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Laura Purdy, the Alan McCullough Jr. Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy, gave a paper titled "What Religious Ethics Can Teach Us About Sex," at the opening session of a conference, "The Future of Naturalism," held in Buffalo in September. The conference was sponsored by the Center for Inquiry Transnational and the Philosophy Department of the State University of N.Y. at Buffalo.

Marla L. Jaksch, visiting assistant professor of women's studies, presented a research methods workshop at the "Gender, Democracy, and Development: African Feminist Struggles in the Context of Globalization" conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in September. The conference, co-sponsored by a collective of women's organizations and the University of Dar es Salaam, brought together more than 500 scholars, activists, artists and rural organizers from all over Tanzania, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Europe and the U.S. to meet, reflect and strategize on the progress made in feminist struggles for gender equity and equality, social transformation and participatory democracy in Tanzania.

Professor of Religious Studies Richard Seager has been named to the board of editors of the Cambridge University Press three-volume Cambridge History of Religions in America (CHRA). The CHRA will include some 120 essays by leading historians of religion in a number of specializations and will treat a wide range of topics from the colonial era to the present. Other board members include Dennis C. Dickerson (Vanderbilt University), R. Marie Griffith (Princeton University), Jonathan Sarna (Brandeis University) and Jace Weaver (University of Georgia). Stephen J. Stein (Indiana University, Bloomington) is general editor.

Professor of Chinese Hong Gang Jin has been appointed by the College Board to its AP Chinese Development Committee. This is a seven-member committee consisting of four college and university professors and three high school teachers, selected nationally. The committee is charged with developing guidelines and providing advice for the AP Chinese course and AP Chinese test administered yearly. Jin is currently in New York to attend her first committee meeting.

"The Best Kind of Life: Edward W. Root as Teacher, Collector and Naturalist" opens on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Emerson Gallery. The exhibition is focused on the pioneering of Edward W. Root, a graduate of the class of 1905, to promote American art. The show, which is free and open to the public, closes on Jan. 6. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, Sept. 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the gallery, and an open house is scheduled on Saturday, Sept. 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring student-written audio tour podcasts.

Austin Briggs, the Hamilton B. Tompkins Professor and Lecturer in English Literature emeritus, is celebrating his 50th year of teaching at Hamilton in 2007. An expert on the work of Irish poet and novelist James Joyce, Briggs has offered a Joyce seminar at Hamilton each fall since his retirement from full-time teaching in 2000. To commemorate his golden jubilee, the English department is sponsoring a day-long symposium on James Joyce as part of Fallcoming 2007 events. As he looks forward to being reunited with former students and colleagues, Briggs recently sat down to recall some of his memories from life on the Hill.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Haeng-ja Sachiko Chung gave two lectures for the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. On September 20, she gave a talk on her book chapter "Mizu-shoubai and the Sex Industries in Japan" from the forthcoming edited volume Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society. Chung discussed the legal categories of the sex industries in Japan by focusing on the legal term "fuuzoku" (folkways) and its applications to the industries.

Rafael Campo, an award-winning poet and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will give a lecture and present a poetry reading at Hamilton College on Thursday, Sept. 27. The lecture, “Fact versus Truth: Examining Health Disparities through Diverse Illness Narratives,” will take place at 4:10 p.m. in the Chapel and the poetry reading begins at 8 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn. Both events are free and open to the public. 

Hamilton’s annual Fallcoming will take place this year on Sept. 27 through 30, with a full slate of activities to suit every interest. Among highlights are the inaugural Multicultural Reunion celebrating alumni of color, sponsored in part by the Multicultural Alumni Relations Committee (MARC); a day-long James Joyce Symposium in honor of Austin Briggs' 50 years of teaching at Hamilton College, featuring internationally-recognized Joyce scholars and concluding with an evening reception in the reading room of Burke Library; a reunion of members of the 1967 Hamilton football team, whose record of 6-1 has been matched only once in 40 years; and a World Class jazz performance.

During her discussion on September 25, titled “Living Downstream,” Sandra Steingraber outlined the devastating effects chemical toxins can have on the human body, more specifically, during the reproductive process. The ecologist, author and mother began with her own life’s story. Diagnosed with bladder cancer at the age of 20, Steingraber persevered through her illness and became dedicated to researching the effects of toxic chemicals on the body. Such topics of her research include the contaminants found in drinking water, as well as the way toxic chemicals could work their way into a woman’s body and confront the fetus, better known as “fetal toxicology.”