National and regional news organizations regularly interview Hamilton faculty, staff, alumni, and students for their expertise and perspectives on current events, and to feature programs and activities on campus.
October’s news highlights ranged from coverage of the role of luck in career success to the interrelationship between art and science. Links are provided, but some may require subscriptions to access content. Please contact Vige Barrie if you cannot open a link or do not have a subscription.
- “Future of Neuroscience: Sanju Koirala,” Neuroscience Quarterly, Fall 2023
Sanju Koirala ’19, a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota and Hamilton neuroscience major, was the subject of this column in which “interviewees reflect on their emerging careers and share thoughts on where they believe neuroscience is headed.” This comment by Koirala seems to affirm the value of an open liberal arts curriculum: “My creative writing classes have been instrumental in shaping my curiosity about the human brain. A lot of questions can be derived from art and the act of observing. Artists and scientists are very similar — we just use different tools to observe and find out answers.” - “Politics War Room with James Carville and Al Hunt,” Politicon, Oct. 12
Visiting Professor of History Ty Seidule discussed how Senator Tommy Tuberville’s hold on general officer promotions was putting the military’s readiness at risk. “It’s hurting our readiness, and it’s evil because it’s hurting our families and those who have chosen to serve this great nation.” - “President’s corner: Urgency for David Wippman as he shares his last dance at Hamilton College,” University Business, Oct. 13
In this interview for the monthly “President’s Corner” feature, President David Wippman discussed areas on which he is focused in his last year on campus. They include a need to entrench some of the college’s most notable initiatives, such as its efforts in communicating student support and tackling mental health and in “expressing publicly the importance of higher education while the light is still shining on him.” - “How to Cancel Cancel Culture (or Not),” The Messenger, Oct. 17
President David Wippman co-authored this review of The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All — But there is a Solution, by Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and Rikki Schlott, a research fellow at FIRE. Among other issues with the book, Wippman and his co-author Cornell Professor Glenn Altschuler observed that the book’s “narrative underestimates the role of ideological polarization across all of American society and the impact of information silos.” - “How big is the role of luck in career success?” The Economist, Oct. 19
This article included reference to Professor of Economics Stephen Wu’s paper on how the difficulty of pronouncing a name affects successful job placement in academe. Wu, with his co-author and former student Qi Ge ’06, found that “economists with harder-to-pronounce names, including within ethnic groups, were less likely to be placed into academic jobs or get tenure-track positions.” - “Stereotypes about crime may not be primarily driven by race but by the assumed environment in which people live,” Social Psychology, Oct. 20
In explaining her research, Associate Professor of Psychology Keelah Williams said, “beliefs about someone’s likelihood to commit certain kinds of crimes seem to be driven not by race, per se, but by inferences about the kinds of environments people supposedly come from.” - “303 Creative at Hamilton College,” Reason Magazine’s “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Oct. 21
Dale Carpenter, SMU professor of law and Common Ground panelist, wrote effusive words of praise for Hamilton students following an October campus event. “I was amazed at the level of sophistication and engagement of the students at Hamilton College. The perceptiveness of their questions was remarkable. What’s more, a large group of students stuck around for even more thoughtful discussion off-camera for about an hour—until we were expelled by maintenance personnel. I've rarely encountered law students at one of these kinds of events as genuinely curious and open to new ideas as these undergraduates were.” - “Tuberville’s ‘hold’ doesn’t command respect,” Stars & Stripes, Oct. 22
“[Senator] Tuberville is guilty of dereliction of duty. He must lift his stupid and cruel “hold” and start supporting those who lead America’s sons and daughters in the crucible of land, sea and air combat,” wrote Visiting Professor of History Ty Seidule and his co-author, Democratic strategist James Carville. - “Race for NY-22 likely to be contentious as interest in seat grows,” public radio WRVO, Oct. 22
Professor of Government Philip Klinkner discussed the congressional race in NY-22. He reviewed some of the district’s close races in past election cycles and said it was too early to determine what might happen a year from now. - “Why I Just Quit DSA,” The Nation, Oct. 23
Professor of History Maurice Isserman, a founding member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), explained his reasons for resigning from the organization. “I left to protest the DSA leadership’s politically and morally bankrupt response to the horrific Hamas October 7 anti-Jewish pogrom that took the lives of 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and saw over 200 hostages carried off to Gaza, both groups of victims including children and infants,” Isserman wrote. - “‘Modified’ Gravity May Make Planet Nine Disappear,” Scientific American, Oct. 25
Associate Professor of Physics Kate Brown and her co-author hypothesized that “Strange patterns in the orbits of small objects in the outer solar system could be explained by gaps in our understanding of gravity rather than an as-yet-unseen new world.” Coverage of this study appeared in publications around the world. - “Teaching Resiliency: Preparing Alaska’s Cultural Organizations for Emergencies,” National Endowment for the Humanities, Oct. 27
Dana Blatte, a sophomore studying anthropology and creative writing, was an intern in the NEH Division of Preservation and Access during the summer of 2023. This is one of the articles she wrote as part of her internship. - “Yale’s Richard Edelson on what got him started in research for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma,” The Cancer Letter, Oct. 27
Richard Edelson ’66, Hamilton chemistry major and longest serving chair in Yale University history (School of Medicine – dermatology), discussed his career. He recently received the first Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) grant in the United States, which is an outgrowth of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot program. - “America’s Culture Wars Have Liberal Parents Opting for Home-Schooling,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Oct. 30
Assistant Professor of Sociology commented on the shifting demographics in home-schooling. “As integration brought White and Black students together, there was a White flight happening, as parents removed kids from those schools in order to home-school,” she said.
