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…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20089min
David Winakor is Wesleyan's first general counsel and represents the university on issues affecting the university.   Posted 02/01/08 According to David Winakor, lawyers and doctors often have something in common. “We can’t always tell you what exact illness or illnesses you might have, but we can probably help treat some symptoms and maybe even prevent it from getting worse,” Winakor says. “Although our issues are very different, we are both trained to find the answer.” As a lawyer and Wesleyan’s first General Counsel, Winakor represents the university, its trustees, officers, faculty and staff, all in their official capacities, on…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20087min
Eloise Glick, faculty resource specialist, helps process teaching evaluations at the end of each semester in the Office of Academic Affairs.   Posted 02/01/08 Q: Eloise, as a faculty resource specialist in the Office of Academic Affairs, what resources do you manage for the faculty?A: I coordinate all the paper and processes -- except for benefits -- associated with a faculty member’s career from the letter of offer until retirement. There is a reason the main decorative feature of my office is filing cabinets!Q: When a new faculty member is hired, what is the process of getting him or her…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20088min
Barbara Juhasz, at right, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and behavior, explains eye-tracking data to guests during a roving lab event Jan. 23. Posted 02/01/08 Three new psychology labs in Judd Hall allow faculty and students to study readers' habits, to reveal insights into children's' minds and to help improve existing treatments for schizophrenia.The Department of Psychology hosted a roving lab event Jan. 23 to introduce the labs and showcase the extensive renovations that were completed to create customized multi-purpose facilities. The renovations include Barbara Juhasz's eye tracking lab on the fifth floor, Anna Shusterman’s child development lab on…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20087min
Wesleyan has secured a permanent endowment that will support the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the Center for the Americas. Posted 02/01/08 In 2004, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation challenged Wesleyan to raise $1.5 million over a three-year period. Wesleyan agreed -- and recently succeeded. As part of the challenge, the Mellon Foundation matched these funds to endow a permanent Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in the humanities within the Center for the Americas. Since 1998, postdoctoral fellows were hired on a year-to-year basis as grant funding allowed. “The Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program has become part of the very rhythm of the…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20085min
Janice Astor del Valle, left, director of the Green Street Arts Center, listens to Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, director of the Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, speak in Memorial Chapel during a campus visit Nov. 2. Mañjon will return to campus in July as Wesleyan's new vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships. Posted 02/01/08 President Michael Roth has appointed Sonia BasSheva Mañjon as vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships, a new position that will include leadership on civic engagement and cooperation with private and public organizations. Mañjon will work…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20084min
U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy is currently the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate. He will speak at the 176th Wesleyan commencement. Posted 02/01/08 U.S. Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy will deliver the main address at Wesleyan's 176th commencement in May. Senator Kennedy, a Democrat, is the senior senator from Massachusetts and the second longest-serving current member of the U.S. Senate. “Senator Kennedy has long been a thoughtful and energetic supporter of higher education in the United States,” says Wesleyan's President Michael Roth. “In this time of great change at our universities, it is…