Set Our Feet on Lofty Places 88 Days A Writer and His Image - Alumni

life of the mind
Students in Professor
Krisjon Olson’s Core
182 class on Guatemala
participate in a roleplaying
exercise about
the plight of immigrants.
about myself and the world as I
embark on this once-in-a-lifetime
journey,” said Sachi Schuricht ’09,
recipient of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
for a year of independent
exploration outside the United States.
With the $28,000 prize, Schuricht
plans to make a documentary film
about the international subculture of
“speedcubing,” the
sport of competitive
Rubik’s
Cube solving.
She will visit
speedcubing
communities in
Japan, China, Indonesia,
France, Belgium,
the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Russia,
and Hungary.
Sarah MacKenzie ’09 and Jacquelyn
Harris ’08 were accepted into
the U.S. Student Fulbright Program,
which provides scholarships to foster
mutual understanding among nations
through educational and cultural
exchanges.
MacKenzie will teach conversational
English to high school students at
public and private schools as well as
Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia.
Harris will be working as an
English teaching assistant in German
schools. She looks forward to acting
as a resource for German students to
not only further their understanding
of English, but also in obtaining
a perspective of American culture.
As a recipient of the St. Andrew’s
Society of the State of New York
Scholarship, Kelly Henderson ’09 will
pursue a graduate degree in sustainable
energy systems at the University
of Edinburgh. “While conducting
research in Colgate’s physics department,
I discovered my interest in the
technology behind alternative energies,”
said Henderson. “This scholarship
will help me take my passion for
sustainability to the next level.”
Victoria Martucci ’10 received an
honorable mention for her Barry M.
Goldwater Scholarship application.
At press time, decisions were still
pending for several other Fulbright
applicants as well as nominees for the
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship
and the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.
Governor appoints Moore to
state commission
Colgate professor Nina M. Moore, associate
professor of political science,
has been appointed by Gov. David
A. Paterson to a four-year term on
the New York State Commission on
Judicial Conduct. The commission is
the state agency responsible for investigating
complaints of misconduct
against judges of the state unified
court system and, where appropriate,
determining to admonish, censure,
or remove from office those judges
found to have engaged in unethical
behavior. Composed of 11 members, all
of whom serve without pay, the com-
Andrew Daddio
mission has a full-time staff operating
from offices in Albany, Rochester, and
New York.
“I’m honored to have been selected
by the governor for this commission,
which I believe provides important
oversight of our state’s judicial system,”
said Moore. “My hope is to add
as much to the commission’s deliberations
and investigations as I am sure
I will learn from being part of the
process and interacting with the finest
jurists and attorneys from across
the state.”
Moore has been at Colgate since
1998. She is author of Governing Race:
Politics, Policy and the Politics of Race
(Praeger 2000) and various articles
and papers on the Supreme Court and
Congress. She received her BA from
Knox College and her MA and PhD in
political science from the University of
Chicago. Prior to Colgate, Moore held
teaching positions at DePaul University,
the University of Minnesota, and
Loyola University of Chicago.
Faculty promotions
Congratulations are in order for a few
professors for whom the Board of
Trustees approved promotion to full
professor: Evelyn Hart, mathematics;
Damhnait McHugh, biology; and Ann
Jane Tierney, psychology.
Debate Society wins award and
ranks 16th in the world
Capping off a triumphant year, the
Colgate Debate Society received the
Debate Program of the Year award
from the Society Advocating More
and Better Argumentation. The
award is given annually to the college
debate team that “best illustrates the
qualities associated with the founding
ideals of the organization”: winning
with grace, losing with class, and
demonstrating concern for bringing
the community together, even under
the pressure of competition.
Following the 2009 World Universities
Debate Championships in
Cork, Ireland, the Colgate team was
ranked 16th in the world, up from
63rd last year. Beating out teams such
as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford,
Colgate is ranked third among U.S.
colleges. The rankings are based on
total point accumulations for the past
five years of competition in the world
championships.
As a conclusion to the academic
year, society members gathered in
Donovan’s Pub for the championship
James H. Cone, widely credited with founding the black theology movement, spoke in
Memorial Chapel about racism in America.
round of their annual intramural
debate tournament called the Class of
1884 President’s Cup. Austin Schwartz
’11 and Henrik Temp ’11 came in first
place and split the $500 prize. Coming
in third, Steve West ’09 won the tournament’s
Top Speaker Award and the
Class of 1884 Award, which honors the
top senior debater for excellence in
debate, judging, and mentoring during
the course of his or her participation
in the society.
“I’m already looking forward to fall
and our continuing adventures,” said
team coordinator John Adams. “Their
dedication to the pursuit of debate is
inspiring.”
Prestigious fellowships awarded
to professors
What do neorealist films from Italy
and the effects of climate change in
the Russian far east have in common?
Two Colgate professors were recently
awarded fellowships to continue their
research in these areas beginning in
the early fall.
