Olivia DrakeWesleyan Provost Rob Rosenthal and his son, Sam Rosenthal, presented a reading with rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Famer Pete Seeger July 18 at Bryant Park in New York City. They are mentioned in this July 19 The New Yorker story. According to The New Yorker, "Rosenthal spoke ... briefly, about collecting Seeger’s words. He said that over and over, he found letters to Seeger saying, 'I’m in the middle of my own political struggle and what has kept me going is your music.'" The letters were “From people all over the world,” Rosenthal said. Rob and Sam Rosenthal are the co-editors…
David PesciMichael Barsotti ’12, signed a contract to pitch for the minor league Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League. Barsotti, a government major, is Wesleyan’s all time strike-out leader. In his first appearance for Joliet he threw a scoreless inning in relief and did not allow a batter to reach base. On July 14, he was named the M&M Bank Player of the Game for the Slammers after inducing a ground out, a fly out and a pop out while throwing just nine pitches, seven of them strikes. Barsotti was twice named the NESCAC pitcher of the week during his Wesleyan…
Lauren RubensteinIn the wake of the LIBOR banking scandal, Richard Grossman, professor of economics, commented in the Canadian news magazine Maclean’s on July 13 about banking regulation throughout history. “It’s guaranteed to be a losing battle,” he said. “The incentives in banking are so strong and the money is so big. As soon as you close off one area, someone is going to think of a new way to do things.” Grossman stressed that governments and the public have a short memory when it comes to financial crises, so that regulations that seem prudent in one era become the next generation’s “political red tape.”…
Professor of Biology Ann Burke recently completed a Fulbright Specialists project in Nepal at The Patan Academy of Health Sciences. It is the mission of this new medical program to train students from rural areas of Nepal who are committed to returning to their villages to provide desperately needed health care. Burke's project, which involved training local faculty in the teaching of human anatomy for medical students, was completed during the months of May and June. Burke was one of over 400 American faculty and professionals who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright's Specialists Program. The program, created…
Cynthia RockwellTasmiha Khan ’12, founder of Brighter Dawns, a charitable organization committed to improving health in the slums of Bangladesh, was invited to the White House to participate in a forum to discuss the important role that faith-based social innovators play in expanding opportunity and addressing social issues. Khan, who was selected by DoSomething.org as one of 11 Young Women To Look Out For, founded Brighter Dawns in the fall of 2010 after working on a health and hygiene project in Bangladesh with the World Peace & Cultural Foundation that summer. Back on campus, she convinced other students to join her in…
As part of his summer study trip, University Professor of Music Sumarsam attended and presented a paper at the “Congress and World Puppetry Festival” in Chengdu, China. Music Librarian Alec McLane also attended the Festival. Sponsored by Union Internationale de la Marionnete (UNIMA), the festival staged puppet shows from all over the world, and hold seminar and organizational meeting. Sumarsam presented a paper on “Electric Light Bulb in Contemporary Javanese Shadow Puppet Play,” in a panel on puppetry and technology. The panel included paper presentation by Jim Henson’ daughter, Cheryl Henson—the President of The Jim Henson Foundation. She talked about…
David LowAcclaimed writer Amy Bloom ’75, known for her award-winning fiction (Away, Where the God of Love Hangs Out) and nonfiction, has written her first children’s book, Little Sweet Potato (HarperCollins), to be released August 21. The book is published under the name Amy Beth Bloom, with illustrations by Noah Z. Jones. Bloom is writer-in-residence at Wesleyan. In the book, Little Sweet Potato rolls away from his patch and is forced to search for a new home. He stumbles upon some very mean plants on his journey and begins to wonder if maybe he is too lumpy and bumpy to belong…
Katherine Wyman MA ’11 was one of only six graduate students nationwide to receive a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award medal for her poster at the recent 220th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The awards recognize exemplary research by undergraduate and graduate students who present at one of the poster sessions at the meetings of the AAS. Wyman’s poster was on the work she did for her master’s thesis with her advisor, Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy. It involved characterizing the gas and dust that the Sun may have passed through over the last tens of millions of…
Jacob Walles ’79, the new American ambassador in Tunisia, delivered his credentials to the Tunisian presidency on July 24. A 20-year veteran of the U.S. State Department, Walles has served in a number of posts involving Middle Eastern affairs, including special assistant for the Middle East peace-process in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He was also First Secretary at the US Embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv. Walles previously held the rank of Minister Counselor, and before that he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs. A history major at Wesleyan, he holds a master’s degree…
Former Wesleyan Dean of Students and Dean of the University Mark Barlow '46 died June 23 at the age of 87 in Hanover, N.H. Born in Utica, N.Y. in 1925, he graduated with a degree in mathematics from Wesleyan after serving in the Navy. He received an M.A. from Colgate University and a doctorate of education from Cornell University. He married Jane Atwood in 1954, and in 1957 he became Dean of Students at Wesleyan and later Dean of the University. Because of his age, the students dubbed him "the boy dean," but he quickly developed a reputation for handling…
Political Animals, a six-part television mini-series created and written by Greg Berlanti with Lawrence Mark ’71 as an executive producer, premiered on USA Network on July 15. Sigourney Weaver stars as Elaine Barrish Hammond, a former first lady divorced from the ex-U.S. president who becomes secretary of state after losing the presidential nomination to a younger, less experienced male candidate. The series follows Elaine’s political success in her new job and touches upon her desire to run for the presidency again, but it also revolves around her family relations. In an article in The New York Times, Amy Chozick notes…
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barbara Roessner ’75, P’15, was named executive editor of Hearst Connecticut Newspapers, effective Aug. 1. She will be responsible for overseeing all editorial content and initiatives in the company’s four Connecticut dailies (Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, The News-Times in Danbury, The Advocate in Stamford and Greenwich Time), as well as seven Fairfield county weeklies. Beginning at The Hartford Courant in 1978 as a beat reporter, Roessner later served as chief political writer, opinion columnist, writing coach and deputy managing editor overseeing investigative and enterprise reporting. She was part of the 1999 Courant team that received the Pulitzer…