External Posts

Mathematician and Research Associate Jan Holly has won a Paul R. Halmos - Lester R. Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America for her paper “What Type of Apollonian Circle Packing Will Appear?” which originally appeared in the American Mathematical Monthly, 128:7. Holly's article "stands out for its rich set of gifts: several directions for further inquiry and numerous specific questions for which the reader has been well-prepared by the author. Indeed, the author’s use of easily accessible analytic techniques, complex geometry, and visual reasoning, including definition of a key sub-packing, offer a reader both inspiration and multiple tools for further study," the MAA said. The Paul R. Halmos - Lester R. Ford Award recognizes "authors of articles of expository excellence published in The American Mathematical Monthly."

Véronique Plesch, professor of art, traveled to Belgium to present a paper Oct. 7 at the University of Liège in Belgium's international conference "Now the arts connect: Tom Phillips’ Constellations." Plesch's paper on the contemporary British artist is titled "Tom Phillips’s Paradoxes: Word and Image in A Humument."

Professor of Art Véronique Plesch wrote an essay for the catalog for the retrospective exhibition of the works of Barbara Sullivan, titled Barbara Sullivan: "Forty + Years." The show is on view through Nov. 10, 2022, at the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington.

"Community" is the theme for the 2022 fall issue of the Maine Arts Journal: UMVA Quarterly, and Professor of Art Véronique Plesch contributed an art historical piece to it titled “Creating Community.” Plesch, who serves on the journal's editorial board, also wrote "Introduction: Fall 2022: Community" for this issue.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Stacy-ann Robinson was quoted in CarbonBrief's latest briefing on whether developed countries should pay for loss and damage associated with climate change. She spoke about the multitude of financing options that could be available but stressed the importance of financing flows increasing with the cost of response and recovery. CarbonBrief covers the latest developments in climate science, climate policy, and energy policy and is a go-to news source for climate negotiators and other policy- and decision-makers.

Associate Professor of German Alicia E. Ellis was recently selected to serve on the Yale Graduate Student Alumni Board. And she was elected to the executive board of the German Studies Association (GSA). Both positions are for three-year terms. Ellis is an interdisciplinary scholar of comparative literature, with expertise in German studies, African-American studies, and Caribbean literature.

Colby was highlighted in a Wall Street Journal feature story about a recent report by the American Talent Initiative. The article referenced how the College “has doubled its financial-aid budget over the past five years” and included commentary from President Greene, who said that “he has urged the admissions office to consider different measures of success when assessing applicants.”

Associate Professor of Music Steven Nuss will be the featured speaker/performer at the Oct. 17 meeting of the Japan Society of Boston. His presentation is titled "Shaking the Foundations of Meaning: The logic and illogic of Zen chant and thought" and will include a group lesson in Zen Buddhist chant and meditation, led by Nuss and Colby student practitioners Samuel Xue '25 and Vincent Li '23.

Assistant Professor of History Kelly Brignac published an article titled "African Indentured Labor in Senegal and Ste. Marie, Madagascar, 1817-1830" in the journal Slavery and Abolition. Brignac's paper "explores the forced indenture, or engagement, of Africans in the French empire after the 1817 abolition of slaving," she wrote in her abstract. "French officials insisted that engagement constituted a free labour practice that liberated engagés from African slaving markets. In contrast, engagés argued that they had been traded as captives and were enslaved to the French. Overall," she concludes, "a study of engagement offers an opportunity to study definitions of slavery and the slave trade in the era of abolition,"

In this new publication, Assistant Professor of Government Nicholas Jacobs demonstrates the power of “rural resentment” for explaining electoral outcomes in contemporary American politics. He explains how voters use their “sense of place” to evaluate both major political parties and candidates down the ballot. Even after controlling for usual explanations of vote choice, such as racial resentment, support for populist candidates, and economic issues, resentment toward urban areas and urban elites motivates rural residents to vote for the Republican Party.