David LowThe hit movie Zombieland marks the directorial debut of Ruben Fleischer ’97 and was number one at the box office when it opened nationwide on October 2. During its opening weekend, the film sold $25 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada and cost Columbia (Sony) Pictures and co-financier Relativity Media only $23.6 million to produce. It has remained in the top 10 films at the box office in the weeks that followed. The film also was notable for ending a recent trend of poor openings for movies with horror elements such as Jennifer's Body and Sorority Row. Zombieland…
Corrina KerrLeah Wright, assistant professor of history, assistant professor of African American studies joined Wesleyan’s staff this summer. Wright says she loves being part of an interdisciplinary community and “was impressed by the intellectual curiosity and academic excellence of the students at Wesleyan." Multiple factors attracted her to the university. “I was also excited about the faculty—there is equal attention paid to teaching and research, and as a result, Wesleyan faculty excel at both. Joining Wesleyan was a major opportunity to join a vibrant and welcoming intellectual community.” She graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2003 with a bachelor’s in…
Olivia DrakeWesleyan employees can help strengthen lives and improve community conditions in the 15 towns in Middlesex County by participating in the 2009-10 Middlesex United Way Campaign. Wesleyan has set at a goal of raising $130,000 through its annual workplace campaign, which supports the building blocks of life - education, income, health and housing. Through the agencies it funds, United Way hopes to increase children's readiness to learn by school entry; increase economic self-sufficiency of individuals and families; reduce the rate of risky behaviors among youth and adults; and increase the ability of individuals and families to attain affordable housing. The…
Q: Sarah-Jane, you came to Wesleyan as the artistic and education coordinator at the Green Street Arts Center in July. Is this a new position? A: The position was created as part of a restructuring, but primarily replaced the artistic director position. My position is overseen by the Center for Community Partnerships at Wesleyan, and fits wonderfully with the service learning and outreach components of the mission of the university. All of the classes, events, workshops, private lessons and community partnership programs that happen at Green Street come under my position. Q: Cite some examples of recent artistic- and education-related…
Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, is featured in an Oct. 23 article titled "Alvin and the experimentals: Alvin Lucier comes to town as a Queen’s visiting artist and special guest for Tone Deaf 8" published by The Journal of Queens University. According to the article, Queen's Tone Deaf 8 festival "brings an experimental sound adventure to campus through the genius of experimental composer Alvin Lucier and some of his critically-acclaimed students." Lucier teaches music composition, an experimental music course, as well as a freshman course on the Orpheus Myth at Wesleyan, where he’s been teaching for…
David PesciJed Hoyer '96 has been named general manager of the San Diego Padres. According to a piece in The San Diego Union Tribune, Hoyer, who had been the assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox, impressed the ownership of the MLB team immediately during his initial interview. In a separate story in the Union Tribune, Mark Woodworth '94, Wesleyan's baseball coach and former teammate of Hoyer, is quoted at length about what Hoyer brings to the Padres. At the ceremony, the Padres owner gave Hoyer a Padres shirt with 11, the number Hoyer wore for Wesleyan, on the back.…
Claire Potter, professor of history, professor of American studies, is quoted through her blog in a piece from The Week on President Obama's all male basketball games. Potter says who the president plays pick-up basketball with has nothing to do with women or women's issues and castigates The New York Times for legitimizing this issue by doing a story on it.
Mary Jane Rubenstein, assistant professor of religion, assistant professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, discusses some of varying attitudes among Episcopalians regarding the Vatican's recent offer to join the Roman Catholic Church. Episcopalian have been fractured by their church's recent acceptance of women and gays into leadership positions, with some dioceses reacting by splitting off and forming the Anglican Church of North America.
Edward Moran, chair and associate professor of astronomy, director of the Van Vleck Observatory, took time to explain what black holes are - and are not - on WNPR's Colin McEnroe Show.
"Emergency Response Studio" a mobile exhibit constructed in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2006 by Paul Villinski, reviewed recently by The New York Times, is on display outside the Ezra and Cecille Zilkha Gallery until Nov. 8. The exhibit began as a mobile studio that would allow Villinski to create art in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. It became a de facto piece of performance art in itself as Villinski's built an environmentally friendly mobile living space for the same price as the mobile emergency trailers FEMA provided, and with none of the toxic side effects.
Jeanine Basinger, chair and Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, curator Cinema Archives, is quoted at length in a story in the Vancouver Sun about film roles that take actresses outside of Hollywood stereotypes.
This semester, Wesleyan has begun offering a linked major program for Environmental Studies. Barry Chernoff, the Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, professor of biology and director of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program, explained the new major to interested students during a recent campus event. The linked major program is the second major to a primary major. Students must complete all the requirements for graduation from their primary major in addition to those of ENVS as their second major. The basic information about the program can be found here.