Olivia DrakeSeven Wesleyan undergraduates presented research at the annual Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium meeting held at Middlebury College on Sept. 22. Pictured above, from left, are: Eric Edelman '13, astronomy major, who worked with Professor Jay Pasachoff at Williams College; Miche Aaron '14, earth and environmental studies major, who worked with Associate Professor Martha Gilmore of Wesleyan; Mark Popinchalk '13, astronomy major, who worked with Professor Debra Elmegreen of Vassar College; James Dottin '13, earth and environmental studies major, who worked with Research Associate Professor James Greenwood of Wesleyan; Ben Tweed '13, astronomy major, who worked with Assistant Professor Seth Redfield of Wesleyan; Kerry Klemmer…
A book by Margot Weiss, assistant professor of American studies, assistant professor of anthropology, received the 2012 Ruth Benedict Book Prize by the Association for Queer Anthropology. Her book, Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality (Duke University Press, 2011) was honored in the category “Outstanding Monograph." This prize is presented each year at the American Anthropological Association's national meeting to acknowledge excellence in a scholarly book written from an anthropological perspective about a topic that engages issues and theoretical perspectives relevant to LGBTQ studies. Techniques of Pleasure is a vivid portrayal of the San Francisco Bay Area’s pansexual…
Lauren RubensteinJeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, chair of film studies, was honored in Variety magazine's special feature edition, "Women's Impact Report 2012." In the profile, Basinger discusses her typical work week; the often-underestimated number of hours that college professors dedicate to their jobs; her secret to work-life balance; and why she doesn't carry a cell phone. She says, "My worklife and my personal life are very highly integrated. Students I've taught have now become my friends and are a part of my life. I don't have a problem juggling two lives, my life is coherent and it's only one life. In a…
On Sept. 19, the Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded Wesleyan's 41 Wyllys Avenue project with a 2012 Design Award in the Merit category. Newman Architects of New Haven, Conn. oversaw the building's redesign. 41 Wyllys Avenue, formerly a squash facility, is the new home of the College of Letters, Art History Department and the Wesleyan Career Center. This historic building boasts beautiful new spaces enhanced with light, color and technology. The AIA Connecticut Design Awards celebrate the the accomplishments of Connecticut architects and the excellence of Connecticut architectural projects. An awards ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 3. For…
In an op-ed published Oct. 18 in The Jakarta Post, Ronald Jenkins, professor of theater, writes about a disturbing new documentary in which “gangsters” responsible for mass murders in Indonesia from 1965-66 reenact their crimes as they remember them. "This enables audiences to witness the deaths, not as they happened, but as they are remembered by the killers," he writes. The documentary, "The Act of Killing" by Joshua Oppenheimer, “reveals the links between the human capacity for self-delusion and cinema’s ability to reedit the past into comforting fantasy," writes Jenkins.
On Oct. 17, Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of government, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, had an op-ed published in The Moscow Times exploring whether the European Union deserves the recently awarded Nobel Peace Prize. "Europe is certainly a more peaceful place today than at any time in its past, but does the E.U. deserve all the credit for this? Defenders of the committee's decision argue that the E.U. has ended the centuries-old proclivity of European states to invade each other. It's true that most of Europe has enjoyed six decades…
Erika Franklin Fowler, assistant professor of government, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, will be a panelist at a roundtable discussion at Yale University on Monday, Oct. 29. The subject is China and the American Election. Fowler will be joined by James Fallows of The Atlantic, Stephen Roach of the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and the Yale University School of Management, and Jeremy Wu of the Committee of 100, and former senior advisor to the U.S. Census Bureau. As China's rapid development, and Sino-American relations continue to be featured in the media during the current U.S. election season, the panelists will…
David LowWilliam Bissell ’88, managing director of Fabindia, is the recipient of a Forbes India Leadership Award for 2012. He received the award for Entrepreneur with Social Impact. According to a recent Forbes India feature, Bissell won the award for “creating a globally recognized, profitable retail brand that has over 22,000 local artisans as its shareholders, most of whom would have lost their livelihoods if it were not for Bissell and Fabindia. And being able to make sure margins are almost three times that of the industry average.” Bissell’s next goal is to persuade his 16 supplier companies to merge with…
Lily Baggott '15Former America’s Next Top Model contestant and MTV host Kim Stolz ’05 is no stranger to the world of finance. After receiving her bachelor of art in government with a concentration in international politics from Wesleyan, she worked in equity derivatives at BTIG. Now Stolz has a new gig: a vice president in the equity-derivative sales division at Citigroup. In addition, Stolz is also opening a restaurant and bar in New York City, along with her co-owner Amanda Leigh Dunn. The Dalloway, named after Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, is set to open later this month and will have a…
Aristotle has long been considered the father of virtue ethics. In his new book Aristotle and the Virtues (Oxford University Press), Howard Curzer ’74, MA ’76 considers Aristotle’s detailed description of the individual virtues to be central to his ethical theory. His study examines the Nicomachean Ethics virtue-by-virtue, explaining and generally defending Aristotle's claims. The book is divided into three sections: Moral Virtues, Justice and Friendship, and Moral Development. Justice and friendship are prominent in Aristotle's virtue theory. Curzer argues that in Aristotle's view justice and friendship are symbiotic. Other contemporary discussions have argued the opposite; justice seems to be…
Cynthia RockwellMusician Jack Freudenheim ’79, working in conjunction with Larson Associates and the John Cage Trust, created an app that allows one to play the sounds of John Cage's “prepared piano." It was released in time to celebrate what would have been Cage's 100th birthday. An ethnomusicology major at Wesleyan concentrating on South Indian music, Freudenheim remembers reading John Cage’s book, Silence, as an undergraduate in the course “Introduction to Electronic Music” (taught by then-graduate student Nicolas Collins). He still considers reading the book a life-altering experience. After college, he became a computer programmer—as well as a musician— “and whenever possible…
Wesleyan's Program for Student College Success received a $10,000 award from AT&T Connecticut on Oct. 12. State Senator Paul Doyle was on hand to celebrate the announcement. This program replaces the former Upward Bound program, which lost its federal funding this year for the first time in 45 years. Wesleyan’s Program for College Success is a comprehensive program that supports first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students as they move through high school and into college. The program serves 100 high school students (25 in each class), helping them to make a successful transition to college. Led by a director and operated by…