Skidmore faculty and students are engaged in a rich diversity of scholarly activities across the disciplines.

Translating Poems and Cultures Translating poems and cultures “Translation is subversive writing,” declared Rajagopal Parthasarathy in this year’s Edwin Moseley Faculty Research Lecture. “By unearthing long-forgotten texts and putting them into orbit,” he said, translators can “redraw the literary map.”     The Skidmore English professor has conducted a little literary subversion himself, with his translation of the classic fifth-century Tamil epic The Tale of an Anklet in the early 1990s. The English version earned him a PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club citation, a prize from the National Academy of Letters in India, and other honors. For a multilingual society like his native India, Parthasarathy believes, “translation is essential. A nation renews itself through translation. If it is indifferent to it, it is in danger of falling off the globe.” (more)

Integrating Museum and classroom: Skidmore has appointed artist Fred Wilson to the newly created position of distinguished visiting fellow in object, exhibition, and knowledge. Supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the fellowship is designed to foster closer integration of the college’s academic program and its Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery.     Spending alternate semesters on campus for three years, Wilson will help Skidmore faculty to create museum-oriented courses, incorporate exhibitions into their courses, and curate their own exhibitions. He hopes to spearhead a new model of interdisciplinary education that will use museum objects to stimulate the exploration and discovery of new ideas. (more)

Shaping Up! Trying to keep up with the nonstop reports on new diet and exercise plans? Now there’s research at Skidmore with news you can use.     This fall Paul Arciero, associate professor of exercise science, conducted a head-to-head comparison of the American Heart Association (AHA) and Body-for-Life (BFL) regimens, measuring their effects on body composition (fat vs. muscle mass), metabolic rate (calories burned at rest), blood cholesterol, and muscle strength in women and men age twenty-five to sixty. (more)