For the fourth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Carleton College among the top ten liberal arts colleges in the nation. Carleton placed eighth this year in the magazine’s annual rankings of the best colleges in the country, up from a ninth-place ranking last year.

Nearly 2,000 Carleton College alumni from around the country are expected to gather at their alma mater June 18-20, to reconnect with friends and celebrate the four years they spent as students in Northfield. This year, all Carleton alumni whose graduation year ends with a four or a nine are invited back to campus for a weekend of reunion festivities.

Teenage Hmong girls struggling to strike a balance between traditional Hmong values and the pressures of today’s popular culture in America will soon have another outlet for discussing their concerns. So hopes Carleton College senior Mary Moua, who has been awarded a $60,000 echoing green Public Service Fellowship to found an after-school program titled “Hmong Women’s Circle,” which will be offered in three St. Paul-area schools starting next fall.

Carleton College will be the site for a traditional Native American Pow Wow on Saturday, May 15, beginning at 1 p.m. on the Bald Spot, the open grassy area in the center of campus. Usually held in the spring, a Pow Wow is a celebration honoring the earth, with drumming and dancing as the centerpiece. Native American crafts also will be on display and food items will be available to sample. The event is free and open to the public.

The Carleton College Academic Quiz Team reached its ultimate goal last weekend by capturing the undergraduate national title at the 1999 National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) Intercollegiate Championships, held April 9-10 on the campus of the University of Michigan.

The elegance and splendor of 19th-century English life will be revived as Carleton College celebrates its second annual Regency Ball on Sunday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Severance Great Hall.

Ralph Fjelstad, emeritus professor of government at Carleton College, died on Tuesday, March 2, 1999. He was 83.

Bill Hillsman, the man behind the creative award-winning campaign ads for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, will speak at Carleton College’s Friday Convocation on Feb. 26, 1999, at 10:50 a.m. in Skinner Memorial Chapel. He will discuss the influence of money and the media on the political process, and how the growing partisanship of the major parties is driving voters away from participating in the election process.

Carleton College President Stephen R. Lewis, Jr., has announced he will take a sabbatical from January to March 1999 as approved by the College’s Board of Trustees. Dean of the College Elizabeth McKinsey will serve as acting president during his absence. McKinsey will continue to serve in her current position as well.

Carleton College has been awarded two grants totaling $695,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York. $445,000 will be used to support four two-year postdoctoral fellowships and $250,000 will strengthen the College’s faculty development program.