Katherine Bergeron ’80, currently dean of the college at Brown University, was elected to be the 11th president of Connecticut College, to take office on Jan. 1, 2014. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan, Bergeron majored in music and earned both master’s and doctoral degrees in musicology at Cornell. At Brown since 2004, when she joined the faculty as professor of music, she served since 2006 as the university’s chief academic office for undergraduate education. In that capacity, she was noted for strengthening academic and career advising, as well as implementing programs in community service, science education and internationalization. She…

Jenifer McKim ’88 joined The New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) as the assistant managing editor and senior investigative reporter. With close to 25 years of experience as a news journalist, most recently for The Boston Globe, McKim has won many awards for her work, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2011 for a story about the domestic sex trafficking of minors and the California AP Investigative Journalism Award in 2008. In 2005, she led a group of reporters to write about the importation of lead-tainted Mexican candles, a project that was nominated as a finalist for…

Dr. Nicole Hubbard Longwell ’92 has joined the Board of Directors of Art beCAUSE Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCBCF) in addition to serving as the co-chair of ABCBCF’s Young Professionals Group. Longwell is National Director of the Medical Science Liaisons at Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, and the Drug Information Association. She earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Wesleyan, a master’s in psychology from Northeastern University and a doctorate in psychopharmacolgy from Tufts University. “The goal of Art beCAUSE Breast Cancer Foundation is to prevent breast cancer for…

Leslie Greengard ’79 has been named director of the Simons Center for Data Analysis, after serving as director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University since 2006. As director, Greengard will build and lead a team of scientists in analyzing large-scale data sets and developing innovative mathematical methods. Greengard, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan with a BA in mathematics, also holds an MD and PhD in computer science from Yale University. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, and he received acclaim for developing…

Vanity Fair says that Candace Nelson ’96, who reinvented America’s opinion on cupcakes, “is to cupcakes today what Debbi Fields was to cookies in the 1980s.” Nelson’s company, Sprinkles, known for its constant innovation, premiered the world’s first cupcake food truck and cupcake ATM. Wistful for the days of old-fashioned ice cream shops while surrounded by frozen yogurt trends, Nelson decided not to limit herself to cupcakes and introduced slow churned ice cream to her stores. Her most decadent dessert combines her two products; the Sprinkles sandwich is a unique treat of a scoop of ice cream enclosed by two…

Richard Locke ’81 was named director of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. On leave from the MIT Political Science Department, he was previously deputy dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management. Locke’s current research focuses on improving the safety and environmental conditions for workers in global supply chains. The author of four books, he most recently published The Promise and Limits of Private Power (Cambridge University Press, 2013). In a recent Q&A for the Brown Magazine, he spoke on his hopes and expectations that the Watson Institute will build on Brown’s strong foundation as well as strengthen its…

Jennifer Sorenson ’01 is one of only three women from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s San Francisco office to be recognized as a "rising star." In an NRDC press release, the women were lauded as “represent[ing] the next generation of the Bay Area’s environmental movement, seeking innovative new solutions to the world’s greatest environmental and health challenges.” Sorenson was one of 12 lawyers to receive a Distinguished Environmental Advocates Award at the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) at their annual spring conference in March. Sorenson serves as chief litigator in a case challenging the U.S.…

Andrew McCulloch ’76, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Northwest region, was one of a team of 11 “Health Care Heroes” honored as Statesman of the Year by the Oregon Business Association in 2012. Instead of one “Statesman,” the association decided to recognize pre-eminent contributors to health reform. Kaiser Permanente is an integrated health care delivery organization combining a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics. With over 37 hospitals, 17,000 doctors, and a state-of-the-art electronic medical record system, the organization has achieved highly coordinated and personalized patient care while focusing on keeping people healthy and preventing illness. As president…

Bill Queen ’86 was recently named president of the Travelers Ocean Marine business unit. Affiliated with Travelers since 1986, he has held a variety of positions in underwriting and sales, as well as marketing and field management. Most recently, Queen served as chief operating officer for Travelers First Party Group and as a key member of the interim management team for the Ocean Marine organization. This group, currently ranked as one of the largest ocean marine insurers in the United States (based on direct written premium) provides highly specialized property and liability insurance products for maritime-oriented exposures including commercial vessels, cargo transport,…

Susan Rodrigue McFarland ’90 was appointed director of health, safety and environmental affairs at the Barnes Group, Inc., in Bristol, Conn. A molecular biology and biochemistry major at Wesleyan, McFarland earned a master’s degree in environmental sciences at the University of New Haven and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer in Hartford, Conn. She has worked in environmental compliance and occupational safety for 22 years. Prior to joining the Barnes Group, she worked at Pratt and Whitney, Sikorsky Aircraft and Carrier Corporation.

Ralph Jones III '78 was recently named president and chief operating officer of SPARTA Insurance. An economics major at Wesleyan, he began his insurance career at Chubb and Son, with underwriting positions of increasing responsibility in their offices on both the East and West coasts. Named chief underwriting officer for Europe, he moved to London and later became president of Chubb Europe. In 1999, he was named CEO of Chubb Executive Risk (later Chubb Specialty Insurance). In 2003, he joined Arch Worldwide Insurance as their CEO and then, five years later, joined Everest Reinsurance Holdings as president and COO. Jones…