Luca Caminati, associate professor
of Italian and film and media studies,
is the recipient of a Paul Mellon/National
Endowment for the Humanities
Post-Doctoral Rome Prize, a residential
fellowship at the American Academy
in Rome. During his 11-month fellowship,
he will explore the origin of the
neorealist movement that began in
Italy in 1945 and compare the films
from that time with pre–World War
II documentaries. Referred to as
“springtime in Italy,” neorealism was
born when the fascist regime ended,
leading to an explosion of artistic
freedom, particularly among filmmak-
ers. The American Academy in Rome
awards the fellowships to 30 artists
and scholars to create an interactive
community. Caminati said he hopes
to collaborate with a scholar of Italian
culture who will “help me define this
issue of documentary and realist cinema
during the fascist period.” He will
be writing a book based on his project,
which is provisionally titled The Real
Realist: Rossellini, Documentary, and
the Formation of Italian Neorealism.
Jessica Graybill, assistant professor
of geography, will be expanding on
her previous research when she travels
to the Russian far east in August
to begin a six-month exploration of
“Climate Change, Oil, and Salmon in a
Globalizing Resource Periphery: Narratives
of Vulnerability Around the Sea
of Okhotsk.” Graybill is the recipient
of an American Council of Learned
Societies Fellowship. Graybill will develop
her findings through interviews
with residents of three communities
around the Sea of Okhotsk, participant
observation, and reading the current
research by Russian scientists. “The
Arctic and sub-Arctic areas are some
of the first to experience climate
shifts, and people who live in these
regions and depend on the land for
survival are feeling those effects first,”
she explained. “Research into how
people are dealing with these changes
and will be dealing with them in
the future can lend greater insight
into what’s going to be happening
with our environment due to climate
change,” she said. “And that’s what
motivates me — understanding the
human side.”
Faculty retirements
Four members of the faculty — two from the same department
— were recognized at commencement for achieving emeritus
status upon their retirements.
As a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy
since 1984, Joseph Amato “is known to his students and fellow
faculty as a demanding professor who always seems to find the
time to help others understand the intricacies and beauty of
physics,” said longtime colleague Tom Balonek, who is also chair
of the department. Amato has served the university in many
capacities, including twice as department chair, chair of the
Scientific Perspectives Core, director of the natural sciences
and mathematics division, and most recently as co-author of
the Middle States Review. With research interests including the
properties of materials and devices at very low temperatures,
superconductivity, the physics of impact cratering, and physics
education, he has been a major innovator of the physics curriculum
both at Colgate and nationwide. Co-author of the textbook
Modern Introductory Physics, he developed several novel
laboratory apparati and experiments that have received national
awards. He received his PhD in experimental solid state physics
from Rutgers University.
As a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy
since 1968, Shimon Malin has taught popular courses on the
physics of space-time, relativity, and physics and philosophy.
“Shimon is known as a patient, gentle, thoughtful teacher, who
has challenged science and non-science students alike as they
studied to understand and appreciate our place in the universe,”
said Balonek. Malin holds a PhD in theoretical quantum mechanics
from the University of Colorado. He has authored dozens of
papers and a textbook in his research specialties, which include
the foundations of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and
cosmology. His recent book Nature Loves to Hide: Quantum
Mechanics and Reality, a Western Perspective, aimed at a
general audience, probes the relationship between science and
philosophy.
Dierk O. Hoffmann joined the Colgate faculty in 1977 after
completing a PhD at the University of Basel, Switzerland, in
1973. He had also done postdoctoral work funded by the German
National Research Funds, and worked in educational publishing.
His scholarly work has focused on methods and theory of critical
text editions, German literary life in early 20th-century Prague,
and second-language acquisition. In recent years, his passion
shifted somewhat toward technology and the classroom, an
area where he has been one of the pioneers at Colgate. His work
brought living German authors and contemporary German theater
into the Colgate classroom — not only via electronic media,
but also in person — and in turn took Colgate out into the world
through his many collaborations, both at home and abroad. “All
of his work — as a scholar and as a teacher — has been marked
by a tremendous enthusiasm for the unconventional,” said Alan
Swensen, chair of the Department of German. “Dierk inspired
generation after generation of our students with this same
enthusiasm.”
Ibrahim A. Ahmad joined the Department of Mathematics in
2005 as Neil R. Grabois Professor of mathematics. His career as
a respected expert in nonparametric statistics, life testing and
reliability, actuarial science, and applied probability included
various administrative posts both in academia and in industry.
He also served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nonparametric
Statistics. Among his honors, Ahmad, who holds a PhD in
statistics from Florida State University, is a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Sciences, American Statistical
Association, International Statistical Institute, and the
Royal Statistical Society. “While at Colgate, Professor Ahmad
has shared his enthusiasm for his field with many students at the
introductory and the advanced level,” said Evelyn Hart, chair of
the department.
16 scene: Summer 2009
News and views for the Colgate community 17
Andrew Daddio
Joseph Amato
Shimon Malin
Dierk O. Hoffmann
Ibrahim A. Ahmad