Corrina KerrNovember 30, 20092min
Wesleyan's Sociology Department, The Hoy Fund and The Wesleyan Writing Programs sponsored "Martyrdom, Mirth, and Mayhem in Middle-Class Politics: A Conversation with Novelist Jay Cantor and President Michael S. Roth," Nov. 18 in the Shapiro Creative Writing Center. Cantor is the author of Great Neck, The Death of Che Guevara and Krazy Kat, along with two collections of non-fiction essays, The Space Between: Literature and Politics and On Giving Birth to Ones Own Mother. Cantor, a MacArthur Prize Fellow, is professor of English at Tufts University. President Roth and Cantor discussed their mutual admiration for late Norman O. "Nobby" Brown,…

Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20092min
Ronald Ebrecht, university organist, created a festival featuring modern works for organ and percussion. He was joined by Wesleyan organ students and faculty in four concerts, "Hearts Pounding and Skins Taut" Oct. 25 to 31.  He then performed his solo and ensemble pieces during a third concert trip to Minsk, Belarus. A guest of the Belarus National Philharmonic Society and the Belarusian State Academy of Music, Ebrecht gave a lecture/demonstation of modern composition at the conservatory Nov. 4. In concert on Nov. 5 at Philharmonic Hall, he performed as soloist in the Poulenc Concerto in addition to the modern works, including…

Brian KattenNovember 30, 20091min
Men’s soccer had its outstanding season come to a close in the sectional semi-finals, dropping a double-overtime contest to the University of Rochester Nov. 21. Keisuke Yamashita ’10 gave Wesleyan a 1-0 first-half lead, but Rochester tied the game in the second half and won it just 38 seconds into the second sudden-victory overtime. The team ended its campaign with a final record of 12-2-5, went undefeated in NESCAC regular-season play and earned the top seed in the NESCAC tournament. (Game and fan photos by Cora Lautze '11)

Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20092min
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has presented the 2009 National Translation Award to Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures,  for French Women Poets of Nine Centuries: The Distaff and the Pen (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). The prize was announced on Nov. 12 at the organization's annual conference in Pasadena, Calif. Shapiro has been one of the foremost translators of French literature for almost four decades. Also a writer-in-residence at Adams House, Harvard University, he has translated numerous works of fiction, theater, and poetry, including Four Farces by Georges Feydeau, which was nominated for the National Book Award for…

Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20095min
Q: Dena, you recently celebrated your first-year anniversary working as a publication production manager in the Office of University Communications. Do you oversee all publications produced for campus-use? A: Not all, but I manage hundreds of projects- booklets, posters, direct mail pieces, banners, postcards and more- that are intended for Wesleyan communities on-campus and off. Q: Please cite a few examples of publications that you have helped manage recently. A: The Wesleyan Annual Fund’s compelling direct mailer, the freshly redesigned packet mailed to newly admitted students, and the simply elegant Homecoming and Family Weekend booklet are terrific examples. Each uniquely…

Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20096min
Q: Sandy, you are a 2006 alumna and now an assistant director of alumni relations. What did you major in, and why did you decide to stay at Wes after you finished your degree? A: I majored in psychology and loved it. I took as many psych courses as I could and 'overenrolled,' which I didn’t even know was possible. I had a particular interest in cognitive and developmental psych. I loved my four years at Wesleyan and spent two summers working on campus as an undergrad. When it came time to look for a job my senior year, it…

David LowNovember 30, 20093min
Jenny He ’02 is the co-author, along with Ron Magliozzi, of a new book Tim Burton, published by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City to accompany a major career retrospective that is currently on view at the museum. The publication considers Burton's career as an artist and filmmaker, the evolution of his creative practices and the influence of popular culture and Pop Surrealism on his work. The book traces the path of his visual imagination from his earliest childhood drawings through his mature works, which includes his films Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,…

David LowNovember 30, 20092min
Joss Whedon ’87 will be honored by the Producers Guild of America with its Vanguard Award, which recognizes achievements in new media and technology. He will receive the award at the 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony on Jan. 24 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Previous Vanguard Award recipients include George Lucas, James Cameron, John Lasseter, MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe and president and co-founder Tom Anderson, and YouTube founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Will Wright. Whedon is a producer, writer, director, and creator for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. He…

Bill HolderNovember 30, 20092min
The freshly minted Wesleyan Lawyers Association (“WLA”) hosted a successful kickoff event Nov. 7 during Homecoming /Family Weekend at the Woodhead Lounge in the Exley Science Center. Approximately 100 attorney alumni, undergraduates, and friends attended a talk given by Ted Shaw ’76, currently the Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University Law School and of counsel at the international firm of Fulbright and Jaworski. Shaw, who was director-counsel and president of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 2004 through 2008 and served as a Wesleyan Trustee for 15 years, addressed how his experience at Wesleyan affected his legal career as one of…

Cynthia RockwellNovember 30, 20093min
Caroline Little ’81, the North American CEO for the U.K.-based Guardian News and Media, was the subject of the most recent, “So What Do You Do” Q-and-A for Mediabistro.com. Previously CEO at The Washington Post.com, where she led the web sites for the Post, as well as for Newsweek, Slate, and The Root, Little had begun her career as a lawyer. She says that she made the jump in 1997 to digital media because, “when something's new, there's a lot of opportunities” and her background had given her an overview of the business. Asked about the Guardian’s goals in the…