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The Wesleyan Connection's Achievements 2006
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Posted 12.19.06 |
Sociology Professor Speaks at 6 Beijing
Conferences
Charles Lemert, the Andrus Professor of Sociology, was sponsored by the
Chinese Government to present six lectures in Beijing Dec. 3-7.
During this time, he spoke to members of the Institute of Minority
Development Studies of the Development Research Center of the State Council,
People's Republic of China, on "What is a Religion? The Role of Minorities
in Religion Formation" and "Minorities in the USA: Contributions to Economic
Development." He spoke to members of the Chinese Academy of Social Science
on "Is Social Science Possible? The Case of Social Theory in the West, and
to the Institute of Sociology, Beijing Administrative College, Lemert
presenteda seminar on "Administration of Rapid Social Change and Its
Negative Outcomes."
Also, he spoke to the Neighborhood Council of the "100 Lucks Hutong," local
party leaders representing the people of an old village which is under
threat of destruction before city redevelopment, on "The Importance of
Community Participation: A history of Community Action in the American City
from a Personal Perspective." His final talk was at Beijing University's
Department of Sociology, where he spoke on "The Crisis of Social Theory in
the West: Can East Asia do Better?"
Dean of Diversity Invited to Join Greater Expectations Institute
Daniel Hiroyuki Teraguchi, dean for Diversity and Academic Advancement, was
invited to be a faculty member at the Association of American Colleges and
Universities 7th Annual Greater Expectations Institute: Campus Leadership
for Student Engagement, Inclusion and Achievement. Teraguchi will join a
leadership team at the event held June 20-24, 2007 in Burlington, Vt. |
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Posted 12.04.06 |
Psychology Professor Delivers Distinguished
Lecture
Jill Morawski, professor of psychology and director of the Center for
Humanities, received the honor of giving the "Distinguished Lecture in the
History of the Human Sciences" at the annual meeting of the History of
Science Society in November.
Her lecture was titled, "Experimenter, Heal Thyself: Relational Problems in
the Psychology Laboratory." It was presented at the annual meeting in
Vancouver, Canada.
CURE Fellowships Awarded to 3 Wesleyan Undergraduates
Molecular biology and biochemistry major Dan Austin '08; neuroscience and
behavior major Jenna Gopilan '07; and biology major Matthew Donne '07 each
received a research fellowship from the Connecticut United for Research
Excellence (CURE) and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).
The 2006-07 CURE-CBIA Research Fellowship program is made possible through a
U.S. Department of Labor H-1B grant. The purpose of the grant is to increase
the number of highly prepared/qualified scientists interested in pursuing
careers in the biosciences. |
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Posted 11.17.06 |
Wesleyan's Adult B'nai Mitzvah Project Lauded
in Magazine
New Voices, a magazine that focuses on Jewish life, ran a feature in their
latest issue highlighting Wesleyan's B'nai Mitzvah program. According to the
publication, the program, which they cite for its comprehensive purview and
community involvement. The full article can be seen at http://newvoices.org/cgi-bin/articlepage.cgi?id=631.
Alumnus Dedicates Book to Former Wesleyan Professor
Robert Figueira '73 is the author and editor of the hardcover book,
Plenitude of Power: The Doctrines And Exercise of Authority in the Middle
Ages : Essays in Memory of Robert Louis Benson (Church, Faith and Culture in
the Medieval West), published by Ashgate Publishing, May 2006. Figueira, a
professor of history at Lander University in South Carolina, dedicated the
book to Benson, who was professor of history at Wesleyan between the years
of 1959 and 1975.
Successful Schumann Symposium Addresses Global Warming
The third-annual Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium, held in
Exley Science Center Nov. 11, had more than 200 attendees this year. Experts
discussed the changing climatic conditions worldwide and possible impacts of
climate changes. |
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Posted 11.01.06 |
Professor of Government Delivers Presentation
on Russia's Role in Asia
Peter Rutland, chair of the College of Social Studies and professor of
government, gave a presentation on Russia as an Asian power at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC on Oct. 19. The event was
the launching of the yearbook Strategic Asia 2006: Trade, Interdependence,
and Security, edited by Ashley Tellis and Michael Wills and published by the
National Bureau of Asian Research, for which Rutland wrote a chapter on
"Russia's economic role in Asia."
