Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20075min
Janice Astor del Valle, left, director of the Green Street Arts Center, listens to Sonia BasSheva Manjon, director of the Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, speak on "Building Bridges between University and Community" during a Inauguration  Event Nov. 2 in Memorial Chapel. Manjon and del Valle each spoke on how their arts center has helped their local communities. Posted 11/05/07 One of Michael Roth’s predominant themes during his inauguration, as well as his professional life, has been “Liberal Education and Public Life.” This theme was reflected in several special Inaugural…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20075min
Wesleyan's men's crew team took second place at the annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass. Posted 11/05/07 The sport of rowing requires strength, endurance and technique. The pattern of striking the water with a perpendicular blade, pulling through a stroke, raising the blade while feathering for the next stroke, and contacting the water again is rhythmic. Perfecting this action, especially in an eight-person boat, is an art. If that is the case, then Wesleyan men’s crew is right up there with Van Gogh. This year, despite having three rowers and the coxswain graduate, Wesleyan opened the season…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20077min
Erika Taylor, assistant professor of chemistry, is interested in finding antibiotics for the disease cholerae.   Posted 11/05/07 Erika Taylor has joined the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor of chemistry. Taylor’s research interests include the exploration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis and discovering new antibiotics for gram negative bacteria. “My passion is exploring new ways of fighting diseases, with everything from drug development to education,” she says. “My research at Wesleyan will focus on the development of new antibiotics, especially for pharmaceutically undervalued diseases like cholerae, which infects 3 to 5 million people each year with a 5 percent…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20079min
Rev. Joan Cooper Burnett leads Sunday worship services that include music, dance and other artistic talents of Wesleyan students. She encourages students of any faith to attend the 2 p.m. services.   Posted 11/05/07 Q: Q: Rev. Burnett, what attracted you to Wesleyan, and when did you begin working on campus?A: My term at Wesleyan began the week of new student orientation, and I’m so excited to be here! The motivating factor for my accepting the position as Chaplain was the desperate quest for some Christian students to practice Christianity at Wesleyan without trepidation. During my employment interview I was…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20072min
For 40 years, Wesleyan's Upward Bound Program has prepared hundreds of underrepresented local youth for college by providing rigorous academic summer experiences, motivational "boot camps," college visits, and assistance with the challenging college application and financial application processes. On Nov. 10, Upward Bound will celebrate its 40th anniversary inside Wesleyan's newly renovated Fayerweather Building in the Edgar F. Beckham Hall. Beckham was one of the Upward Bound founders, and along with Willard McRae and others, they had a vision that local, low-income students should have the opportunity to consider the college dream. "Upward Bound has been empowering eligible youth to…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20076min
Posted 11/05/07 In the 1930s, Hollywood unveiled a new way of watching film with the introduction of three-color Technicolor. Scott Higgins, left, associate professor of film studies, will speak on the 75-year-old color film process technique during a three-weekend retrospective of Technicolor films at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. His lecture, which begins at 2 p.m. Nov. 17, will be held in conjunction with the publication of his book Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s (University of Texas Press). “Filmmakers had already mastered the art of monochrome, of translating stories into a…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20079min
Jim Dresser '63 shakes hands with Michael Roth during the 16th Wesleyan President Inauguration event Nov. 2.  Roth was installed as president in front of more than 1,500 people. Posted 11/05/07 "Today, Michael Roth, you are formally charged with the duties, obligations and opportunities of the office of president of Wesleyan University. Today, especially, we express our gratitude that you have so fully and enthusiastically assumed these duties in the service of our beloved University."With these words by Jim Dresser '63, Michael S. Roth '78 was formally installed as the 16th President of Wesleyan Nov. 2 in front of more…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20074min
Posted 11/05/07 Wesleyan University will eliminate loans for its neediest undergraduates and replace these with additional grants, President Michael S. Roth has announced. The policy will be part of a new initiative to reduce overall student indebtedness by 35 percent to make Wesleyan even more accessible to students regardless of their financial capacity. "Access to a Wesleyan education for students from all backgrounds has long been one of the core values of this community," Roth says. "It remains one of our highest priorities. As I begin my presidency, I see this new effort as a down payment on our goal…

Olivia DrakeNovember 5, 20076min
Alfredo Jaar is displaying three of his exhibits inside Zilhka Gallery. Posted 11/05/07 Is a media giant like Newsweek able to shape public opinion by defining what is newsworthy? This is one question internationally acclaimed artist Alfredo Jaar leaves for his audience to answer in a current exhibition in Zilkha Gallery. Jaar’s exhibition is on display in Zilkha Gallery through Dec. 2. He will present an art seminar at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 6 in Zilkha 106 and a music colloquium at 4:15 Nov. 7 in the Music Department. Through a straightforward photography installation that addresses the media coverage of the…

Olivia DrakeOctober 28, 20073min
SOUNDS OF EAST ASIA: The group IIIZ+ (Three Zee Plus) performed for an audience inside the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Oct. 11. From left to right are Ryuko Mizutani playing a Japanese koto; Yi-Chieh Lai, playing a Chinese zheng; Il-Ryun Chung playing Korean percussion; and Jocelyn Collette Clark '92 playing a Korean kayagum. Combining these instruments is not traditional in East Asia. Clark, who majored in East Asian studies, says the ensemble relies on collaborations with contemporary composers in order to build its repertoire. At left, Vera Schwarz, director of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian…

Olivia DrakeOctober 16, 20075min
Wesleyan's Gary Yohe is a member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel is supported by the United Nations. Posted 10/16/07 Gary Yohe, the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, is a senior member and coordinating lead author on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a co-recipient of the 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize. The other co-recipient was former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The official press statement from The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the IPCC and Gore for: "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change,…

Olivia DrakeOctober 16, 20076min
The Long Lane Farm Club is spearheading the fourth annual Pumpkin Festival Oct. 20 for the Wesleyan and local community. The event will be held at the student-run Long Lane Farm. Posted 10/16/07 The Wesleyan community and people from the surrounding area can paint and purchase pumpkins during the fourth annual Long Lane Farm Pumpkin Festival Oct. 20. The event offers educational composting and organic gardening workshops, beekeeping, pumpkin face painting, tours of the farm, T-shirt designing, free bike tune-ups, garlic planting, music by student and local bands, games and a farmer's market, selling farm produce and pumpkins. Long Lane…