. Kean, father of Alexandra Kean Strong '96, is
president of Drew University and a former governor of New Jersey. He
was named after Henry Kissinger resigned from what will be known as the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks.
TAKE IT HOME FOR EMERGENCIES
872-3810 is Colby's emergency information line. When natural disasters
strike (think ice storm, etc.), this phone will have a recorded message
for Colby employees. If your phone works, call for a status report.
WELCOME NEW FOLKS
Welcome Ellen Ireland, who started at Colby as a data specialist in College Relations Information Systems Services on Dec. 16, and Marlisa Bretscher, the new secretary in annual giving as of Dec. 18. Welcome to both. Both women work in Eustis.
CONGRATULATIONS IN ORDER
Christine Thomas and Lisa Bean, both in the annual giving
office, have been promoted. Christine is now an administrative
assistant and Lisa an administrative secretary. Congrats.
MUSEUM HIATUS
The Colby College Museum of Art will be closed December 24 and 25 and
January 1, and it will shut the door at 2 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Look
for regular hours December 26-30 and beginning again January 2. Time is
running out to see the student-curated Afterlife: Asian Tomb and Ritual Art from the Colby Collection. That exhibit closes Jan. 5. Whistler's Etchings and Lithotints: 1858-1896 is on view indefinitely. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
RECEIVE TRAVEL GRANTS
Ted Underwood, Modern Language Association meeting, New York ... Lee Butler, American Historical Association meeting, Chicago ... Jill Gordon, Ancient Philosophy Colloquium, Arizona ... Debra Campbell, American Historical Association meeting, Chicago.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
Biology:
One-year faculty fellow in evolutionary biology
One-year faculty fellow in microbiology
Visit http://www.colby.edu/employment for a list of openings or inquire of Personnel, ext. 3180.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Happy and safe holiday wishes to all. See you next year, which will be Colby's 190th.