Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20091min
Johan Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor in Earth Science, and Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, presented papers at the Estuaries and Coasts in a Changing World conference of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation in Portland, Ore. Nov. 1-5. Their talks were titled "Proxies for Eutrophication in Long Island Sound" and " Hypoxia in Long Island Sound - Since When and Why."

Olivia DrakeNovember 30, 20091min
Wesleyan University was named the 2009 Most Vegetarian-Friendly College in the United States by Peta2. According to the Peta2 website, “the acclaimed liberal arts college, which has a history of social justice activism, lives up to the hype when it comes to vegan options. Some of the creative choices offered include veggie chicken red curry with steamed broccolini and organic jasmine rice, three-mushroom vegan ragu with penne pasta, and barbecue seitan. Following last year’s second-place finish, Dining Services officials pulled out all of the stops in 2009, even setting up voting stations around campus to rally support from their well-fed…

Olivia DrakeNovember 18, 20092min
The Wesleyan Theater Department presented Caryl Churchill's The Skriker Nov. 19, 20, 21 and 22 in the Center for the Arts Theater. The play was directed by Bob Bresnick, visiting assistant professor in theater with costume designs and puppet designs by Leslie Weinberg, artist in residence in theater. Churchill describes the title character in The Skriker as a "polluted, not-believed-in nature spirit who comes up to the world to get love, attention and revenge." The Skriker tries to enlist the help of two friends: one pregnant and one who has killed her child. With tragic poetry and stunning linguistic pyrotechnics, the play…

David PesciNovember 16, 20091min
Priscilla Meyer, professor of Russian language and literature, was awarded the University of Southern California Book Prize by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) during their annual conference. The prize is awarded annually for an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eastern Europe, or Eurasia in the field of literary and cultural studies. Meyer is the author of How the Russians Read the French. She speaks about her book online here. More than 2,100 scholars attended the conference.