Cynthia Rockwell

Cynthia Rockwell, MALS ’19, P’11

Charness ’10 Wins Songwriting Award

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Dan Charness ’10

Dan Charness ’10 won first place in the folk/acoustic category of the Indie International Songwriting Contest for his song, “Summertime Delight,” which he also arranged produced, recorded and mixed.

A cellist since the age of four, he Charness was a Phi Beta Kappa history major at Wesleyan and has recently moved to New York City to pursue a career in music. Two weeks after arriving, he landed his first gig in the City—at Caffé Vivaldi on Nov. 7, in Greenwich Village.

While Charness spent his earlier years immersed in classical music, he used his four years at Wesleyan to develop further breadth in his musical interests—including a thesis on the Beatles and Baby-Boomers, with Professor of History Ron Schatz and Professor of Music Eric Charry as his advisers; an internship at a recording studio; and three years in The Spirits, Wesleyan’s traditional all-male a cappella group.

“I joined the Wesleyan Spirits as a sophomore,”

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Resnick ’81, P’13 Appointed Chairman of Global Financing Advisory

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David Resnick ’81, P’13

David Resnick ’81, P’13 was appointed chairman of Global Financing Advisory for The Rothschild Group, in the company’s new management structure in North America.

He will help further integrate and develop Rothschild’s successful debt, restructuring, and equity advisory businesses around the world, all of which have grown substantially in recent years.

Resnick was also involved in the US government’s restructuring of the auto industry last winter. Then co-head of investment banking, Resnick was advising parts maker Delphi in its bankruptcy. Advising the government on the restructuring of GM and Chrysler has been beneficial to Rothschild. Last year it was ranked 24th in mergers and acquisition advisers in the United States. This year it has risen to the 9th spot, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.

Schwartz ’87 Creates Public Health Venture

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Jonathan Schwartz '87

Jonathan Schwartz ’87, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, recently announced a new venture in the area of health technology called Picture of Health.

In a recent blog, Schwartz writes: “We’re not saying much beyond ‘we’re focusing on the intersection of innovation and public health,’ but we are starting to build out a dev and design team. So if you care about health and technology, we’d love to hear from you here.

“Why are we focusing on health? It’s ultimately a personal choice for both of us. For me, perhaps the most satisfying part of my last job was seeing Sun’s technology used in ways and by people that changed the world. Whether that was inventing a new business, creating a new market or creating national infrastructure, I had infinite faith in my team and our technology, so it was easy to sell what we offered.”

Schwartz holds degrees in mathematics and economics from Wesleyan.

Glaser ’87 Monitors Portfolio Risks at Investment Firm

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Matthew Glaser '87

Matthew Glaser ’87 has been promoted to a newly created position, chief of investment strategies and executive managing director, at Turner Investment Partners, an employee-owned investment-management firm.

In this new position, Glaser will be the senior manager responsible for overseeing the firm’s diverse investment strategies. He will monitor portfolio risks and characters and help develop new investment strategies and business opportunities.

He will also assist the distribution team with presentations to prospective clients.  With this appointment, Glaser has become an executive managing director and a member of the executive management group.  Before joining Turner, Glaser worked for Susquehanna International Group and served as managing director at JPMorgan Chase. A history major at Wesleyan, he holds an MBA from Columbia University.

Byler ’94 Documentary to Debut on MTV

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The cable debut of 9500 Liberty will be Sunday, Sept. 26th, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on MTV2, mtvU (MTV’s 24-hour college network), and Tr3s: MTV, Música y Más (formerly MTV Tr3s) as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The critically acclaimed documentary, 9500 Liberty, is directed by Annabel Park and Eric Byler ’94 and chronicles the social, political, and economic impact of The Immigration Resolution, a law closely resembling Arizona’s SB 1070 that was briefly implemented in a Virginia county in 2008.

“The decisions our elected representatives make on immigration reform now will impact our audience for generations,” said Stephen Friedman ’91, executive vice president and general manager of MTV Networks. “As the national debate rages, MTV is committed to engaging America’s youth as informed and active participants—and sharing this powerful film is a great way to start that process.”

For further information on screenings, click here.

Bissell ’05 Creates Art as Collaborative Healing

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Evan Bissell '05 created this portrait of a prisoner, which was on exhibit at SOMArts Cultural Center.

The eight portraits are larger-than-life, eight feet tall, of heroic proportions. Four of the subjects wear the baggy, bright orange garb of prisoners—which they are. The other four subjects are teens who have an incarcerated parent. In each painting, background icons—a hand grabbing the ankle, a daughter at the ocean, a zoo, family photographs from the past, a mask falling into a breaking mirror—depict the stories of these lives affected by the correctional system.

The oil and acrylic portraits were produced in what San Francisco artist and teacher Evan Bissell ’05 calls a “collaborative dialogue. They were on exhibit at SOMArts Cultural Center Main Gallery through Sept. 19, as part of his work, What Cannot Be Taken Away: Families and Prisons Project.

