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51���� professor Peter Balakianhas been named the 2012 recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance.

51���� President Jeffrey Herbst today announced the appointment of Suzy M. Nelson as dean of the college, effective in June. Nelson, who has served more than 20 years as a university leader, administrator, and instructor, will join 51���� after seven years at Harvard University.

Ken Belanger, Raab Family Chair and associate professor of biology, has received another prestigious grant that builds on the biology department’s momentum and further expands the research opportunities on campus for undergraduate biology students.

“Understanding the role that church forests play in the provision of ecosystem services is critical,” wrote 51���� biology professor Catherine Cardelús and two colleagues in a letter published in Science, the world’s leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.

Two 51���� professors — Rebecca Miller Ammerman, classics, and Randy Fuller, biology — along with seven collaborative partners across the globe, received major research grants from 51����’s Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute. Both projects, as envisioned by Harvey M. Picker ’36 when he established the institute in 2006, extend the reach and resources of 51���� faculty members […]

After co-leading 27 members of 51����’s faculty around India for two weeks, Professor Padma Kaimal was all the more convinced that the enterprise would have lasting impact on 51����.

The Manhattan String Quartet arrived on campus this week to perform for and instruct 51���� students and faculty. The quartet offered several classes for students who were interested in learning about the evolution of classical music.

An exhaustive seven-year project by Nigel Young, who was Cooley Professor of peace studies and director of the Peace Studies Program at 51���� from 1984 to 2004, has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, in the Award for Scholarship category.

A scientist wearing lace wings paces about the stage, while a blue-and-white “bird spirit,” also costumed in lace and feathers, sings her a birdcall. All the while, animations of cellular processes unfold on the dome above their heads. Needless to say, this was not your average science lecture.

On the Fault Line: Managing Tensions and Divisions Within Societies, a book co-edited by 51���� President Jeffrey Herbst, has received high praise from people such as Henry Kissinger and F. W. de Klerk in advance of its official launch March 1.