Archived announcements for May, 2008
Harvard Scholar David Wilkins and Atty. Damon Hart to Speak April 30
David Wilkins, Kirkland and Ellis
Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
and director of both its Program on the
Legal Profession (PLP) and Center on
Lawyers and the Professional Services
Industry, and Damon Hart, partner at the
Holland & Knight law firm, will discuss
the tensions, challenges and
opportunities African-Americans face as
they enter the legal profession on
Wednesday, April 30, at 4:30 p.m. in the
Babbott Room of Amherst College's
Octagon. Titled "The New Social
Engineers? The Relevance of Charles
Hamilton Houston's Legacy for the Black
Corporate Bar," the forum is free and
open to the public.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/45366/
Spring into Art April 30
Come celebrate a student-curated
exhibition, jazz, a cappella and
performance art in one decadent night
at the Mead. On Wednesday, April
30, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., the Mead Art Museum
will host the exciting Spring
into Art event. Come listen to the
Blue Sox, Route 9 and the Zumbyes,
witness amazing feats performed by
the Hampshire Circus Performers—the
Criss Cross Troupe—and eat the night
away with delicious Atkins hors
d'oeuvres and desserts. Come join
us for a night of music, fun, food
and art.
Conference on Religious Modernity and Secularist Resistance in Turkey April 29-30
A two-day international conference will be held on
Tuesday, April 29 (Amherst College
Alumni House from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.), and
Wednesday, April 30 (Hampshire College Franklin
Patterson Hall from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.).
Speakers will be exploring current
contestations over religion in Turkey,
as well as the historical roots of religious modernization in the Middle East in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mead Art Museum to Debut New Podcasts at Spring Into Art Party April 30
On Wednesday, April 30, from 7 to 9:30
p.m., the Mead Art Museum will host Spring Into Art, a
night of art, music and springtime fun
for the community. The free party will
also celebrate the debut of the Mead's
two new audio and video podcast series,
Mead Audio Tours and Ten Minutes with a
Masterpiece, which are available for
download on the museum's Web site and
through the iTunes music store.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/46417
Amherst CMS: Beyond the Basics April 30
Covered in the class will be: page links that never break,
controlling the upper-left picture, image mapping, webform creation, using the right-hand column and living with the editor. We will meet Wednesday, April 30, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Webster 102. RSVP to Bob Ryan at 413/542-2642.
AmhPub Launches April 30
AmhPub's intent is to become a new
interactive publication at Amherst. The
goal is to break down as many barriers
as possible to rekindle an effective,
campus-wide forum. Anyone and everyone
can become featured or be published in
the print version (with their permission
of course). The site features blogs for
the Class of 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008,
as well as blogs on campus affairs,
world politics, conservative thought,
liberal thought, movies, books, sports,
performance/visual arts and movies.
The site launches on
April 30, so please visit it at amhpub.amherst.edu.
For more information: amhpub.amherst.edu
Computer Science Talk with John Bent '95 May 1
Researchers and staff at Los Alamos
National Lab are currently building what
should be the world's first petaflop
computer: Roadrunner. In this talk, we
present some of the initial design
considerations as well as some of the
challenges in bringing the design into
production. Although the talk will be
broad and fairly high-level, special
attention will be given to workload I/O
patterns and the storage challenges they
create. We'll conclude the talk with a
discussion of some open research
questions that need to be resolved
before we can build the world's first
exaflop system.
The event will be held on Thursday, May 1, at 4 p.m. in Seeley
Mudd 206, with refreshments in Seeley Mudd
208 beforehand at 3:30.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/computer_science/events
Physics Senior Thesis Talks May 1
On May 1 at 4:30 p.m., the following senior thesis talks will take place: Elizabeth Petrik will speak
on "Optically Trapped Vortex Lattices
in a Bose-Einstein Condensate"; Kyle Virgien will talk
about "Minimizing Systematic Effects in
a Solid-State Electron Electric Dipole
Measurement"; and Eduardo H. da Silva Neto will speak
on "Abrupt Changes in the Tunneling
Levels for Mn^12-tBNA Induced by a
Transverse Magnetic Field". The talks will take place in Merrill 3, with tea and cookies at 4 p.m. in Merrill 204.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/physics/seminars_and_colloquia/schedule_2007-2008
Amherst College Dean and Writer Susan Snively to Read from Her Work May 1
Susan Snively, the director of the Writing Center at
Amherst College and associate dean of students,
will read from her work at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May
1, in Cole Assembly Room of Amherst College's
Converse Hall. The reading marks Snively's
retirement after 27 years of service to the college
and will be a celebration of her work and life at
Amherst. Both the reading and the reception to
follow in the lobby are free and open to the public.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/45731
Introduction to the Amherst CMS May 1
Learn how to create and edit content on
the CMS-driven Amherst website. The workshop will be held Thursday, May 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Webster 102.