Student's Thesis Project to be Presented at Child Development Meeting
A thesis project by Ariel Ballinger '07 was accepted for presentation at the
2007 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Ballinger's
project, titled "Counting, Estimation, and Approximate Nonverbal Arithmetic
in Young Children" also was the topic of her Hughes Program summer research
project. Ballinger will present a poster at the meeting, which is
co-authored by her faculty advisor, Hilary Barth, assistant professor of
psychology. In addition, Ballinger, Barth, AnjaLi Carrasco '07, Rachel
Jacobson ?08 and Jessica Tsai '07 will make another presentation at the
meeting titled "Children's Assessments of Volume and Number in 3D Object
Arrays." The meeting will be held March 29-April 1, 2007 in Boston. |
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Posted 10.17.06 |
Earth Sciences Professor Keynote Speaker at
Beijing Symposium
Johan "Joop" Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor in Earth Sciences and
chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, was invited to
give the keynote address at the 7th International Symposium on Environmental
Geochemistry in Beijing, China Sept. 23-25. While there, he spoke on
"naturally occurring hyper acid fluids," which he studied with Wesleyan
students in South America. In addition, he gave a talk titled "Mercury from
the historic Connecticut hat-making industries in Long Island Sound
sediment" and presented a poster on "Phytoremediation of Hg in soils using
genetically modified plants." Martha Gilmore, assistant professor of earth
and environmental sciences, co-authored the poster. |
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Posted 10.05.06 |
Wesleyan Web Site Honored with "Outstanding
WebAward"
The Virtual Wesleyan Web site recently was honored by the Web Marketing
Association with a 2006 Outstanding Website WebAward. The association judged
the site on design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity,
copywriting and ease of use. Wesleyan's site received a score of 65 points;
the industry average was 51.6 points. It is online at http://www.wesleyan.edu/virtualtour/.
Research Professor Plenary Speaker at International Meeting
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, was
invited to present a plenary keynote address during the International
Symposium on Foraminifera Sept. 10-15 in Natal, Brazil. The meeting, which
is organized every four years, is attended by experts who study biology,
environmental records and paleontology of foraminifera, or unicellular,
eukaryotic organisms. Thomas's address was titled "Deep-sea benthic
foraminifera and the oceanic carbon cycle during the Cenozoic." Wesleyan
funded her travels. In addition, she gave two talks titled "How fast was
food delivery to the seafloor restored after the Cretaceous/Paleogene
plankton extinction," and "Benthic foraminifera in a human-dominated
environment: Long Island Sound," which was co-authored by Johan Varekamp,
chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department and the Harold T.
Sterns Professor of Earth Science. She also was the co-author of three
posters presented at the meeting titled "Deep-Sea environments across the
Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary in the SE Atlantic Ocean," "Enigmatic early
Miocene biserial foraminifera" and "Molecular and morphological studies of
Streptochilus from the Arabian Sea."
Assistant Professor Organizes, Speaks at American Studies Conference
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, assistant professor of anthropology and American
studies, organized a panel as part of New England American Studies
Association Conference Sept. 15. She was one of 100 people who attended the
meeting on federal recognition and tribal sovereignty at the meeting titled
"Homeland In/Security: Race and Citizenship in the United States," held in
Portland, Maine.
Classical Guitarist Featured in Connecticut Post
Cem Duruoz, private lessons teacher for guitar, was featured in a recent
Connecticut Post article titled "Let's Tango." Duruoz, who moved from
California to Connecticut in 2003 to teach at Wesleyan, said he was spurred
on in his love for the guitar in his native country Turkey by a cousin. In
the past few years, Duruoz has performed in festivals, orchestral concerts,
recitals and on radio and television programs in Greece, France, Spain,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Poland, Mexico, Turkey and throughout the United
States.
Graduate Student's Work Featured in Art, Science Competition
Digital artwork by Frank Stellabotte, a Ph.D candidate in the Biology
Department, is featured in this year's Art & Science Collaborations Inc.
Bio/Med SciART Competition. The purpose of ASCI is to raise public awareness
about artists and scientists using science and technology to explore new
forms of creative expression and to increase communication and collaboration
between these fields. Stellabotte's art, titled "Cellular Distinction,"
features the individual cells of the zebrafish embryo.
Frosh Installed as Organist at Local Church
Ann-Marie Illsley '10 was installed as a church organist at St. Paul
Lutheran Church in Middletown on Oct. 1. A native of Bridgewater, Mass., she
has studied the pipe organ for seven years, and spent the past two years as
the organist at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Bridgewater.
