The Wesleyan Connection

Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of astronomy, works with students on a small radio telescope, located on the roof of the Van Vleck Observatory.

A curious mix of dust and gas surrounding a distant star presents a unique mystery – and possibly a front-row seat to planet formation, according to Assistant Professor of Astronomy Meredith Hughes and colleagues, whose paper on the star appears in the March 6 edition of the journal Science.

The group of astronomers, including Hughes and 13 others, were the first to identify the asymmetry and “lumpy” quality of the gas surrounding beta Pictoris, using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. The discovery leads to two possible explanations: There may be a giant “exoplanet”  lurking nearby (forcing clumps of carbon dioxide to orbit the star on opposite sides) or there has recently been a collision between two Mars-sized bodies. More data must be analyzed to figure out which event happened.

“We actually already knew that there was gas around this star, but we didn’t know how much, or that the gas would be lumpy and asymmetric – the asymmetry is another indication that the gas was probably generated by a recent collision,” explained Hughes.

Beta Pictoris, which is actually a stellar neighbor of Earth, about 60 light years away, is in an active place for planet formation, Hughes said. And the evidence discussed in the Science paper points toward very recent (on astronomical timescales – in this case probably thousands of years) events.

“The phrase that gets tossed around a lot in these observations is ‘planetary construction zone,’ and that is very apt in this case,” she said.

The astronomers’ work represents some of the first data from ALMA, the most powerful radio telescope ever built. Previous telescopes were not powerful enough to observe the gas.

The observations were made when only a small fraction of the telescope was operational, “so it’s incredibly exciting to imagine the new phenomena we’ll see as the array reaches full strength,” Hughes said. “This is really just the tip of the iceberg.”

Hughes is still working on the puzzle. She recently got the first delivery of her own ALMA data that studies mysterious carbon monoxide orbiting around another energetic nearby star. She’s also planning to use the beta Pictoris data and new information that  will be taken this summer to look at the dusty debris around the star, and measure how much mass is hiding there.

The lead investigator on the paper was William Dent, system astronomer for ALMA. Hughes and 12 others contributed.  The journal Science, with an estimated 1 million readers worldwide, covers every scientific discipline and is extremely selective; about only 10 percent of submitted papers are published.

Hughes was this week awarded a NASA Space Grant for curriculum development to support her project of building a new telescope at Wesleyan, this one capable of detecting the Cosmic Microwave Background – what astronomers call the afterglow of the Big Bang.

Students in her radio astronomy class next semester will get to work on both the design and construction of a telescope to tease out that weak signal from all the noise in the sky.

“Radio astronomy was one of the first courses I taught at Wesleyan, and it’s one of my favorites because it lets me introduce our upper-level students to a totally novel way of thinking about astronomy,” Hughes said. “The grant will provide an opportunity to more closely integrate instrumentation work into the lecture material, and the telescope we create will allow future generations of Wesleyan students to observe the sky in a new way.”

Hughes said the new telescope is “very complementary” to the one her first group of students built, which is permanently installed on the roof of Van Vleck Observatory.

Read more about Hughes’ research on planetary system formation in this past Wesleyan Connection article.

Tags: Astronomy Department, faculty achievements, Meredith Hughes

Theodore M. Shaw ’76, one of the nation’s leading proponents of civil rights, will present Wesleyan’s Commencement address on May 25, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s address here. Wesleyan also will award honorary degrees to Helena Chmura Kraemer, whose work in biostatistics has had a transformative impact on medicine and psychiatry, and to Hayden White, a distinguished theorist of history.

Theodore Shaw ’76

Theodore Shaw ’76

For decades Ted Shaw has been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for equity and inclusion in our society. In courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, he has argued cases involving voting rights, education, housing discrimination, capital punishment, and civil rights. He played a key role in initiating and drafting the admissions policy that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, and he has often testified before Congress and other legislative bodies.

He has worked with human rights lawyers in Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia, written numerous articles and opinion pieces for national publications, and has often provided expert commentary for television and radio shows.

