Olivia DrakeWesleyan employees can help strengthen lives and improve community conditions in the 15 towns in Middlesex County by participating in the 2009-10 Middlesex United Way Campaign. Wesleyan has set at a goal of raising $130,000 through its annual workplace campaign, which supports the building blocks of life - education, income, health and housing. Through the agencies it funds, United Way hopes to increase children's readiness to learn by school entry; increase economic self-sufficiency of individuals and families; reduce the rate of risky behaviors among youth and adults; and increase the ability of individuals and families to attain affordable housing. The…
From his home in Hawaii, Evan Weber '13 can walk a couple hundred yards and be standing in the Pacific Ocean. Or, he can walk a couple hundred yards and be on the Ka'iwa Ridge, climbing through forests. As a result of his fortunate placement, Weber grew up with a deep connection to the natural world and developed a sense of personal duty to preserve and uphold the "multifaceted wonder that is our home, Earth," he says. At Wesleyan, Weber plans to expand his appreciation and knowledge for the planet by double majoring in the new Environmental Studies (ENVS) Linked…
With a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 2, Wesleyan unveiled a facility that enables Wesleyan to focus resources, encourage curricular innovation, original research and scholarship, and foster greater public understanding and responsibility. The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, which occupies the renovated Davenport Campus Center, will emphasize its academic engagement with the public sphere. The center continues Wesleyan’s commitment to preparing students for lives as active citizens and for leadership. It seeks to support Wesleyan’s tradition of the scholar-teacher by encouraging faculty research in a manner that directly benefits and enhances student learning. The Center reflects changes that have…
For 15 days, Nathaniel Draper ’12 mingled with top filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival while participating in educational workshops, seminars, pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and screenings. He also happened to pick up an award for a film of his own while he was there. As a student intern at the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival, held May 13-24 in southern France, Draper had a hands-on opportunity to explore the film industry through the prism of perhaps it most prestigious international event. "It was, to put it lightly, a surreal experience," Draper recalls. "I was able to meet iconic directors…
On Oct. 10, 1741, Mr. William Bartlit was laid to rest in the Vine/Washington Street Cemetery near Wesleyan University. According to his gravestone, Bartlit was "aged about 70 years" and was "the first interred in this yard." "Mr. Bartlit has the oldest marker in this cemetery," says Elizabeth Milroy, director of the Art History Program and professor of art history and American studies at Wesleyan University. "We would like to find out more about him." Milroy, who is teaching the Service Learning Course AMST 205 "The Study of Material Culture: Marking the Past in Middletown," is assigning each of her…
Corrina KerrThe following is the second installment of The Wesleyan Connection's new feature, "5 Questions." This issue, accomplished composer and Wesleyan Professor of Music Neely Bruce is our guest. Q: I see your piece Vistas will be performed at the "Hearts Pounding and Skins Taut" concert in late October at Wesleyan. For what instrument was this piece originally composed? NB: Vistas at Dawn is a short (approximately three minute) piece for organ and vibraphone. Q: For what musician did you compose this piece? NB: I wrote it for Ronald Ebrecht, Wesleyan University Organist, to play. Over the years I’ve written two…
“Every university should have a labyrinth, for it represents our desire to unravel the essential mysteries of human existence. It is a problem to be solved, a question to be answered, a paradox to be considered. Each labyrinth has a center and, as a diagram of learning, its tangled patterns lead us to that hidden core. Even as the pursuit of knowledge follows many diverging paths there is also a basic symmetry to these designs, a unified whole that pleases the eye and piques the mind.” - Stephen Alter '77 This month, the Wesleyan community can leave the stress behind…
A service in tribute to Stanley Lebergott, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, who passed away on July 24, will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18. The service will be in the Daniel Family Commons in the Usdan University Center and will be followed by a reception. The Lebergott family invites friends and colleagues who may have photographs or remembrances of Stan to bring them to the service. Lebergott began his career as a public servant, working for 20 years in the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Labor Office, and the U.S.…
Every October, Wesleyan's Jewish community dwells in a temporary structure built for the festival of Sukkot. For eight days, students study, socialize, mediate, eat, host events and occasionally sleep in the religious building. This holiday, the Jewish students will celebrate the Israelites 40-year journey to the Holy Land inside an airy, five-mound curving structure of carbon-steel clad in bamboo. Designed by 15 students enrolled in Architecture II, a research-design-build studio, the "WesSukkah" provides a sacred space that adheres to a complex, medieval Rabbinic building code. "The students have crafted something which is both compelling and meaningful for Wesleyan's campus," explains…
Wesleyan welcomes 19 newly-hired tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty and adjunct faculty for the 2009-10 academic year. Robyn Autry joined the Sociology Department as assistant professor. She studies the sociology of race and ethnicity, political sociology, comparative historical sociology, institutions, sociology of science and technology and cultural sociology. Autry has a Ph.D. and Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Javier Castro-Ibaseta joins the History Department and the College of Letters as assistant professor. Castro-Ibaseta studies early modern Spanish history, early modern political culture and cultural/poetic analysis of political…
Wesleyan welcomes 14 new visiting faculty members and fellows to campus for the 2009-10 academic year. They include: Neil Canady joins the Economics Department as visiting assistant professor. His areas of interest include economic history, labor and public finance. Much of his research has examined discrimination in tax assessment policy and school resources during segregation, as well as black-white differences in property accumulation. He received a Bachelor of Science and Ph.D in economics from Clemson University. Joshua Takano Chambers-Letson is an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Humanities. Chambers-Letson joins the Center’s yearlong study of “War,” arriving from…
David Pesci5 Questions is a new feature in The Wesleyan Connection that will ask faculty members - surprise! - five questions about their work and activities. This issue, the questions go to Edward Moran, chair and associate professor of astronomy and director of the Van Vleck Observatory. His primary area of study is black holes. This summer he received a major National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for an extensive study on “intermediate mass” black holes. Q: Everyone thinks they know, but once and for all: what is a black hole? EM: Technically, black holes are places where matter has been crushed down…