News Releases

Hoffmann Delivers Honors Day Keynote Address

American theoretical chemist, poet and author Roald Hoffmann, winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will deliver the keynote address for Alma College’s 11th annual Kapp Honors Day.

Hoffmann will discuss “Science and Ethics: A Marriage of Necessity and Choice for This Millennium” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in the Remick Heritage Center, Presbyterian Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

More than 135 Alma College students will share their original research, creativity and talent with an audience of their peers in sessions spanning eight hours at various locations around campus during Honors Day on Thursday, April 5.

During an Honors Convocation in the Remick Heritage Center from 9:30 to 11 a.m. April 5, seniors reveal their choices for outstanding professors, and the top students are recognized, including the 2007 winner of the Barlow Trophy, Alma’s most prestigious academic honor. Finalists for the award are Erin Bernethy of Linwood, Melissa Hanson of Manistee and Marcus Hong of Charlotte, N.C.

Hoffmann has received many of the honors of his profession, including the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared with Kenichi Fukui. He is recognized as a superb teacher, lecturer and writer who has done much to convey the importance of chemistry to the general public. He helped prepare and narrate the popular PBS series, “The World of Chemistry,” and is a frequent columnist for American Scientist.

Born in Poland, Hoffmann came to the United States in 1949 and studied chemistry at Columbia University and Harvard University. Since 1965 he has taught at Cornell University, now as the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Human Letters.

“Applied theoretical chemistry” is the way Hoffmann likes to characterize the particular blend of computations simulated by experiment and the construction of generalized models, of frameworks for understanding, that is his contribution to chemistry.

His books include Chemistry Imagined, a unique art/science/literature collaboration with artist Vivian Torrence that reveals the creative and humanistic sparks of molecular science. He also is the author of The Same and Not the Same, a thoughtful account of the dualities that lie under the surface of chemistry, and Old Wine, New Flasks; Reflections on Science and Jewish Tradition.

An accomplished poet and playwright, Hoffmann’s works include a number of poetry collections, including The Metamict State (1987), Gaps and Verges (1990), Memory Effects (1999) and Soliton (2002). He also has co-written a play titled Oxygen, which has been performed worldwide and translated into 10 languages.

Hoffmann is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

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The Alma College softball team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 17 times in the last 19 years—a dynasty that ranks among the best in NCAA Division III athletics. The Scots boast a 735-254 overall record during head coach Denny Griffin’s 24-year tenure at Alma.

 

Student Profile

Ashley Mrozinski

Ashley Mrozinski
Graduation: 2013
Major: History and Social Studies

Pinconning senior Ashley Mrozinski chose to attend Alma College because of its size, but thanks to Spring Term trips to Peru and England, she has had plenty of opportunities to see the world at large.

“Alma makes it so easy to travel,” she says. “We visited Machu Picchu while in Peru, and we looked at old documents in England: things from the Crusades, X-rays of Hitler’s head, and a diary of a woman who was arrested during World War II for treason. I love seeing history up close like this.”