Olivia DrakeJeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and chair of the Film Studies Department, was a member of the American Film Institute motion picture jury for 2010. Basinger and the other 11 jury members released their annual list of the 10 best movies of the year on Dec. 12. The 10 films are: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone. The AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the films and TV shows at a luncheon sponsored by Hewlett-Packard on…
A book by Laurie Nussdorfer, professor of history and letters, will be discussed Dec. 16 in Rome. Her book, Brokers of Public Trust: Notaries in Early Modern Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), examines the emergence of the modern notarial profession -- free market scribes responsible for producing original legal documents and their copies. Nussdorfer chronicles the training of professional notaries and the construction of public archives, explaining why notarial documents exist, who made them, and how they came to be regarded as authoritative evidence. In doing so, she describes a profession of crucial importance to the people and government of the time,…
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Wesleyan's Music Department held a Student Steelband Concert Dec. 9 in Usdan University Center. Eric Charry, associate professor of music, directs the Trinidadian steelband and class. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei05GzyB5iw[/youtube] (more…)
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Victoria Smolkin-Rothrock, comes to Wesleyan this spring as an assistant professor of history, an assistant professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies. She’ll also be a core member of the College of Social Studies. Her research investigates state efforts to manage spiritual life, as well as the significance and functions of private rituals in modern society. “There were many things that attracted me to Wesleyan, but the students, and the intellectual community more broadly, are at the top of the list,” she says. “When I visited Wesleyan, the students made a profound impression: they struck me as deeply engaged in…
This story has been reposted at: https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/12/16/scholastic-honor-society-welcomes-15-seniors-2/
In the remote village of Gitwe, Rwanda, 6-year-old children ascend mountains, or make the journey by foot along dusty roads – more than 3.5 miles each way – to fetch water for their families. They fill plastic motor oil jugs or any other container they can find. Barefoot and often in intense heat, they lug the 40-pound containers of water back home. “The bins that the children carry are just as big as they are,” says Carina Kurban ’14, who witnessed the daily procession of thirsty children during a fact-finding missionary trip in August 2010. “And many of the children…
Jane Alden raises her hands and cues members of her Collegium Musicum performance ensemble to intone the music. The sopranos and basses situated in Memorial Chapel’s choir loft allow their voices to resonate throughout the space. Alden cuts them off at measure 17. "Measure 17 is the apex because the cantus firmus is in the top voice. You need to sound like angels floating on the top with the chant,” Alden says during a Nov. 23 rehersal . “Let’s try this once more." The MUSC438 course, which explores vocal and instrumental repertories of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of European music history, is taught…
Rob Rosenthal, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, has been appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs. It is a position Rosenthal held on an interim basis since the summer. Rosenthal has responsibility for matters relating to the recruitment and promotion of the faculty, the content of the curriculum, continuing studies, athletics and the library. He also is responsible for meeting budget targets for faculty compensation and for academic departments and programs. In the few months that he has held this position on an interim basis, Rosenthal, says Wesleyan President Michael Roth, "has quickly assumed a leadership role…
The newly-established Wesleyan Green Fund Committee is supporting initiatives that move the university forward in sustainability and environmental stewardship. On Dec. 3, the student-managed committee will finance projects that will decrease the carbon footprint of the university, decrease waste, increase Wesleyan's use of energy from renewable resources, or increase visibility of environmentally responsible practices on campus. The committee will select projects proposed by Wesleyan students, faculty and staff. Through a $15 fee, collected voluntarily from students during the Fall 2010 semester, the committee raised about $40,000. These “green funds” will be applied to several sustainability-focused projects at Wesleyan that otherwise would not…