Olivia DrakeVera Schwarcz, the Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, professor of history, is the author of Ancestral Intelligence, published by Antrim House Books in 2013. She signed copies of her book and read selected poems at Broad Street Books on July 22. Photos of her book signing are below: (Photos by Eki Ramadhan '16) (more…)
To view up-and-coming CFA events visit this link. (Photos by Eki Ramadhan '16)
On July 29, a series of cotton-ball clouds hovered above Wesleyan's campus. (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)
The Wesleyan Open Golf Association donated $1,500 to Even Start, a federally funded program that gives families access to the training and support they need to create a literate home environment and to enhance the academic achievement of their children. About 50 Wesleyan employees, contractors, friends and families participated in the Wes Open Tournament, held July 13 at Banner Country Club in Moodus, Conn. All participants pay an entry fee which includes an 18-hole round, prizes and dinner. A portion of the fee is collected each year for a different charity in Middletown. The funds will support Even Start's Family…
Franklin Reeve, professor of letters, emeritus, passed away on June 28 at the age of 84. He spent four decades at Wesleyan. Lauded for his luminous intelligence, Reeve was not only an estimable academic, but also a noted poet, writer, translator, editor and critic. He was a juror for the National Book Awards, a consultant for Kirkus Reviews, and served on the governing board, as well as the first vice president, of the Poetry Society of America. The author of 31 books, Reeve possessed a passion for teaching the written word, too. A recipient of the Binswanger Prize and a…
Lisa Cohen, assistant professor of English, was recently shortlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography for her book, All We Know: Three Lives. For more than 50 years, the PEN awards have honored many of the most outstanding voices in literature across such diverse fields as fiction, poetry, science writing, essays, sports writing, biography, children's literature, translation and drama. With the help of its partners and supporters, PEN will confer 16 distinct awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes in 2013, awarding nearly $150,000 to writers, editors and translators. The final winners and runners-up will be announced later this summer…
Private lessons instructor and music Ph.D. candidate Bill Carbone MA '07 will cap off a busy summer of music festival performances with a trip to perform at the 24th annual Zappanale Music Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany. The festival invited his trio, The Z3, which performs the music of Frank Zappa rearranged for a trio of Hammond Organ, guitar, and drums (Carbone's instrument), with all three members singing, to headline the second day of the festival and host the jam session on the third day. The festival also features more than a dozen alumni of the bands Zappa led between…
Four Wesleyan faculty and staff members completed the Litchfield Hills Olympic Triathlon held July 14 in New Hartford, Conn. The triathlon featured a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike course, and a scenic, rural back road 10K run. Wesleyan participants included Mike McAlear, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Tom DiMauro, analyst programmer in ITS; James Taft, assistant director of technology support services in ITS; and Brian Northrop, assistant professor of chemistry. Northrop came in third place overall.
Lauren RubensteinGina Athena Ulysse, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of African American studies, wrote a review of artist Robert Pruitt's Women, currently on exhibit at the Studio Museum of Harlem, in the Huffington Post. The exhibit features 20 portraits of contemporary black women drawn on brown butcher paper with conté-crayons. Ulysse writes: "Although, Pruitt's Women may be warriors, they are not embattled. They may be of and in struggle, yet they are not fighting. Their serenity is too often denied to black women. They are 'keepin' it surreal' inhabiting Suzanne Césaire's state of permanent readiness for the Marvelous."
Fred Cohan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies, spoke on "Origins of ecological diversity in bacteria" during the Bacterial Genetics and Ecology Conference (BAGECO), held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in June.
Natalie Robichaud ’14Su Zheng, associate professor of music, associate professor of East Asian studies, spoke in a recent China Daily USA article about the number of African musical artists in China and how their presence is “creating new types of harmony between the two lands.” Zheng starts off by pointing out that “Wherever there are Africans, there is good music - just like wherever there are Chinese, there is good food.” When she discovered that there were no reports on the presence of African music in China, she decided to research the music of the African diaspora herself. The research completed by…