Documenting Colgate’s past
This spring, students in History 200 not only got a lesson on Colgate’s past, but they also learned how to use new media to portray the days of yore.
    In parallel classes taught by professors Alan Cooper and Rob Nemes, the students made brief history documentaries on Colgate topics of choice. The videos explored such subjects as the university becoming coed, the evolution of the Konosioni honor society, and the 1970s student protests against bulldozing Hascall Hall (“Old Bio”).


(photo by Dick Broussard)

    The project started with conducting research in the archives, assisted by university archivist Sarah Keen, who laid out sample materials including photographs, yearbooks, and letters to give students an idea of what was available.
    Carefully combing through the belly of the archives was a good exercise for potential history majors, Cooper explained. “It’s not a matter of getting on the Internet, cutting and pasting, and cobbling it together,” he said. “You really have to systematically work through a vast quantity of stuff, and it’s good to know how to do that. It’s a different level of seriousness.”
    Some students, like Travis Larrison ’13, also interviewed alumni for the project. For the video he produced with partner Alexander Hong ’13 about the student protests over the administration’s proposal to demolish Hascall Hall, Larrison spoke with Dean Wise ’76. “Dean was one of the leading student supporters of Hascall Hall, and he provided me with a bevy of information,” Larrison said.
    For the backbone of each video, the students narrated scripts that they prepared. Once the narration was in place, they could focus on the visual and audio details needed to create a film. Sarah Kunze, instructional technology analyst, helped the students work with the editing software Final Cut Pro to compose their videos.
    After creating their videos, students wrote a 10-page research paper — something that Cooper said was made easier because they had to identify the heart of their stories when writing succinct scripts. “They learned all the skills that we try to teach in an ordinary history class: have a hook, know your argument, and get right to the point,” he said.
    “It’s one thing to learn about history through journal articles and books, but it is entirely different — and much more exciting — to learn about history by doing the investigating yourself,” said Larrison.
    Watch the videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/cu13video

Researching NHL relocations
An independent study project that student-athlete Wade Poplawski ’11 worked on with economics professor Michael O’Hara has turned out to have timely implications. Poplawski, an economics major and a member of the university’s hockey team, had approached O’Hara — his adviser and a Raiders fan who attends every home hockey game — about his interest in examining the best prospective locations for teams in the National Hockey League (NHL). The research project led to a co-authored paper that is being finalized for submission but has already drawn interest from The Hockey News magazine, for which both Poplawski and O’Hara were interviewed.
    “It was exciting that I was able to use some of the information and econometric techniques that I learned at Colgate and apply it to a real-world scenario, and to add to the existing literature in the field of sports economics,” Poplawski said.
    The Colgate researchers examined the factors that make a location most fitting for an NHL team. At the time of their research, rumors were circulating of a possible relocation of either the Atlanta Thrashers or the Phoenix Coyotes to Winnipeg, Canada, because both teams at the time had the lowest potential to generate revenue. As a native of Winnipeg, Poplawski was curious to study the prospects of an NHL team moving to his hometown.
    The research model that Poplawski and O’Hara employed showed that Winnipeg would be a good market for a team under the current NHL structure, and that, out of all the teams in the league, either a Thrashers or a Coyotes move to Winnipeg would make the most sense economically.
    The Coyotes were considered the favorite to relocate, especially because the team had been a longstanding franchise in Winnipeg before moving to the Southwest in 1997. But after months of speculation, True North Sports and Entertainment formally announced at the end of May that it would purchase the Thrashers and move the team north.
    O’Hara said he enjoyed studying the economics of professional sports, a field he had not previously explored. He was quick to add that, despite both of their personal interests, they were careful to let the data stand on its own merits.
— Monica Dutia ’13

Faculty laurels
The following members of the faculty were recently recognized with new appointments.
    Chemistry professor Ernest Nolen was named a Presidential Scholar for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014. One of the organic chemist’s numerous grants allowed Colgate to acquire a high field nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. Nolen teaches a range of courses including a First-Year Seminar called Juggling Science and Judeo-Christian Thought (he is an accomplished juggler).
    Roger Rowlett, also in chemistry, has been named the Gordon and Dorothy Kline Professor of chemistry. Rowlett focuses his research on enzymology (the isolation, purification, and characterization of enzymes, especially experimental kinetics) and protein engineering (the specific alteration of enzyme structure and function using recombinant DNA methods).     

Arnold A. Sio Chair in Diversity and Community (illustration by Jennifer Cooney Vulpas)
    English professor Phillip Richards has been appointed to the Arnold A. Sio Chair in Diversity and Community in the Department of English for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2013. Richards’s research interests include Puritan and evangelical traditions in American and African-American culture, and African-American literature and intellectual history.
    Maura Tumulty, in the Department of Philosophy, received continuous tenure and promotion to associate professor. Her specialties include philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and feminism in philosophy.
    Those promoted to full professor include Maureen Hays-Mitchell, Department of Geography, as well as Anne Kebabian and Michael Poulin, in the University Libraries.
    Hays-Mitchell’s scholarly interests lie “principally in the gendered dimensions of economic development in Latin America,” where she has conducted grassroots fieldwork for the past 20 years.
    Kebabian’s work centers on providing the means to discover and use library resources of all types through the Colgate libraries’ online catalog.
    As head of digital initiatives and resources, Poulin focuses on reorganizing the management of all library digital resources that support the curriculum as well as users both on and off campus.

