Olivia DrakeFebruary 28, 20083min
CLIMATE CHANGES: Jon Dickinson, the New York City Office of Environmental Coordination deputy director, delivers the keynote address for Focus the Nation, a nation-wide day of education, discussion and activism to address climate change, in Memorial Chapel Jan. 31. Wesleyan was one of 1,550 universities, schools, businesses, and places of worship that took part in Focus the Nation. Dickinson focused on proposed climate change, air and water quality, transportation and clean energy initiatives in the New York City area. To a full chapel audience, Dickinson said New York City's goal is "to have the cleanest air quality of every city…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20088min
  Dance major Brittany Delany '09 , far left, writes for Hot Stepz Magazine, based near Boston. She also helps advertise magazine-sponsored dance events.   Posted 02/27/08 Brittany Delany ’09 grew up improvising pop and hip hop movements in her family room. Now she’s danced her way into Hot Stepz Magazine as a writer and publication promoter. Delany, a choreography/performance dance major and French studies major, voluntarily works for the urban dance publication, subtitled "the soul of dance." The magazine focuses on modern-day dance styles such as Krump, Caribbean, dance hall, stepping, hip-hop and B Boy B Girl while emphasizing…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20083min
Posted 02/27/08 Michael Whaley, formerly the interim dean of the college, was promoted to vice president for student affairs on Feb. 21. In addition to supervising a large and complex office, he has worked imaginatively with the vice president for academic affairs to develop programs that connect faculty and students outside the classroom in a variety of co-curricular activities. The change of title to vice president for student affairs reflects the duties of the position as it has evolved at Wesleyan, and positions the office as an integral part of the educational enterprise. “Mike has a true gift for hearing…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20083min
Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, will conduct a survey of Islamic materials during a five-week sabbatical in Africa. Posted 02/27/08 Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria to travel to the country in March to conduct a survey of Islamic manuscripts and related materials. Wesleyan has granted her a five-week sabbatical so she can travel to locations such as Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri to assess materials and help with preservation efforts. The work of Biddle and more than 20 other archivists and librarians will…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20088min
Dalit Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion, meets with Avi Nesher, director of the Israeli film, The Secrets. Nesher's film is part of the ongoing Ring Family Wesleyan Israel Film Festival, coordinated by Katz. Posted 02/27/08 Last June, Dalit Katz fell in love with two contemporary Israeli films shown at international film festivals.    “I saw these movies and I told myself, ‘I am going to bring these films to Wesleyan,” says Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion.   Katz stayed true to her word.   The films, titled Jellyfish (2006) and The Secrets (2007) are both part of the…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20085min
Posted 02/27/08 Along with returning to campus with suntans (or sunburns), new spring duds and a backpack full of work to complete by the end of March, Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, would like students to bring back one more thing from break: a book for Middletown gradeschoolers. The “Bring Back a Book” Book Drive is the brainchild of students in Juhasz’s Psychology of Reading Class. The drive will be going on throughout the week of March 24. The idea is for Wesleyan students come back from break with new or lightly used books that are appropriate for first…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20089min
Faraneh Carnegie ’05, associate director of regional programs and networks, staffs external events, meets with current and potential volunteers and is the staff liaison to the Alumni of Color Network.   Posted 02/27/08 Q: Faraneh, you are a recent Wesleyan alumna and now associate director of regional programs and networks in the Office of University Relations. Did you ever imagine you’d end up working at your alma mater? A: I wanted to stay at Wesleyan after graduation. I applied for the position in University Relations on the recommendation of my colleague Frantz Williams ’99, associate director of parent development. I…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20083min
Posted 02/27/08 Nobel Prize winner and University of Massachusetts Medical School professor Craig C. Mello, Ph.D, pictured at left, will be presenting a lecture as part of Wesleyan’s First Year Matters program. The talk, titled "Return to the RNAi World: Rethinking Gene Expression, Evolution and Medicine," will begin at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, in Shanklin 107. The event is free and open to the public. Mello and his colleague Andrew Fire, Ph.D, of Stanford University, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2006 for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi). “We are excited and…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20088min
From left, Noah Hutton ’09 and Jeremy Finch '09 are co-producers of the new WESU 88.1 FM show, "The Faculty Lounge." Posted 02/27/08 Over radio waves, Neely Bruce chatted about his recent musical compositions; Peter Mark expressed his opinions on the recent crisis in Kenya; and Patrick Dowdey spoke on his passions as a museum curator. Bruce, professor of music; Mark, professor of art history and professor and director of African American studies; and Dowdey, curator of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies and adjunct assistant professor of East Asian studies and anthopology, had the opportunity to speak on…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20085min
Posted 02/27/08 Being home to one of the oldest ethnomusicology programs in the country, it was only fitting that Wesleyan host the 53rd annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), Oct. 25-28. All activities will take place on the Wesleyan campus, primarily in the Center for the Arts, Usdan University Center and Memorial Chapel. The meeting will take place during fall break to accommodate the more than 850 academics, students, professional musicians, and public sector administrators expected to attend. Events during the three day meeting will include conference-style panels, performance workshops, and concerts. A one-day pre-conference on Oct. 24…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20085min
Wesleyan's Academic Media Studio created the website, www.henrymerrittwriston.org, in honor of Wesleyan alumnus Henry Merritt Wriston, B.A. '11, M.A. '12. Posted 02/27/08 This month Wesleyan's Academic Media Studio premiered www.henrymerrittwriston.org, a biographical portrait of distinguished professor, college president, and foreign policy expert Henry Merritt Wriston, ‘11. Created though support by the Wriston family, the non-profit educational site was designed to provide textual, visual and audile information about the life and work of Henry Merritt Wriston and serve as a research portal for scholars investigating liberal education, college administration, internationalism, domestic and foreign policy and more. The website presents a complete…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20086min
Multimedia artist Lenore Malen is the artistic director of "Lenore Malen and the New Society for Universal Harmony," on display in Zilkha Gallery Feb. 2-March 2. Posted 02/01/08 A new Center for the Arts exhibit uses the lens of history to explore the far-ranging beliefs and anxieties of our time and the sciences and technologies that have informed them. “Lenore Malen and the New Society for Universal Harmony” runs from Feb. 2 through March 2 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. It consists of a multi-media installation that uses video, digital prints and archival materials. “The New Society exhibit…