Olivia DrakeNovember 16, 200510min
  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. They’re 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): I’m a cashier.Q: How many years have you worked in food services?LS: I’ve been…

Olivia DrakeNovember 16, 20057min
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 America’s soil, were struggling with the state’s educational system and government. They were treated, he explains, like invaders. At the time, Buehring chose to believe that these…

Olivia DrakeNovember 16, 20058min
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 Bush’s 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…

Olivia DrakeNovember 16, 20052min
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,…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20055min
Posted 11/02/05 Gary Yohe, the John E. Andrus Professor of Economics, wasn’t 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 warming’s 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…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 200512min
Donna Wright, women's ice hockey head coach, learned to play hockey on a pond.   Posted 11/02/05 Q: How many years have you been the women’s ice hockey head coach? A: I began my coaching career at Wesleyan in September 1995. I was hired as the head women’s hockey coach and assistant lacrosse coach. Because the position was not an adjunct faculty position at that time, I also took a part-time position in the Physical Plant as a network desktop support person. It enabled me to be at Wesleyan full-time.Q: When does the season begin and end? A: Our season…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20054min
Posted 11/02/05 Kelly Greenhill joined the Government Department as an assistant professor in July. Greenhill’s current research focuses on non-traditional coercion, counterinsurgency operations and barriers to conflict resolution. Such research has appeared in a variety of books and journals, including Security Studies, International Migration, and Polity. This semester, Greenhill is teaching a course on civil wars and international conflict management and another on geography and international conflict. In the spring, she will teach an introductory international relations course, as well as another that offers a more in-depth exploration of international relations theory. “I was attracted to Wesleyan for myriad reasons,…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20058min
Lisa Gates, dean of the class of 2007, holds a photograph of her class inside her office in North College. Gates monitors the academic performance of 760 students.   Posted 11/02/05 Steering students toward success is Lisa Gates’ top priority. As dean of the class of 2007, she’s constantly helping students meet or exceed their academic goals on the way to graduation. Gates meets with many of her 760 students during the academic year. As a class dean, she is responsible for monitoring the academic performance of her class and ensuring students are making appropriate progress toward earning their degrees.…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20058min
Lucy Diaz, administrative assistant to the academic deans, is co-chair to the Administrators and Faculty of Color Alliance (AFCA).   Posted 11/02/05 Q: When were you hired as the administrative assistant to the academic deans?A: I started at Wesleyan in October 2001.Q: What are some of your duties?A: The majority of my day is spent on the phone responding to inquiries from faculty and staff, reconciling accounts, gathering financial data, and maintaining various files and databases.Q: What goes on during a day in the Office of Academic Affairs? A: My job is a little different each day and I really…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20052min
Posted 11/02/05. Updated 11.07.05 Several Hollywood female stars were introduced to Middlesex County women and girls during a benefit dinner Nov. 6, titled “Stardom Then and Now.” The presentation, by Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film studies and chair of the Film Studies Department Jeanine Basinger, provided an insider’s look at the star system in Hollywood and how it has evolved through the years. Basinger, who is also the curator of Wesleyan’s Cinema Archives, offered an exploration of the power and limitations female stars dealt with in the early Hollywood years and the influences that changed the nature of stardom into its…

Olivia DrakeNovember 2, 20051min
The Susan B. and William K. Wasch Center for Retired Faculty at 51 Lawn Avenue held its Open House Nov. 5 during Homecoming/Family Weekend. The Center is named for Susie and Bill Wasch '52, P'84, who contributed their vision and support for the project. This new center creates a shared intellectual and social community where retired faculty members can continue their scholarly activities and participation in university life. Trustee Emeritus Bob McKelvey '59 believes the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty will provide invaluable connections between different generations of Wesleyan faculty. In supporting this project, he honored former first lady Katharina…

Olivia DrakeOctober 28, 20054min
A NEW OCTAVE: Bruce Harkness of the Verdin Bell Co. prepares to install a new bell into the South College belfry Oct. 3. Eight new bronze bells were hoisted to the top by a crane, adding a full octave to the instrument. Harkness and Bill Burkhart, university photographer, discuss cable rack hardware for the new bells. Metal "tracker squares" connect the bells in the tower via the cable to the clavier -- or keyboard -- on a floor beneath the belfry. Bell installer Don Swem performs the balancing act inside and outside the belfry dome. Wesleyan Connection editor Olivia Bartlett…