Seniors’ sabermetrics savvy
An independent study project by two seniors that examined Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement has helped fuel the debate over the labor pact and led to several requests for the student researchers to make conference presentations.
    Ethan Levitt ’11 and Harry Raymond ’11 teamed up to study two of the most controversial parts of the current agreement: the revenue-sharing program and the draft pick–free agent compensation system. Utilizing sabermetrics, a field of advanced statistical analysis of baseball, Levitt and Raymond worked with physics professor Ken Segall in compiling data, creating and testing various models, and ultimately writing papers analyzing their results.
    Levitt, a mathematical economics major, found that the revenue-sharing program, which redistributes local revenue from the large-market teams to the smaller ones in order to theoretically create competitive balance, creates a disincentive for small-market teams to spend money on team payroll. Using a model based on three expectedly positive relationships (payroll spending and winning, winning and attendance, and attendance and team revenue), Levitt deduced that several underlying factors were damaging these positive relationships for the teams they were designed to benefit.
    Raymond, a political science major, noticed that the correlation between payroll spending and winning has been decreasing steadily over the past decade. Because this is the relationship that the revenue-sharing program focuses on, he decided to explore why this was occurring. He found that the current system of rewarding teams that lose free agents with premium draft picks was outdated. Raymond used sabermetric statistics to quantify in a more definitive way the relationship between the value of free agents and corresponding draft picks in terms of wins. His findings suggested that the current system significantly overcompensates teams that lose a player to free agency, which encourages teams to spend less money on free agents and focus more on developing young players.
    Both papers written by the seniors were featured in the conference proceedings of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference sponsored by ESPN. The authors also presented at the National Undergraduate Research Conference in Ithaca, and they presented at the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in June. Front-office personnel from the Tampa Bay Rays have reached out to the students to discuss their findings, as have officials with the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
    Both Levitt and Raymond hope that owners and players will avoid a player lockout, and reach a new agreement before the current pact expires in December.

Two retire from faculty
Longtime professors Peter Sheridan and Marilyn Thie were both recognized at the awards convocation during commencement weekend for achieving emeritus status.
    Sheridan joined the chemistry faculty in 1980. As his citation read, “He pursued research projects in the area of thermal and photoinduced reactions of coordination compounds; his teaching in the areas of inorganic chemistry, general chemistry, and energy issues was superb; and he led the inaugural study group to Cardiff, Wales.” Sheridan served his profession as chief faculty consultant to the Advanced Placement Chemistry Program and as a member of the Advanced Placement Test Development Committee.
    Thie, who will officially retire on December 31, joined the Colgate faculty in 1974. In her scholarship and teaching, she integrated American philosophy and feminist philosophy of religion in path-breaking ways. Winner of four teaching awards and holder of the Christian A. Johnson Chair in Liberal Arts Studies, she combined learning with service.
    Thie introduced Colgate’s first Latin American study abroad program, co-founded and directed the Women’s Studies Program, led efforts to launch the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies minor, and oversaw the revision of the core curriculum. Her citation noted that “her commitment to social, economic, and gender justice, and her willingness to speak truth to power, have continuously renewed her own pedagogy and shaped Colgate itself.” As she leaves Colgate, Thie assumes elected office in the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth.


Live and learn



On April 29, I was one of the million people who filled the streets outside Westminster Abbey for the extravaganza that was Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding. But rather than just a fan, I was a working journalist, braving the hordes to seek quotes, colorful anecdotes, and factoids.
    As part of the London Economics Study Group, I spent three weeks interning at the Associated Press with European news supervisor Sheila Norman-Culp ’80. I spent my first day on the job — the Tuesday before the wedding — outside Westminster Abbey, interviewing fans already camped out in the cold. I snagged the story of the morning when I got a few words with John Loughrey, a self-proclaimed royal “super-fan.” Loughrey was the first to stake out a front-row seat for the big occasion and told me the day would be “fantastic for everyone.”
    On Friday, I reported the latest news to anxious editors: Was that a smile on Victoria Beckham’s face? What shade of yellow is the queen wearing? Can we get a hold of dress designer Sarah Burton? These were buzzing questions that needed answers quickly. It was a busy start to the day, to say the least.
    The story didn’t end when the newlyweds exited the abbey. At one of 800 street parties in London, I spoke with locals who believed the wedding was a great way for people of all nationalities to come together ... and have a few pints before noon.
    The wedding was watched across the globe, so I had a feeling my hard work would be seen back home. The AP is the world’s oldest news agency, with a daily estimated audience of two billion people. At the end of a long day, I was proud to see my name on a contributor’s byline.

— Caroline Morrow ’12 (above, right, with Sheila Norman-Culp ’80)