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Posted 09.15.06 |
Graduate Student Honored at Molecular Biology
Meeting
Graduate student Hannah Stubbs '06 won an award for a poster she presented
at the Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, sponsored by the
Genetics Society of America and held at Princeton University from July
25-30. Ten posters were recognized out of about 500presented. The name of
the poster is "Suppressors of Sir2-induced lethality in yeast," a topic
which fell under the "Gene Expression: Chromatin" category.
University Staff Attend Prestigious Institutes
Pat Tully, associate university librarian, attended the Frye Institute at
Emory University in Atlanta. The institute is designed for future library
leaders. Only 15 percent of applicants are accepted. Barbara Jones, Caleb T.
Winchester University Librarian, Daniel Schnaidt, academic computing Manager
for Arts and Humanities, and Billy Weitzer, senior associate provost and
dean of Continuing Studies, were selected for the First Institute on
Scholarly Communication at UCLA in July.
Tennis Coach Honored as "Effective Educator"
Ken Alrutz, head men's and women's tennis coach, was honored by the Miami
University (Oxford, Ohio) Alumni Association with an Effective Educator
Award. The award was established to recognize special individuals at Miami
who educate and inspire students. |
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Posted 08.24.06 |
Wesleyan Plays Soccer in Brazil
The Wesleyan men's soccer team played four exhibition games in Brazil Aug.
10-22. The Cardinals trained for two days before playing the first of the
exhibition games against local and national teams.
Sociology Professor Featured on Australian Radio Program
Charles Lemert, the Andrus Professor of Sociology, presented a talk titled
"The Heroic Individual Caught Between Two Cultures," which was broadcasted
on Australian National Radio Aug. 2.
Student Shares Kenyan Experience in Newspaper Article
An article by John Chisholm '09 was featured in The Times Record of
Brunswick, Maine Aug. 8. Chisholm, who is visiting Kakamega, Kenya on a
grant through Wesleyan, is working at an orphanage this summer.
Magazines Cite Wesleyan's Excellence, Economic Diversity, Service
The annual college rankings posted by U.S. News and World Report puts
Wesleyan 10th this year among national liberal arts institutions, up two
spots from last year. The university was also ranked 7th for economic
diversity, a testament to Wesleyan's need-blind admissions policy and the
fact that more than 45 percent of Wesleyan's students receive aid of some
sort.
Wesleyan was also ranked 3rd this year by The Washington Monthly,
which ranks schools by "not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges
are doing for the country... Are our colleges making good use of our tax
dollars? Are they producing graduates who can keep our nation competitive in
a changing world?" |
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Posted 07.28.06 |
Associate Professor Featured in Biophysical
Society Newsletter
Ishita Mukerji, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry,
was featured in the Biophysical Society's printed newsletter in the May/June
Issue. A PDF of the document can be found at
http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/images/mukerji.pdf
Assistant Professor Presents Work at Cancer Institute
Manju Hingorani, assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry,
presented a seminar at the 10th Annual Buffalo DNA Replication and Repair
Symposium as the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. on the
"Mechanisms of DNA Mismatch Repair" on June 23.
Associate Professor to Present at Ribosome Conference
Michael McAlear, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry,
was invited to present a poster at the Seventh International Conference on
Ribosome Synthesis at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Va. Aug.
16-20.
Adjunct Professor Discusses Novel at Library Event
Kit Reed, adjunct professor of English, was the featured speaker at The
Friends of Rathbun Memorial Library's "Fridays at 5:30" series July 21 in
East Haddam, Conn. Reed spoke about her latest book, "The Baby Merchant,"
which has been described by The Hartford Courant as "a wicked, visionary
tale, pregnant with thoughts about a corrupt, affluent society in which
stolen designer newborns are the hottest high-end commodity and status
symbol."
Student Invited to Make Presentation at the Roosevelt Policy Expo
Thomas Coen '07, has been selected to present at the Roosevelt Policy Expo,
a summit of vision and ideas, taking place in Washington, DC on Aug. 2. The
Roosevelt Institution is a national network of student think tanks providing
the organizational infrastructure to get student ideas into the public
discourse. Coen will be presenting his research on the economic development
of a small neighborhood in Ngaoundere, Cameroon.
