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Words, words from Camp Camps--Among the College Archives' new collections are twenty-five boxes of the personal and professional papers of Miriam Camp Camps '37. Camps was a foreign affairs officer in the U.S. Department of State from 1939 to 1954, specializing in problems related to European economic cooperation and integration. She was involved in the development and implementation of the Marshall Plan, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, and other forerunners of the European Community. The collection includes Camps's letters, books, memos, articles, appointment books, photos, a video, and other materials documenting her long career in international economics and politics.
Avalanche of awards continues-- The "viewbox," a set of publications about MHC produced by the admissions and communications offices for prospective students, has won yet another award for excellence. The latest kudo was a "best of show" award from the Admissions Marketing Group, which chose it as one of twelve winners from some 1,300 entries.
Welcome abroad--The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America, cowritten by MHC periodicals editor Emily Harrison Weir and Smith College admission officers Sidonia Dalby and Sally Rubenstone, was recently published by Macmillan Publishing. It's a how-to guide with advice on choosing and applying to a U.S. college or university, psychological and practical preparation for studying in America, and adjusting to American culture on- and off-campus.
Music to their ears--Musicorda, a summer training program in musical performance based at Mount Holyoke, has been nominated for a 1997 Commonwealth Award in the field of education. Musicorda's administrative director and MHC professor emeritus of music Jacqueline Melnick said the nomination "shows the emphasis we put on music education ... is being recognized for its impact on the lives of the young people who study at Musicorda, and the audiences for whom they play."
Bookin'--History professor Joe Ellis will be on CSPAN Sunday, October 27 at 9 pm on the About Books show with Brian Lamb talking about his 1993 book Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. The show will feature hitherto unseen footage of Ellis scouring the marginalia of books in Adams's personal library in the Boston Public Library. It's "must-see TV"...
Recent grants granted--Virginia Bastable and Jill Lester, director and assistant director, respectively, of SummerMath for Teachers, have received a grant for $18,856 from the Exxon Foundation for their project "Inquiry into Mathematics Education: A Seminar for Undergraduates." The grant will partially fund the development of a case-based mathematics education seminar for undergraduate students who are preparing to become elementary school teachers.
Donald Cotter, assistant professor of chemistry, received a grant of $20,000 from the Petroleum Research Foundation for his project "Mechanistic Studies in Covalent Transmetalation." The grant will allow him and his students to study some poorly understood mechanisms by which organic groups are transferred between two metals.
Sean Decatur, assistant professor of chemistry, received a grant of $30,832 from the Research Corporation for his project "Equilibrium Binding and Spectroscopic Studies of Nitrosylhemes." The award will allow him and his students to investigate the interaction of nitrous oxide with organic molecules containing iron. This work will contribute to our understanding of some of the many biochemical effects of nitrous oxide.
Psychology and education professor Beverly Tatum has received a two-year grant of $164,913 from the Carnegie Foundation for her project "Improving Intergroup Relations among the Young." The project will involve students, parents, and educators at the middle school in Northampton in a program that will, among other things, help students build positive racial and ethnic identities, help educators develop antiracist curricula, and help parents interact positively with one another and with students across group and racial lines.
Biologist Elsbeth Walker received a three-year grant of $300,000 from the National Science Foundation for her project "Structural Analysis of Paramutation at the R Locus of Zea Mays." The project will allow her to continue her research on nuclear inheritance that is not based on DNA sequences. She will study the inactivation of certain genes in maize associated with paramutations.
Alan Werner, associate professor of geology, received a grant of $20,660 from the National Science Foundation for his project "Assessments of Pre-Late Wisconsin Kettle Basins." The grant allowed him, two students, and a colleague to travel to Alaska this past summer and extract cores of sediment at the bottom of some glacial lakes in Denali National Park.
Mary Woolley Professor of Chemistry Ken Williamson has received a grant of $54,952 from the National Science Foundation's Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program for his project "Equipment for Acquisition, Processing, and Visualization of NMR Spectra." The grant will fund the purchase of computer hardware and software that will allow the chemistry department's spectrometers to be operated remotely and the resulting spectra to be processed quickly off-line. Moreover, the grant will also fund the acquisition of data projection equipment that will allow demonstration of spectrometer operation and data reduction in a lecture.
What's new with you?--Send news for "New & Notable" to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.