William Wilson, vice president for academic affairs, was awarded the Campus Leadership for Civic Engagement award at the 2008 Vermont Campus Compact Gala in March, the Compact’s top honor for advancing community service at one’s institution. Other Saint Michael’s recognition: Alex Monahan ’08
for his community involvement; a partnership between Winooski schools and MOVE program volunteers; the New Sudan Education Initiative for helping build schools in a war-torn area of Africa; Political Science Professor Patricia Siplon and Anthropology Professor Patricia Delaney for their initiatives on the local and world stages linked to social and political issues; Shaleen Crowley ’08 for volunteerism on HIV/AIDS and other issues.
Cheryl Stanley is the new vice president of institutional advancement. She has been senior consultant to colleges and nonprofits including the United Nations, Junior Achievement, College of Saint Elizabeth and The College Board and ran her own company.
Martha Nussbaum delivered the Sutherland Lecture on April 10. Nussbaum, The Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, The Law School, spoke on “Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality.” She has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities, and her book Sex and Social Justice won the book award of the North American Society for Social Philosophy.
The spring musical production, directed by theater professor Cathy Hurst, was “Closer Than Ever,” an evening of musical short stories.
Rap star Wyclef Jean gave a concert at Ross Sports Center on April 4.
Scott Ritter, chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq 1991-1998, spoke on campus April 3 on “Media Silence on Iraq and Iran in a U.S. Election Year.” The Peace and Justice Club and Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice co-sponsored the event.
Ghanaian master dancer/drummer Awal Alhassan and Afro-Caribbean master drummer dancer Johnny Scovel joined the college’s Akoma Drummers Ensemble for a two-week residency in April.
Three Saint Michael’s professors and 14 students traveled to the National Student Conference on AIDS, Trade and Child Survival in Washington, DC, March 29-31.
Elizabeth Scott, archivist, has received a $5,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a preservation assessment and overall review of the Edmundite archive collection in Selma, Alabama, which then will move to the College.
The 39-voice Chorale, with Nathaniel G. Lew conducting, toured New England for joint performances with Plymouth State University, Southern New Hampshire University and Assumption College on their annual winter tour in February. The Liturgical Choir, with Jerome Monachino ’91 M’97 directing, toured New Jersey in January, performing at schools and parishes.
Five biology majors have been awarded $4,000 summer research grants from Vermont EPSCoR which is funded through the National Science Foundation. The students will work on the Streams Project, specifically, on how land use affects phosphorous and biological diversity in the waters that feed Lake Champlain. Biology professor Declan McCabe will direct them.
Jeff Ayres, professor of political science, chaired a session on NAFTA at an international seminar in Mexico City in March.
Physics professor Alain Brizard in March received the visit of Dr. Alexey Mishchenko, a new collaborator from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany
Ke-wen Wang, professor of history, did archival and library research in Beijing last fall during his sabbatical and organized a panel on wartime China for the American Historical Association annual meeting in Washington, DC.
