External Posts

Steve Simon, professor of the practice of international relations, was a guest on the PBS Newshour Oct. 7 discussing President Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria. Simon joined former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta for the discussion. Simon said that Trump's decision is "perfectly legitimate" but that there was no advance groundwork for the pullout. "So the question that we face is how best to implement President Trump's decision in ways that don't lead to serious disorder, civic disorder, in the areas of Syria that are administered by the Kurds and their Arab allies," Simon said.

Jim Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, was an invited guest speaker at MIT’s annual PAOC (Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate) retreat at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in western Massachusetts. PAOC is a subset of graduate students, postdocs, researchers, and faculty in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT. The theme of this year’s retreat was History of Climate: Climate’s Current and Historical Impact on Cultural, Political, and Social Development. Fleming reports it was a special treat to spend time with third-year MIT graduate student Rebecca Chmiel ’17.

Marta Ameri, assistant professor of art, published an article titled "Variations on a Theme: Iconographic Variability in the Horned Anthropomorphic Figures of the Indus Civilization” in the most recent issue of Artibus Asiae. The article revisits two of the most distinctive motifs found in the corpus of seals and sealings from the Greater Indus Valley in order to question the perceived homogeneity of the material culture of prehistoric South Asia. The analysis highlights the iconographic variability that is, in fact, present in the artistic production of the 3rd millennium BCE Indus world and questions whether the diversity seen in certain depictions can be interpreted as a reflection of differences of personal identity and/or religious practice among the peoples of the Indus Civilization.

Mark Mayer, faculty fellow in English, contributed a story, titled "The Clown," in the recently released book The Best American Mystery Stories (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt). He also received a five-week funded summer residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California.

Professor of Art Véronique Plesch is the guest assistant editor for the Fall 2019 issue of the Maine Arts Journal: UMVA Quarterly. Organized around special themes, the journal features essays by and about artists, interviews, submissions by members of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), poetry, UMVA updates about local chapters and current projects, and more. In addition to two essays in the current issue (one co-authored, one on the Colby College Museum of Art’s current exhibition), Plesch wrote the introduction to the fall issue, on the theme of Appropriation.

Matt Proto, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid," was quoted in the Boston Globe article titled "After months of waiting, college officials breathe sigh of relief over decision in Harvard case." Proto said that Colby's been watching the case. “A lot of people imagine that this is a level playing field for everyone, but in fact it’s not," Proto told the Globe. Colby uses a “holistic admissions process” that incorporates factors such as “personal context, educational context,” and a student’s individual background. “We want to enroll the most talented students from all backgrounds,” Proto said.

Matt Proto, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid," was quoted in the Boston Globe article titled "After months of waiting, college officials breathe sigh of relief over decision in Harvard case." Proto said that Colby's been watching the case. “A lot of people imagine that this is a level playing field for everyone, but in fact it’s not," Proto told the Globe. Colby uses a “holistic admissions process” that incorporates factors such as “personal context, educational context,” and a student’s individual background. “We want to enroll the most talented students from all backgrounds,” Proto said.

The writings of Herb Wilson, the Leslie Brainerd Arey Professor of Biosciences, emeritus, was highlighted in a Mother Nature Network blog entry titled "Why do birds migrate at night?" Wilson's own blog, Maine Birds, was referenced with the answer: "Migration at night has at least three advantages. Birds do not have to worry about falcon or hawk attacks. Second, the air in the atmosphere is usually less turbulent than during the day. Lastly, the air is cooler at night."  

The writings of Herb Wilson, the Leslie Brainerd Arey Professor of Biosciences, emeritus, was highlighted in a Mother Nature Network blog entry titled "Why do birds migrate at night?" Wilson's own blog, Maine Birds, was referenced with the answer: "Migration at night has at least three advantages. Birds do not have to worry about falcon or hawk attacks. Second, the air in the atmosphere is usually less turbulent than during the day. Lastly, the air is cooler at night."  

A book by Chandra Bhimull, associate professor of anthropology and African-American studies, has been awarded honorable mention in the 2019 American Ethnological Society Sharon Stephens Prize competition. Bhimull's book Empire in the Air: Airline Travel and the African Diaspora (2017, NYU Press) examines the role that race played in the inception of the airline industry. "This important topic is in the hands of a poet who has crafted a style of writing that is both exquisite and compelling, revealing the literary dimensions of anthropology," selection committee member Shirley Lindenbaum writes. "The committee found [Dr. Bhimull's] writing poetic and [her] consideration of the intersection of race and state power in the creation of air travel wonderfully imaginative and illuminating," Katherine McCaffrey, chair of the selection committee, wrote in an email notification.  Bhimull's book was also awarded honorable mention in the 2019 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, given by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology.