Winston to Direct Service-Learning Center

Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, began serving as Wesleyan’s Service-Learning Center Director on July 1. Suzanne O’Connell, who adeptly led the Center for the past five years, returned to her role as an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, associate professor of environmental studies.

Winston has long been known for her deep commitment to service, on campus and in the greater Middletown community, explains Rob Rosenthal, provost, vice president for Academic Affairs, and the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology. Many years ago, Winston was part of the group of faculty and students who created the Community Research Seminar, the first service-learning course at Wesleyan.

On campus, Winston has served as Campus Fulbright Program Advisor since 1979, and as Coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship since 1993. She also was acting Dean of the College during the 1993-94 academic year, and Dean of the Arts and Humanities from 2007 to 2011.

Off campus, she has been chair, since 1991, of the Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Council, now a city commission. Last year, she became a board member of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art, and she has served on the Independent Day School’s Board of Trustees for 25 years.

As a scholar, Winston has translated over 30 books from German, including works by Günter Grass, Peter Handke, Werner Herzog and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. She is a winner of the Kurt and Helen Wolff Translation Prize and of the Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize, having won the latter award twice. Since 2002 she has served on the jury for the Wolff Prize.