David LowWriter and filmmaker Jeremy Arnold ’91 is the author of Lawrence of Arabia: The 50th Anniversary, published by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This special hardbound coffee table book is included in the recently released Lawrence of Arabia 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-ray box set, also released by Sony. The 88-page publication contains full-color photographs, a history of the epic film's significance, insight into the making of the movie (directed by David Lean), and editorial pieces by film directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. The book is only available in this package and will not be sold separately. It also has…
(Story contributed by Gabe Rosenberg '16) Jason Baron '77, director of Litigation at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, is the 2011 recipient of the Emmett Leahy Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Information and Records Management Profession. Baron is the first federal lawyer, and only the second lawyer, to receive this international award in its 40-year history. The Emmett Leahy Award Committee announced that for over two decades, Baron's leadership efforts have promoted an awareness of the importance of good records management to the legal profession. He has served as co-chair and editor-in-chief of three publications by The Sedona Conference©,…
Martha Shane '05 and Lana Wilson '05 have received a coveted grant from the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund for their feature-length documentary After Tiller, which they directed and produced. The film deals with the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller as the last four late-term abortion doctors in America confront harassment from protestors, challenges in their personal lives, and a series of tough ethical decisions. After Tiller is one of five films that received this year's grants, which are awarded to “projects that illuminate pressing problems in the United States.” This year the International Documentary Association received grant…
(Story contributed by Laignee Barron '13) Ellen Forney ’89 is the author of a new graphic novel Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me (Gotham Books), which follows the artist’s diagnosis with bipolar disorder shortly before her 30th birthday. In this intimate confession, Forney delves into her struggles with being accepted into “Club van Gogh.” “This unflinchingly honest memoir” (Kirkus Reviews) details Forney’s fears that her disorder could curtail her creativity and livelihood. Beginning with the manic state that led to her diagnosis, Forney explores what it means to be a “crazy artist.” At first disbelieves her psychiatrist, Forney is filled…
Cynthia RockwellKimberly Muellers ’12, communications director for the nonprofit Brighter Dawns, spent part of her post-graduation summer in Bangladesh, helping provide a village with access to clean water. The Boston Globe highlighted the work of Massachusetts native Muellers in a recent article titled “Westwood Woman Helping in Bangladesh.” “There are so many preventable diseases that can be solved so easily just by having clean water and good hygiene,” Muellers told The Globe. “Our main focus is on sanitation issues.” Muellers was joined this summer in Bangladesh by Tasmiha Khan ’12, Brighter Dawns CEO, as well as Fahim Zaman, Brighter Dawns director…
(Story contributed by Gabe Rosenberg '16) Harvard University professor John Stauffer ’91 is the co-editor of The Tribunal: Responses to John Brown and the Harper’s Ferry Raid (Belnap Press of Harvard University Press). Co-edited with Zoe Trodd (professor of American literature at the University of Nottingham), the book assembles a collection of responses to John Brown’s 1859 attack on a federal arsenal in Virginia. The ill-fated raid of Brown and 21 other men--five free black and 16 white men--was intended to provoke an uprising of African Americans against the “scourge of slavery.” While three members formed a rearguard at a…
Olivia DrakeScott Holmes, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, received a grant worth $374,150 from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will support a study on "Functional interaction of histone H1 with the core nucleosome" until 2015. Several Wesleyan undergraduates conducted experiments crucial for developing this grant proposal, including Samantha Schilit '10, MA '11, who is currently in her first year as a Ph.D. candidate at the Harvard School of Medicine. Histone proteins organize DNA into its basic organizational unit, the chromosome, and have a fundamental influence on the function of DNA. The four core histones assemble into the…
Glenn Stowell '13, an economics major, is the editor and translator of, and an author of, two poetry books published in 2012. Stowell recently edited, translated and wrote the introduction to Yan Jun's You Jump to Another Dream, published by Vagabond Press. Last spring, Stowell worked with Ao Wang, assistant professor of Asian languages and literatures, assistant professor of East Asian studies, on an independent study on translation of contemporary Chinese poetry. You Jump to Another Dream was the result of the independent study. Additionally, the Olin Fellowship provided Stowell with funds needed to travel to China this summer and to work…
Wesleyan received a $10,000 grant from The Brown Foundation for the Wesleyan Fund for the Cardinal Scholarship and another $10,000 for the Women’s Ice Hockey Program in 2012-13.
Francis Starr, associate professor of physics, received a $100,000 grant from the American Chemical Petroleum Fund for his work examining the properties of extremely thin polymer films. These systems have important applications ranging from nano-electronics to artificial tissues. The work will be supported through August 2014.
Middlesex United Way awarded Wesleyan's Program for Student College Success with a $5,000 grant. The award will support the program through Aug. 31, 2013. Wesleyan’s Program for College Success is a comprehensive program that supports first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students as they move through high school and into college. The program serves 100 high school students (25 in each class), helping them to make a successful transition to college. Led by a director and operated by college students and recent graduates, the program consists of a four-week summer session and 40 weeks of programming throughout the academic year. Wesleyan students…
Bekkie Wright '85 has had an ongoing goal: An under-four-hour marathon in all 50 states. A member of Team Marathon Bar for the past two years, Wright succeeded in her quest on Oct. 24, 2012, in Mason City, Iowa, running the Newman Marathon. "Currently there are less than 30 people who have achieved that mark and I was only the fourth woman to reach that milestone," she notes. A soccer player at Wesleyan, Wright didn’t start her marathon running until 1993. Her first took place on a snowy, 17-degree Chicago day—but she didn’t stop there. Since then, she’s run more…