David LowPeder Zane ’84 has co-written a new book Design in Nature (Doubleday) with Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University, which describes Bejan’s groundbreaking discovery, the constructal law, a principle of physics that governs all design and evolution in nature. The constructal law holds that all shape and structure emerges to facilitate flow. Rain drops, for example, coalesce and move together, generating rivulets, streams, and the mighty river basins of the world because this design allows them to move more easily. The question to ask is: Why does design arise at all? Why can't the water just seep through the ground?…
In Giving Women: Alliance and Exchange in Victorian Culture (Oxford University Press), Jill Rappoport ’00 explores the literary expression and cultural consequences of English women’s giving from the 1820s to the First World War. During a period when most women lacked property rights and professional opportunities, gift transactions allowed them to enter into economic negotiations of power as volatile and potentially profitable as those within the market systems that so frequently excluded or exploited them. Rappoport shows how female authors and fictional protagonists alike mobilized networks outside of marriage and the market by considering the dynamic action and reaction of…
Paul Halliday ’83, a professor of history n the University of Virginia's College of Arts and Sciences, recently received the Inner Temple Book Prize for his publication, Habeas Corpus: From England to Empire, published by Harvard University Press. He received the prize in December 2011 in London from Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, in a ceremony at the Inner Temple, one of four unincorporated associations that have existed since the 14th century to recruit and train barristers. Presented every three years, the prize of £10,000 is awarded by the royally chartered Inner Temple and is intended to encourage…
Olivia DrakeOne Wesleyan student and four alumni participated in the Echoing Green Conference Nov. 17 in San Francisco, Calif. Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. The organization also remains committed to very early stage support of new and untested ideas in the hands of visionary social entrepreneurs. Participants included Lara Galinsky '96, senior vice president of Echoing Green; Kennedy Odede '12 and Jessica Posner '09 from Shining Hope for Communities; and Bonnie Oliva '04 and Shivani Siroy '04 from Inveture Fund. Lara Galinsky, who sits on the advisory…
Cynthia RockwellThe Melanoma Foundation of New England, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide support and build awareness surrounding melanoma, recently honored marathon legend Bill Rodgers ’70 for his contributions to the cause. Additionally, Rodgers will be captain of the Melanoma Foundation's "Running for Cover" team at the Boston Marathon on April,16, 2012, which is raising money to support the work of the foundation.
Eve Abrams ’93 has written the text of a new book (with photographs by Shannon Brinkman) about Preservation Hall (Louisiana State University), a legendary music venue in New Orleans. Since the early 1960s, this building in the French Quarter has served as a sanctuary for the Crescent City’s rich and illustrious jazz heritage, a haven for players, and an incubator for successive generations of jazz musicians. Each night the venue fills to the rafters with devoted fans and curious tourists eager to hear live traditional jazz performed by both veteran musicians and up-and-coming players. The performance space is simple, and…
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) presented its sixth annual Emissary Award to Greg Zlotnick ’86, a longtime water leader whose involvement with the association spans more than a decade. ACWA President Paul Kelley, says, “Greg Zlotnick is in a class by himself when it comes to sustained involvement and dedication over the years. We owe a debt of gratitude to Greg for his years of leadership and his unwavering support for ACWA and its statewide interests.” Zlotnick recalls that his involvement in the issues surrounding water management in California was somewhat catalyzed by his CSS honors thesis, "Rivers…
Nell Schaffer '06 was selected to be a 2011-12 Capital Fellow in the Judicial Administration Fellowship. The Capital Fellows program is administered through the Center for California Studies at California State University Sacramento, and consists of four individual programs, one of which is the Judicial Administration Fellowship Program, with 10 Fellows, and which is co-sponsored by the Judicial Council of California. Schaffer, an African American studies major at Wesleyan, received her law degree from UC Berkeley Law, Boalt Hall, in May of 2011. As a law student, Schaffer worked in a legal clinic providing assistance to low-income self-represented litigants, served…
More than 2,200 students, alumni, parents, friends and family attended Homecoming/Family Weekend activities Nov. 4-6. Campus guests participated in numerous academic, cultural and athletic events while reconnecting with Wesleyan and with each other at a host of special seminars and social gatherings. Key events this year included the homecoming football game against Williams College; a celebration of Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, emeritus; a Randy Newman P’14 benefit concert; a Homecoming Day Lunch, Fall Harvest Brunch and All-College Dinner; an Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony; Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship Ribbon Cutting; the 19th Annual…
The Hartford Courant reports that Joshua Borenstein ’97 has been the named the Long Wharf Theatre’s managing director after a national search. He will oversee a $5 million budget and a staff of 64 full-time employees. Borenstein held the job of interim managing director for the past six months and previously worked at the theater from 2003 to 2007 in several positions, most recently as associate managing director. For the last two years, he was project manager with the arts research firm, AMS in Fairfield. Before joining Long Wharf, he worked at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company through Theatre Communications Group’s’…
"The secret to writing is knowing interesting people," playwright Willy Holtzman ’74 told the Portland (Maine) Press Herald. His play, The Morini Strad, opened the 2011-12 season for the Portland Stage, receiving rave reviews. It is slated to open in New York City in March. The “interesting person” he is refering to is his friend since Wesleyan days, Brian Skarstad ’73, now an artist who crafts high-end violins. "Brian called me one day with this story," Holtzman continues. Skarstad had received a request from an aging violinist, Erica Morini, asking him to help sell her Stradivarius. He found her to be unpleasant and demanding—and…
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