Nicholas Garza, a student at Middlebury College, is still missing after disappearing from a campus party on Feb. 5. Garza's friends contacted the Middlebury Department of Public Safety the morning after his disappearance, but it was thought he had left campus during the mid-term break. Heavy snowfalls have complicated the search process, which began after Garza's family filed a missing person's report on Feb. 10. Although Garza's dormitory was less than half a mile away from the site of his disappearance, Garza's mother worried that he was unprepared for the recent drop in temperatures.
Elizabeth F. Smith, an associate professor in Dartmouth's department of biological sciences, has been honored with a three-year fellowship to advance the study of cell biology among young scientists. As a K.R. Porter Fellow of the Porter Endowment for Cell Biology, Smith will visit colleges and schools to give lectures and attend informal meetings. She will also choose several young scientists to sponsor. The fellowship awards researchers who show an "unusual potential for an outstanding career in cell biology," according to the Porter Endowment website.
College of William and Mary President Gene R. Nichol resigned Feb. 12 after releasing a letter saying that a "relentless, frequently untruthful and vicious campaign" had attacked him during his two-and-a-half years at the college. Nichol cited a 2006 incident in which he angered conservatives by removing a brass cross from a chapel to defend his support of free speech and diversity. More recently, Nichol angered several state legislators when he allowed the exhibition of Sex Workers' Art Show at the college on Feb. 4. Nichol also cited responses to his efforts to expand financial aid for low-income and minority students as one of the controversies that led to his resignation.