Along with the portraits, the exhibit included a labyrinth for a meditative experience in personal reflection on the nature of healing and forgiveness, a 36 foot timeline looking at the relationship of incarceration, labor and education in the U.S., and extensive documentation of the project process.

The exhibit and the portraits, says Bissell, evolved from his experience as a teacher and meditations on healing and community. 

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Baker ’84 Awarded NEH Grant

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Cynthia Baker '84

Cynthia Baker ’84, associate professor of religious studies at Bates College, received $50,400 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support her research into one of history’s most fraught identity terms: Jew.

The NEH grant will allow Baker to research and write a book set for publication in the “Key Words in Jewish Studies,” series published by Rutgers University Press. Baker notes that no studies exist that analyze the use and the historical development—from ancient times through the postmodern era—of ‘Jew’ as a term.

Baker’s year-long research will involve experts and archives in the U.S., Europe, and Israel.  She will also examine ancient inscriptions and conduct art-historical analyses of images of Jews, including:  medieval European churches, manuscripts, modern cartoons, propaganda, and current pop art.  “The current worldwide political and social developments make this research more compelling than ever,” notes Baker.

By Amanda Sweeney ’11

Barg ’84 to Head Goldman Sachs’ Asian Equity Markets

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Steven Barg ’84 has been named co-head of Asian Equity Capital Markets for Goldman Sachs based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was head of Asian Global Capital Markets for UBS Investment Bank. He had previously been a managing director with Credit Suisse. An American studies and English double major at Wesleyan,  Barg spent a year in Hong Kong as a Henry Luce Scholar prior to earning his MBA from Stanford University.

Sabatino ’80 is VP, General Counsel at United Airlines

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Thomas J. Sabatino Jr.’80 is senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of UAL Corporation and United Airlines, its principal subsidiary company, based at the company’s world headquarters in Chicago. He also is a member of United’s executive council.

Prior to joining United this year, he was executive vice president and general counsel of Schering-Plough Corporation, where he oversaw a number of functions, including the law department, public affairs, security and administrative services.

Previously, he served as senior vice president and general counsel for Baxter International, Inc. in Deerfield, Ill. A government major at Wesleyan, he earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude. He is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Jacobs ’85 and Haubenstock ’84 on Renewable Energy

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Michael Jacobs ’85

Two Wesleyan graduates, Michael Jacobs ’85 and Arthur Haubenstock ’84, joined five other experts in the field of renewable energy in Washington, D.C., on April 26, on a Capitol Hill panel. The seven offered a presentation to Congressional staff on advances needed to integrate renewable resources—including wind and solar energy—into the electric grid. The panel was organized by the EESI (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) and WIRES (the Working Group for Investment in Reliable and Economic Electric Systems). Jacobs, a senior engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) focuses on wind power, and Haubenstock is chief counsel and director of regulatory affairs with BrightSource Energy, a large-scale solar energy company.

Arthur Haubenstock ’84

“One of the greatest challenges in developing an alternative power source is developing a transmission structure,” says Haubenstock. “Unlike fuels in other sources, renewable energy tends to be intermittent, yet we need

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Candace Nelson ’96 judges Cupcake Wars

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(Photo of Candace Brown Nelson ’96 by Lisa Maizlish Connolly ’90)

Candace Nelson ’96, co-founder of Sprinkles, the first cupcake-only bakery, is one of three judges – and one of two permanent judges, along with Florian Bellanger, chef and co-owner of online macaroon company MadMac – of Cupcake Wars. The show, a new baking competition on the Food Network, airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST, and features four of the country’s top cupcake bakers facing off in three elimination challenges.

Leah Douglas, summer intern at Serious Eats, posts a blog on Cupcake Wars, which begins:

“Have you ever looked at a small, beautiful cupcake and thought, ‘The preparation of this cupcake was not nearly combative enough for me!!’ Well, then Food Network has the show for you….. The reality show allows professional bakers to battle it out for a

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Maguire ’83: Raising Awareness about Civility

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Patrick Maguire '83

Patrick Maguire ’83, a writer and blogger—and a 30-year veteran of the service industry—was highlighted in the Dec. 9 Boston Globe Magazine in an interview about the message behind his site, www.servernotservant.com.

For Globe staffer Jenn Abelson, Maguire outlines the message behind his Boston-based blog, which also serves as a platform to launch his book-in-progress and is gaining some wider media attention. His goal is to increase civility in our day-to-day dealings with each other, in general, and with those who work in service industries, in particular, where people are often treated with little respect. The customer, he says, is not always right, and sometimes deserves to be “fired.”

However, he does not abnegate responsibility for those in the service industry to set a pleasant tone, and he praises the businesses that exhibit great service and hospitality. “Hospitality and service are a mindset and a culture,” he notes.

Maguire says the core message of his book and blog consists of three items:

  • That the customer has almost as much to do with the success of every customer service interaction as the service worker.
  • That the customer, especially the abusive customer, is often dead wrong.
  • That all of us are responsible for serving each other with mutual respect and civility.

To view a pdf of the featured page, see http://www.servernotservant.com/media/.