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Five College calendar online Looking for something to do in Amherst this weekend? Can't remember when the curtain goes up for the latest Smith College theater performance? Now you can check all events happening in the Five Colleges on the Web at http://www.fivecolleges.edu. Events are constantly updated by the calendar coordinators at each college, so information is more inclusive and up-to-the-minute than even the fastest print publication can be.

Posttenure review, merit pay main topics at faculty meeting The October 7 faculty meeting featured spirited discussion about the pros and cons of conducting reviews for tenured faculty members, and of giving faculty merit pay increases. Faculty decided to ask the Faculty Conference Committee to appoint a committee to do more research into the concept of posttenure review, but not to consider the issue of merit pay.

In other business, Dean of the Faculty Donal O'Shea reopened discussion on the idea of assigning first-year advisees evenly among all tenured and tenure-track faculty. Comments on the matter may be sent to him. Dean of the College Beverly Tatum announced that College Chaplain Anita Magovern has increased her hours to add responsibilities as assistant dean of students two days a week.

Student's research reveals cumulative effects of alcohol Senior Kim Iller's summer research on alcohol sensitization was so impressive it may be published in a scholarly scientific publication. She was the only undergraduate working with postdoctoral students and professors at the University of California at San Francisco's department of neurology. "I had a wonderful feeling to know that most people were surprised that I was an undergraduate student; a lot of people thought I was working on my postdoc!" she says. Working on very expensive equipment, Iller conducted research to measure the effects of alcohol on locomotor activity. (Alcohol can have a stimulant effect, causing people to become more active physically.) Her results may be significant for human alcoholics. "If a chronic alcoholic stops drinking for a year, then drinks his or her 'normal' amount of alcohol again, the effects of that 'normal' dose may be significantly higher than the effects of the same dose the last time the person drank," Iller explains.

A second part of the research on which Iller collaborated studied the effects of alcohol on specific genes. Those results are not yet complete, but "imagine what research would result from knowing how one drink of alcohol effects gene 'b'," she enthuses. "The analysis will take some time, but when it is done it will hopefully yield mind-blowing results." One of the results of Iller's summer research was a postgraduation job offer from her supervisor.

Italian high school students to visit Daniela Fargione, visiting lecturer in Italian, will host a dozen Italian high-school students at a special Italian language table gathering October 27. They are living with local host families for three weeks, as part of an exchange program between South Hadley High School and its counterpart in the Italian lake district town of Verbania. Fargione helped establish the exchange last year, and has spoken to the American students who will visit Italy this spring. While the Italians are visiting, they'll converse with MHC students at an American-Italian pizza party, and attend classes to see how their native language is taught at Mount Holyoke.

Correction Due to incorrect information supplied to CSJ, Michelle Markley was listed in last week's issue as an instructor in geology. She is Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Geology. The College's first Clare Booth Luce professors, Lauret Savoy and Susan Barry, came to MHC in 1990 and 1992, respectively.

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