2015 – Page 32

#THISISWHY On April 30, more than 150 scholar-athletes, along with their coaches, faculty and staff members, attended the third annual scholar-athlete banquet, held in Beckham Hall. Among the evening's highlights was the presentation of the Roger Maynard Memorial Awards to women's crew coxswain Brianne Wiemann '15 and baseball second baseman Andrew Yin '15. Since 1970, the award has been presented to the male and female senior student-athletes who best exemplify the spirit, humility and accomplishments of Roger Maynard '37, a former Wesleyan trustee and standout cross-country and track letterman. As the varsity-eight cox the last two seasons, Wiemann was integral in helping the Cardinals…

More than 325 staff and faculty members turned out for the fourth annual Taste of Middletown, presented by the Campus Activities Committee on April 29 in Beckham Hall. Attendees enjoyed sampling food, drinks and desserts from more than a dozen local restaurants, hotels, and bakeries, as well as Bon Appetit and WB Mason. Together, the attendees donated $145 and 285 pounds of non-perishable food items to the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, a program of St. Vincent de Paul in Middletown. More than a dozen people won raffle prizes, including gift cards to local restaurants, overnight stays at local hotels, a round of golf, and…

On April 29, Sara Seager, Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke on "The Search for Earth 2.0" at the annual Sturm Memorial Lecture. (Photos by Dat Vu '15) (more…)

On April 25, the Friends of the Davison Art Center presented The Big Draw: Middletown, a community celebration of drawing and workshops for all skill levels, from beginning drawers to accomplished artists, at locations across Wesleyan. Facilitated by Wesleyan art professors and students, and sponsored by the Middletown Commission on the Arts and nine local businesses, the fourth annual free event attracted more than 300 participants from almost 40 towns. (Photos by Mariah Reisner '04 MA '07 and Tessa Houstoun '17) (more…)

Spring weather arrived at Wesleyan this week, and both students and faculty took advantage of the warm temperatures to spend some quality time outdoors. (Photos by Laurie Kenney) (more…)

On April 21, Dione Longley '82 spoke about her new book, Heroes for All Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories, co-authored by Buck Zaidel (Wesleyan University Press), in the Davison Rare Book Room at Olin Memorial Library as part of the 2015 Friends of the Wesleyan Library Annual Meeting Talk. The book uses soldiers’ letters and diaries, and written accounts by nurses, doctors, soldiers’ families, and volunteers on the home front to vividly portray the war. Hundreds of period photographs (most, previously unpublished) add to the narrative. Longley was director of the Middlesex County Historical Society in Middletown for 20 years. Now a…

On April 28, Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, spoke on a panel at the CUNY Graduate Center on Nobel Prize–winner Günter Grass, one of Germany's best-known contemporary writers, who died earlier this month. Winston, Grass's translator, is also professor of German Studies, professor of environmental studies, and coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. She spoke alongside Professor Friedrich Ulfers of New York University and Breon Mitchell, professor emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. The event, which was standing-room only, was moderated by Ralph Bunche Institute Director John Torpey, a professor at the CUNY Graduate…

President Michael Roth reviewed New York Times columnist Frank Bruni's new book, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania for The Washington Post. Though Bruni directs his thoughts specifically to the young men and women competing to gain admission to Ivy League and other highly competitive colleges and universities, Roth sees his message as speaking "more broadly to the culture of manufactured meritocracy--a culture of rankings and branding, of recruiting and rejection." "Bruni tackles the roots of this lesson with example after example of successful, accomplished and happy people whose college experiences were far from the elite halls of Stanford…

#THISISWHY In this issue of News @ Wes, we speak to Laura McIntyre from the Class of 2017. Q: Laura, please tell us where you're from and what you're majoring in. A: I'm a sophomore here at Wes. I'm majoring in sociology and am thinking about the film minor. I'm from New York City. Q: I understand the "Before I Die" public art project has been installed in locations all over the world. When and how did this project come to be? A: The project was started by an artist named Candy Chang as a personal project after someone close to her…

#THISISWHY Claudia Kahindi ’18 and Olayinka Lawal ’15 have received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to launch KIU, an English education project, in Kahindi’s home area of coastal Kenya this summer. Named for the Swahili word for “thirst,” KIU will serve more than 100 fourth-grade students at Kahindi’s alma mater, Kilimo Public Primary School, in Kenya’s Kilifi County. (more…)

#THISISWHY In this video, meet Brooklee Han '18 of Redding, Conn., a figure skater who has been competing internationally since 2010. She competed in Sochi, Russia in 2014 as a member of the Australian Olympic Team.

Hari Krishnan, assistant professor of dance, recently received the Choreomundus Scholars in Residence Award, which will support a three-week residence at the University of Roehampton in London, beginning May 18. During his residency, Krishnan will teach and mentor Choreomundus students who are working on their final project. Krishnan expressed excitement over his award: "I am delighted and honored to be one of two recipients of the prestigious Erasmus Mundus grant for visiting scholars to the "Choreomundus International Masters in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage" at the University of Roehampton’s Department of Dance in London." (more…)

Scholar-Athletes Honored at Banquet

Faculty, Staff Enjoy a ‘Taste of Middletown’

Seager Delivers Sturm Memorial Lecture

Big Draw Unleashes the Artists Within

Springtime Arrives at Wes

Longley ’82 Speaks at Friends of Wesleyan Library Event

Winston Speaks at Retrospective for Günter Grass

President Roth Reviews Frank Bruni’s Book

McIntyre ’17 Brings “Before I Die” Public Art Project to Wes

Students Receive Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Launch English Education Project

Figure Skater Han ’18 Competed in 2014 Olympics

Krishnan Receives Choreomundus Scholars in Residence Award