Student to Act in New York City Play
Halley Feiffer,'07, will be performing in a play by playwrite Eric Bogosian
at the Second Stage Theater in New York, N.Y. The play, "SubUrbia" is
opening Sept. 6. SubUrbia examines a day in the life of seven rootless young
Americans who gather in the parking lot of a Pakistani family's convenience
store.
Grad Student Wins Middletown Race
Wes Fuhrman, a graduate student in biology, was the first to finish
Middletown's "Citizens Bank Not Your Typical 5K" race July 20. He completed
the 3.1-mile race in 15 minutes 47 seconds. Fuhrman, who was one of 500
runners in the race, captained the Wesleyan track and cross country teams
this year. This is the first time he competed in the annual event. |
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Posted 07.06.06 |
Professor of Government's Lectures on DVD
John Finn, professor of government, recently completed a 36-lecture course
on Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights for The Teaching Company. The
series is available on both CD and DVD.
Professor of Sociology Delivers Lectures on Black Britain
Lectures by Charles Lemert, the John C. Andrus Professor of Sociology, were
featured in London's Black Britain, a provider of daily news and information
to black and minority ethnic communities, on July 3. |
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Posted 06.15.06 |
Film Professor Honored by American Film
Institute
Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, chair of Film
Studies and curator of the Cinema Archives, was honored by the American Film
Institute in recognition of her achievements as a film historian and her
leadership of Wesleyan’s Film Studies Department June 7 in Hollywood, Calif.
Basinger was given an honorary AFI Conservatory degree.
Professor of Letters Plenary Speaker at Psychoanalytic Association
Meeting
Paul Schwaber, professor of letters, presented “Hamlet and Psychoanalytic
Experience” during the Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic
Association June 16 in Washington D.C. Schwaber was the meeting's plenary
speaker and compared aesthetic and psychoanalytic experience, suggesting
that humans revalue Freud’s unease that his case stories read like short
stories.
Students Selected for Drug Abuse Research Program
Azeb Gebre '07, Michael Raymond '08 and Tashia Chin '07 have been selected
for the Summer Research with National Institute on Drug Abuse Program.
Sponsored by the NIDA, this program provides underrepresented high school
and undergraduate students with an introduction to drug abuse research and
encourages them to consider careers in the biomedical and behavioral
sciences. The students will be working with Lisa Dierker, associate
professor of psychology, on research examining diverse risk factors for the
development of substance abuse and dependence among adolescents and young
adults.
Incoming Student First Cooke Foundation Scholar to Go to College
Katherine Feldman '10 of Middlesex, Vt. is one of 34 Jack Kent Cooke
Foundation Young Scholars from across the United States who will be starting
college this year. Feldman enrolled in the Young Scholar program in eighth
grade. The Young Scholars Program was founded to give high achieving,
financially needy eighth graders what they need to succeed, stick with them
through high school and college, and their greatness will emerge. |
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Posted 05.28.06 |
Administrative Assistant Retires After 42
Years
Georgie Leone, administrative assistant for the Center for African American
Studies, is retiring in June after 42-years at Wesleyan. She began her
career here at age of 18 and has worked in four departments on campus.
Student Donates Artwork to Wesleyan
Artwork by Dennis King-Yeung Chan '06, a Freeman Scholar, will be on display
in the University Health Center. Chan donated his pencil drawing of the
University Health Center to Dr. Philippa Coughlan, director of the Office of
Behavioral Health for Students. His drawing is a graphic representation, or
analytique, of the health center. Coughlan had the drawing matted and framed
with museum-quality materials. Chan, a physics major, made the drawing in
ARST 433, Measured Drawing, during Fall Semester 2004.
Students, Alumni Admitted into Fulbright Scholar Program
The recipients and their fellowships include: Cara Chebuske '06: Teaching
Assistantship for English in South Korea; Emily Garts '06: Teaching
Assistantship for English in Germany; Amie Kim '04: Teaching Assistantship
for English in South Korea; Elizabeth Langston '05: French Government
Teaching Assistantship for English in Guadeloupe; Kate McCrery '06: Teaching
Assistantship for English in Germany; Sascha Weiss '04: Garcia
Robles/Fulbright bi-national business grant for Mexico-involves internship
plus evening university studies; Rose Tisdall '06: Teaching Assistantship
for English in Germany; Roger Yang, M.D. '99: alternate for Fulbright Grant
in Medical Sciences, Australia.
