Cynthia RockwellSeptember 26, 20122min
(Contributed by Gabe Rosenberg ’16) One of this year’s most influential foreign policy leaders is a Wesleyan alumna, and she’s part of The Diplomatic Courier’s “99 Under 33.” Stephanie Schwartz ’08 has been named as someone who “mobilizes people in the foreign policy community with bold new ideas,” as part of the publication’s project, together with the nonprofit Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, to name the top 99 leaders under the age of 33. Schwartz, who holds a B.A. in government from Wesleyan, is the author of Agents of Change: Youth in Post-Conflict Reconstruction. The book examines the role of…

Cynthia RockwellAugust 30, 20123min
Amy Schulman ’82, Pfizer’s executive vice president and general counsel, president of Pfizer Nutrition and business unit lead for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, received a 2012 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, given annually by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession. Mary Cranston, chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession cited the five honorees as “shar[ing] tremendous achievements as lawyers and in their devotion to helping other women, and served as pioneers for those in the legal profession and beyond.” Schulman, whose grandfather was the first public-housing commissioner in New York and later…

David LowAugust 30, 20123min
Harvard Law School recently announced that John C. P. Goldberg ’83 has been appointed to the Eli Goldston Professorship of Law. An expert in tort law, tort theory and political philosophy, he joined Harvard Law School as a tenured faculty member in 2008 and teaches first-year and upper-level courses. Goldberg has worked closely with Professor Henry Smith to develop the Project on the Foundations of Private Law at Harvard and has co-taught with Professor Smith the Private Law Workshop, which enables students to discuss with leading scholars cutting-edge research in torts, property, contracts, restitution, and other topics. He recently served as…

Cynthia RockwellJuly 31, 20122min
Katherine Wyman MA ’11 was one of only six graduate students nationwide to receive a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award medal for her poster at the recent 220th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The awards recognize exemplary research by undergraduate and graduate students who present at one of the poster sessions at the meetings of the AAS. Wyman’s poster was on the work she did for her master’s thesis with her advisor, Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy. It involved characterizing the gas and dust that the Sun may have passed through over the last tens of millions of…

Cynthia RockwellJuly 31, 20123min
Paul Gross '84, chair of the Hydrocephalus Association, has been nominated for the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, 2012 Integral Fellows Award, which recognizes meaningful contributions of Microsoft alumni, using time, talent, and resources to improve the daily lives of others in this country and throughout the world. Gross’s cause began with his son’s birth. Born 10 weeks prematurely, he suffered complications and developed hydrocephalus, excessive fluid in the brain, a condition that affects more than 1 million people in this country. Hydrocephalus can cause severe brain damage, and even death if not treated immediately, yet the standard of care was a…

Cynthia RockwellJuly 9, 20122min
David Nixon ’53, senior partner of the Manchester, N.H., law firm of Nixon, Vogelman, Barry, Slawsky & Simoneau, P.A., received the Chief Justice Frank Rowe Kenison Award from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation. Selected by vote of the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, Nixon was chosen for his “substantial contributions to the betterment of New Hampshire citizens through the administration of justice, the legal profession, and the advancement of legal thought.” Nixon, an economics major at Wesleyan, earned his law degree with honors from the University of Michigan Law School. He was voted one of New…

Cynthia RockwellJuly 25, 20113min
Dr. Joseph J. Fins ’82, an internationally renowned medical ethicist and pioneer in the field of neuroethics and disorders of consciousness, was named the first recipient of a newly established professorship, The E. William Davis Jr. ’47 M.D., Professor of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Fins serves as chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and is a tenured professor of medicine, professor of public health, and professor of medicine in psychiatry. He is also director of medical ethics and a physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and on the adjunct faculty of Rockefeller University. His…

David LowMay 24, 20112min
Matthew Weiner ’87 was featured recently by Time magazine on The 2011 Time 100, a list that recognizes the most influential people in the world. This list includes artists, activists, reformers, researchers, heads of state, and captains of industry. Weiner is the Emmy Award-winning creator, writer and executive producer of the highly regarded dramatic series, Mad Men, which has been renewed by AMC for two more seasons. In Time, actress Elizabeth Moss who plays Peggy Olson on Mad Men, said: “Matthew Weiner is no less than a genius. His influence on the world of television is unparalleled. He created a…

Cynthia RockwellMay 4, 20114min
Noted author John F. Ross ’81 received the first annual Fort Ticonderoga Prize for Contributions to American History on March 4. After a national search and in a unanimous vote, the trustees selected Ross for his broad contributions to 18th-century military scholarship with his book War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America’s First Frontier (Random House 2009), which explores the exploits Major Robert Rogers. Speaking at the ceremony, Ross said, “When I started a book on the 18th century warrior hero Robert Rogers, I realized what I had been looking for all…

Cynthia RockwellMay 4, 20111min
John A. Benson Jr. ’43, MD, dean emeritus at Oregon Health and Science University and professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine, received the 2010 Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education. Presented by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the award, their highest, honors Benson’s “extraordinary contributions to the board certification process, medical education, and academic medicine.” Benson, who is known as the modern “father” of the American Board of Internal Medicine, was appointed and served as its first president for 16 years. A gastroenterologist by training, he began what would become a…

Olivia DrakeApril 13, 20112min
In March, Steven Katz ’96, M.D., chaired the inaugural New England Sarcoma Symposium, a joint effort between the Roger Williams Cancer Center in Providence, R.I., and the Kristen Ann Carr Fund. Additionally, Dr. Katz received the first Murray Brennan Research Award. He is the Director of Surgical Immunotherapy and Society of Surgical Oncology Fellowship Director at the Roger Williams Medical Center and assistant professor of surgery at Boston University. His clinical practice focuses on soft tissue sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, melanoma, and liver mestastases. His prior and present research focus is on manipulating the immune system to treat patients with…

Cynthia RockwellApril 13, 20112min
Rosemary Ostfeld ’10, MA ’11, an E&ES and biology major, is a semi-finalist for Sierra Club’s “Best Internship on Earth.” The winner will spend the summer video-blogging on different Sierra Club outings sponsored by the club’s Inner City Outings, Building Bridges to the Outdoors, and Volunteer Vacations programs. A four-year member of Wesleyan's Outing Club and former house manager of OutHouse, Ostfeld also developed and led an outdoor program for Snow Elementary School in Middletown. She says that Suzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences and director of service learning, encouraged her to apply for the internship with…