Around College
Coach Grady retires after icing 304 wins
Citing health concerns and a commitment to family, men's ice hockey coach Phil Grady announced his retirement Feb. 26, shortly after recording the 300th victory of his coaching career. He will remain as a professor of physical education and special assistant to Director of Athletics Jon Hind '80.
"Phil has been a tremendous advocate for Hamilton College and a wonderful mentor for the many student-athletes who have played for him," Hind said. "His love for the institution and his passion for the Hamilton College Athletic Department have been steadfast throughout his 25 years of service. I'm thrilled he will be staying on to assist in the department next year."
Grady's 300th win — all at Hamilton — came Nov. 25 as the Continentals defeated SUNY Potsdam in the consolation game of the Babson College Invitational Tournament. Nine days later, at Hamilton's next home appearance, Grady was honored at a pregame ceremony with a plaque featuring the puck from the milestone victory, presented by his sons Brian and Kevin, team captain Kyle Roulston '09 and Hind.
In 24 years at the helm of the program, Grady anchored a program rich in history and hockey lore. He came to Hamilton in 1983 as the assistant to coach Greg Batt, who himself began coaching in 1948 and tallied 263 career wins. Batt, in turn, had assumed command from the coach who introduced hockey to the Hill, Albert Prettyman, in 1918. Grady's 304 career victories made him 12th among active Division III hockey coaches and just the 17th in history to reach the milestone.
"The game has evolved, so we've had to make technical changes to the way we play," he said of his coaching longevity shortly before his retirement. Still, Grady says, "a Hamilton hockey player is a Hamilton hockey player. They're all intelligent, highly motivated, they've all been playing hockey since they were kids. As a hockey coach, my job is to see that my players get a great education and a great hockey experience, and then that they leave here prepared to do what they choose to do."
Grady also maintains his enthusiasm for the less publicized side of his job — serving as a physical education professor, which he'll continue to do. "Students who are involved in athletics are doing so because they have a passion for it. Students who are taking physical education courses are doing so because it's a requirement," he says. "I take that as a challenge to make sure that everyone gets something out of the class — to give them some of the skills and techniques and rules of the game so that they can enjoy that activity long after they've graduated from Hamilton.
"What I enjoy is coming through here in the winter and seeing some kids who were in my racquetball class last year out there still playing racquetball."
Artist Williams '73 visits Emerson
William E. Williams '73, professor of fine arts at Haverford College, has been photographing Underground Railroad sites across the nation for more than 20 years. Thirty of those black-and-white images, depicting sites in Central New York, are on exhibit at Hamilton's Emerson Galley through April 13 as "Uncovering the Path to Freedom" — a compelling and multilayered record of the region's history.
Three students, Katerina Adair '10, Ilana Carlin '09 and Sophia Franck '08, worked with Williams, Deborah Pokinski, associate professor of art history, and Susanna White, associate director and curator of the Emerson Gallery, on the curatorial team for the exhibition. Williams was on hand for a public conversation and reception at the gallery Jan. 30.
The showing, which includes letters, photos and sculpture that help tell the story of the abolitionist movement at Hamilton College and the surrounding region, is one of three concurrent exhibitions devoted to African-American history. A second, "Unsung Heroes: African-American Soldiers in the Civil War," comprises photographs by Williams of battle sites where black soldiers fought and died — places that often go unacknowledged or forgotten. The third, "Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America," features 16 wood engravings by famed 19th-century political cartoonist Nast from the collection of Jay Williams '54, the Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies, and features an audio tour produced by Nina Platt '10.
Marco Allodi '08 on USA Today team
Marco Allodi '08, a chemical physics major, has been named to USA Today's 19th annual All-USA College Academic Team third team. He is the second Hamilton student in two years to be recognized by USA Today; Mary Beth Day '07 was named to the first team last spring.
Allodi, who conducts research with George Shields, the Winslow Professor of Chemistry, has been the recipient of a Goldwater Scholarship, the premier national undergraduate award in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. He was first author on a paper published in Journal of Physical Chemistry A (2006), "Do Hydroxyl Radical-Water Clusters, OH(H2O)n, n=1-5, Exist in the Atmosphere?" Allodi also has presented research at the Sanibel Symposium in Florida; the MERCURY conference, a national undergraduate computational chemistry conference held each year at Hamilton; and at the Hamilton chapter of Sigma Xi's poster session for student research. He has spent the last three summers at Hamilton conducting research with Shields and Karl Kirschner, co-director of the Center for Molecular Design.