Students Receive Assistantship to Teach in France
Laura Goldblatt '06 and Elizabeth Langston '06 each received a French
Government Teaching Assistantship to teach English. Goldblatt will teach
English in France and Langston will teach in Guadeloupe. The French Ministry
of Education and the Cultural Services at the French Embassy offer between
1,000 and 1,700 teaching assistant positions.
Students Receive Baden-Wurttemberg Exchange Grants
Andrew Eppich '06 and Jonathan Chen, graduate student in music, each
received a Baden-Wurttemberg Exchange Grant. Eppich will be spending the
2006-07 academic year in Tubingen, Germany doing religious studies. Chen
will be in Karlsruhe, Germany for the year studying experimental music at
the Staatliche Hochschule fur Gestaltung (State Academy for Design) and at
the Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnik (Center for Art and Media).
Scholarship Will Take Senior to Japan to Study
Ingram Weber '06 received a Monbukagakusho Research Student Scholarship at
Kyoto University in Japan. Monbukagakusho, the Japanese Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, offers five different
scholarships for non-Japanese nationals wishing to study in Japan.
Rugby Team Members Selected to Join National Team
Molly Dengler '06, and Maggie Starr '06, both members of the Wesleyan Rugby
Team, have been selected to join the Women's Under-23 Northeast Select Side
rugby team at the 2006 Inter-Territorial Trials for the Under-23 USA
National Rugby Team. This team represents the best players from all Division
I, II, and III teams from New York to Maine who are under 23 years of age.
Adjunct Professor Featured in Vanity Fair
Kit Reed, adjunct professor of English, was featured in Vanity Fair's
"Hot Type" section in the June 2006 issue. |
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Posted 05.16.06 |
Retiring Faculty Honored at Reception
Richard Boyd, professor of government and chair, Government Department; Sue
Fisher, professor of sociology; Gertrude Reif Hughes, professor of English;
Eugene Klaaren, associate professor of religion; Fred Linton, professor of
mathematics; Richard Miller, the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics;
Yoshiko Yokochi Samuel, professor of Asian languages and literatures; and
Harry Sinnamon, professor of psychology have retired in 2006.
Student and Friends Publish The Notebook Girls to Great Acclaim
Sophie Pollitt-Cohen '09 is co-author of The Notebook Girls by Warner Books.
Since the book's debut April 13, Pollitt-Cohen and her co-author friends
have been featured in several newspapers and on television shows. For more
information go to:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/campus/0506notebookgirls.html. |
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Posted 05.01.06 |
Assistant Professor's Book Receives History
Prize
Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history and letters, received the
Journal of the History of Ideas Morris D. Forkosch Prize for the Best Book
in Intellectual History. Kleinberg's book, titled Generation Existential:
Heidegger's Philosophy in France, 1927-1961, was published in
2005.
Film Studies Professor to Receive Doctorate of Humane Letters
Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film studies, chair of the
Film Studies Department and co-curator of Cinema Archives, will receive the
degree of Doctorate of Humane Letters in recognition of her "contribution of
distinction to society" by the Board of Trustees of the American Film
Institute. The commencement services will be held on June 7 in Los Angeles,
Calif.
Article Named 'Highly Accessed' by Publication's Editors
An article written by two professors and a former student, has been
designated "Highly accessed relative to age" by the Genome Biology
Editorial Team. Michael Weir, professor of biology, Michael Rice, professor
of computer science, and Matthew Eaton, a former undergraduate who was
dual-mentored as a Hughes Fellow and through the Integrative Genomic
Sciences Initiative, are the co-authors of "Challenging the spliceosome
machine," published in Genome Biology 7, January 2006. The article was
published on Genome Biology's Web site, and has received more than
1,450 hits through April.
Gallery Supervisor Featured in American Artist
Oil paintings by William McCarthy, gallery supervisor for Davison Art
Center, were featured in an eight-page spread in the May 2006 issue of
American Artist magazine. Accompanying his artwork was an article by M.
Stephen Doherty titled "Discovering Art in Memories."
Wesleyan Students, Staff, Faculty Make 150 Suggestions on Ways to Save
Project $AVE (Sustainable and Viable Efficiencies) has received more that
150 suggestions over the course of the spring semester. More than a third of
the suggestions have related to Physical Plant and have been referred to
that office.
Since many concerned the heating level in facilities around campus, Wesleyan
have posted a university energy policy that was developed by Physical Plant
in 2003. This policy will answer many of the questions and comments that
were raised through the suggestions submitted on the Web site. To read the
policy and view the responses to many of the suggestions go to
www.wesleyan.edu/projectsave/.