He is professor of professional practice at Columbia University School of Law and is “Of Counsel” to Fulbright Norton Rose. For 23 years he served as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, concluding as director-counsel and president from 2004–2008. He obtained his law degree from Columbia Law School and started his career as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, he currently serves on the board of the Wesleyan University Center for Prison Education. He is a trustee emeritus of Wesleyan.

Helena Chmura Kraemer

Helena Chmura Kraemer

Helena Chmura Kraemer, professor of biostatistics in psychiatry, emerita, at Stanford University, is one of the nation’s foremost authorities in evidence-based medicine and in the use of statistical analysis for answering pressing questions in public health. She has transformed methods for determining the efficacy of treatments or preventive interventions, measuring risk factors for diseases, and determining how to formulate public policy so as to do the most good with limited resources. Most recently she played a leading role in revising the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, providing crucial guidance for medical researchers and clinicians.

She is widely regarded as a superb teacher and inspiration to women in nontraditional fields of research. Her many honors include membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Franklin Ebaugh Prize from Stanford University, the Harvard Prize in Psychiatric Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and a Fulbright Scholarship.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she holds a Ph.D. in statistics from Stanford University.

Hayden White

Hayden White

Hayden White is widely regarded as one of the most important theorists of history of the last 50 years. In one of his best known works, Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in 19-Century Europe (1973), he argues that historians impose their own structure on the past by creating literary narratives that cannot be truly objective but nonetheless give history its meaning. Professor White’s own contributions to how we understand meaning and culture are profound, and he has had a powerful influence on humanists around the world.

He is a former director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Humanities (1973–76) and is a contributor to Wesleyan’s journal of History and Theory. He has returned often to campus—last May, for instance, when he met with a group of scholars from China and the United States to discuss comparative approaches to the Enlightenment.

White is the University Professor and Professor of History of Consciousness, Emeritus, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and formerly was professor of comparative literature at Stanford University. He received his BA degree from Wayne State University and his MA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan.

Among his many honors, he is Fellow, American Philosophical Society; Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and a recipient of an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the University of Michigan.

Tags: commencement, commencement 2014

More than 50 faculty, administrators, staff and students gathered to brainstorm and develop creative new ideas for Wesleyan’s next Sustainability Action Plan on Feb. 21.

By 2050, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is requiring that Wesleyan become carbon neutral. To meet this goal, the university needs to reduce its emissions 1,000 tons annually for the next 36 years — the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by 860 trees each year.

To help the university meet this goal, Wesleyan’s Sustainability Office and the Sustainability Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship (SAGES) hosted a Sustainability Action Planning Workshop on Feb. 21. More than 50 faculty, administrators, staff and students gathered to brainstorm and develop creative new ideas for Wesleyan’s next Sustainability Action Plan.

“In order to meet this goal, we need to get started now,” said Bill Nelligan, director of environmental services. “Many of us only work inx or visit a small number of buildings or areas on campus, so we’re looking for input from the entire campus community.”

Sheri Condon, accounting specialist, and Kiley Kennedy ’16 both participated in the Sustainability Action Planning Workshop. Kennedy, a physics major, signed up to engage with Wesleyan faculty and staff on the issue of sustainability “because my conversations about sustainability are almost always with other students. This workshop gave me the chance to voice my ideas and hear from other perspectives,” she said.

The five-hour event included an introduction by Wesleyan President Michael Roth, a brainstorming session, group idea development sessions and presentations.

Workshop attendees broke into groups to focus on areas of campus buildings; dining and food; diversity, inclusion and affordability; education and research; energy; community and campus engagement; grounds; health and well-being planning; purchasing; transportation; waste; and water.

Physics major Kiley Kennedy ’16 joined the health and wellbeing workgroup, which focused on connecting the ecological and environmental factors with physical and psychological health. The group brainstormed several ideas, and suggested Wesleyan offer integrated (faculty/staff/student) fitness classes; outdoor classrooms; extensive outdoor running trails/maps; an outdoor fitness center above the Central Power Plant; and for-credit outdoor physical education classes.

