Two recent essays by Assistant Professor of English Aaron Hanlon appeared at the end of the month. “The Decline of Debate on College Campuses” appeared in the New Republic Dec. 28 and “Why Not Social Reading?” appeared in a Ploughshares blog Dec. 31.
Assistant Professor of Education Karen Kusiak was quoted on a Maine Public Maine Calling program discussing a proposal from the Maine Department of Education that would relax teaching certification standards to bring more teachers to Maine classrooms. Kusiak told Maine Public that teacher preparation is vital for education students to understand the ideas behind best teaching practices....
Associate Professor of Mathematics Scott Taylor reviewed a new textbook, From Groups to Geometry and Back (American Mathematical Society, 2017), for the Mathematical Association of America. “Readers will need a solid background in algebra and some form of topology or analysis,” he recommends. “All the needed definitions are included in the book, along with extremely helpful remarks to help...
An article in Reader’s Digest titled “Your Beauty Products Could Be Sabotaging Your Fertility—Here’s How” encourages readers to check a list of products containing PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) that was compiled by Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson and her students, notably Sarah Hart ’10. The project emerged from Carlson’s course “The Environment and Human Health,” where...
Lydia Moland, associate professor of philosophy, has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the upcoming year. The grant will allow Moland to complete research on her book Hegel’s Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism, which she’s been working on during her sabbatical year. Moland previously was awarded a fellowship from the American Council of...
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Travis Reynolds coauthored a report that undertakes a “detailed literature review of the factors limiting private sector investment in global health R&D,” according to a Brookings Institute blog post on Dec. 4. Reynolds and his colleagues identified eight results to address barriers to private investment in R&D such as “policy and regulatory...
Professor of Government Dan Shea contributed an op-ed to the Portland Press Herald titled “Maine Voices: Partisan divide may benefit Moore, as it did Trump.” Shea notes that in the last 10 years, elections have become partisan and “straight-ticket voting, for example, has reached unprecedented levels.” Voters band together like teams without a shared sense of purpose,...
Herb Wilson, the Leslie Brainerd Arey Professor of Biosciences, wrote a birding column for the Portland Press Herald titled “Why do grebes eat their feathers?” Wilson starts off with a description of grebes, their characteristics and behaviors. He then cites a recent paper that “provides a definitive study of the functional significance of feather-eating in grebes,” which aids...
Dare Northward, Colby’s innovative and ambitious comprehensive campaign, was launched and celebrated in New York City Dec. 5-6 with a series of events for alumni, parents, and friends. Support from generous trustees made these “only-in-New-York” moments possible; the celebration included lighting the Empire State Building in Colby blue and a special event at Jazz at Lincoln...
Professor of Mathematics Leo Livshits and Joshua Hews ’17 have published an original research article in the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra. Titled “Groups of Matrices That Act Monopotently” the paper deals with the properties of the eigenvalues of a complex matrix, which are complex numbers associated with the matrix that capture some essential information about its...
Assistant Professor of Biology Chris Moore and colleagues have authored a paper in theoretical ecology in the journal Ecological Modelling. Titled “Population dynamics of mutualism and intraspecific density dependence: How θ-logistic density dependence affects mutualistic positive feedback,” Moore et al. challenge a 40-year paradigm that positive species interactions are prevented from positive feedback through diminishing benefits...
Assistant Professor of English Aaron Hanlon penned a piece titled “The use of dubious science to defend racism is as old as the Founding Fathers” that appeared on NBC News’s digital platform “Think.” Hanlon delves into the “less palatable elements of 18th century Enlightenment history” to argue that a “sloppy application of scientific knowledge in...
Professor of Education Lyn Mikel Brown collaborated with Emma Renold of Cardiff University and Dana Edell to bring AGENDA, a youth activism toolkit, to the United States. “Together, they have expanded AGENDA’s change-making ideas toolkit with support for intergenerational partnerships, extended tactics and examples, and additional information and resources specific to sexual violence prevention,” a...
Volcanologist and National Geographic Explorer Stephanie Grocke ’09 participated in a month-long expedition to Xela, Guatemala, to study the active Santiaguito volcano there. Grocke collaborated with two other explorers to create a “multimedia outreach campaign that will highlight the risks associated with living near an active lava dome,” and includes an online photo exhibit. Grocke, a geology...
Professors F. Russell Cole (environmental studies, emeritus), Cathy Bevier (biology), and Philip Nyhus (environmental studies) coauthored a paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Titled “Assessing LakeSmart, a community-based lake protection program,” the paper included contributions from Alexa Junker ’16 and Sophie Sarkar ’11. The paper assesses the LakeSmart program, which was created in...
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Philip Nyhus has collaborated with students in two recently published papers. “Global patterns and trends in human-wildlife conflict compensation,” coauthored with Jeremy Ravenelle ’18, appears in the December 2017 issue of Conservation Biology, which is the flagship journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. The team “reviewed research on wildlife-damage compensation...
Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society James Fleming was quoted in a New Atlas articled titled “The geoengineering debate: Can imitating volcanic eruptions combat climate change?” While combatting climate change through geoenginnering has slowly gained popularity, some call it untestable, such as Naomi Klein. “…you could not conduct meaningful tests of these technologies without enlisting...
A front-page story in The Boston Globe explores Colby’s decision to name the President’s House for the family of “Janitor Sam” Osborne, the College’s beloved custodian in the late 19th century. Samuel Osborne, born into slavery, worked for nearly four decades at Colby and his daughter, Marion Osborne, was the first female African-American graduate in...
President David A. Greene gave Senator Susan Collins a tour of Colby’s downtown properties Nov. 21, and the tour was covered by the Morning Sentinel and published in the Portland Press Herald. The tour included the 100,000-square-foot mixed-use building currently under construction, about which Collins commented, “I was so stunned by the size. This is a game changer...
Me Lon Togo, the Togolese restaurant that Jordan Messan Benissan, Colby’s director of African drumming, opened in Searsport, Maine, last summer, was covered by the Ellsworth American Nov. 16. “Benissan said the qualities that make West African food what it is include it being made from scratch, taking time to prepare it, the use of fresh ingredients, and...
