The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Scott Carlson wrote a feature titled “In an Old School Building, Carleton College and Its Community Enjoy New Lessons” for the publication’s Jan. 21 edition. Carlson tells the history of the building, how the College purchased and planned the renovation, shows how many of the old spaces morphed into the new and how Carleton used many of the old parts of the building in interesting and creative ways. The article includes an online slide show as well.

Carleton College has announced the formation of a new Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE), combining the efforts of the College’s Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) and Acting in the Community Together (ACT) offices, while adding a third area of public scholarship to bring increased visibility to collaborations between faculty and students, and to support the work of engaged scholarship by Carleton’s faculty. The new effort will be launched with an open house on Friday, Jan. 20, from 10 a.m.-12 noon, at the Sayles-Hill Student Center, room 150. Carleton President Steven G. Poskanzer and Dean of the College Beverly Nagel will offer remarks at 11:15 a.m.

Almost 100 years ago, on Dec. 14, 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole. Now, in the centennial year of Antarctic exploration, Carleton College has published a new edition of “Cold: The Record of an Antarctic Sledge Journey.” Originally published in 1931 and written by Carleton’s fourth president, Laurence McKinley Gould, “Cold” is the riveting, first-hand account of Gould’s extraordinary experience serving as chief scientist and Second-in-Command in the infamous Admiral Richard E. Byrd Antarctic Expedition from 1928-30.

Carleton christened the new Weitz Center for Creativity’s theater this week with the Carleton Players’ presentation of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

Carleton students who are part of the College’s Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) program, along with program director Adrienne Falcon, are mentioned in a MinnPost.com story on Northfield community leader Janet Lewis Muth. Muth has aided a number of local non-profit organizations by basically helping the groups help themselves. “You can help one individual with a given problem, but if you change systems then you help much more broadly,” Falcon says in the piece. “Janet is someone who is able to navigate levels from individual help to systems change really effectively.” Carleton students joined in Muth’s efforts to start a multicultural cook club, with the students eventually taking the lead over from Muth. Falcon and Carleton students also aided Muth in efforts to streamline transportation options for local residents who don’t own cars.

Carleton, along with a handful of other Minnesota private colleges, is featured in the July 4 edition of the Star Tribune regarding the schools’ sustainability efforts. Carleton sustainability assistant Ryan Noe ’12 (Rock Island, Ill.) is quoted in the story. “Some people think they are in a bubble,” Noe said. “Changing people’s attitudes is important if we really want to help the environment.”

Nancy Braker, director of the Cowling Arboretum, was interviewed by Northfield Patch regarding the large numbers of eastern tent caterpillars in and around Northfield this spring and early summer. “They are quite abundant this year,” she said. “But they are not a species that concerns us.” Braker noted one benefit of a bumper crop of eastern tent caterpillars: While most birds do not eat caterpillars because of their prickly skin, black-billed cuckoos love them. In years with many caterpillars, the number of cuckoos seen in Northfield also increases, she said.

Carleton Ultimate (CUT) won its third national title by dominating the competition at this past weekend’s USA Ultimate Collegiate Championships. CUT went unbeaten throughout the national tournament, finishing 4-0 in pool play before breezing past Stanford, Iowa and Wisconsin to take home its third national title in club history and second in the last three years. CUT was backed by a large contingent of parents, alumni and fans during the national tourney in Boulder, Colo.

One of Carleton’s club ultimate teams, Eclipse, captured its first national title by taking the USA Ultimate Division 3 championship this weekend in Buffalo, N.Y. Eclipse staged a near-impossible rally in the title match, overcoming a 5-0 deficit to Williams College (Mass.) to win the championship, 8-6. Incredibly, all four of Carleton’s club ultimate teams have now won national titles. We have a link to a great report from admissions blogger Marlena Hartman-Filson ’13, along with some photos from the amazing weekend.

A group of Carleton students traveled to the Lexington, Ky., area to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity during the College’s spring break. The group worked on Lexington’s first “green” building housing project, which received considerable local media attention. Local ABC affiliate WTVQ covered the project and featured the Carleton contingent, as did the Lexington Herald-Leader. There are also photos on the Lexington Habitat for Humanity Facebook page.