Olivia DrakeFebruary 28, 20061min
CHINESE PAINTING: Pictured at left, center, artist Zhang Hong, from the Art and Industrial Design College at Beijing Institute of Technology, teaches Chinese ink painting during a demonstration-workshop Feb. 2 at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. Hong presented a slide-show and history on the art form, and introduced the 20 participants to the tools and techniques of traditional Chinese painting. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett)

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20067min
Pictured left to right, front row: Gloster Aaron, assistant professor of biology; John Seamon, professor of psychology; Janice Naegele, associate professor of biology; John Dekker, candidate, department of neurobiology, Harvard Medical School; Megan Carey, postdoctoral fellow, neurobiology department, Harvard Medical School; Allan Berlind, professor of biology, emeritus; Joshua Gooley, postdoctoral fellow, Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital; David Bodznick, professor of biology; Harry Sinnamon, professor of psychology; John Kirn, chair, neuroscience and behavior program and associate professor, biology; Back row: Sam Sober, postdoctoral fellow, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, UCSF and Mauricio Delgado, assistant professor, department of psychology,…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 200610min
  David Beveridge, pictured at right, the University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics and professor of chemistry studies molecular dynamics of biological molecules and systems with postdoctoral fellow Bethany Kormos and research associate Surjit Dixit. Posted 02/16/06   By simulating complex protein and polynucleotide structures on a supercomputer, a Wesleyan professor has been able to study one the fundamental events that lead to gene expression in biological systems. David Beveridge, University Professor of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, has spent the past 20 years studying various aspects of the structures, molecular motions and binding properties of…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20069min
Ronald Ebrecht, university organist, plays Wesleyan's concert organ, which he designed for the Memorial Chapel. Below, the organ pipes are installed in the chapel. (Photos by Bill Burkhart)   Posted 02/16/06 Q: When did you become the Wesleyan organist and visiting instructor in music?A: I came to Wesleyan in 1988. Q: How did you begin playing the organ and where? A: I started as a young child, maybe around the age of 10. I loved the organ like kids love fire trucks.Q: Did you have an interest in piano that led to the organ?A: I didn’t want anything to do…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20064min
Posted 02/16/06 Wesleyan received a $200,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support an ongoing lecture series titled Ethics, Politics and Society. The award was given in honor of Douglas Bennet’s 10 years as president of Wesleyan University. “Wesleyan’s history of diversity, openness, and activism provides an environment that embraces the opportunity for scholarly discourse around issues of ethics, politics and society,” Bennet wrote in the endowment proposal. “As a liberal arts college, we have a responsibility to produce graduates who are able to think and act strategically within an ethical and moral framework. A permanent lecture fund,…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20068min
Pictured left to right, 9-year-old Monica gets homework help from Wesleyan basketball players Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg '09, Jared Ashe '07 and Nick Pelletier '08 during the Green Street Arts Center After School Program. Below, Gonzalez-Kreisberg, who helped launch an ongoing tutoring volunteer initiative goes over a book report with 7-year-old J.J. (Photos by Olivia Drake) Posted 02/16/06 Students involved in Middletown’s Green Street Arts Center After School Program look up to Wesleyan University’s basketball team in more ways than one. “They always tell me that I’m so tall!” exclaims Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg, a 6-ft. 8-inch tall Wesleyan freshman, recalling how students he…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20063min
Posted 02/16/06 Judith Brown, vice president for academic affairs and provost, will step down from her position June 30. She will spend a year on sabbatical, and return to Wesleyan as a professor of history in 2008.   Brown was recruited six years ago to help Wesleyan achieve its highest academic aspirations as a liberal arts university.    “Judith brought extraordinary intelligence and commitment to what is surely one of the most difficult jobs in university administration,” says President Doug Bennet. “I speak for the trustees and all of us in thanking her for her leadership and celebrating her plan…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20068min
Kate Mullen, head women's basketball coach, stands outside the Freeman Athletic Center. She has coached Wesleyan athletes for 14 years.   Posted 02/01/06 Q: When did you become the head women’s basketball coach at Wesleyan?A: The 1992-93 year was my first year at Wesleyan.Q: What is your record so far this year?A: As of Jan. 30, we are 13-5 overall and tied with Bates for first place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with a 5-1 conference record, Q: In the last three seasons, you’ve had an exceptional 63-13 record. And in 2004-05, you led the team…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 200610min
Mary Bolich, head of men's and women's swimming, wants her swimmers to be mentally strong in the pool and in the classroom.   Posted 02/01/06 Q: Mary, where did you grow up and when did you develop an interest in swimming?A: I grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, a town just outside of Philadelphia. The neighborhood I grew up in had a summer club pool just down the street from my home. My siblings and I lived at the pool each summer. I would say this is where my early interest in swimming started.Q: Where did you attend college and what…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20064min
“Ferocious Beauty: Genome” premiered Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 in the Center for the Arts Theater. Posted 02/01/06 How we heal, age, procreate and eat may soon change because of genetic research happening right now. The world premiere of renowned choreographer Liz Lerman’s “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” explores this moment of revelation and questioning in an arresting theatrical work that combines movement, music, text and film.   The world premier of “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” took place Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, in the Center for the Arts Theater.   The piece is the result of an unprecedented partnership with scientists and…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 20067min
James Taft, manager of systems and operations for Information Technology Services, helps keeps Wesleyan's accounts and servers running smoothly.   Posted 02/01/06 Q: When did you come to Wesleyan?A: I started at Wesleyan in September 2003 as the manager of systems and operations.Q: Briefly summarize Wesleyan’s systems and operations. Are you, in a sense, the data center for the university?A: The systems and operations group maintains our user account directories and the technological infrastructure located inside our Data Center. Almost all of the central servers for the university, including Web servers, e-mail servers, database servers, file servers, application servers and…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 1, 200610min
Lisa Dombrowski, assistant professor of film studies, is a 1992 Wesleyan alumna, and is a specialist on film form, the American film industry and contemporary East Asian cinema.   Posted 02/01/06 Lisa Dombrowski rarely watches a movie just once. Or twice. Or even 10 times. In fact, it often takes her more than 20 screenings to fully analyze a film. “Each time I watch a film, I’m looking at it for different reasons,” explains the assistant professor of film studies. “I’ll watch it once to get the initial sense of the narrative, and the next time I’ll count how many…