Olivia DrakeWith a boost from National Endowment for the Arts, Angel Gil-Ordóñez's Washington DC-based orchestra will continue making music for seasons to come. Gil-Ordóñez, music director of the Wesleyan Orchestra, adjunct professor of music, director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles, learned that his Post-Classical Ensemble received a $50,000 grant from The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The award is made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. "We are still jumping for joy," Gil-Ordóñez says. "It is such an honor, and reassurance that the NEA and the Recovery Act consider that our work must be…
Next fall, Wesleyan will welcome two students of color who graduated high school "capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership." Malik Ben-Salahuddin '13 and Dorisol Inoa '13 are both recent alumni of A Better Chance (ABC), the oldest national organization of its kind. ABC aims to change the life trajectory in a positive way for academically-talented youth of color through access to rigorous and prestigious educational opportunities for students in grades 6-12. "This is wonderful recognition for these two top students, two in a long line of ABC students at Wesleyan," says Nancy Meislahn, dean of admission and financial…
David PesciStanley Lebergott, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, died July 24 after a long illness. He was 91 years old. 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. Bureau of the Budget. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1962 as a professor of economics, becoming University Professor in 1970. He was a pivotal scholar in his field, and a prolific author. In addition to more than 50 articles, his books include: Manpower in Economic Growth: The American Record…
Ann Burke, associate professor of biology, recently received a three-year, $395,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the development and evolution of the shoulder girdle using transgenic mice, frog and salamander. The mice will be generated in collaboration with a lab at the University of Michigan and will allow Burke and her associates to turn off Hox genes, which are specific patterning genes, in specific sub populations of the embryonic mesoderm that make the musculoskeletal tissues. "Comparing the dynamics of gene expression and cell interactions during the formation of the pectoral region in a variety of embryos…
For efforts with the May 6, 2009 shooting near Wesleyan's campus, the Wesleyan University Public Safety Department was honored with the Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association President's Award for Outstanding Performance on June 14. C. G. "Neil" McLaughlin Jr., chief of police at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Conn. nominated David Meyer, director of Public Safety at Wesleyan and the Wesleyan officers for this honor. His recommendation read: "On May 6th at 1 p.m. a man in disguise, wig, beard, mustache and glasses entered the campus bookstore about a block and a half from the Public Safety Office…
Dozens of Connecticut teachers went back to school July 7 to gain knowledge, confidence and skills for teaching their students about science, energy and energy conservation. As part of the 2009 Energy Education Workshops series, sponsored by the Project to Increase Mastery of Math and Sciences (PIMMS) and eeSmarts, teachers learned creative exercises to bring back to their classrooms. The annual program is open to all teachers in the state. During a "bottle shake" energy transformation experiment, the teachers were put into groups of four and given two plastic water bottles with a small amount of clear liquid in each…
Next fall, Wesleyan students and faculty will perform research activities on the same state-of-the-art animation computers that produced Ice Age the Meltdown, a $652 million worldwide box office hit. The computer hardware was donated July 2 by Greenwich, Conn.-based Blue Sky Studios, the creator of a number of award-winning digital animation features, including the Ice Age series and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, which took in nearly $300 million worldwide. In 2008, Blue Sky Studios refreshed their technology for their latest movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and bought racks of new computers. "The old computer racks still…
A former Middletown mayor, Olympic volleyball coach, a three-hour marathon runner, and Baldwin Medal winner are among the newest members of Wesleyan's Athletics Hall of Fame. Wesleyan will formally induct the third class into its Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony Nov. 6 as part of Homecoming/ Family Weekend activities. Wesleyan will enshrine four individuals and one team to join the previous two classes of inductees, bringing to total in the Hall of Fame to 20 individuals and three teams. Entering in the fall class of 2009 are Emilio Daddario '39, Winthrop “Wink” Davenport '64, Sally Zimmer Knight '81,…
Wesleyan University has announced the promotion to full professor, effective July 1, 2009, of the following members of the faculty. Stephen Angle, professor of philosophy, came to Wesleyan in 1994. He has served as director of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, co-directed the NEH summer seminar "Traditions into Dialogue: Confucianism and Contemporary Virtue Ethics" at Wesleyan in 2008, was a Fulbright Research Scholar at Beijing University in 2006-2007, and was awarded Wesleyan's Binswanger prize for excellence in teaching in 2006. His research focuses on neo-Confucian philosophy, and his books include Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy…
It's one mean, green machine and it's saving Wesleyan up to $5,000 a day in energy costs. Wesleyan's new Cogeneration system - or CoGen, - uses natural gas to simultaneously generate electricity, heat and steam for university use. It began operation in February after an 18-month installation process. "Buying electricity from the grid is expensive and non-efficient,” says Peter Staye, associate director of utilities management. “With CoGen, we are generating 81 percent of our own power. It should pay for itself in five years." CoGen operates similar to a vehicle with an extreme super-duty engine. The natural-gas fired, turbo-charged, four-stroke…
The Wesleyan University Board of Trustees affirmed the following appointments to the faculty, effective July 1, 2009: Promotion with tenure: Yuriy Kordonskiy, associate professor of theater, was appointed assistant professor at Wesleyan in 2002. Previously he was visiting assistant professor at George Washington University. He has served as head of directing in the Theatermakers program at the O’Neill Theater Center, and was visiting artist at Columbia University in Spring 2007. He teaches acting and directing, and has performed and directed internationally. His recent directed productions include Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Galin’s Sorry, and Gogol’s The Marriage. He holds an M.S. from…
Corrina KerrFor the next two years, researcher Silvia Matesanz of Segovia, Spain will be collaborating with Chair and Professor of Biology Sonia Sultan in her plant evolutionary ecology lab at Wesleyan. Matesanz was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie International Post-doctoral Fellowship from the European Commission. Matesanz, Sultan and biology BA/MA student Timothy Horgan-Kobelski ’09 will be studying an introduced annual plant called Polygonum cespitosum that is becoming invasive in North America. The scientists are particularly interested in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of the plant’s spread. Sultan and her research group will provide Matesanz with evolutionary expertise, which will enhance her previous…