Faculty-Staff Achievements, April 4, 2011
Award
Having fun and doing good was the unofficial theme of the sixth annual Chili Cook-Off March 27 at the Saratoga Regional YMCA. Proceeds from the event support the Y's "We Build People" Scholarship Program, which helps youngsters attend summer camp and provides access to the Y for people in the community?including families affiliated with the backstretch at the Saratoga Race Course.
This year's cook-off had the largest number of participating chefs?20 pots of chili
in a variety of flavors and heats were provided for the public to taste. Members of
the voting public paid for a ballot that allowed them to sample and vote in four categories,
including "Best-Dressed Chef," "Best Non-Traditional Chili," and "Best Hot!Hot!Hot!
Chili," among others. The public also voted for the winner of the Golden Pepper Award?the
event's top prize.
Robin Adams, assistant director of leadership activities, won the Golden Pepper Award as well
as the "Best Traditional Red Chili" and "Best-Dressed Chef" prizes. (His chef's apron
had a "people's chili" theme, illustrated left.)
The Y was the big winner - with a donation of nearly $1,800 to its scholarship fund.
The proceeds doubled last year's Chili Cook-Off contribution.
Activities
David Domozych, professor of biology, presented an invited seminar titled "Unraveling the mysteries of the plant cell wall: Charophycean Green Algae and the evolution of wall polymers," March 29 at the Department of Botany and Plant Science, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway. The talk was sponsored by the university's student Botanical Society.
Eric Morser, assistant professor of history, gave a talk titled "Hinterland Dreams" March 23 in connection with National History Day at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He drew on his new book by the same title to discuss the political economy and development of La Crosse in the 19 th century. The talk was sponsored by UW-L's departments of history, economics, and sociology; the La Crosse Public Library, and Viterbo University's Department of History.
Jay Rogoff, lecturer in English,gave a reading of his poetry March 24 at Boston University.He also read from his poetry as part of a panel celebrating the 30 th anniversary of the Washington Prize at the Feb. 3-5 annual conference of the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs), Washington, D.C. The Cutoff, the first of his three books of poems, came out in 1995 from the Word Works as the 1994 Washington Prize winner.
Publications
Jay Rogoff, lecturer in English, has two poems in the new issue of Notre Dame Review, No. 31, Winter/Spring 2011: "In the King's Arms" and "The Line." An interview with him about his chapbook of sonnets, Twenty Danses Macabre, appears in the current issue of the online journal storySouth, No. 31, Spring 2011. In addition, he has published "City Ballet," an essay-review of Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi's film of "Jerome Robbins's NY Export: Opus Jazz," in Ballet Review, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Fall 2010). His essay-review "They Do Stand Upon Pointes: Dancing Shakespearean Dreams," which considers George Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Frederick Ashton's "The Dream," and Stephen Petronio's "I Drink the Air Before Me," appears in the new issue of The Hopkins Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Winter 2011).
In the News
Eric Morser, assistant professor of history, was interviewed by Wisconsin Public Radio in mid-March about his book, Hinterland Dreams. A podcast of the talk available here.
Steve Stern, professor of English, is featured in an interview and story titled "Steve Stern: A Lyrical Voice in the Ghetto," by Helen Edelman '74 published in Simply Saratoga, spring edition, a publication of Saratoga Today. The magazine is available from the newspaper and around town.