“The overall goal of these ideas are to give people who have a hard time getting active or feel confined to the gym better access to physical activity outside of the gym. Continue Reading »

Tags: sustainability

Ishita Mukerji

Ishita Mukerji, dean of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics division, is one of 50 local scientists to be elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Mukerji also is professor of molecular biology and biochemistry and is an expert on fluorescence and vibrational spectroscopy.

Mukerji is the 10th Wesleyan faculty to be elected into the academy. She will be introduced at CASE’s 39th annual meeting and dinner on June 5 at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, Conn.

Election to the Academy is on the basis of scientific and engineering distinction achieved through significant contributions in theory or applications, as demonstrated by original published books and papers, patents, the pioneering of new and developing fields and innovative products, outstanding leadership of nationally recognized technical teams, and external professional awards in recognition of scientific and engineering excellence.

“I’m thrilled and honored to join the academy! This is a great recognition of the hard work my research group, consisting of undergraduates, graduate students and post-docs have put in over the years and the strong support that Wesleyan gives to scientific research. This type of recognition really underscores the excellence of the sciences at Wesleyan and the scholar-teacher model that we embrace,” Mukerji said. “I look forward to working and networking with other scientists throughout the state and helping the academy do it’s work to advise the people and government of Connecticut on scientific issues.”

Mukerji’s research interests focus on the use of spectroscopic tools to investigate challenging problems in biology Continue Reading »

Tags: biochemistry, faculty, faculty achievements, Mukerji, sciences

Cheryl Cutler MA ’71, founder of the Dance Department, served as department chair for 32 years. She spoke about the department’s history and changes as part of the Dance Department’s grand opening gala Feb. 28. (Photo by Olivia Drake)

The Dance Department now has a studio/office space of its own, having opened new digs in a converted church at 160 Cross Street Feb. 28 with a grand opening gala. Artist-in-residence, African dancer/drummer Iddi Saaka gave the inaugural performance at an intimate reception attended by dance majors and some early alumni from the program (which first took shape in the late ’60s and early ’70s as an extension of the Theater Department).

The newly renovated Dance Department building, constructed in 1978, was once home to the AME Zion Church.

“We finally have our own space, our own building, our own entity,” said Hari Krishnan, assistant professor of dance. “Statistically, more than 40 percent of students at Wesleyan have taken a dance class during their time at Wesleyan. This has been the case for over 10 years and the figure is consistent across all three divisions. Now we can build on that. We can make it an integral part of life at Wesleyan. This building reaffirms that for us.”

The newly renovated building — constructed in 1978, once home to the AME Zion Church, and most recently, an archeology laboratory — will yield many benefits for the Wes dance community. Until now, faculty and students have been sharing offices and spaces in tight quarters, based inside the Center for the Arts. The Theater Department has taken over the former space. Now each faculty and resident has an office to him or herself and there’s adequate space to increase enrollment and continue expanding and evolving the program. Scheduling independence will allow for more performances and less hassle in the planning stages, Krishnan said. Continue Reading »

Tags: dance department, Hari Krishnan

Both experienced writers and new writers are welcome to participate in the Wesleyan Writers Conference this June. Special topics include selling your book and writing for film, science and medicine and social issues. Manuscript consultations and publishing advice are key parts of the program.

Registration is now open for the 58th annual Wesleyan Writers Conference, one of the nation’s leading programs, to be held on campus June 11-15. Both experienced writers and new writers are welcome. This is a time to start a new project or develop your current work with the help of the conference’s faculty, distinguished writers who work closely with participants. Manuscript consultations and publishing advice are key parts of the program. Participants may attend daily seminars in the novel, short story, poetry, and nonfiction (including memoir and literary journalism), and the program also includes guest speakers, readings, workshops, panel discussions and talks with editors and agents. Special topics include writing for film, writing about science and medicine, writing about social issues and how to sell your book.

