News & Events

December 21, 2012.

That's the day the world will end -- or at the very least undergo a major transformation, according to doomsday theories that have surfaced online, on bookstore shelves, and in movie theaters.

As the hype surrounding the 2012 phenomenon builds, fueled by today's release of the film 2012, media outlets from across the country are turning to Anthony Aveni, astronomy and anthropology professor and Mayan researcher, for his expert analysis on the topic.

Research by Colgate professor R.M. Douglas that found that British forces did not use chemical weapons on Iraqis just after World War I was highlighted in a United Press International news story and by other media outlets this week.

Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell spoke about the current racial climate in America Wednesday night as part of ALST Day celebrations on campus.

Harris-Lacewell, a frequent contributor to MSNBC and other media outlets, tackled the broad topic by explaining race in four ways: racial context, race as a factor in candidate choice, race and governing, and race inequality and policy-making.

William Skelton, who took generations of Colgate students on the India Study Group that he created and who founded the Colgate Concert Orchestra, passed away Sept. 23.

Skelton, Robert Ho Professor of Asian studies and professor of music emeritus, joined the Colgate faculty in 1954 as a music professor. He directed the chamber band, 65-voice glee club, chapel choir, and marching band.

As parents across the country send their children off to college, Mark Thompson, director of Colgate's Counseling & Psychological Services, has been offering expert advice for those mothers and fathers feeling anxious about the experience.

Media outlets, including WALR-FM (Atlanta), KFAB-AM (Omaha), and WCPO-TV (Cincinnati), have turned to Thompson for his insight and perspective.

While many budding musicians venture to locales such as New York City and Los Angeles to get a taste of the entertainment industry, Sophia D'Addio '06 found the perfect opportunity right here in Hamilton.

D'Addio, who plans on pursuing a doctorate in art history, jumped at the chance to spend a month as senior intern for the upcoming Chenango Summer MusicFest, which runs from June 17-21.

As President Rebecca S. Chopp prepares to depart Colgate and the Chenango Valley after seven years, nostalgia has officially set in.

"I walk out of my office and everything is blooming, and the gardens are turning pink and yellow, and white, and I think, why am I leaving this place?" Chopp said in a recent video interview with geography professor Ellen Kraly. "Living here is such a joy."

Author Elizabeth Strout, who taught at Colgate two years ago and will return to campus this fall, has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Strout won for her book Olive Kitteridge, a series of 13 connected short stories centered on a school teacher living in a hardscrabble town in coastal Maine. The Pulitzer citation says her collection of stories "packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating."

Colgate professor Nina M. Moore has been appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson to a four-year term on the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The commission is the state agency responsible for investigating complaints of misconduct against judges of the state unified court system and, where appropriate, determining to admonish, censure or remove from office those judges found to have engaged in unethical behavior.

Colgate University President Rebecca Chopp today announced that she will become president of Swarthmore College effective July 1, 2009. Chopp has been president of Colgate since July of 2002.