RSVP to Bob Ryan at 413-542-2642.
Everyone is welcome.
Screenings of New Student Films May 1
On May 1 from 6 to 7 p.m. in Stirn Auditorium, see student films from Zoulikha Bouabdellah's
video class, with the body as a topic.
The students had to employ a video
camera as a tool with which to express
their ideas of the human body and make
short movies around this notion. The
body theme was a pretext for the
students to practice the use of specific
tools encountered in an introduction
to video.
In the studio we worked collaboratively
to make films. The students come from
different fields and, at the beginning
of the class, most of them had never
used a video camera or editing software.
This screening will allow them to share
their first experience with the moving
image and their discovery of this new
medium in the context of narration,
performance and manipulation of imagery.
Lecture: Venezuela: Strategies of an Authoritarian Petro State May 2
Gustavo Coronel will speak on
"Venezuela: Strategies of an
Authoritarian Petro State" on May 2 at 5 p.m.
in Paino Lecture Hall. Coronel is a
Venezuelan geologist at the University
of Tulsa and Universidad Central de
Venezuela, master, international public
policy, Johns Hopkins, Harvard Fellow,
Center For International Affairs,
former member of the Board of Petroleos
de Venezuela, former Venezuelan
representative to Transparency
International and an independent energy and
public policy consultant based in
McLean, Virginia. His most recent
publication is "Corruption, Mismanagement
and Abuse of Power in Hugo Chavez's
Venezuela", Development Policy Paper,
CATO Institute, December 2006. This lecture is
free, open to the public and sponsored
by the Lamont Funds.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/political_science/events
Amherst College Women's Chorus to Present Spring Concert May 2
The Amherst College Women's Chorus,
directed by Mallorie Chernin, will
present its annual Spring Concert on
Friday, May 2, at 8 p.m. in Buckley
Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at
Amherst College. Suraj Gopal '07 is the
assistant director, and Yan Yu is the
pianist.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/44838
Colloquium on Constitution and the Prison May 2-3
The Amherst College Colloquium on the
Constitution and the Imagining of
America will convene its semiannual
meeting to discuss "Constitution and the
Prison: Incarceration American-Style" on
Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3.
Sponsored by the Colloquium as well as
the Charles Hamilton Houston Forum on
Law and Social Justice, the events will
take place in the Alumni House
and will feature various members of the
Amherst faculty and outside experts.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/46456/
Neuroscience Senior Thesis Presentations May 1-2
The neuroscience program is pleased to announce
the Neuroscience Senior Thesis Presentations.
Talks will be given at the following times and
places: Thursday, May 1, Merrill 4, beginning at
noon and concluding at 2:30 p.m.; Friday,
May 2, Merrill 131, beginning at 10 a.m. and
breaking at 11:30 a.m.; and Friday, May 2, Merrill
315, beginning at 3 p.m. and concluding at 4:30
p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/neuroscience/thesispresentations.
Faculty and Students Invited to Teaching and Advising Lunch May 2
The next Teaching and Advising Lunch will
held on Friday, May 2, from noon to 1
p.m. in the Friedmann Room of the Keefe
Campus Center. The topic will be "Independent Student Research and Community Engagement." Community work
can be deepened and enhanced by
academic inquiry and specific immediate
problems add urgency to intellectual
questions. Javier Corrales, Barry
O'Connell, Karen Sánchez-Eppler and
some of their students will talk about
different ways in which they have used
Special Topics Courses to provide
intellectual support for student
projects on educational reform in the
Dominican Republic and the United
States. A buffet lunch will be served.
Bizarre Bazaar: A Creative Writing Fair May 2
The Writers, an Amherst College
Creative Writing group (thanks to
sponsorship from the Creative
Writing Center) would like to invite
you to the first ever Creative Writing
Fair on May 2 in the Friedmann Room from 8 to 9:30 p.m.
Between bits of delicious goodies from
Black Sheep and Sugar Jones, sample
20 different styles of creative
writing from the five colleges in a
non-traditional style public reading
that respects your concentration span
constraint and aims at maximizing your
enjoyment of fiction. Scribble comments
right on the table and get autographs.
