Olivia DrakeBill Herbst, the John Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy, director of graduate studies, received a $5,000 grant from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to support observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The title of the proposal is “Planet Formation in the Circumbinary Disk of KH 15D.” Herbst and his colleagues are measuring the brightness of the T Tauri binary system KH 15D covering several important missing orbital phases around minimum light and one near maximum. Data is crucial to understanding the mechanisms behind the observed reddening in the system, which has implications for planetformation and disk evolution. Learn more about this study online here.
Clifford Chase, visiting writer in the English Department, is the author of The Tooth Fairy: Parents, Lovers and Other Wayward Deities published by Overlook Press on Feb. 6. The Tooth Fairy is a humorous memoir of a man torn between isolation and connection. Chase tells stories that have shaped his adulthood through intimate confessions, deadpan asides and observations on the fear and turmoil that defined the long decade after 9/11. He writes about his aging parents, whose disagreements sharpen as their health declines; his sexual confusion in his 20s; the joyful music of the B-52s; his beloved brother, lost tragically to AIDS;…
Lauren RubensteinAlex Dupuy, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, is the author of a new book, Haiti: From Revolutionary Slaves to Powerless Citizens. Essays on the Politics and Economics of Underdevelopment, 1804-2013, published by Routledge on Feb. 24. The book examines Haiti's position within the global economic and political order, including how more dominant countries have exploited Haiti over the last 200 years. Haiti's fragile democracy has been founded on subordination to and dominance of foreign powers.
On March 31, students and staff gathered at the Career Center for the series finale of the hit TV show, How I Met Your Mother. The show was co-created by Carter Bays ’97 and Craig Thomas ’97 and has won several awards throughout its nine seasons. University Relations and the Wes Watches HIMYM Blog sponsored the event so the Wesleyan community could watch the final episode together. Photos of the event are below: (Photos by Ryan Heffernan '16) (more…)
James "Jim" Greenwood, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, and four colleagues have co-authored a paper titled “The Lunar Apatite Paradox,” published in the journal Science on March 20. The study casts doubt on the theory of abundant water on the moon while simultaneously boosting theories around the creation of the moon, several billion years ago.
Brian KattenWhen Jeff Galloway '67, Amby Burfoot '68 and Bill Rodgers '70 ready for the start of the Harvard Pilgrim Middletown Half Marathon Sunday, April 6 near Main Street, it will be a reunion of titanic proportions. The three haven’t been seen together since running as Cardinals 47 years ago. "This might be the first time the three of us have been together since Wesleyan," Rodgers said. The trio of Galloway, Burfoot and Rodgers has given Wesleyan tremendous presence in the running world. Burfoot, as a Wesleyan senior, became the first collegian in the then 72-year history of the Boston Marathon,…
Natalie Robichaud ’14Throughout April, Wesleyan is hosting its second annual Earth Month. On April 12, Wesleyan is hosting a "Climate Justice Conference of Solutions" event. Participants will lay out the organizing, technological, and policy solutions to the climate crisis and explore how taking action on climate can improve social justice, create jobs, grow businesses, and enhance national security. Register for the event here. Other Earth Month events include a Sustainability Career Panel on April 8, Long Lane Farm grand workdays, WILDWes workdays, a Wesleyan Joulebug Competition, an Earth Week Rant with Professor of Physics Brian Stewart, a Mama Earth Fest, a film screening of Victoria Mamas…
This month, the Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its “AA” rating on debt issued by the Connecticut Health & Educational Facilities Authority for Wesleyan. It also declared that the outlook is stable for Wesleyan’s debt rating. Standard & Poor’s is a leading provider of independent credit risk research, publishing more than a million credit ratings on debt issued by sovereign, municipal, corporate and financial sector entities. The agency’s report, issued on March 21, cited Wesleyan’s “stable enrollment, continued solid operating surpluses, and adequate financial resources” as rationale for the “AA” rating. This is the second-highest rating given by the…
Firshein writes: "With this constant assault, one might wonder how it is possible we survived for so long"
Bill FisherOn the eve of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy hit Game of Thrones, Wesleyan Visiting Writer in English Jim Windolf talks with series creators D.B. Weiss '93 and David Benioff and novelist George R.R. Martin – on whose works the show is based – in Vanity Fair: "Based on 'A Song of Ice and Fire,' the epic series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the show seemed like an odd fit for HBO. But Benioff and Weiss believed it was in the tradition of The Sopranos, Deadwood, Oz, and other HBO shows in that it would breathe…
Weiner '87 discusses the characters, plot lines, and real-life drama that inspires the hit show
Kate CarlisleThe Center for Prison Education has received a grant of $300,000 from the Ford Foundation, supporting the continuation of the program which has delivered a Wesleyan education to Connecticut prisons since 2009. The grant will not only help fund the classes taught at the Cheshire and York Correctional Institutions, but also support CPE’s re-entry services, which assist students who complete their sentences in continuing their college education post-release. “Support from the Ford Foundation recognizes the necessity of bringing educational opportunities to our prisons, the success of the Center for Prison Education’s model for doing so, and the ability of incarcerated…