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Hamilton College volunteers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program calculated tax refunds for low-income residents of Oneida County totaling more than three times the dollar amount refunded in 2004, the year the program began.

Philip Klinkner, James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article on Wednesday, May 16, titled “Giuliani's pro-choice tightrope.” The article referenced Klinkner’s analysis of data from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey that found that more than one-third of Republican primary voters wanted to ban all abortions.

Throughout the year, Hamilton plays host to a broad spectrum of approximately 200 speakers, from a former U.S. vice president to an organic farmer, on myriad topics, from film direction to congressional budgets. As the academic year comes to a close, a review of a list of some of these visitors highlights the diversity of disciplines, views and interests represented on campus as well as the opportunities afforded our students and our community.

That the content of many websites is inaccessible to visually impaired computer users is not surprising. But surfers with vision problems can view sites using special software that reads web pages aloud - if sites are properly designed and coded. Students in a section of the computer science department's innovative new course “Explorations in Computer Science” led by Assistant Professor of Computer Science Brian Rosmaita learned how to increase accessibility and usability, focusing on the sites of a half dozen non-profit Utica-based organizations.

Three Hamilton juniors have spent the spring semester participating in the Hamilton-New England Center for Children (NECC) Cooperative Educational Program, in Southborough, Mass. Sociology concentrator Amanda Iturbe and psychology concentrators Jennifer Franco and Katherine Ribble have worked directly with children with autism or other developmental disabilities, while taking advanced courses in applied behavior analysis. In this program, Hamilton juniors spend a semester in full-time residence at NECC, where they earn full academic credit and work intensively with children who have special needs.

Five Hamilton students, Jenna Lally, Julianne Jaquith, Jonathan Zellner, Hannah Case, and Steven Beale, participated in a conference at the United States Military Academy, April 25-27, along with delegations from the four U.S. service academies. Hamilton was the only civilian college invited.

In "Poetry and Avant-Garde Film," pubished in the new issue of Poetics Today (Vol. 28, no. 1), Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald explores the intersection between 20th Century avant-garde/experimental film and modern poetry, focusing on three recent contributions: Rick Hancox's re-presentation of Wallace Stevens' "A Clear Day and No Memories" in ‘Waterworx (A Clear Day and No Memories)”;  Matthias Muller's cinematic transmission/translation of Ernst Jandl's “Gedichte an die kindheit” in “nebel”; and Clive Holden's cinematic edition of “Trains of Winnipeg.” Poetics Today is published by Duke University Press.

In confirmation of Hamilton College’s commitment to maintaining and developing policies that are environmentally sound, President Joan Hinde Stewart signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment on Thursday, April 26, prior to former Vice President Al Gore’s arrival on campus. Gore is the Sacerdote Great Names Series speaker at the college’s Margaret Bundy Scott Field House on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

A few days after the celebration of Earth Day and on the eve of former Vice President Gore's visit to campus, seven Hamilton College students and a Hamilton professor joined Utica Mayor Timothy Julian at a signing of the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement (PDF).  The event took place on Thursday, April 26, at 11 a.m. at the Utica City Hall. The agreement was sent by students and faculty to Mayor Julian along with their commitment to assist in addressing environmental issues.

The Megachurch and the Mainline: Cultural Innovation, Change, and Conflict in Mainline Protestant Congregations, a book written by Assistant Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson, will be in book stores on May 1. This examination of a religion in flux—one that speaks to the growing popularity of evangelicalism in America and to the broader pathways of religious change is published by the University of Chicago Press.