Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, associate professor of anthropology, presented a talk titled “Reproductive Insecurity and the Management of Memory in Cameroon” at Brown University. She also presented a paper titled “How Rumor Begets Rumor: Collective Memory, Ethnic Conflict, and Reproductive Rumors in Cameroon,” at the Social Consequences of Rumor and Legend conference in Bellagio, Italy.

Kathleen Ryor, associate professor of art history, has been awarded a Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship for her book project titled “Sensual Pleasures and Bodily Disciplines: Xu Wei and Late Ming Corporeality.” Ryor also delivered one of the Hsiang Lectures on Chinese Poetry at McGill University.

Kimberly Baker, visiting assistant professor of biology, had an article titled “Ets-2 and Components of Mammalian SWI/SNF Form a Repressor Complex that Negatively Regulates the BRCA1 Promoter” published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The article will be published in print in June.

Kate Coddington, a senior history major with a focus on Latin American history, has spent much of the last two years examining the tensions that exist between long-time Georgetown residents and immigrants, and the reasons why their volatile relationship has not led to major trouble.

Julia Alvarez, author of “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents” and “In the Time of the Butterflies,” will present the convocation address at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, May 2 at Carleton College’s Skinner Memorial Chapel. Alvarez’s talk is titled “Oh See Can You Say: On the Challenges of Being an American Writer.” A book signing will follow the convocation. Both events are free and open to the public.

Stephan Zweifel, associate professor of biology, will give a talk titled “Stem Cells: Scientific Progress, Ethical Conflicts, and Future Research Directions” at noon on Tuesday, May 6, in Olin Hall, Room 141 at Carleton College. The event is free and open to the public; a reception will follow the talk.

Shahzad Bashir, assistant professor of religion, presented a paper titled “The Devil, Women, and Oneness of Being: Sufi Masters in Nineteenth-Century Southern Punjab” at the recent conference on Sufism and Social Transformation in the Punjab at Amherst College.

Carleton College will host a regional DVD Fest at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 26 at the Carleton Concert Hall. Organized by Carleton senior Reed Martin, the festival will feature the viewing and judging of the top two- to five-minute DVD short movies from each of nine colleges in the region.

Eleanor Zelliot, the Laird Bell Professor Emerita of History, chaired a panel of young scholars on “History and Identity: A Discussion of Dalait Perspectives” at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. She gave a paper titled “Using the Voices of India’s Untouchables” for the panel on “Fresh Material: Teaching about Asia with New Research and Technology” at the AsiaNetwork conference.

Eric Hillemann, college archivist, has been named the winner of the Dr. N. Gordon Carper Lifetime Achievement Award for 2003. The Carper Award was established by the Academic Competition Federation (ACF) in 1999 to honor individuals “for meritorious services in sustaining and enriching collegiate academic competitions.” The Carper Award is the most prestigious honor available within the quizbowl world and Hillemann is the fourth recipient.