Now in its fifth year, Education 135J: Multicultural Literacy—which gives students skills to understand, respect, and communicate across differences—reigns as the most popular Jan Plan course. This year 79 students in four sections taught by different instructors took the three-credit course. “Our original goal,” said Associate Professor of Education Adam Howard, who was in on...
Assistant Professor of Biology Dave Angelini was elected to a two-year term as secretary of the Pan-American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology starting in January 2016. Evolutionary developmental biology (known as “evo-devo”) is a young, integrative field that explores the intersections of evolutionary biology, development, genetics, and genomics. The PASEDB was founded two years ago to...
Colby’s Collins Observatory, with its research-grade telescope a fixture on Mayflower Hill since 1988, got a lot better this year. The College moved it to a new site atop Runnals Hill, away from local light pollution, and built a bigger classroom for teaching, running the telescope, and analyzing data from observations. And the best is...
In a Q&A published online by Duke University Press in support of her new book, Making Refuge: Somali Bantu Refugees and Lewiston, Maine, Bartlett Professor of Anthropology Catherine Besteman talks about her research in Somalia, her unexpected reunion with refugees in Lewiston, her work with refugee communities, lessons from Somalia that apply to the current...
At its winter meeting, Jan. 28-30, the Colby College Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of President David A. Greene and Provost Lori Kletzer, awarded tenure to six accomplished professors who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, in their scholarship, and in service to the College. “This is a group of exemplary scholars and teachers,”...
An article in the January 2016 edition of EARTH: The Science Behind the Headlines summarizes research conducted in South Africa by Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology Robert Gastaldo. Under the headline “Permian-Triassic extinctions timed differently on land and at sea,” the article explains how research by Gastaldo and colleagues, including dozens of Colby student researchers, has...
Professor of English Michael Burke published an essay in the Boston Globe‘s “My First Home” series Jan. 10. The piece, titled “It Didn’t ‘Ad’ Up,” describes the Maine farmhouse he and his wife have renovated since purchasing it in 1987.
Professor of Theater and Dance Lynne Conner was invited to speak about her book, Audience Engagement and the Role of Arts Talk in the Digital Era, with “Dialogues” host Stewart Urist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Arts Management and Technology Lab. In the 22-minute segment, Conner discusses her theory of social interpretation through productive talk and reflects...
Professor of History Paul Josephson conducted a podcast interview with New Books in Science, Technology, and Society Jan. 29. Josephson discusses his book Fish Sticks, Sports Bras, and Aluminum Cans: The Politics of Everyday Technologies (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), which explores everyday objects through social, political, and cultural lenses.
Assistant Professor of Economics Sahan T. M. Dissanayake conducted a two-day capacity-building workshop on the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity Jan. 26 and 27 in Sri Lanka. The training targeted officers and researchers from multiple ministries including the Ministry of the Environment, the National Planning Ministry, the Forest Department, the Department of Coastal Conservation, the Biodiversity...
Herb Wilson, Colby’s Leslie Brainerd Arey Professor of Biosciences and author of a regular ornithology column in Maine newspapers, will present a talk, “How Birds Survive the Winter,” at the Jan. 29 PechaKucha Night Waterville. Wilson will be one of eight presenters at the quarterly creative networking event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Thomas...
Provost and Dean of Faculty Lori Kletzer makes an argument for wage insurance in a Harvard Business Review article published Jan. 25. A member of the economics faculty at Colby, Kletzer writes: “Typically, workers who lose their jobs can qualify for unemployment insurance, a regular payment to help with the transition. But unemployment insurance ends once you...
Professor of Government and Director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Daniel M. Shea published an article titled “Young Voters, Declining Trust and the Limits of ‘Service Politics,'” in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics, Vol. 13, Issue 3, October 2015.
S. Tariq Ahmad (biology) and Jennifer Liao ’15, with Joseph A. Seggio, have published the article, “Mutations in the circadian gene period alter behavioral and biochemical responses to ethanol in Drosophila,” in the journal Behavioural Brain Research. The article, reporting results of Liao’s senior thesis research, shows faster ethanol-induced sedation and slower recovery with age....
Research by Associate Professor of Psychology Christopher Soto was featured in the January 2016 Association for Psychological Science’s Observer. Soto’s research, Personality Traits in Childhood and Adolescence: Structure, Development, and Outcomes, was referred to in the Observer‘s article about teaching cutting-edge psychological science and was originally published the APS Current Directions in Psychological Science.
Professor of Government and Director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Daniel M. Shea recently published the fifth edition of Campaign Craft: The Strategy, Tactics and Art of Political Campaign Management (Praeger Books, 2015) with coauthors Michael John Burton of Ohio University and William Miller of Flagler College (Fla.). Shea also recently...
Associate Professor of English (creative writing) Adrian Blevins will join with other Appalachian writers as they read from Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean, March 17 at CitySpace-Piedmont Council for the Arts in Charlottsville, Va. Blevins is editor of the collection of essays, which explores forbidden subjects in Southern literary culture.
A Martin Luther King Jr. Day community luncheon in Foss dining hall Monday, including remarks by President David A. Greene and a panel discussion with alumni in careers dedicated to inclusion and social justice, continued Colby’s ongoing reflections on how to strengthen a culture firmly rooted in equity, justice, and access. The keynote MLK Day...
In a reflection of increased and broadened interest in Colby College, applications surged 30 percent in 2015, with the total number applying for spots in the Class of 2020 at a record 9,833. This is the second consecutive year of dramatic growth in applications—indicating an increase of approximately 90 percent since 2013. “It’s the quality...
Margaret McFadden, the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Integrative Liberal Learning and Professor of American Studies, published an articled titled “‘Yoo-Hoo, Prosperity!: Eddie Cantor and the Great Depression” in the fall 2015 issue of Studies in American Humor, the premier humor studies journal in the United States.
