Cynthia RockwellPhiladelphian Charisse Lillie ’74 was back in Middletown working on a community project this spring. She’d been an active volunteer in the city in her undergraduate days, and now, as the vice president of community investment for Comcast and president of the Comcast Foundation, she returned as a member of the nationwide and 11th annual Comcast Cares Day, held this year on April 21. “It’s just wonderful to be back in Middletown,” she said, recalling her undergraduate community involvement as a drama workshop leader with Teenagers Organized for Productive Services during the 1970s. This time, she, the Comcast volunteers, and members…
David LowIn its opening weekend of May 4-6, the superhero extravaganza The Avengers, directed and written by Joss Whedon ’87 (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), opened to critical acclaim and exceeded U.S. box office expectations, debuting at $207.4 million—or $38.2 million more than the previous opening-weekend record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 ($169.2 million) from last summer, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film earned $475.8 million overseas and $226.4 million in North America by May 7. This dream movie for comic book lovers brings together characters such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America…
Lara Galinsky ’96, senior vice president of Echoing Green, a nonprofit social venture fund that supports emerging social entrepreneurs, was on campus April 20 to lead a workshop, conversation, and networking reception on concepts presented in her book, Work on Purpose. Guided questions helped participants—students, parents, and members of the community—identify potential fields. Galinsky’s goal is to help those in search of a meaningful career locate alignment between “head” (talents, education) and “heart” (passions)—a recipe that creates “hustle”—the energy and stamina to develop a program that effects change. The evening offered participants opportunity to share ideas individually in front of…
David Rynick ‘74 is the author of This Truth Never Fails: A Zen Memoir in Four Seasons (Wisdom Publications). This intimate collection of short observations and reflections is a personal record of ongoing practice and study of the extraordinary experience we call ordinary life. Although the volume was written over a period of several years, the brief sections are arranged into the cycle of the seasons of a single year. Each piece stands alone but is also part of an overall narrative that involves leaving a home of 18 years and creating a Zen temple in a lovely old Victorian…
An artist who plans to effectively draw clothing and drapery must learn to recognize the basic shapes of clothing and how the principles of physics act upon those shapes. In The Artist’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure(Watson-Guptill), Michael Massen ’84 presents his thorough and novel approach to drapery by first describing clothing and drapery as basic shapes, and then illustrating how the mechanics of physics cause these shapes to bend, fold, or wrinkle in predictable ways. Massen shares how to use these concepts to depict all types of clothing in a variety of mediums. This guide focuses on the…
Olivia DrakeQ&As with outstanding students is an occasional feature of The Wesleyan Connection. This issue we speak with Grace Ross from the Class of 2012. Q: Grace, you'll be graduating this May with a double major in English and American Studies. Why did you choose to major in those areas? A: It was the American Literature survey course I took with Joel Pfister my freshman fall that drew me to English and American Studies. We read Mary Rowlandson’s Indian captivity narrative. Professor Pfister essentially summarized what I had been attempting to argue in A.P. U.S. History and offered analysis far beyond…
David PesciA book by Margot Weiss, assistant professor of American Studies, assistant professor of anthropology titled, Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality (Duke University Press, 2011) is a finalist for the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in the LGBT Studies category. According to the announcement nominating Weiss for the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, “the Lambda Literary Award is the most prestigious book prize in the LGBT community with over 600 total nominations.”
Five Wesleyan staff members received a Cardinal Achievement Award for demonstrating extraordinary initiative or providing outstanding service with regard to specific tasks or events in their departments. This special honor comes with a $150 award and reflects the university’s gratitude for those extra efforts. The April recipients are: Karen Karpa, administrative assistant in the Office of Student Affairs; Marina Melendez, dean for the Class of 2014 in the Office of Student Affairs; Tanya Purdy, director of health education in Health Services; Lisa Sacks, coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs; Alysha Warren, therapist/sexual assault coordinator in Counseling and Psychological Services. The…
Leith Johnson was hired as Olin Library's new university archivist and he will begin the new position on May 14. Johnson is returning to Wesleyan from the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Conn. where he holds the position of multimedia archivist. From 2007 to 2009, he was the project archivist for the William Manchester Papers in Wesleyan's Special Collections and Archives, and he was the associate curator (later co-curator) of Wesleyan’s Cinema Archives from 1990 to 2007. Johnson holds a M.L.S. from Southern Connecticut State University and a M.A. in history, Certificate in Public History and Archival Management, and…
Lauren RubensteinOn April 21, Wesleyan President Michael Roth spoke at the inauguration of Anna M. Wasescha as Middlesex Community College's sixth president. Roth joined Senator Richard Blumenthal, Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew and many others to welcome the new president. In his speech, Roth said: “Middlesex Community College and Wesleyan have common ground … literally. Last September members of our institutions stood together on Main Street Middletown to celebrate Moving Planet Day, and to join in the commitment to reduce fossil fuel use. Supporting that celebration was Wesleyan’s College of the Environment, which we have begun in the…
In March, John Bonin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science, was a discussant regarding two papers at a conference titled “China and the World Economy,” which was held at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also participated in the board meeting for the new journal China Economic Policy Review for which he serves as an associate editor. In June, Bonin will delivering the keynote address at the European Association of Banking and Financial History Annual Conference co-sponsored by National Bank of Romania in Bucharest, Romania. His address will be titled “Two Decades of Foreign Banking in…
To help the victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan, Wesleyan graduate students Maho Ishiguro, Akiko Hakateyama, Ellen Loeck and Shoko Yamamoto arranged a benefit concert titled "Voices United." Students and faculty from Wesleyan's music department, and resident performers from the Middletown area, assembled at Crowell Concert Hall for an afternoon of music and dance performances. The concert was filmed and will be available on DVD this month. Eleven performances, which included different genres of music from 10 countries, were featured. Participating ensembles and musicians included Chinese Ensemble, Balinese Gender Ensemble, Carnatic Music Ensemble (Indian vocals), The Mixolydians (vocal ensemble singing Rennaisance madrigals), Slavei…