Earthquake and Tsunami: Trinity Responds
Spearheaded by the efforts of Panida Pollawit '12, a group of Trinity
students raised more than $1,000 to aid the victims of the earthquake
that wreaked havoc in Japan on March 11. The money was sent to the
consulate general of Japan in Boston and forwarded to the Red Cross in
Japan. More than 15,000 people were killed and thousands more were
injured or missing as a result of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
Pollawit, a biochemistry major who spent the spring 2010 semester studying near Tokyo, said she decided to help after she exchanged e-mails with friends and saw videos posted on the Internet. Pollawit enlisted the aid of students and faculty in the Japanese Program in the Department of Language and Culture Studies. Volunteers staffed tables outside Mather Hall during meal times, and Japanese candy purchased at a nearby Asian supermarket was available as an incentive for people to donate. About half of the total amount collected was raised in that manner, said Pollawit, who is the newly elected president of the Student Government Association (SGA). Faculty and staff members also contributed, and additional money was raised from a calligraphy demonstration and from other events held during Spring Weekend.
Pollawit said she's proud of the campus community. "People wanted to help," she noted. "And we gave them a venue and a platform so that they could do that."
Sounding Boards
Each month since fall 2010, a group of five young faculty members from the Language and Culture Studies Department has met to critique each others' writing. The work under discussion is intended for academic journals and conferences. Topics range from women in the public sphere in 18th-century Germany to religious practices of 16th-century Catholics. When Sara Kippur, Julie Goesser, Christopher van Ginhoven, Yipeng Shen, and Kifah Hanna meet, one can sense how eager they are to discuss each others' work. Although they each represent a different language (French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic, respectively), there is a distinct sense of community.
Nearly all of them are in their first year at Trinity. "It's very difficult to keep up with research as a new faculty member," explains Kippur, a founding member. Hanna, the other founder, says they hope to find inspiration in the work of the group.
When Christopher van Ginhoven went over his article, "Spiritual Exercises in their Planetary Efficacy: The Case of the Jesuit Order" (which he ultimately presented at the Renaissance Society of America's annual conference in Montreal in March), the group was quick with questions and suggestions. "What do you mean by this?" "Could you say it this way instead?" Although these scholars are the first to admit they are not experts in each others' fields, Hanna sums up the benefit of the critiques when she says, "It's lovely to read something I know nothing about and might never happen across if it weren't for this group."
Rich Resource: U.S. Government Printing Office Shines Light on Trinity College Library
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has featured the Trinity College Library in its February issue of the Depository Library Spotlight, lauding the library's "long history of providing access to needed U.S. Government information."
Trinity was first designated as a federal depository library in 1895, resulting in its providing access to U.S. government information to faculty and students for 115 years.
College Librarian Richard Ross said the GPO's decision to focus attention on Trinity is recognition of the library's longstanding commitment to serving the College community, to offering an extensive collection of materials, to augmenting the school's curriculum, and to making sure that "very rich resources" are available to library patrons.