“Writing is often lonely work,” said Anne Greene, director of the Wesleyan Writers Conference, director of Writing Programs. “It can be transforming to spend a few days outside of your writing room talking to people who share your interests. Former participants say they’re still in close touch with friends and writing colleagues they met at the conference, and they find these connections invaluable.” Continue Reading »

Tags: writers, writers conference, Writing at Wesleyan

At its meeting on March 1, Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 2.2 percent for the 2014–15 year, reflecting the second year of a new policy to link tuition increases to inflation.

The increase is based on the three-year national CPI average of June 30, 2013, the latest full fiscal year available. The Board adopted a three-year average in order to reduce year-to-year fluctuations in tuition increases.

“We’re committed to keeping Wesleyan affordable for all our students,” said President Michael Roth. “We’re holding down our tuition increases, ensuring that our students graduate not burdened by heavy debt, and providing a generous financial aid program.”

To keep Wesleyan affordable, the university meets the full demonstrated need of all admitted students who receive financial aid. Need-based support represents a commitment of about $51 million in the university’s budget next year. Wesleyan also has instituted an optional three-year degree program, saving families around $50,000 on their total tuition bill while retaining Wesleyan’s core academic experience.

Raising funds for additional scholarships is the top priority for Wesleyan’s $400 million fundraising campaign. To date, Wesleyan has raised $331 million toward that goal.

For the 2014-15 academic year, tuition will be $47,702 for all students. The residential comprehensive fee will be $13,226 for freshmen and sophomores, and $15,034 for juniors and seniors. Including the student activity fee, the total student charges will be $61,198 for freshmen and sophomores, and $63,006 for juniors and seniors.

Tags: students, tuition

Tracie McMillan, the Koeppel Journalism Fellow at the Shapiro Writing Center, is teaching the upper-level seminar “Topics in Journalism: Writing and Arguing About Inequality: How to Make Your Case.”

(Story contributed by Emma Davis ’17. The full interview appears in the Feb. 21 issue of The Wesleyan Argus)

Tracie McMillan is Wesleyan’s Koeppel Journalism Fellow and author of The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields, and the Dinner Table, a New York Times Bestseller. Her recent work appears in Best Food Writing 2013 and she has received a James Beard Award, the Sidney Hillman Prize, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism and other national awards for her writing about food, consumers’s choices and other social issues.

Q: How did you become a reporter?

A: I became a reporter after interning at the Village Voice under Wayne Barrett. Wayne was the City Politics investigative reporter at the Voice for around 40 years; he left the Voice a couple of years ago. Every semester, he had a cadre of interns who would come in and help him do his work, and that was one of the internships I had as an undergraduate. I did well there, and got on well with Wayne, and that led me into doing reporting work.

When I took that internship, I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to be a journalist. I knew that I wanted to do something with writing, and I had a vague idea that I would work at a magazine, but I hadn’t really thought through the specifics of that. And certainly at the time, I think I was more interested in national politics, and Wayne’s work was very local. But I lucked into getting paired with him at the Voice, and that put me on that path.

Q: What brought you to Wesleyan?

A:  [Director of Writing Programs] Anne Greene brought me to Wesleyan. I have a little bit of a relationship with Wesleyan. In 2006, I got a Davidoff scholarship to attend the Wesleyan Writers Conference. That was when I had just gone freelance. I had taken some time off, and I had taken basically half my life savings and gone traveling for six months. Because I had been working since I was 14, and I had this epiphany—I was about 29 at the time—that I had always been working, and I had never stopped to figure out where I wanted to go; I just went where it seemed like I could go… I didn’t really know if the work I was doing as a journalist was what I really wanted to dedicate myself to, or if maybe there was something else I wanted to be doing. And I didn’t really know myself well enough to make that call, and I realized that I was at a point in my life where I didn’t have anything tying me to any one place.

And once I had enough time to really clear my head, I kept coming back to writing. I didn’t just want to write about me, myself, and I; I wanted to write about the world. Continue Reading »

Tags: Koeppel Fellow, writers conference, Writing at Wesleyan, writing program

Mike Conte, associate director in Physical Plant, recently was presented with a Cardinal Achievement Award for his expert handling of serious building emergencies during the winter holiday break, which occurred at all hours.

