CONTENTS:
1. GREEN POWER CHAMP (AGAIN)
2. STARTING THE SYMPOSIUM
3. CANDID KARMA
4. CELEBRITY AUTHORS
5. UNBELIEVABLE SCIENTISTS
6. REDESIGNING COLBY.EDU
7. ART OF THE BOOK
8. UNSTUCK IN TIME
9. BOYLAN'S "SLEEPWALKER"
10. ANOTHER BOOK FROM LEE
11. ALUM IN DEFIANCE
12. NEW FACES
13. RECEIVE TRAVEL GRANTS
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1. GREEN POWER CHAMP (AGAIN)
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For the second year, the Environmental Protection Agency named Colby conference champion for use of green electricity. And, once again, Colby had the highest percentage use of green electricity in NESCAC—and in the nation—among colleges and universities in the competition. See coverage and more on the GreenColby Web site.
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2. STARTING THE SYMPOSIUM
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The Colby Undergraduate Research Symposium celebrates a 10th anniversary by highlighting the student-faculty collaborations of Julie Millard (chemistry), Philip Nyhus (ES), and Véronique Plesch (art). They will speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Ostrove to kick off a celebration of scholarship that runs through Friday and involves some 500 students from 28 departments and programs.
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3. CANDID KARMA
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Michael Burke (English) was asked to be the commencement speaker for the 11-member graduating class at Forest Hills in Jackman last year, and he got most of the way through this talk when he had an epiphany: his speech had it all wrong. He turned the experience into an essay that's in the May issue of Down East. It's not online but worth tracking down. E-mail fyi@colby.edu for a hard copy.
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4. CELEBRITY AUTHORS
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Rob Weisbrot (history) and Cal Mackenzie (government) are keeping pretty fast company. Their book, The Liberal Hour, was one of two runners-up for the Pulitzer Prize for history this month. The jury called it "an elegantly written account of a brief period in American history that left a profoundly altered national landscape." Earlier, when the appointment of Rep. Tom Allen as new head of the American Association of Publishers was announced, Allen mentioned Mackenzie, Weisbrot, Stephen King, and Rick Russo in the same breath among his favorites.
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5. UNBELIEVABLE SCIENTISTS
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When Bob Gastaldo (geology) published his iconoclastic research debunking the widely publicized "dead zone" related to the Permian mass extinction, sympathetic reviewers had a hard time swallowing one fact: that Bob's coauthors, Kit Clark '08 and Sophie Newbury '08, were undergraduate collaborators. Writers for both the National Science Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Academy tried to make them "graduate" assistants in draft stories.
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6. REDESIGNING COLBY.EDU
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Communications is working on a redesign of top-level Colby Web pages and will soon be asking you to weigh in. Look for a general announcement by the end of the week directing you to a page where you can view three design options, select the one you prefer, and share your comments. Polling will remain active until May 8; no ballot stuffing please.
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7. ART OF THE BOOK
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Seven students or alumni who took Art 159, Introduction to Book Arts, have work in an exhibition at the University of Southern Maine, reports Bonnie Bishop (art). "Studying Books: Book Arts at Maine Colleges and Universities" is on view through June 30 in USM's Glickman Library in Portland, seventh floor. Congrats to Chris Hermey '11, Karen Pedersen '10, Jean Burnet '10, Gretchen Black, Mindy Williams '03, Jill Huntsberger '99, and Karen Oh '93.
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8. UNSTUCK IN TIME
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A "news" article required a double take when it popped up in Time magazine online in March. It describes Colby in Waterville, Maine, with 600 students and 3,000 alumni. It talks about Colby Night and the first sizeable gift to an ambitious $3 million campaign for a new campus. Turns out the piece was originally published in Time Nov. 9, 1931. The rest of the story is in Earl Smith's book, Mayflower Hill, page 49. The big gift, promised by Julian Taylor, never materialized, and the U.S. president closed the nation's banks the morning after the Mayflower Hill Campaign kickoff. Oy.
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9. BOYLAN'S "SLEEPWALKER"
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Jenny Boylan (English) published an essay titled "The Sleepwalker" in Sunday's New York Times. Her next public appearance: the University of Massachusetts, May 15, when she receives the Stonewall Legacy Award.
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10. ANOTHER BOOK FROM LEE
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Sharon Lee (Miller secretary) had a fantasy novel, Longeye, published April 7 by Baen books.
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11. ALUM IN DEFIANCE
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If you look closely in the film Defiance, about the Belarusian resistance in World War II, you might see Yauheni Hladki '07, minus the long hair he had as a student, playing a Russian soldier.
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12. NEW FACES
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Human Resources announces two new employees and one transfer. Craig Dore was hired as a reserve security officer and Celeste Lessard is the new administrative secretary for education, anthropology, sociology, African studies, and African-American studies in Diamond. Patsy Stearns transferred from the Registrar's Office to the Colby Fund, where she is an administrative secretary.
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13. RECEIVE TRAVEL GRANTS
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Hideko Abe, Association for Asian Studies, Chicago… Lisa Arellano, Pacific Northwest American Studies Association, Lincoln City… Jim Behuniak, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, Pacific Grove; SUNY Purchase Philosophy Department Public Colloquium, Purchase… Kim Besio, Association for Asian Studies, Chicago… Catherine Besteman, American Sociological Association, Vancouver… Philip Brown, Midwest International Economic Development Conference, St. Paul; Pacific Development Conference, San Francisco… Audrey Brunetaux, Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston… Susan Cole, Special Libraries Association, Washington… Charles Conover, Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, Charlottesville… Valerie Dionne, Renaissance Society of America, Los Angeles… Margaret Ericson, New England Music Library Association, Exeter… Melissa Glenn, Maine Biological and Medical Symposium, Bar Harbor… Jill Gordon, Ancient Philosophy Society, Baltimore… Samara Gunter, Population Association of American, Detroit… Clem Guthro, Academic Library Director's Symposium, Berkeley… Jonathan Hallstrom, Society for Electroacoustic Music in the U.S., Fort Wayne… Natalie Harris, Warren Wilson Alumni Writing Conference, Mt. Holyoke… Adam Howard, American Educational Research Association, San Diego… Jeff Katz, American Chemical Society, Washington; Supramolecules Gordon Research Conference, Waterville; National Organic Symposium, Denver… Sarah Keller, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Tokyo… Virginia Long, American Physical Society, Pittsburgh… Carleen Mandolfo, Popular Culture Association, New Orleans… Ben Mathes, Great Plains Operator Theory Symposium, Boulder… Tilar Mazzeo, Romanticism and Theory Working Colloquium, Pensacola; North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, Raleigh… Lori McBride, Women's Basketball Coaches Association, St. Louis… Mary Beth Mills, Workshop on Migration and Rural Change in Southeast Asia, Toronto… Maria Morrison, Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature, Nashville… Veronique Plesch, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo… Christopher Soto, Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco… Mark Tappan, American Men's Studies Association, Montreal… Duncan Tate, American Physical Society Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, Charlottesville… Winifred Tate, Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janiero… Das Thamattoor, International Symposium of Reactive Intermediates and Unusual Molecules, Prague… Jim Thurston, U.S. Institute for Theater Technology, Cincinnati… Guillermo Vuletin, Canadian Economic Association, Toronto… Jay Wackerly, 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Chemical Education, Waterville; American Chemical Society, Washington… Andreas Waldkirch, Eastern Economic Association, New York; North American summer meeting of the Econometric Society, Boston… Jen Yoder, Gender and Governance Conference, Miami… Hong Zhang, China Human Rights Defenders Network, Washington.