Master Drummer Adzenyah Celebrated at Ceremony, Hall Dedication

On May 7, Master drummer Abraham Adzenyah, adjunct professor of music, emeritus, was honored with a ceremony, farewell concerts, and reunion featuring past and present students (View photo set here). Adzenyah taught West African music, dance and culture at Wesleyan for 46 years and retired in May. During the event, Adzenyah was honored with the naming of the Abraham Adzenyah Rehearsal Hall (formerly the Center for the Arts Rehearsal Hall). This is the first time that a leading U.S. university has named a building after a traditional African musician. In addition, grateful students, alumni and friends have raised more than $225,000 to establish the…

Middlesex United Way held its annual awards program May 5 at the Middletown Elks Lodge, and among the honorees were campaign "Coordinators of the Year:" Associate Professor of Biology Gloster Aaron and Provost Joyce Jacobsen, who served as Wesleyan's campaign co-chairs this year, and Cathy Lechowicz, director of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships. Middlesex United Way also awarded Rob Rosenthal, director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, with the Community Leadership Award in January. Bill Holder, director of University Communications, is president of the Middlesex United Way Board. Since 2001, Wesleyan…

On May 4, President Michael Roth announced that Sally Bachner, associate professor of English, Demetrius Eudell, professor of history, and James Lipton, professor of computer science, will be awarded Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching at Commencement on May 22. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the university’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, as well as current juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Recipients are chosen by a…

This spring, Allison Orr, the Menakka and Essel Bailey '66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the College of the Environment, is leading a group of Wesleyan students in partnering with the city of Middletown's Water and Sewer Department to develop a unique performance that will debut at the Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter on May 7. The performance starts at noon at Harbor Park. According to this story in The Middletown Press, Orr has long used "her choreography talent to expose the work of those who would otherwise go unnoticed." She is the artistic director of Forklift Danceworks, and is known for "Trash Dance,"…

Cecilia Miller, associate professor of history and tutor at the College of Social Studies, is the author of Enlightenment and Political Fiction: The Everyday Intellectual, published by Routledge, 2016. The book argues that much of the important political and economic theory of the era emerged first in works of fiction rather than in theory. “Unlike studies of the Enlightenment which focus only on theory and nonfiction,” Miller states in her abstract, “this study of fiction makes evident that there was a vibrant concern for the constructive as well as destructive aspects of emotion during the Enlightenment, rather than an exclusive…

Ellen Thomas, professor of earth and environmental sciences and University Professor in the College of Integrative Sciences, recently co-authored five papers in academic journals. Her first paper, “Jianshuiite in Oceanic Manganese Nodules” co-authored with Jeffery Post and Peter Heaney, appeared within American Mineralogist. Deviating from her usual research, Thomas focused on mineralogy and, in particular, the crystal structure of a rare mineral found in sediments during an ancient counterpart of future global warming. Thomas co-authored “Variability in Climate and Productivity during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in the Western Tethys,” with Flavia Boscolo-Galazzo and Luca Giusberti, both of the University of Padova.…

Professor of English Christina Crosby is the author of a new book published by NYU Press in March 2016. Titled, A Body, Undone: Living On After Great Pain, the novel chronicles her encounter with pain, which left her paralyzed. Three miles into a 17-mile bike ride, the spokes of her bike caught a branch, pitching her forward and off the bike. With her chin taking on the full force of the blow, her head snapped back leaving her paralyzed. This event, as she makes note of in her novel, opened her eyes to the beauty, yet fragility of all human bodies. Her…

Suzanne O’Connell, professor of earth and environmental sciences, faculty director of the McNair Program, together with Ed Laine ’69 and Kerry Brenner ’94, attended a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) workshop in Washington, D.C. on April 20-21. The three were involved in a report on Service Learning in the Geosciences. O’Connell presented the report at the meeting. Laine, recently retired from Bowdoin College, was on the meeting steering committee, while Brenner, a senior program officer in the Board on Science Education in the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (NAS) coordinated the meeting. A summary…

Through grants, workshops, seminars, publications, and formal and informal discussions, the Center for Faculty Career Development (CFCD) aims to cultivate dialogue among Wesleyan's faculty and encourage association with faculty members at other academic institutions. On April 12, about 25 faculty members attended a CFCD workshop titled "Becoming More Visible: Enhance Your Online Profile" in Usdan University Center. The workshop taught faculty ways to become more visible to colleagues, students and non-campus organizations by optimizing their work and presence online through search engine optimization as well as social media. The workshop was taught by editor Naedine Joy Hazell MALS '14 and Scott Johnson. Hazell has…

Faculty presented talks during Wesleyan Thinks Big April 21 in Memorial Chapel. During the TED-talk style event, Wesleyan professors lectured for 10 minutes on an experience, a personal passion or an existential question. (more…)

Mark Slobin, the Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music, was honored April 16 with “Ideas on the Move,” a conference celebrating his career and many accomplishments. Slobin will retire from Wesleyan June 30. Slobin is an ethnomusicologist who has written extensively on the subject of East European Jewish music and klezmer music, as well as the music of Afghanistan. The daylong event featured talks by alumni from as far back as 45 years. Topics included “Mark’s Metaphors: Visual Poetics, Pedagogy and Theoretical Clarity;” “ONCE Upon a Time: Mark Slobin’s Experimental Ethnomusicology;" “How Mark Slobin Became an Ethnomusicologist;" and “Growing Up With Mark." A concert, featuring Irish,…

Master Drummer Adzenyah Celebrated at Ceremony, Hall Dedication

Wesleyan Faculty, Staff Named United Way Coordinators of the Year

Bachner, Eudell, Lipton to Receive Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching

Wesleyan Students Partner with City Water, Sewer Workers for Unique Show

Miller’s New Book on the Enlightenment and Political Fiction

Thomas Co-Authors 5 Papers in Academic Journals

COE Hosts Community Discussion on Middletown’s Future

Crosby’s Memoir Chronicles Life with Pain, Rebuilding after Suffering

O’Connell, Alumni Participate in National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop

Faculty Learn How to Enhance Their Online Profiles at CFCD Workshop

Latin America, Labor and Justice, Police Reform Topics of Wesleyan Thinks Big

Slobin Honored for 45 Years at Wesleyan