“We are grateful to Mike for going above and beyond the call of duty by responding to an unusual number of late night and weekend emergencies during the especially cold winter break this year,” said Joyce Topshe, associate vice president for facilities.

Stacy Baldwin, project coordinator in Physical Plant received a Cardinal Achievement Award for her work in advance planning for the winter adverse weather conditions. In November, 2013 Stacy proposed that the university purchase 180 shovels, one for each house on campus, and 60 canisters of ice melt (12 pound containers). She researched the pricing, purchased both items and hand delivered them to every faculty, staff and graduate house on campus during the first two weeks in December. Students helped with distribution of shovels to undergraduate houses.

“Kudos to Stacy for thinking about safety and for planning well in advance of the first storm. We are now facing a national shortage of ice melt in the country but thanks to Stacy, our Wesleyan community is better equipped to weather the storms,” Topshe said.

Evelyn Bozeman, payroll administrator in Human Resources, received a Cardinal Achievement Award for providing support to the benefits area during a transition to a new employee benefits website.

“This was a time-consuming project and Evelyn offered to help – even though she does not have a benefits background. She was able to learn quickly and provide great suggestions for enhancements to the website,” said Pat Melley, director of Human Resources. “Evelyn’s positive attitude and ability to make herself available at every possible opportunity made the transition to the new website a success.”

This special honor comes with a $150 award and reflects the university’s gratitude for those extra efforts. The award recipients are nominated by department chairs and supervisors. Nominations can be made anytime throughout the year.

For more information or to nominate a staff member for the award, visit the Human Resources website and scroll down to Cardinal Achievement Award under “Forms.”

Recipients will continue to be recognized in The Wesleyan Connection.

#THISISWHY

Tags: Cardinal Achievement Awards, employees, THISISWHY

The Cardinal Fit team “NoCoTen” is participating in a group walk this week. Team members, most from Academic Affairs, will wear their 100 percent polyester shirts during the walk, each sporting his or her own number.

The team members are: #1, Ruth Weissman, provost and vice president for academic affairs, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, professor of psychology; #2, Joyce Jacobsen, the Andrews Professor of Economics, dean of the social sciences and director of global initiatives, interim director of Allbritton Center, professor of economics, tutor for the College of Social Studies; #3, Joy Vodak, assistant director of academic affairs; #4, Michael Whitcomb, director of institutional research; #5, Megan Flagg, executive assistant to the provost and vice president for academic affairs and academic deans; #6, Lisa Sacks, coordinator of academic affairs; #7, Andy Curran, dean of the arts and humanities and director of curricular initiatives, professor of French; #8, Rommel Guadalupe, assistant director of institutional research; #9, Antonio Farias, vice president for equity and inclusion; #10, Karen Anderson, senior associate provost; #11, Eloise Glick, faculty resource specialist; #12, Ishita Mukerji, dean of natural sciences and mathematics and director of technology initiatives, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry.

The group’s team captains are Joyce Jacobsen and Andy Curran and the “official cheerleaders” are Eloise Glick and Ishita Mukerji.

For more information on the 2014 Cardinal Fit Challenge see this link.

Tags: Academic Affairs, human resources

Bradley Whitford ’81, Emmy award winning-actor, delivered the closing remarks during Connect@Wes March 1 in the Wesleyan Career Center. Connect@Wes was a two-day networking and relationship building opportunity offered to Wesleyan students, alumni and parents.

Whitford spoke about his career, acting, and advocating for the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation.

Continue Reading »

Tags: alumni

The 8th annual “Be the Art” exhibition opened Feb. 20 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.

The student-curated art exhibit, which ran through March 2, celebrates and raises awareness of underrepresented artists of color at Wesleyan.

The annual exhibit was co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts, Center for African American Studies, Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, Center for the Americas, American Studies, Department of Art and Art History, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. (Photos by Hannah Norman ’16)

Tags: arts, students of color