Olivia DrakeAdrian Cooke, Web administrator for University Relations, is working on content for WesNet, the alumni Electronic Portfolio. Posted 02/16/07 The first time Adrian Cooke built a Web site, he used it to share photographs with his family. As University Relations new Web administrator, Cooke now builds Web sites used by thousands of Wesleyan alumni. He oversees all nodes under http://www.wesleyan.edu/alumni/, pages for the Wesleyan Fund, and works with other departments such as ITS and the Office of Public Affairs New Media Services on special event pages for Reunion & Commencement and Homecoming/Family Weekend. WesNet, a site designed to facilitate…
Mike Sciola, standing, director of Wesleyans Career Resource Center, speaks during an Academic (Technology) Roundtable meeting Feb. 8. Posted 02/16/07 Intellectual property issues, using visual images in the classroom and rock and roll memories are all upcoming topics for the Academic (Technology) Roundtable. The weekly roundtable meetings aim to promote conversation, cooperation, and the sharing of information and resources among Wesleyan's faculty and staff. "This is an informal way for faculty, librarians and staff members to get together and talk about technologies, academic issues and student life," explains Andy Szegedy-Maszak, director of the Center for Faculty Career Development, the Jane…
Posted 02/16/07 Members of the Wesleyan Cluster Computing Committee have listed the impacts on research from the newly-installed computer cluster. The Cluster Computing Committee members are Eric Aaron, assistant professor of computer science; David Beveridge, the University Professor of the Science and Mathematics; Tsampikos Kottos, assistant professor pf physics; George Petersson, professor of chemistry; and Francis Starr, assistant professor of physics. The committee is supported by the Information Technology Services staff, who made commitments of space, personnel resources, and developed an upgrade program so that the facility does not become rapidly obsolete. ITS staff involved include Henk Meij, applications technology…
Andrew Moreno, a graduate student in chemistry, teaches a lesson on probability to his peers during a Molecular Biophysics Journal Club class Feb. 7. Posted 02/16/07 Alicia Every, a graduate student in chemistry, went to class last week not only to learn, but to teach. She and the other 20 students taking the course, Molecular Biophysics Journal Club II, are expected to prepare a lesson on relevant course material and present a micro-lecture to their peers. For 20 minutes she spoke, jotting equations on the chalkboard while explaining that heat is in random motion. She drew a gas molecule inside…
This image by Ben Rowland '08 will be on display at the Brooklyn Artists Gym Gallery. Posted 02/16/07 During winter break, Ben Rowland 08 traveled to Istanbul for a vacation with his cousins. A hobbyist photographer, he took several photographs. One of these has found a place in a New York gallery. That image, titled, The Man and the Mosque, is now part of a group gallery show called: Look See: Photographs on Reflection at the Brooklyn Artists Gym (B.A.G) Gallery in Brooklyn. The opening is from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 24. In Man and the Mosque Rowland captured…
Casey Brown, building supervisor/manager, welcomes people to the Freeman Athletic Center and helps answer any questions they may have. Posted 02/16/07 Q: Casey, what various roles do you have at the Freeman Athletic Center?A: As a building supervisor/manager, I try to ensure that users of the facility are safe, welcomed, and as content as possible. I try to answer as many questions as possible, and create a friendly environment.Q: Youre the friendly face that greets everyone when they come into the Freeman Athletic Center during the late afternoon hours. What do you like about this role?A: You mean the…
Bon Appétit Management Company will provide the meals for the new university center. Posted 02/01/07 Wesleyan is finalizing an agreement with a new dining services provider, Bon Appétit Management Company, to begin a new dining contract as of July 1, 2007. The new company will provide campus dining in the new Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center, Summerfields, Pi Café, WEShop and campus catering. This was a difficult decision to make but also an exciting one, says John Meerts, vice president for Finance and Administration, and member of Wesleyans Dining Review Committee. Bon Appétit says it cooks food from scratch with…
Posted 02/01/07 Jim Lehrer P85, anchor of Public Broadcasting Service's The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, will be the featured speaker at Wesleyan's 175th Commencement ceremony, which will be held on May 27, 2007. Lehrer began his career at PBS in 1972 and partnered with Robert MacNeil in 1973 to cover the Watergate hearings. In 1975, the two men began anchoring The MacNeil/Lehrer Report In 1983 the show became the nations first 60-minute television evening news program and was re-titled The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. Lehrer has been honored with numerous journalism awards, including a Presidential National Humanities medal in 1999. During the…
Civil rights activist Sonia Sanchez speaks during Wesleyans Celebration of the Life of Martin Luther King Jr. event Jan. 30 in Memorial Chapel. Posted 02/01/07 Poet, author and civil rights activist Sonia Sanchez delivered the keynote address during Wesleyans Celebration of the Life of Martin Luther King Jr. event Jan. 30. She met King in 1957 and shared excerpts of Kings speeches with an over-flowing audience in Memorial Chapel. Often in poetic rhythm, Sanchez spoke about her own life and the troubles she and her family faced as being poor, black Americans. She emphasized her years in New York…
Robert Boyd's Xanadu is on display in Zilhka Gallery through March 4. Posted 02/01/07 A new exhibit at the Ezra and Cecile Zilhka Gallery tweaks, condenses, and re-frames contemporary events into montages of quick cuts, representing a history of apocalyptic thought as a series of MTV-style music videos within a setting reminiscent of a discotheque. Robert Boyd's Xanadu is a synchronized four-channel video installation that probes society's self-destructive impulse and parodies avenues of popular culture such as documentaries, news media, cartoons, and pop music. Xanadu takes its title from the 1980 American pop musical starring Olivia Newton-John. One of the…
Barbara Schukoske, administrative assistant for the Office of Graduate Student Services, is a lifelong Middletown resident and remembers sledding down Foss Hill as a child. Posted 02/01/07 Q: Barbara, when did you come to Wesleyan and what led you to the Office of Graduate Student Services?A: I was hired as a department assistant on Feb. 6, 1989 to the Physical Plant Department, where I worked for nine years. I then transitioned to my current position of administrative assistant for Graduate Student Services on Sept. 28, 1998.Q: Youve been acquainted with Wesleyan for many years. Why is that?A: Wesleyan is…
Ben Byers '07 wants to defend his title in the 1000 freestyle at NESCACs and also win the 1650. Posted 02/01/07 Q: How did a young man from Seattle, Wash. become interested in attending Wesleyan University?A: Both my parents grew up in New York, my dad in White Plains, my mom in Brooklyn, so when I decided I wanted to come to the East Coast for college they suggested, among others, Wesleyan. Once I'd begun the application process I started talking to the swimming coach Mary Bolich and realized the program was a good fit for me.Q: What did you…