Media bytes

Peggy Sheridan ’67, Martha Bennett ’73 Professor of Child Development, was quoted in a March 22 article in The Day on a new program to get children outdoors. “It’s a natural thing to want to be active,” she said, “but the indoor environment is restraining. ... This isn’t frosting. This is whole-grain wheat. It’s essential.”

In a March 20 Boston Globe article on “How the Firefly Got Its Glow,” Bruce Branchini, Hans & Ella McCollum ’21 Vahlteich Professor of Chemistry, was asked to comment on new research out of Japan. He said the study “added structural features to people’s models but it by no means definitively determined what causes the color differences in firefly bioluminescence.” The full story, he said, remains to be told.

A March 20 story in The New York Times on the arrest of war protesters in Times Square included this quote from Sarah Trapido ’09: “No one had to die in this war. It was a fabrication given to the American people.”

Connecticut College gets a mention on stage during David Lindsay-Abaire’s play “Rabbit Hole,” which opened on Broadway in February at the Biltmore Theater in New York City. The comic-tragedy is set in Connecticut and stars Cynthia Nixon, Tyne Daly and John Gallagher Jr. In the second act, high school student Jason (John Gallagher Jr.), announces that he is attending CC next year.

Stuart Vyse, professor of psychology, was quoted in a March 19 Montpelier ( Vt. ) Times Argus article on superstition as saying, “Our desire for control is sufficient to support doing things that we know can’t really affect the outcome.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story March 17 on the use of personal digital assistants by college administrators and included this from W. Lee Hisle, vice president of information services and College librarian: “At [CC], about two dozen BlackBerrys are in use among administrators. Most recently, the advancement staff has begun to ask for them. They’ve started to see how useful it can be,” Hisle says.

Claudia Highbaugh, dean of religious and spiritual life, was the subject of a Q&A in the New London Times on March 16. In part, she said that spirituality is a part of everyday life. “When somebody says to you, ‘On Sunday morning what I want to do is get up in the morning with my cup of coffee and read The New York Times,’ that is spiritual renewal.”

A story on the creation of a film commission in New London was broadcast on WVIT-Channel 8 on March 10 and included President Norman Fainstein, who said of CC’s potential exposure via film: “I think you always want to be noticed, but you want to be noticed in a positive way.”

Tulane University’s Hullabaloo quoted Mab Segrest, Fuller-Maathai Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies, in a March 10 article on New Orleans ’ International Women’s Day Festival. “The state of the nation today is the state of New Orleans, and the state of the women in the nation today is the state of the women in the Ninth Ward,” she said.

The New London Times published a story March 3 about the formation of a local chapter of Wild Ones, an organization that promotes natural landscaping. It included this quote by Kathy Dame ’90, assistant director of the arboretum, who helped organize the inaugural meeting on campus: “I’ve been very interested in this group for several years … I’m glad we’re finally making strides to accomplish [establishment of a chapter].”

A March 3 story in the New London Times about Tiana Davis ’03, who returned to campus to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy, included a quote by Tracee Reiser, interim dean of multicultural affairs, associate dean for community learning and associate director of the Holleran Center: “Tiana is an extraordinary woman. There were so many challenges entering into an elite liberal arts college, but she always thought of her community. She made sure to do her part.”

In a March 3 article on raising awareness of the crisis in Sudan that appeared in The Day, Lauren Welch ’07 was quoted as saying, “No one wants to read about 400,000 deaths. It doesn’t bring very good ratings.”

Roger Brooks, Elie Wiesel Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies and associate dean of the faculty, was quoted in an article on CC’s participation in the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education that appeared in the January issue of Greater Hartford Business Times. “We’re always looking for ways to measure the effectiveness of a Connecticut College education. And we feel our participation will help the public better understand how important a liberal arts education is in today’s society.”

“Conn Turns Tight Game Into Rout,” read the headline on the front page of The Day’s sports section March 30. “That’s the best half we’ve played probably in my three years here,” men’s lacrosse coach Dave Campbell said in the story. “We made good decisions with the ball offensively and we were great defensively.”

Catherine Stock, professor of history, spoke about the way her experience with undergraduates has helped her guide her own children through the college admission process in a March 27 Chronicle of Higher Education story on faculty children applying to college. “As a freshman adviser, I know that half of your life at school is fulfilling distribution requirements.” She tells her son, who is a college sophomore, “Let’s find out more about the professor. What are his other classes? Is he visiting or full-fledged? This way you make intelligent choices, rather than just putting your hand over your eyes and saying, ‘Greeks in Late Antiquity.’”