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In an  essay in Inside Higher Ed titled “Change,” President Joan Hinde Stewart began with a reference to the recent leadership upheaval at the University of Virginia.  Published on August 16, the article  addressed how college presidents might consider their decision-making processes in making institutional changes.  Stewart included advice she offered in an invited presentation at the Mellon Foundation to new college presidents. She suggested to her new colleagues that they should first “identify those things that they would not alter.”

In a Huffington Post article titled “Why the Ryan Pick Fizzled,” Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Professor of Government, discussed why assumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s selection of U.S. Representative Paul Ryan as his vice president nominee didn't generate an overwhelmingly positive response among voters.

Opening with a discussion of Mr. Rogers' metaphor of the mind as a garden and lyrics from one of his songs on the importance of curiosity, President Joan Hinde Stewart addressed the purpose of education in her most recent Huffington Post blog. In “Minds and Gardens,” posted on Aug. 8, Stewart wrote, “Those who see the value of college in the amount of money a graduate earns miss a fundamental point: The purpose of an education is not simply to make a better living but, by enlivening the mind, to make a life worth living.

Professor of English Naomi Guttman and Associate Professor of Russian Studies Franklin Sciacca were presenters at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, U.K. July 6-8. Their paper, titled “The Magic of Dumplings: Bringing Pierogi into the (New) World,” offered an early example of globalization, the migration of a foodstuff from the Ukraine along the Silk Route across the Eurasian plain and ultimately to the U.S.

Daniel O’Kelly’s article titled “4 study abroad hurdles” appeared on the USA Today College site on Aug. 6. O’Kelly ’14 is interning this summer with the Study Abroad Team at Go Overseas and plans to study abroad in Paris this fall. In his article, O’Kelly addressed the fears and concerns that sometimes stop students from considering studying in another country.

In an essay titled “What Would Jean Valjean Do?” and published on the Huffington Post, President Joan Hinde Stewart discussed “the transforming potential of individual example and community action” and “the redeeming value of great models, whether literary or historical.” Stewart employed Victor Hugo's Les Misérables and the author’s protagonist, Jean Valjean, as examples to illustrate these themes and to demonstrate how literary works from centuries past have relevance in today’s society.

In its bicentennial year, Hamilton has broken all previous philanthropic records, raising $42.5 million in 2011-12 versus the past record total, $30.8 million in 2006-07. This year’s success pushed the three-year Bicentennial Initiatives campaign beyond its original goal of $117 million 16 months ahead of its scheduled conclusion. In response, the Board of Trustees in June raised the goal to $133 million.

The College conducted a large-scale emergency drill on campus on Friday, July 20, the third in a series of yearly exercises to ensure that the Hamilton Emergency Response Team (HERT) is proficient in handling emergencies utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS). “Hamilton considers these mock drills to be an important and essential part of the college’s emergency preparedness efforts,” said Director of Campus Safety Francis Manfredo.

On the eve of the completion of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, groundbreaking for the College’s new theatre and studio arts center was celebrated on Friday, July 20. The theatre and studio arts center is part of an arts complex that includes the Wellin Museum of Art, the Molly Root House and a revitalized pond and landscaping.

The  Associated Press, in an article titled “SPIN METER: ‘Middle Class’ turns fuzzy in politics,” quoted Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert, author of The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. Appearing in hundreds of news outlets in print and online on July 18 and 19, the article addressed how politicians use the term “middle class” and how their definitions vary.