17 Pallets of Electronic Waste Collected at Wesleyan
Wesleyan's Information Technology Services and Office of Environmental
Health and Safety collected 17 pallets, consisting of 17 cubic yards, of
electronic waste in April. The offices teamed up to promote a clean and safe
environment by hosting the recycle-a-thon. |
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Posted 04.17.06 |
Learning Objects Site Presented in Portugal,
Finland, India
Akos Ostor, professor of anthropology and film studies, presented a Wesleyan
Learning Objects Web site "Cycles of Life in a Bengali Town" at a seminar in
Lisbon, Portugal March 21-24. Ostor was a guest of the Instituto Superior de
Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa. During this event, he met with
anthropologists and information technology experts from around the world. He
also screened and discussed his new film, Singing Pictures. The site was
also presented at seminars in Helsinki, Finland and Calcutta and Vishnupur,
India. "Cycles of Life in a Bengali Town" was joint project between ITS and
Ostor. It can be found at
http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/bishnapur/.
Professor contributes to German Photography Journal
Leo Lensing, professor of German Studies and Film Studies, was one of 27
photographers, scholars and writers chosen to contribute to the
25th-anniversary issue of Fotogeschichte, a leading German-language journal
devoted to the history of photography. His illustrated essay has the title "Wie
kommt das Autorenfoto in die Literaturgeschichte?" ("How Do We Get Author
Fotos into Literary History?")
Health Education Director Leads Peer Education Organization
Lisa Currie, director of health education, was appointed as an area
consultant for the BACCUS Network, an organization which supports peer
education groups at colleges and universities around the world. The
affiliates in the network address a wide variety of health and safety
issues, including alcohol and other drugs, sexual health, sexual assault,
eating disorders/body image, stress management and more. Prior to this
appointment, she served as a state coordinator for BACCHUS for the past
eight years, first in Pennsylvania and then in Connecticut when she came to
Wesleyan in 2000. |
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Posted 04.01.06 |
Post Classical Ensemble Raved in Washington
Post
Stephen Brookes, a commentator for the Washington Post, hailed that a March
performance led by Wesleyan adjunct associate professor of music Angel
Gil-Ordonez was "brilliant."
Angel Gil-Ordonez, who is Wesleyan's orchestra director and private lessons
instructor, also is director of the Washington D.C.-based Post Classical
Ensemble, which performed "Manuel de Falla and the Music of Faith" at the
Virginia Theological Seminary March 14. The concert focused on a single
movement of a single piece, the 1926 Concerto for Keyboard.
Professor's Book Wins Publisher Association Art, History Award
A book co-written by Andy Szegedy-Maszak, the Jane A. Seney Professor of
Greek, Chair of Classical Studies, received a 2005 Award for Excellence in
Professional and Scholarly Publishing by the Association of American
Publishers. The book, Antiquity and Photography: Early Views of Ancient
Mediterranean Sites, won the award in the Arts and Art History category. The
book was published by Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum in
2005.
Medieval Studies Chair Invited to Speak at 2 Conferences
Jeff Rider, chair of the Medieval Studies Program, chair of the Romance
Languages and Literatures Department, professor of Romance Languages and
Literatures, was invited to speak at two upcoming conferences. He will speak
on "Like Lambs to the Slaughter: Improvising Murder in the Twelfth Century,"
at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America in Boston, March 30
to April 1.; and "Enigma in the Arthurian Romances of Chretien de Troyes,"
at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, July 10-13.
Associate Professor of French Delivers 2 Presentations
Catherine Poisson, associate professor of French, was invited to speak on
two of her papers in March. She presented "Why French?" at the Dual Language
Seminar organized by the Department of Education of New York City on March
28; and presented a paper on the relationship between autobiography and
photography titled "Textes Hybrides : mot et image" at the annual 20th and
21st Century French Studies Colloquium at the University of Miami, Florida
March 30.
Professor's Comedy Performed at Harvard
Norm Shapiro, professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, had two of his
comedy translations, "The Well-Wooded Wench," and "Barbara of Seville,"
performed at Harvard Dec. 3-5, 2005. Two others, Feydeau's "Caught with His
Trance Down" and "Fit to be Tired," will be performed at Harvard April
26-28.
