Olivia DrakeRed & Black Society member Megan Lesko '06 talks to alumni while raising funds for the Wesleyan Annual Fund for Excellence. Pictured below is Allie Joe, '05 and Joshua Atwood '08. Lesko and Joe are both student managers for the society. Posted 12/02/05 Emily Frost 06 knows it takes courage to call and speak with strangers. As a member of Wesleyans Red & Black Society, she is learning how to transform what could be an awkward conversation into a more meaningful exchange. Frost is among 60 Red & Black Society members who call alumni and parents requesting gifts to Wesleyan…
Ruth Striegel-Moore, professor and chair of psychology, is leading a binge-eating study. Posted 12/02/05 The largest, most comprehensive binge-eating study ever undertaken has been initiated in Portland, Oregon, and the primary investigator is Ruth Striegel-Moore, professor and chair of psychology. Striegel-Moore, an internationally-recognized expert on eating disorders, says the study will last four years and include male and female subjects between 18 and 50 years of age. People participating in the study who present with eating disorders will be offered treatment options. The study is being funded by National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and…
Posted 12/02/05 Spencer Berry, professor of biology Emeritus, died Nov. 19 at his home in Middlefield, Conn. at the age of 72. His career at Wesleyan spanned 35 years. Berry joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1964 and retired in 1999. He earned a bachelors of art in biology from Williams College with a minor in art history; a masters of arts in biology from Wesleyan; and a Ph.D at Western Reserve University. An expert in the mechanisms of insect development, he held a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Career Development Award from 1971 to 1976 and received several research grants…
BOOK SIGNING: Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history and letters, held a book signing event Oct. 26 at Broad Street Books. Kleinberg is the author of Generation Existential; Heideggers Philosophy in France, 1927-1961, which focuses on the initial reception for Heideggers philosophy had on those who encountered it. (Photo by Olivia Bartlett)
Tsampikos Kottos, assistant professor of physics, teaches classical dynamics this fall. Posted 11/16/05 Tsampikos Kottos research field is so narrow he often has to measure it in nanometers. Kottos, who joined the Physics Department as an assistant professor in August, is an expert in mesoscopic physics, non-linear dynamics and theory of quantum chaos. Mesoscopic systems, such as semiconductors, metal wires, small metal grains or semiconductor quantum dots, can range in size from 1/1000 of a millimeter to one nanometer. Kottos, who came to Wesleyan from Germany, has a bachelors of arts in physics, a masters of arts in solid-state…
At top, fifth grader Taylor Spencer learns about the hydrogen make-up of vinegar, club soda and ammonia with Manju Hingorani, assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Spencer Elementary School Nov. 10. (Photo by Olivia Drake) Posted 11/16/05 When 18 fifth graders from the Spencer School in Middletown came home on Nov. 10 and were asked, What did you do in school today? they had a few ready answers: We extracted DNA from wheat germ, checked hydrogen levels in household products and stripped-away pigments from M&M candies. Probably a little different from the responses parents had heard the day…
Dan Michaud has been appointed as the interim associate vice president for Human Resources to manage a new department including Payroll, Benefits and Human Resources. Posted 11/16/05 A recent reorganization of services has combined the Human Resources Department with the Payroll and Benefits Offices. The reorganization became effective on Wednesday, Nov. 9 and was announced by John C. Meerts, interim vice president for finance and treasurer and vice president for Information Technology Services. The intent is to create a single, one-stop office that handles compensation, benefits, personnel information, transactions and recruitment. "By merging the two areas we've created a more…
Lennie Sweeny, top, and Maureen Tosto, left, have worked for Wesleyan's Campus Dining Services for more than 35 years combined. Sweeny works as a cook in Summerfields and Tosto is a cashier at the Davenport Campus Center. Posted 11/16/05 Q: What is your job title?Lennie Sweeny (LS): Second cook. I do the prep work for the first cooks. Theyre the ones who are in charge of everything. You could call me the soup lady, because I make all the soups and chili.Maureen Tosto (MT): Im a cashier.Q: How many years have you worked in food services?LS: Ive been…
Brandon Buehring, area coordinator for Residential Life, helped develop a campus-wide anti-racism discussion board. He also works with the student residents of West College, Clark Hall and Fauver Apartments. Posted 11/16/05 Growing up in southern Texas, Brandon Buehring was taught by his elders, teachers and textbooks that he was living in a post-Civil-Rights-movement racial utopia. Meanwhile, all of his Mexican-American classmates, whose family trees stretched down at least three centuries in to Americas soil, were struggling with the states educational system and government. They were treated, he explains, like invaders. At the time, Buehring chose to believe that these…
Francisco Rodríguez, assistant professor of economics and Latin American studies, worked as the chief economist of the Venezuelan National Assembly prior to coming to Wesleyan. Posted 11/16/05 In the recent Summit of the Americas in Argentina, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez openly defied President George Bush by reportedly declaring that the meeting would mark the end of Bushs push for free-trade era in Latin America. However, the meeting marked another step in the contentious relationship that Chávez has staked out with the American president. According to Assistant Professor of economics and Latin American Studies, Francisco Rodríguez, this increasingly vocal and confrontational…
The McNeil family will celebrate Thanksgiving in their new home built by more than 250 students, faculty and staff and community volunteers. Posted 11/16/05 Wesleyan University and Northern Middlesex Habitat for Humanity formally welcomed Jennifer McNeil and her family into their new home on 34 Fairview Avenue on Nov. 13. Wesleyan donated the four bedroom, white colonial to Habitat for Humanity last year and faculty, staff, students and other members of the Wesleyan community assisted with the home's renovations. McNeil is looking forward to cooking Thanksgiving dinner next week with extended family members and her five children, Darryl, Tyquan,…
Posted 11/02/05 Gary Yohe, the John E. Andrus Professor of Economics, wasnt surprised to learn that Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma were churning in the Gulf of Mexico. But along with scientists across the globe, the economist was surprised by how quickly the storms intensified into catastrophic proportions. The unpredictability of what these storms and global warmings possible effect on their intensity and increased frequency is what Yohe, a climate change economist, has been studying along with scientists for nearly 25 years. Climatologists, biologists, and climate modelers often collaborate with Yohe as they contemplate what could happen in certain scenarios. They…