Behind the Ballot Box Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen’s Guide to Voting Systems, MHC politics professor Doug Amy’s forthcoming book, has received a nice plug on the influential online journal of opinion, TomPaine.commonsense. In a piece titled “Instant Runoff Voting: A New Way to Vote,” retired New York Times columnist Tom Wicker pushes for a preferential voting system that would improve on current United States systems in which candidates who receive less than a plurality of votes often emerge as the victors. Amy’s new guide, just published by Praeger, explains the workings of a variety of voting systems and details pros and cons. Read Wicker's column.

Why Intern? “Why Intern? Five Reasons to Pursue a Science or Engineering Internship,” an article featured in ScienceWise.com, includes quotes from Sheila Browne, MHC professor of chemistry, and alumnae Amity F. Gann ’99 and Elizabeth A. Pierz ’99. Said Browne in the piece, “Successful internships change the way students approach their schoolwork. In fact, many of them come back [from internships] completely transformed.” Read all about it at http://content.sciencewise.com/swscholar/.

One Person’s Slang is Another’s Language Angelo Mazzocco, MHC professor of Spanish and Italian, was part of a National Public Radio report on the teaching of Spanglish (a hybrid of Spanish and English that many consider slang) at Amherst College that aired September 26. Elan Stevans, the professor teaching the course, maintained that Spanglish is a language that deserves a place in the halls of academia. Mazzocco represented an opposing view, questioning efforts to teach Spanglish as a language instead of as a sociolinguistic phenomenon. “I think it would be detrimental to the students,” Mazzocco said, “ to lead them to believe that they are, in fact, learning a language, because they are not.” If your computer is equipped with a Real Audio Player you can hear this report.

Going Mobile Lowell Gudmundson, MHC professor of Latin American studies, will be on the road next week, doing a series of lectures. October 9 will find him speaking about “Choosing a Color for the Cosmic Race: African Americans and National Identities in Central America” at the University of Oklahoma, where he previously taught. This lecture will be hosted by the International Programs Office and the history department at the University of Oklahoma. The next day, Gudmundson journeys to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth to speak on “The Many Cultures of Coffee: From Juan Valdez to Starbucks,” a piece which he’ll reprise that evening for the Dallas area MHC Alumnae Club.

What’s new with you? Send news for “New & Notable” to Janet Tobin, Office of Communications, or email jtobin@mtholyoke.edu.