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Al Gore, the 45th vice president of the United States, will give a free public lecture at Hamilton College on Thursday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m., in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House. His lecture, “An Inconvenient Truth,” will be accompanied by a multi-media presentation on which his best-selling book and film by the same name are based. No tickets are necessary and the general public will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors for the general public will open at 6:30 p.m.; members of the Hamilton community receive priority seating at the lecture.

The 9th annual AIDS Hike for Life will take place on Sunday, April 29 at 10 a.m. The 5K run/walk starts at the Pavilion and continues around the campus. Participants can volunteer, register, or make donations by visiting www.AIDSwalkcny.com or at the tables set up in Beinecke this week.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Armando Bayolo's string octet, Ludi, was presented by the Euclid and Degas Quartets at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on April 20. The work, which explores human relationships through the metaphor of musical games, received a standing ovation by the capacity crowd. Bayolo also led a panel discussion with members of the Euclid and Degas quartets addressing the work's themes and the process of bringing a new piece of music from commission to concept, grant writing and, finally, performance.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy Celeste Friend gave a paper at Oxford in April. The paper, “Sketching the History of the Contract: From Socrates to the Present” gave a general overview of both social contract theory through history and some of its recent critics. It was the first paper of a workshop, The Social Contract Revisited, sponsored by the Foundation for Law and Justice in Society, located at Wolfson College at the University of Oxford.

Andrew LaFiandra, a candidate for May graduation from Hamilton College, has been awarded a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Germany. He will teach English as a foreign language there.

Jessica Burke, assistant professor of Hispanic Studies, delivered a paper at the American Comparative Literature Association’s annual meeting in Puebla, Mexico, April 19-22. The conference’s theme was “Trans, Pan, Inter: Cultures in Contact” and Burke presented a paper titled “Fantasizing the Feminine: Sex and Gender in Donoso's El lugar sin límites and Puig’s El beso de la mujer araña” as part of a seminar called “Changing the Name of the Game: Language, Translation and Gender.”

The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center presented a lecture by Richard Wasserstrom on the morality of race-based affirmative action programs on April 23. Wasserstrom, a scholar of applied ethics and the philosophy of law, is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In his lecture, Wasserstrom defended the morality and importance of programs of preferential treatment based on race and then addressed three moral criticisms often made by opponents of these programs.

Sharon Williams, Writing Center director, presented a paper titled "A Longitudinal Study of Student Writing at a Liberal Arts College" at the annual conference of the SUNY Council of Writing, held in Albany on April 20-21.

Hamilton College has announced the names of four individuals who will be awarded honorary degrees at the college's 195th commencement on Sunday, May 20. Included among the recipients are two prominent individuals from the Mohawk Valley, F. Eugene Romano, a 1949 graduate of Hamilton College and local businessman, and Sherwood Boehlert, former U.S. Congressman, 24th District.

One day after the official celebration of Earth Day, Hamilton College unveiled a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy Conservation) plaque certifying that Skenandoa House has met the conservation qualifications set by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Last year only two buildings in New York met the USGBC requirements for certification. Skenandoa House, an 84-year-old residence hall, is the oldest building in New York to be so designated.