David PesciKirk Swinehart, assistant professor of history, reviews the historic novel Blindspot in The Chicago Tribune. Set in 18th Century Boston, Swinehart says Blindspot "succeeds as raw entertainment; better, it soars as cunning academic revisionism."
In an opinion piece in The Hartford Courant, Jonathan Cutler, associate professor of sociology, associate professor American studies, comments on the proposal by the Obama Administration to eliminate secret ballot union elections. While Cutler admits this may expose some employees to possible intimidation, he believes it can work if workers are also given the right to throw out ineffective unions.
In a piece for The Moscow Times, Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of government, points out that the initial treatment of Russia by the Obama Administration has begun with clumsy missteps and a perspective toward U.S.-Russian relations that offers nothing new compared to what Russia has seen from previous U.S. administrations.
Michael Singer, assistant professor of biology, recently published a study of caterpillars in PLoS 1 that details the possible self-medication by Wooly Bear caterpillars that have been infected with parasites. The study, cited in Discover gives evidence to the theory that some animals are able to self-medicating without being taught to do so.
Laura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society, professor of biology, discussed the implications as President Barack Obama is poised to lift the ban on research using human embryonic stem cells. Grabel is a renowned stem cell researcher and co-director of of the University of Connecticut Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility, part of a $100 million human stem cell research initiative created by the State of Connecticut in 2006.
Norman Danner, mathematics and computer science, Fernando Degiovanni, romance languages and literatures, and Greg Voth, physics, were the lastest faculty members awarded tenure at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting. These appointments do not conclude tenure announcements for the 2008-2009 academic year, and more may be forthcoming.
Richard Grossman, chair and professor of economics, commented on the economy and the moves of the Obama Administration to counter the country's sliding economic prospects since the inauguration.
Tom Kannam, vice president and chief investment officer, was a guest speaker at the Middlesex Country Chamber of Commerce's Young Professionals Alliance Economy and Finance Seminar on Feb. 24. Jeff Pugliese, staff liaison to the Young Professionals Alliance, said Kannam "provided great insight at a time when the economy is on every one's mind."
In November, 2008, when all the first round early decision applications were in, the Wesleyan admissions’ staff knew the initial numbers were not a fluke. Applications from high school students seeking admission during the first early decision period at Wesleyan were up 34 percent from the previous year, 2007. Still, the admissions staff maintained cautious enthusiasm. “We were elated, but we also remained a bit guarded because, quite frankly, we didn’t know if the early decision increase would be followed by a decrease in overall applications, especially with the economy taking such a dramatic downturn,” says Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean…
Sitting in front of the Senate panel, Laura Grabel was ready for the “when” and “why” questions. But she knew one of these questions held a lot more potential danger to her future than the other. Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society, professor of biology, is a renowned stem cell researcher. She is also the co-director of the University of Connecticut Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility, part of a $100 million human stem cell research initiative created by the State of Connecticut in 2006. The stem cell initiative was the state’s response to a veto…
The Wesleyan University Board of Trustees affirmed the promotion with tenure, effective July 1, 2009, of the following members of the faculty. These appointments do not conclude tenure announcements for the 2008-2009 academic year, and more may be forthcoming. Norman Danner, associate professor of computer science, was appointed assistant professor of computer Science in August 2002. Before coming to Wesleyan he was the VIGRE assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CPATH CB Collaborative Grant, a Mellon Foundation Grant and a Wesleyan University Ethical Reasoning Course Grant. Danner's teaching…
Gary Yohe, Sysco-Woodhouse Professor of Economics, is co-author of a new report issued by the United Nation's Internation Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that discusses the rapidly increasing risks of global warming. A story in Scientific American summarizes the article and quotes Yohe, an economist who studies climate change with regards to its inherent risks.