Centre College Class Takes Blaine Lewis to Barbados

2013 Jan 8

Blaine Lewis of Frankfort, a junior at Centre College, is studying abroad in Barbados during CentreTerm, the College's unique, three-week winter term.

Under the direction of Dr. Melissa Burns-Cusato, associate professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience, students are given the opportunity to observe, research and document primate behaviors in the wild.

"The island of Barbados is the perfect location for studying primate behavior because it is the home of an ideal population of wild vervet monkeys," says Burns-Cusato. "The African populations of vervets have a rather sophisticated alarm call system. When a monkey spots a predator, the monkey makes a loud, barking alarm call, and researchers have questioned to what extent these alarm calls are learned and to what extent they are genetic."

Lewis is the son of Lonnie and Ann Lewis of Frankfort and is a graduate of Franklin County High School.

Centre College, founded in 1819 and chosen to host its second Vice Presidential Debate in 2012, is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges, at 42nd in the nation, and ranks 27th for best value among national liberal arts colleges. Forbes magazine ranks Centre 34th among all the nation's colleges and universities and has named Centre in the top five among all institutions of higher education in the South for three years in a row. Centre is also ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News for its study abroad program.