Major in Chronicle of Higher Education, Tonkin in Farmington Patch, Anderson in der Freitag, and More

William Major, associate professor of English in Hillyer College, wrote an article for the “Advice” column that was published in the Jan. 16 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. In the column, Major wrote about what happened when he offered students in his literature course who were studying Henry David Thoreau’s Walden extra credit if they would live without their cellphones for five days. The students’ reaction? “You would think I'd asked the class to remove their collective clothes. Which, in a way, I had,” Major wrote. To read more about this experiment, click here.

Humphrey Tonkin, president emeritus of the University and director of the President’s College, was featured in an article posted to Farmington Patch on Jan. 25 that highlighted the launch of the “Director’s College” lecture series at the Farmington Libraries. The series, which has a travel and adventure theme, will include professorial lecture series with audience participation, performing arts with give-and-take, travelogues, music series, and additional programming. To read the article, click here.

The work of Michael Anderson, professor of computer science in the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and his wife, Susan, a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, has been featured in a number of stories in media publications around the world due to their unique research into robot ethics. The most recent posting was in the German publication der Freitag. To read it, click here.

News about local students who will be honored at the Jan. 30 Connecticut Regional Scholastic Art Awards ceremony being held at the University’s Lincoln Theater and having their award-winning work on display in the Hartford Art School’s Silpe Gallery was noted in The Day of New London newspaper, West Hartford News, and Hartford Courant.

The Montana Writer blog posted on Jan. 26 a list of the ten best baseball books ever written, and included among the autobiographies of Ted Williams and Satchel Paige and the biography of Ty Cobb was Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball, written by Warren Goldstein, chair of the history department in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Goldstein delves beneath the myth into baseball’s very pre-history, to discover the historical origins of the game that has defined America more than any other. The result is a remarkable work that is beautifully written, entertaining, and difficult to put down,” notes the blog. To read more, click here

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