PEI Chess Tournament May 2
Peruvian Education Initiative (PEI) will
hold a benefit chess tournament on Friday, May 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Seeley
Mudd 206. First prize is $75, second is $50 and third is $25. The tournament will be run in a Swiss Pairs
and Game Ten format. The entry fee is $10.
Sign up in Valentine or online at
www.peruvianei.org. All proceeds
support PEI's nonprofit work in Lima,
Peru. Sponsored by Amherst College
Program Board.
For more information: www.peruvianei.org/mayevents/index.html
AMP! Amherst Musicians Perform May 2
On Friday, May 2, there will be an
outdoor music festival on the front
patio of Keefe Campus Center from 11 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Food and drinks will be
provided as well as free t-shirts. Come
by to enjoy all types of music - jazz,
rock, classical, a capella and much more, all performed by Amherst students. This event is co-sponsored by the Campus
Center and the Music Department. For
more information contact Olivia
Katrandjian at okatrandjian09@amherst.edu.
Psychology Department BBQ May 2
The Psychology Department will be
holding its annual BBQ this Friday, May
2, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the campus center side
lawn. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Multicultural Resource Center Mentoring Program Application due May 2
Want to help students acclimate to
Amherst College? Want to help them
get over the culture shock they may
experience? Experienced such
difficulties yourself and want to help
a freshman who may experience the same
thing? Become a Multicultural Resource
Center (MRC) mentor! This an unpaid
opportunity for any students
interested in helping students get the
best start at Amherst College.
Applications are due Friday, May 2.
Drop off applications to the Co-
Director of the MRC, Rachel Cardona, in
Charles Pratt Dorm Room 109. Download
an application and find out more from
our Web site.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/campuslife/multicultural
Music 10 Class Presents Spring ChamberFest on May 4
The Amherst College Chamber Music Class
(Music 10) will present its concert, a
Spring ChamberFest, on Sunday, May 4 at
4 p.m. Students Alicia Ciccone '11, Kimberly
Kim '11, Hana Kommel '10, Daniel Curtis
'08 and Music TA Timothy Cheng '07 will
perform in the concert, which features
works of Schubert and Brahms.
This concert is free and open to the public.
PEI Triathlon May 4
Peruvian Education Initiative (PEI) will
hold an indoor triathlon on Sunday, May
4, beginning at 10 a.m. The
competition will consist of a 15-minute
stationary bike session, a 15-minute
swim in Pratt Pool and a 15-minute run.
The first 50 registrants receive free
t-shirts. The entry fee is $10 for
Five-College students, $12 for
faculty/staff and $15 for the general
public. Groups of three may also put
together relay teams with an entry fee
of $4 per person. Sign up in Valentine
or at peruvianei.org. All proceeds
support PEI's nonprofit work in Lima,
Peru. This event is sponsored by the Amherst College
Program Board, Panera Bread, Keefe
Campus Center and Brueggers' Bagels.
For more information: www.peruvianei.org/mayevents/index.html
Staff/Faculty Bus Trip to NYC May 3—Sign Up Now
The semiannual staff/faculty bus trip
to New York City will be Saturday, May 3. The bus
departs from Converse at 7 a.m. and
drops off passengers at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and in Times Square. Passengers will be on their own for the day. See a show, enjoy the museums, shop 'til you drop, sightsee or just enjoy the give and take! The bus departs from the
museum at 6:45 p.m. The cost is $40 per person. Reserve
your spot today by contacting Carol Sharick in the Career Center at (413) 542-2265 or crsharick@amherst.edu.
Amherst College Concert Choir to Present Music of Love and War May 3
The Amherst College Concert Choir,
directed by Mallorie Chernin, will
present its annual Spring Concert on
Saturday, May 3, at 8 p.m. in Buckley
Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at
Amherst College. The group's assistant
director is Suraj Gopal '07; the
accompanist for this performance is
Karen Rosenak, Joseph E. and Grace W.
Valentine Visiting Professor of Music.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/44837
Lecture in Biology 14 on the Crucial Influence of Cooking on Human Evolution May 1
Richard Wrangham, Professor of
Biological Anthropology at Harvard
University and author of "Demonic
Males," will give a lecture in Biology
14 on May 1 at 11:30 a.m. in Merrill Lecture
Room 2. His talk is titled "The Natural History of
Cooking: How a Cultural Invention
Transformed Human Biology, Behavior and
Society." Members of the Amherst
College community are welcome to attend.
