Faculty Accomplishments

Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies, has an essay titled "Red Summer, Trump Summer and the politics of hate," in Religion News Service. "Living memories of terror and exclusion within my family became personal, cultural and social capital, enabling and motivating my parents to resist discrimination and to provide the spiritual and intellectual armament that prepared me to resist and stand strong against the assaults, discrimination and name-calling I experienced in my lifetime," she wrote in her Aug. 16 opinion piece

Loren McClenachan, the Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, coauthored a paper recently published in PNAS. "Challenges to natural and human communities from surprising ocean temperatures" discusses how individuals and institutions will benefit by betting that trends of increasing temperatures will continue, a "strategy [that] represents a radical shift that will be difficult for many to make," according to the paper's abstract.

Associate Professor of Philosophy Lydia Moland has a new book out, Hegel's Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism, published by Oxford University Press. The book "offers the first comprehensive book in English on Hegel's philosophy of art in thirty years, gives a new, controversial interpretation of Hegel's notorious 'end of art' thesis, and Illuminates the relevance of Hegel's aesthetics to contemporary art," according to the publisher.

The latest New York Times op-ed by Neil Gross, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, looks at a new word used by Democratic presidential candidates: structural. "Some of what the candidates are up to by using the term 'structural' is merely rhetorical, signaling the boldness of their ideas," he wrote. "Yet 'structural' is also a nod to an extensive body of social scientific theory and research."

Raffael Scheck, the Katz Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, has coedited a new book, German-occupied Europe in the Second World War, just out from Routledge. The book "provides a framework to guide occupation research with a broad comparative angle focusing on human interactions. Overcoming national compartmentalization, it examines Nazi occupations with attention to relations between occupiers and local populations and differences among occupation regimes," according to the publisher.  Scheck wrote the book's fourth chapter, titled "Genocide as Organizing Principle in Raphael Lemkin’s Analysis of Nazi-Occupied Europe."

Véronique Plesch, professor of art, was invited to deliver a plenary lecture titled Grafitis y comunidades emocionales (siglos XVI-XVIII) at the 11th conference on the History of Written Culture “Scripta in itinere. Discourse, Practice, and Use of Writing in Public Spaces (16th-21st Centuries),” at the University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain, June 18-20.

Plesch was also invited to join the host committee of a special event Aug. 7 at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, that will explore the conservation of Nevelson Chapel and celebrating the chapel’s Trinity columns on view at the Farnsworth. The Chapel of the Good Shepherd at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan is sculptor Louise Nevelson’s only remaining intact sculptural environment and is currently undergoing restoration. For more information about the campaign to renew Nevelson Chapel, visit nevelsonchapel.org.

Elizabeth D. Leonard, the John J. and Cornelia V. Gibson Professor of History, has won the Thomas D. Clark Medallion Award for her most recent book, Slaves, Slaveholders, and a Kentucky Community’s Struggle toward Freedom, published by the University Press of Kentucky (UPK).  “Much of what we know about Kentucky history and culture rests on works published by UPK, and Professor Leonard’s book adds greatly to this tradition,” said Stan Macdonald, board president of the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the University Press of Kentucky. “After reviewing several top UPK books published in 2019, a committee of the foundation chose Dr. Leonard’s book because of its high standards for research and writing exemplified by the award’s namesake, the late, distinguished historian Thomas D. Clark.” The Clark Foundation gives this annual award to a University Press of Kentucky publication that accentuates Kentucky's history and culture.  “I am grateful to be recognized once again for the quality of my scholarship and to have the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way to my field,” Leonard said. “The book was a particularly challenging one to write, given the disparity in the types of sources available for the different groups of people involved—simply put: lots of sources for Whites, scant sources for Blacks.  “But the story means so much to me, having lived in ‘Holt World’ as a historian for such a long time and having come to know these historical individuals almost as distant friends. I particularly value the recognition the award represents of my efforts to bring the stories of Sandy Holt and the other brave Black men, who fought for freedom in the 118th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, to light, and to show that it is possible, with persistence, to do so.”  Leonard will give a lecture about her book Sept. 17 at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Ky.  To read more about Leonard’s book, visit Colby Magazine.   

Jim Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, will be the keynote speaker July 10 in Montreal at the 100th anniversary meeting of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science. His topic is "One Hundred Years of Research Challenges and Accomplishments." According to the organizers, "the meeting will look back at the remarkable advances that have taken place in the atmospheric sciences over the last century, consider current outstanding questions, and look forward to possible future developments."

Waterville's Alfond Youth Center honored Gail Carlson with its Romeo and Martha Paganucci Volunteerism Award at the center's Annual Appeal event June 12. Carlson, assistant professor of environmental studies, was given the award for her "great work in coordinating volunteer services for our youth in the Growing Dome and beyond." Carlson was instrumental in starting Colby students volunteering in the AYC greenhouse, but she acknowledges that the award also goes to students who gave their time and passion as part of the "Food For Thought" civic engagement project, led by Julia Nelson '19 and Bronya Lechtman '20.

In the days leading up to the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a 2004 article by James Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, saw an uptick in page views. Fleming's article, "Sverre Petterssen and the contentious (and momentous) weather forecasts for D-Day," saw a 97-percent increase in page views, according to academia.edu.