Allodi is the son of Janet and Federico Allodi of Oriskany, N.Y. A dean's list student, he is a member of the Hamilton College Chemical Society, the Choir and the Spanish Club. He also volunteers as a soccer coach for inner-city children from Utica's Cornhill area. Allodi is involved in the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, having served as rush chair and chaplain. After graduation from Hamilton he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical physics.
6 win prizes in public speaking
Six Hamilton students earned awards March 8 during the final rounds of Hamilton's annual public speaking competition in the Chapel. The finalists had been selected based on their performance in a Feb. 16 preliminary round.
Winners of the McKinney Prize were Amr Rouvan Mahmud '11, Thomas Coppola '10, Asia Agers '09 and Emma Slane '08. The McKinney Prize is awarded to one student from each class for a five- to eight-minute persuasive speech that has relevance and interest for a Hamilton College audience. It was established in 1878 by Charles McKinney.
Ryan Murphy '08 was awarded the Clark Prize. It was originally established through a gift from Aaron Clark in 1859 and re-established in 1892 through a gift from the Fayerweather estate. The Clark Prize competition is open to the students in the senior class. The competition includes both an essay and a speech on an assigned topic. This year's topic was "Green at Hamilton: Individual versus Institutional Responsibility."
Alexandra Berkley '08 won the Warren E. Wright Prize. It was established in honor of Warren E. Wright, the Upson Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Hamilton from 1977 to 1993, and is awarded to a student for a six-to eight-minute informative speech on a socially significant issue of current interest. It is open to students who have taken or are currently taking a course in public speaking in the Department of Communication.
CommaFest: Fun with punctuation
Scenes from the Feb. 7 Commafest, where cupcakes sweetened a review of punctuation and grammar sponsored by the Writing Center.
A festival of grammar not your idea of a good time? Well, you just haven't attended the right punctuation party. But scores of students and others did just that on Feb. 7, descending on the Kirner-Johnson Building for CommaFest, an event hosted by the Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center to teach proper punctuation, offer a little entertainment and serve up 30 dozen (hey, we told you it was a big crowd) comma-frosted cupcakes.
Sharon Williams, director of the Writing Center, said that while CommaFest offered a broad review of basic punctuation and grammar, the comma deserved special treatment. "The comma is an important aspect of writing, and incorrect or missing punctuation can mislead the reader," she said.
Attendees were split into small groups, where they reviewed punctuation with Hamilton faculty members Katheryn Doran, Margaret Gentry, Betsy Jensen, John O'Neill, Peter Rabinowitz, Margie Thickstun and Ernest Williams. Writing Center tutors also participated in the event. Some teachers, including those in physics, sociology, biology and economics, required their classes attend, Williams said, but she emphasized that CommaFest was "not remedial; it's learning to punctuate thoughtfully."
Hamiltonians serve on King Day
The T-shirts worn by Hamilton volunteers told the story: "We must work increasingly to uplift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a higher plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness." The quotation was from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the occasion was the 10th annual Martin Luther King Service Day, hosted by Hamilton's Action Volunteer Outreach Coalition (HAVOC).
More than 150 students and faculty members spent the afternoon of Jan. 26 serving at a variety of nonprofit agencies in and around the Utica area, including the Loretto Center, a senior health care community; the American Red Cross; the Utica Children's Museum; and Emmaus House, an emergency shelter. Activities ranged from cleaning and decorating to visiting elderly residents to working in the Helping Horses Help Kids program at Verona's Root Farm, which allows special-needs children to receive physical therapy using the movement of horses as a treatment tool. Volunteers who did not work in Utica hosted children from Utica's Neighborhood Center on the Hamilton campus.
The week before, 27 Hamilton employees provided similar volunteer service in Utica, at United Cerebral Palsy, Jesus Christ Tabernacle of David (JCTOD), Hope House, the Loretto Center and Sculpture Space.