Beso-Bisou Dance Troupe Presents: Dream Over Sea May 3
Relax in comfy chairs and enjoy delicious drinks while
Megan Harlow, Hannah Winnick and Rose Abramoff
present their original dance choreography with the
help of Milo Dee, Claire Kiechel and Bill Taylor. The
showing will take place Saturday May 3, at 8 p.m. in Marsh
Ballroom. All are welcome and admission is free.
The performance is sponsored by Marsh House.
Swing and Salsa Dance May 3
The Amherst Swing and Ballroom Dance Club is sponsoring a
dance on Saturday, May 3, in Seelye Ballroom. There
will be a lesson from 8 to 9 p.m. for those who don't have
dancing experience, and the dance will go from 9 to
11 p.m. No partner or experience required.
Jazz Composition Lecture May 5
Dave Rivello, commissioned by the AC Jazz
Ensemble to write a piece to be premiered at their
May 5 concert, will present a lecture on the process
and practice he used to compose his piece ("A
Series of Short Prayers") as well as some more
general considerations of the process. The lecture
will take place in Room 3 of the Music Building on
Monday, May 5, at 10 a.m. This lecture is open to anyone with any interest. Rivello directs the New Jazz Ensemble and
teaches jazz composition and arranging at the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
Thanks to the Lecture Committee and the Music
Department for their support of this event.
Jazz Ensemble Presents the 2008 McBride '59 Commission at Spring Concert May 5
The Amherst College Jazz Ensemble will
perform its 2008 Spring Concert on
Monday, May 5, at 8 p.m. in Buckley
Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/46448/
Biology Senior Thesis Presentations May 4-5
The Biology Department is pleased to
announce the biology honors candidates'
presentations on May 4 and 5 in Merrill 4. Sunday's presentations will
begin at 3:15 p.m. with Amanda Gibson, Andrew
Whelan, Susan Lin, Karina Zaveri, Alan
Kwan, Megan Quinn, Anne Lipton, Steven
Feng and Lawrence Hamblin. There will be a break at 5:45 p.m. and talks will resume at 6:30. Monday's presentations
will begin at 2:15 p.m. with Katie Moravec,
Jared Anderson, Sara Barmettler, Alicia
Menezes, Aidan Porter, Ryan Shields, Burr Fong
and Peter Murphy. There will be a 15-minute break at 4:15 p.m.
19th-Century English Novel Prize Winners
The English Department is pleased to
announce that Lucy L. Sheehan '08 and
Alice Tsay '08 are the winners of the
19th-Century English Novel Prize. This
is an annual prize for the best student
essay on the 19th-century English
novel. The prize is intended to
encourage students to read and write
about 19th-century English novels
intelligently, critically and with a
heightened sense of pleasure.
The prize competition for 2008-09 will
be on the same schedule as other English
Department prizes. The deadline for the
submission of essays will be early
April 2009.
Honorary Members of the Class of 2008 Announced
The honorary members of the Class of
2008 have been announced. They include
Craig Cullinane from the Dean of
Students' office; Teruko Fujikawa from
the Amherst House at Doshisha
University; Giuliana Garcia, a former
member of the Class of 2008; Don Kells
and Jeff Mercer from the Post Office;
Susan Snively from the Dean of Students'
office and the Writing Center; and
Campus Police Officer Cara Sullivan.
These seven individuals will be honored
at the Senior Dinner on May 9.
Each year, graduating students nominate
faculty, staff and others who have made
a difference in the lives of the class
over the last four years. The
nominations show appreciation for their
contributions to the Amherst community.
University of West Indies Steelband and Chorale Groups to Perform May 6
The University of the West Indies (UWI)
St. Augustine campus's Festival Steel
Ensemble, the institution's steelband,
and the UWI Festival Arts Chorale, an
80-voice chorus directed by former
Smith College and Amherst Regional High
School choral director Jessel Murray,
will play on the Valentine Quad at 4
p.m. on May 6. On tour in Western
Massachusetts in celebration of UWI's
60th anniversary, the groups will
perform a variety of pieces from their
respective repertoires, which include
the music of a several cultures and
genres. The event is free and open to
campus; rain location is Buckley
Recital Hall.
College Meeting Awards Ceremony May 7
On Wednesday, May 7, at 4 p.m. in the Cole
Assembly Room (Converse 108), the annual
College Meeting awards ceremony will
take place. Join members of the college
community in celebrating the
achievements of underclass students.
Refreshments will be served in the President's
Office after the ceremony.
