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.
David LowEve 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…
Bill HolderThe Marietta College Board of Trustees has elected Joseph Bruno, formerly vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at Wesleyan, as the 18th president of Marietta, effective July 1, 2012. The college is located in Marietta, Ohio. Bruno is considered an effectual and collaborative higher education leader who has worked with four Wesleyan presidents in his 27 years and has helped to shape academic initiatives at the university, according to an announcement issued by Marietta. A graduate of Augustana College and Northwestern University, Bruno is currently a professor of chemistry at Wesleyan. He also completed a thesis parts appointment at Argonne…
David PesciA high profile auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s estate provides a definitive moment to discuss the film icon’s life and work. Jeanine Basinger, Chair and Corwin Fuller Professor of Film Studies, is featured on Southern California Public Radio (KPCC) and brings a historical perspective to Taylor’s body of work and her life as one of the last true movie stars. More than 2,000 of Taylor's items are being auctioned online. "With Elizabeth Taylor, you're operating at at a level of stardom, it's cosmic really," Basinger says in the show. "Whether anyone was a fan of hers or not, they would want something of…
The City of Middletown, Conn. named Wesleyan University a "2011 Green Business Recycling Hero." According to the recycling heros list, "Wesleyan recycles a variety of materials beyond what is mandated. These include office furniture, clothing and mattresses. They also compost, purchase materials made from recycled components, and have initiated many green initiatives revolving around green building, transportation and energy conservation." The City applauds Wesleyan and other local organizations and businesses who are reducing, reusing and recycling to protect the environment.
Brian KattenPatti Klecha-Porter, who has directed the field hockey team at Wesleyan since her arrival in Middletown in 1985, was inducted into the Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Nov. 13, for her long-time service as a lacrosse umpire. Klecha-Porter was one of eight individual enshrined during a ceremony in Southington, Conn. Klecha-Porter graduated from Ithaca College in 1981. As a student athlete at Ithaca, she was captain and MVP of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. After graduating she continued playing field hockey at the U.S. Hockey level as well as club lacrosse for Hampshire New England. Klecha-Porter was…
Q&As with outstanding students is an occasional feature of The Wesleyan Connection. This issue we speak with Lief Fredrichs from the Class of 2014. Q: Lief, where are you from, and why did you choose Wesleyan? A: I am from Exeter, NH. I chose Wesleyan because, when I visited, the students (actually tour-guides) seemed the most real to me. I liked Wes because of its reputation for being a small and prestigious school. I applied and got accepted off the waiting list in July. I was planning to go to Bard College, but I decided that I couldn't pass up…
Paul Karl Haake, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, emeritus, died on Dec. 3 in Middletown, Conn. He was 79 years old. A memorial service was held Dec. 7 at the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty. In the true spirit of the liberal arts and the Wesleyan tradition of service, Professor Haake was particularly proud of the popularcourses he taught to students outside the sciences and of his participation in community issues. In 1975, Governor Grasso appointed Professor Haake to the Connecticut’s Nuclear Power Evaluation Council, a commission concerned with the safety of nuclear power. Professor Haake completed his A.B.…
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, philosopher, psychoanalyst and public intellectual, died suddenly on Dec. 1 at the age of 65. She served on the Wesleyan faculty for nearly two decades, joining the College of Letters in 1974, after earning her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the New School, where she studied closely with Hannah Arendt. In 1982, Young-Bruehl published what is still considered the definitive biography of Arendt, Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (Yale University Press, 1982; Second Edition, 2004), a text for which she received the Harcourt Literary Prize in Biography and Memoirs. Six years later, in 1988, she published an intellectual…