Colgate News Room

Colgate's faculty members are often called upon to comment on complex issues in the news, from cybersecurity to global politics or finance. Whatever the topic, a member of the communications staff can help you quickly find the resource you need.

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Featured Expert

In this video, professor Dan Epstein discusses politics in Russia. Epstein was recently featured in an NECN news program to discuss the possible motives and history of the Boston bombing suspects.

Professor Epstein is available to provide insights or answer questions on the connection between Chechen terrorists (whose major grievance has historically been with the Russian state) and the United States as a target.

Reporters on deadline should contact Barbara Brooks or Matt Hames.

For more stories and videos showing Colgate faculty members' expertise on current events, click here.

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Colgate Faculty Featured in the News

• Professor Mary Simonson was interviewed for a CNN story on the Great Gatsby. "They're not going to care too much about whether this is a well-done adaptation," she said about Hollywood. "They're going to care about whether it's a Hollywood blockbuster."

• Professor Dan Epstein joined NECN to discuss the link between the Boston Marathon bombing suspects and Chechnya extremists. “There are all kinds of groups running around there and it’s very difficult to know who is who and what connections there could possibly be,“ said Epstein.

• Professor Michael Loranty was involved in research from the American Museum of Natural History that predicts a dramatically greener Arctic. You can read more about the impact here.

• Revolutions per Minute, the Sound Art Exhibition at Colgate University thanks to Wenhua Shi, Assistant Professor of Digital Arts in the Department of Art and Art History, was featured in Complex Magazine, a magazine about art.

• The Christian Science Monitor featured the biblical expertise of Lesleigh Cushing, associate professor of religion & jewish studies; director of jewish studies for an article titled "Why History Channel's 'The Bible' draws boffo ratings despite reviews." 

• Professor Enrique Galvez of Colgate University is featured in a Scientific American video called "Quantum Entanglement Takes a Road Trip". Galvez built a machine to observe quantum entanglement, the strange phenomenon that Einstein called "spooky action at a distance." 

• In "Africa: Securitization or Terrorization?" Jacob Mundy assistant professor of peace and conflict studies, analyzes US counterterrorism policy and the crisis in the Sahara-Sahel.    

• U.S. Catholic featured the mock papal conclave at Colgate in early March in a piece titled "Whoever church chooses as pope, his voice matters, say non-Catholics."  The article featured Colgate senior lecturer Ben Stahlberg and Deacon Mark Shiner.

• The New York Times featured a story on “Revolutions per Minute,” an innovative Chinese sound-art exhibition being organized at Colgate by Wenhua Shi, assistant professor of art and art history. The post also appeared in the March 4th edition of the paper as an Arts, Briefly, item.

• In an article titled "By 2050, US may have Prez of Asian origin", author Paramita Ghosh, of the Hindustan Times reports that migration from Asia will change US demographics. The article reports that "Indian Americans lead all other groups by a significant margin in their levels of income and education." Colgate professor Navine Murshid, who is workng on a book about migration, cautions that "the problem with such generalisation is that it overlooks the large Asian refugee populations from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, for example, who lead difficult lives in the US." 

• In "The Case Against Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame," Newsweek reporter Howard W. French asked Susan Thomson of Colgate's peace and conflict studies program to comment on the Rwandan Patriotic Front: “The RPF saturates every aspect of life in Rwanda. They know everything: if you’ve been drinking, if you’ve had an affair, if you’ve paid your taxes.” Read the full article at the Newsweek website. 

• In "Fake sculptures plaguing art world," reporter Daniel Grant turned to Dewitt Godfrey, a Colgate professor and renowned public artist. Godfrey said, “With the advances in 3D scanning and other digital technologies, I suspect it is easier than ever to duplicate work and create copies.”  The Reuters wire story was picked up internationally.

• The New York Times interviewed Professor Graham Hodges, a former taxi driver and taxi historian, for a story about falling tips to cabbies: “There’s always a tension of whether to perceive the cabdriver as an independent-business man who has costs like you and me, or as a servant,” Hodges said. “I think people would like to see the cabdriver as a servant — someone perhaps more entitled to a tip — but they’re unable to.”

• In writing about the growth of gift giving at Hanukkah, Wall Street Journal reporter Charles Passy turned to Lesleigh Cushing of Jewish studies for her take: “As Christmas has grown commercially, Hanukkah has kept stride so Jewish kids don’t feel left out,” Cushing said. The story was picked up by several online news sources.

• In a segment titled The Birth Of The Dollar Bill, NPR's Planet Money program interviewed Colgate economist Matt Jaremski about how bank notes functioned before America had a central currency system.

MORE COLGATE IN THE NEWS

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