The Carleton College Board of Trustees recently approved the promotion of two faculty members, effective September 1, 2012. Jackson Bryce, Marjorie Crabb Garbisch Professor of Classical Languages and the Liberal Arts, will be promoted from Professor to Professor Emeritus; and María Elena Doleman, Senior Lecturer in Spanish, will be promoted from Senior Lecturer to Senior Lecturer Emeritus.

Meera Sury ’14 (Roseville, Minn.), a sophomore biology and religion double major, recently was awarded a Davis Project for Peace Grant from the Davis United World Scholars. With the support of the grant, Sury will work with women of the South Indian village of Karasanur to expand their small-scale sewing enterprise. Sury will provide the women with power sewing machines; teach marketing strategies, as well as computer and camera skills.

As the academic year draws to a close, some Carleton students are lightening up, and that means great bargains for area residents.

Each spring Carleton College students donate unwanted possessions to the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) for its annual Lighten Up sale, held during the College’s reunion weekend. This year’s Lighten Up sale will be held at West Gym on Friday, June 15 from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday, June 16 from 8:00 a.m. until noon. The CCCE advises shoppers that the best bargains can often be found early in the sale.

Carleton College will award the Bachelor of Arts degree to 466 graduating seniors at the 138th annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 9:30 a.m. on the Bald Spot, the lawn west of Hulings Hall on the Carleton campus. A celebratory picnic on the Bald Spot will follow.  In the event of severe weather, commencement will be held indoors at the Recreation Center. Seating is available to accommodate all guests, whether outdoors or indoors, and no tickets are required. 

Carleton College’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combos will present their final concert of the year at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 in the Carleton College Concert Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

Carleton College’s African Drum Ensemble, a student collective that uses indigenous instruments and teaching methods to perform rhythms and songs from West Africa, will show off its talents in a concert on Tuesday, May 29 at 4 p.m. The concert will take place on the College Bald Spot (or, in the event of rain, in the Sayles-Hill Great Space), and is free and open to the public.

Carleton College is one of 47 small colleges and universities nationwide to earn a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant that will enable the schools to work together to create more engaging science classes, bring real-world research experiences to students, and increase the diversity of students who study science. The four-year, $1 million grant will support the project Towards an Integrative STEM Education: Strengthening Transfer and Application of Learning.

Thursday, May 24 is Bob Dylan's 71st birthday and Northfield will celebrate this Minnesota music legend with the 2nd annual Dylan Fest, taking place at The Content Cow in downtown Northfield. Invited to perform this year are Carleton's all-female a cappella ensemble, The Knightingales. "Dylan's music and poetic lyrics carry the ability to touch anyone who listens, whether it's the first or hundredth time he or she has listened to a song," says Isabelle Rivers-McCue '14 (Gates Mills, Ohio), of The Knightingales in a profile published in the Northfield News.

Reverend Ruth Caigoy Janoras, an activist working through the church to protect communities in her native Philippines from environmental destruction and human rights abuses, will speak at Carleton College on Monday, May 28 at 7 p.m. in the Gould Library Athenaeum. Her presentation, entitled “Environmental Justice in the Philippines: A Faith-based Perspective,” will be followed by a reception. This event is free and open to the public.

For the second time in three years, Carleton's Gods of Plastic Ultimate club team captured the Division 3 USA Ultimate championship. GoP dispatched the University of Puget Sound, 14-12, in the finals after rolling through pool play and the semifinals with relative ease. It marked GoP's third national title in four years, as it previously won the 2009 and 2010 crowns before trying its hand at the D1 level in 2011.

Cathryn Manduca, director of Carleton College’s Science Education Research Center (SERC), has co-authored Earth and Mind II, a geology textbook that explores the distinctive ways geoscientists perceive, analyze, and explain the workings of the earth system. The book addresses topics such as thinking about space, time, natural systems, and the importance of fieldwork for teaching and learning.

Carleton College will hold its annual Honors Convocation, held on the last Friday of spring term to recognize faculty and students for their academic accomplishments and community service, on Friday, May 25 at 3 p.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. This year’s Honors Convocation featured speaker will be Jackson Bryce, the Marjorie Crabb Garbisch Professor of Classical Languages and the Liberal Arts. A cherished annual tradition at Carleton, Honors Convocation begins and ends with a full academic procession. During the ceremony, honor students and recipients of awards and grants will be recognized. Honors Convocation is free and open to the public.