Visiting Instructor to Speak at Conference in Italy
Tania Convertini, visiting instructor in Italian, was invited to speak at
the American Association for Italian Studies conference in Genoa, Italy May
25-28. She will be participating in a Round Table titled "Writing Across the
Italian Curriculum," and present her paper "Infusing task-based activities
into a standard, intermediate, grammar-based Italian as a foreign language
course" at the conference.
Senior named Watson Fellow
William Gould '06 received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for the 2006-07
academic year. His project, "This is Not Altogether Fool, My Lord: Comedy
and Political Activism" will take him to Greece, England, Honduras, Chile
and Brazil. Gould will trace the roots of comedic theater as a tool for
political activism and social change.
The Watson Fellowship is a one year-grant for independent study and travel
outside the U.S. awarded to graduating college seniors. Stipends are worth
$25,000.
Student Gets Second All-America Honor of the Year
Ellen Davis '07 picked up her second All-America honor this year. Her first
was for placing 15th in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship in
November. She earned her second March 10 in the NCAA Division III when she
claimed fourth-place in the meet held at St. Olaf College. Her time in the
NCAAs was 17:11.03. She clocked the fastest time among Division III runners
prior to the nationals during the 5k event at the NCAA Division III Indoor
Track Championships with a team record 16:46.61
Student Named All-American in 2 Breaststroke Events
Amanda Shapiro '08 placed fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a
team-record time of 2:21.99 in the preliminaries and finished sixth in the
100-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving
Championships held at the University of Minnesota March 9-11 becoming an
All-American in both events. Her best time in the 100-yard breaststroke at
Nationals was 1:05.30, slightly over her team mark and qualifying time of
1:04.79. It is her first trip to Nationals. Shapiro had earned all-NESCAC
honors in all three breaststroke events while setting team records at the
time in all three during the NESCAC Championships at Bowdoin Feb. 17-19. |
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Posted 03.15.06 |
Biochemistry Faculty Panelist at Biophysical
Forum
Ishita Mukerji, associate professor and chair of the Molecular Biology and
Biochemistry Department, was a recent panelist at the 50th Annual Meeting of
the Biophysical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah. She spoke at a forum
sponsored by the Minority Affairs Committee of the Biophysical Society.
Letters Professor to be Plenary Speaker
Paul Schwaber, professor of letters, was invited to be the plenary speaker
at the 95th Annual American Psychoanalytic Association meeting in
Washington, D.C., June 9-18. Schwaber will speak on "'Hamlet' and
Psychoanalytic Experience." .
Associate Professor Speaks on Nicotine Dependence
Lisa Dierker, associate professor of psychology, has been invited to speak
on co-occurring psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence at the
Virginia Youth Tobacco Project Research Conference in Richmond, Va. March
29-30. The forum is on Youth Tobacco Use: Translating Research into
Practice.
Upward Bound Director Named "Phenomenal Woman"
Donna Thompson, director of Wesleyan's Upward Bound program, been named as
one of the 10 Phenomenal Women of Middlesex County by the Middlesex National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The award will be
presented at The Middletown Inn at 2:30 p.m. March 26.
Students Hold Fund-Raiser to Benefit Nicarauga-Wesleyan Exchange
Wesleyan In Nicaragua (WIN), a new international service group on campus,
raised $350 during a benefit dinner at Puerto Vallarta in Middletown, March
6. Twenty-five percent of all sales between 5 and 10 p.m. supported an
international service project in Nagarote, Nicaragua March 14-24. While in
Nicarauga, student WIN members worked on a preschool development project, a
reforestation project, mural painting, and HIV/AIDS sociodramas with high
school-age students.
Professor Emeritus Attends International Congress
Richard Vann, professor of history, professor of letters emeritus, attended
the International Congress of Historical Sciences in Sydney in July 2005,
where he selected the participants and chaired a panel on "History between
Literature and Social Science" and delivered a paper on "Historians and
their Audience: The American Case." His five-year term as President of the
International Commission on the Theory and History of Historiography came to
an end at this Congress. |
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Posted 03.01.06 |
Film Professor Receives Arts, Tourism Award
Jeanine Basinger, chair of the Film Studies Department, the Corwin-Fuller
Professor of Film Studies and professor of American studies received a 2005
Governor's Arts and Tourism Award from the Connecticut Commission on Culture
and Tourism. The award, given by Governor M. Jodi Rell, is designed to
recognize significant achievements and outstanding contributions in the
fields of the performing, visual and literary arts and film; tourism; and
heritage preservation within Connecticut.