Study Break in Keefe Campus Center May 8
The Study Break will be on Thursday,
May 8, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Keefe
Campus Center. This event is brought to
you by the Campus Center and Student
Activities, the Amherst College Program Board and the Social
Council.
Emily Dickinson Museum Presents The Mother and Father of American Poetry May 8
Poet Susan Kinsolving and actor Jack
Gilpin will bring the words of poets
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to life
Thursday, May 8, in a presentation
titled "The Mother and Father of
American Poetry" at 7:30 p.m. at the
Amherst Woman's Club on Triangle Street. The program-- which will
explore why both poets rightly deserve
their roles in the literary canon and is
sponsored by the Emily
Dickinson Museum --is $15 for adults and
$5 for youth/students in advance; it is
$18 adults, $8 youth/students at the
door. Call 413/542-2034 to make
reservations.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/46427
Creative Thesis Reading May 8
Come listen to seniors who
wrote creative English theses as we
read from our work! The reading is on
Thursday, May 8, at 8:30 p.m. in Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather 115.
Orchestra Presents Cookies and Concertos: A Tribute to the Class of 2008 May 8
The Amherst College Orchestra will
present their annual Cookies and
Concertos concert on Thursday, May 8, at
9 p.m. in Buckley Recital Hall in the
Arms Music Center.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2008/04/node/46443
In Memoriam: Douglas C. Wilson '62
The Johnson Chapel flag has been lowered
to half-staff in memory of Douglas C.
Wilson '62, longtime Amherst College public affairs officer and editor, who
died May 5 at home in Amherst. He was
67. A former Washington journalist, he
served his alma mater for 27 years
before retiring in 2002. Notes and remembrances are welcomed and can be left by following the link below.
For more information: https://cms.amherst.edu/news/memoriam/node/47777
Seniors! Here's Info About Senior Assembly May 9
Senior Assembly is Friday, May 9.
Graduating seniors should assemble -- in
caps and gowns! -- no later than 4:35
p.m. on the Quad side of Johnson Chapel.
If it's raining, the line will form
indoors -- but bring an umbrella just in
case. Remember: gowns sometimes
bleed when they get wet. Senior Assembly
features the awarding of prizes,
speeches by three students (this year
Brian Lewis '08, Ben Merewitz '08 and
Spencer Robins '08) and a speech by a
faculty member or administrator (this
year, Professor Carleen Basler). Senior
Assembly usually ends around 6:20 p.m.
The reception for graduating seniors,
faculty and staff begins at 6:30 p.m. in
LeFrak, and dinner is served at 7:30
p.m., right after Honorary Class
Memberships are awarded. Remember to bring your driver's license or student ID.
Attention, Music Center Key Holders: Return Keys by May 9
A reminder that all Music Department
keys are to be returned to the Music
Office by Friday, May 9. Please see
Suzette Farnham Monday through Friday
from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Jazz Combo Concerts May 4, 7, 10
The end of the semester will see three concerts
featuring our jazz combos. Each will be in the
Friedmann Room of the Keefe Campus Center. On
Sunday, May 4, Combos Black Coffee and Offbeat
Generation will perform at 2 p.m. On Wednesday,
May 7, Combos Jazzdrive, Sea Biscuits and Harry
Potter and the Prisoners of Jazz Kaban will perform
at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, May 10, Combo Blue Nomads
plus guests from Music 37 will perform at 2 p.m. All
concerts are free and open to the public. The
combos are sounding great, so join us to get your fill
of live jazz!
Sponsored by and thanks to the Music Department
and Campus Center.
For more information: www.amherst.edu/~jazz
Faculty and Administration Information on May 9 Events
Members of the faculty and administration are reminded that Senior Assembly will be in Johnson Chapel at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 9. Faculty are asked to gather for the assembly in academic regalia no later than 4:45 p.m. (full professors should meet in the classroom just across the hall from the entrance to the Chapel. All others should meet at the west end of the main hallway on the floor below). Faculty and administrators are cordially invited to the Senior Reception and Dinner afterward in LeFrak Gymnasium.
All Are Invited to Senior Assembly, Friday, May 9
All members of the Amherst community are
invited to attend Friday's Senior
Assembly, which will be held at 5 p.m.
in Johnson Chapel. The event features
the presentation of senior prizes, as
well as talks by three seniors (this
year, Brian Lewis '08, Benjamin Merewitz
'08 and Spencer Robins '08) and a
speaker invited by the senior class
(this year, Professor Carleen Basler).
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