Carleton College recently honored retirees and longtime employees on April 14 at a lunchtime ceremony and a dinner at the Nutting House hosted by Carleton President Robert Oden Jr. and his wife Teresa Johnson Oden.

Eleanor Zelliot, Professor of History Emerita, spoke to the South Asia Seminar of the University of Minnesota on April 22. Her subject was "Connected Peoples: The Role of Pilgrimage in the Structure of the Ambedkar Movement."

Susan Singer, Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences, gave a talk on "Exploring Transcriptomes with Genetics Students" at the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

Anne E. Patrick, William H. Laird Professor of Religion and the Liberal Arts, gave the Madeleva Lecture at Saint Mary's College, in Notre Dame, Indiana, on "Women, Conscience, and the Creative Process." A fuller version of the lecture will be published as a monograph by Paulist Press.

Neil Lutsky, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, presented a talk entitled "Say It With Numbers: The Persuasive Powers of Quantitative Reasoning" at the annual meeting of the National Numeracy Network, May 2, in Bothell, WA. Lutsky is also a member of the Board of Directors of the NNN.

Chérif Keïta, Professor of French, is showing his 2005 film, "Oberlin-Inanda", in Paris, on May 16, at the Saraaba Cultural Center, as part of a special South Africa day. Professor Keïta will be present to answer questions and contribute to a panel on Pan Africanism and Post-Apartheid South Africa. A musical tribute to Miriam Makeba will conclude the event. Chérif Keïta's newest film, "Cemetery Stories" (2009), edited by D. Fucci, is one 15 films selected for the Real-Life Documentary Film Festival to be held at the Goethe Institut in Accra (Ghana), May 21-24, 2009. This festival aims at offering "a selection of films that privileges new visual languages and subject matter in relation to Africa and its diaspora".

Trish Ferrett, Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director of Carleton's Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative (CISMI), facilitated a faculty development workshop on April 24-25, 2009 at Bemidji State University sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL). The workshop, which focused on "pedagogies of engagement", included hands-on sessions on clickers, interactive lecture, case-based learning, and reacting to the past.

Jorge Bravo, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classical Languages, has been appointed vice president of the Minnesota Society of the Archaeological Institute of America for the next academic year.

Jay Levi, Professor of Anthropology, recently completed a World Bank mission to Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa as a consultant for their project on Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development.

Northfield author and Carleton Bookstore sales associate Tom Swift has been named the recipient of the 2009 Seymour Medal for his book Chief Bender's Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star. Swift recently received his medal during the Seymour Medal Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, April 24-26.

The City of Northfield has announced that the new walkway over the Cannon River will be named "The Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge." While official naming of Minnesota bridges and highways must be approved by the state, a resolution was passed at the May 4, 2009, Northfield City Council meeting to name the bridge after Prowe.

Jordan Smith '10 (Grantham, Pa.) has been named a 2009 Gilder Lehrman One-Week History Scholar. One of fifty students nationwide selected for the distinction, Smith will take part in a week-long program in New York City designed to honor and support outstanding students of history.