Music Professor Honored by Electro-Acoustic Society
Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, received the 2006
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in
the United States. The ceremony will take place at the University of Oregon
on April 1. Two of his recent CDs, Wind Shadows (New World records) and
Alvin Lucier (Antiopic) were chosen sixth and seventh on the Ten Best
Recordings of 2005 in Time Out Magazine, Dec. 29, 2005 through Jan. 4.
Student's Thesis Honored by Social Science Academy
Zach Kagan-Guthrie '05 received an Undergraduate Research Award by the
American Academy of Political and Social Science for a paper based on his
senior thesis. Kagan-Guthrie, who majored in social studies, worked under
Professor of History Richard Elphick on the topic "U.S. Foreign Policy
Towards Southern Africa during the Reagan Administration." Kagan-Guthrie's
paper was one of 10 selected to receive this award out of 39 that were
submitted by 2006 Junior Fellows of the Academy. |
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Posted 02.16.06 |
Kannam Promoted to Vice President for
Investments
Tom Kannam, formerly director of investments, was promoted to be Wesleyan's
first vice president for investments in February. Kannam has been director
of investments since 1998.Kannan will work closely with the vice president
for finance and administration, as well as with other members of the
university's senior staff and the trustees.
Assistant Professor to Study Economic
Growth in Latin America
Francisco Rodriguez, assistant professor of economics and Latin American
studies, recently received a year-long grant from the Corporacion Andina de
Fomento and Harvard University (via the Center for International
Development) to analyze economic growth in the Andean region of Latin
America. |
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Posted 02.01.06 |
New Book by NY Times Reporter Features
Professor's Work
The work of Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth
Science Emeritus, is featured prominently in a new book by New York Times
reporter William J. Broad titled "The Oracle." Published by The Penguin
Press, the book balances a history of the famous Oracle at Delphi with
recent discoveries regarding the Oracle's validity made by de Boer and
fellow scientists.
Professor Awarded Jewish Cultural Achievement Award
Mark Slobin, professor of music, has been awarded the 2006 Jewish Cultural
Achievement Award in Social, Literary, and Cultural Studies. It is a
lifetime achievement award described by the National Foundation for Jewish
Culture as "the highest honor the American Jewish community has to offer its
scholars for their contribution to the understanding of Jewish culture in
the American context."
More than 2,000 People Visit Green Street in 2005
The Wesleyan-supported Green Street Arts Center has welcomed more than 2,000
people through its doors for classes, performances, programs and
celebrations during the 2005 year. The center, housed at 51 Green Street,
opened in January 2005. |
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Posted 01.17.06 |
Professor to Receive IEEE Award for Literary
Contributions
C. Stewart Gillmor, professor of history and science, professor science in
society, will receive the "Award for Distinguished Literary Contributions
Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession" from the Institute for
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. in March. The award
recognizes Gillmor's biography, Fred Terman at Stanford: Building a
Discipline, a University and Silicon Valley published by Stanford University
Press, 2004. The IEEE has more than 365,000 members world-wide.
PeopleSoft Manager Appointed to Selective Product Group
Dauné Oliveira, PeopleSoft Product manager, has been appointed to a
three-year term beginning in March on the Higher Education User Group's
Campus Community Product Advisory Group. The Product Advisory Groups (PAGs)
are an important link between higher education users and Oracle. The Campus
Community PAG, which comprises nine members, focuses on collecting,
reviewing and recommending new or enhanced functionality as well as
identifying bugs in Oracle/PeopleSoft relating to areas such as person data
and comments, communications and checklists. Currently, there are 14 Product
Advisory Groups world-wide representing all areas of the Oracle Enterprise
software products.
Senator Honors Senior for Alternative Fuel Innovations
Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman named Laura Goldhamer '06 a "Youth Hero"
for her innovation and successful conversion of a diesel bus to one which
runs almost entirely on vegetable oil. Goldhamer, who is majoring in
religion and music, converted a retired diesel short bus from West Hartford
to run on used cooking oil. By adding a secondary fuel tank for the
vegetable oil and altering the route of coolant and fuel lines, Goldhamer
says any diesel vehicle can be converted to run on the economical and more
environmentally-friendly fuel.
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Editor's Note: The Wesleyan Connection will
list achievements awarded in 2006. To be included on this list, e-mail
newsletter@wesleyan.edu. To view
publications
from previous years, visit The Wesleyan Connection's Archives at
http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/campus/newsletterarchives.html. |
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