David PesciNorman Danner, mathematics and computer science, Fernando Degiovanni, romance languages and literatures, and Greg Voth, physics, were the lastest faculty members awarded tenure at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting. These appointments do not conclude tenure announcements for the 2008-2009 academic year, and more may be forthcoming.
Richard Grossman, chair and professor of economics, commented on the economy and the moves of the Obama Administration to counter the country's sliding economic prospects since the inauguration.
David LowFilm director and screenwriter Mike White ’92 (Chuck & Buck, School of Rock, Year of the Dog) has teamed up with his 60-year-old father Mel as a team on the popular Emmy-winning reality competition, The Amazing Race. Mel White is a prize-winning documentary producer, a gay-rights Christian activist, and a best-selling author who ghostwrote books for Billy Graham and Pat Robertson. White and his father have been interviewed for their appearance on the show in such publications as Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, and Mel White’s hometown newspaper, The Lynchburg News and Advance in Virginia. In various interviews, Mike White…
Tom Kannam, vice president and chief investment officer, was a guest speaker at the Middlesex Country Chamber of Commerce's Young Professionals Alliance Economy and Finance Seminar on Feb. 24. Jeff Pugliese, staff liaison to the Young Professionals Alliance, said Kannam "provided great insight at a time when the economy is on every one's mind."
Olivia DrakeRandall Pinkston '72, P'05, a national correspondent for CBS News in New York City, credits Wesleyan's WESU 88.1 FM radio for launching his life-long career. "When I was a student, I heard about WESU installing a new transmitter and I wondered, how can I be on a radio station," Pinkston says. "I took the training required by the FCC at the time, passed a test, and was given a one-hour show, five days a week. I called it 'Soul Session.'" Pinkston recruited four other students, and replicated shows broadcasted in their hometowns including R&B and jazz. On the 55th minute…
In November, 2008, when all the first round early decision applications were in, the Wesleyan admissions’ staff knew the initial numbers were not a fluke. Applications from high school students seeking admission during the first early decision period at Wesleyan were up 34 percent from the previous year, 2007. Still, the admissions staff maintained cautious enthusiasm. “We were elated, but we also remained a bit guarded because, quite frankly, we didn’t know if the early decision increase would be followed by a decrease in overall applications, especially with the economy taking such a dramatic downturn,” says Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean…
Sitting in front of the Senate panel, Laura Grabel was ready for the “when” and “why” questions. But she knew one of these questions held a lot more potential danger to her future than the other. Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society, professor of biology, is a renowned stem cell researcher. She is also the co-director of the University of Connecticut Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility, part of a $100 million human stem cell research initiative created by the State of Connecticut in 2006. The stem cell initiative was the state’s response to a veto…
Thomas Kail ’99 who received a Tony Award nomination for his direction for the musical hit "In the Heights" (2008 Tony Award for best musical) on Broadway will stage the Encores! Summer Stars production of "The Wiz" this summer at City Center in New York City for a three-week run, June 12 to July 3. Kail will re-team with choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler who won a Tony for his work on "In the Heights." "The Wiz," a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast, won seven Tony Awards, including best musical, in 1975. The show…
In his recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, Matthew Shaer talked to two graduates working at small presses, Johnny Temple ’88, publisher of Akashic Books in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Matvei Yankelvich ’95, a founding editor at Ugly Duckling Presse. Shaer reported that while conventional books sales are sinking in the current economy, e-book sales have been soaring. He pointed out, however, that it’s not the larger publishing houses who are moving quickly toward mass digitization but the small presses of the independent publishing world. Temple plans to have e-book content from his company available soon and recognizes both its…