Lauren RubensteinReviewing Oliver Sacks' new memoir, On the Move, in The Atlantic, President Michael Roth writes that the celebrated neurologist "opens himself to recognition, much as he has opened the lives of others to being recognized in their fullness." The memoir begins in Sacks' early life, when a teacher noted in his report card that "Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far." Sacks describes going to extremes in areas of his life ranging from recreational swimming to competitive weightlifting to drug use. A native of England, Sacks traveled to the United States after completing his medical training to get space from his parents and…
Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion, professor of African American studies, professor of American studies, spoke at DePaul University on May 11. The topic of her talk was "American Evangelical Spiritual Warfare and Vodou in Haiti." According to the flyer for the talk, one strand of American evangelicalism practices so-called "spiritual warfare" in which Christian "prayer warriors" pray against "territorial strongholds." This group believes the world to be mapped into either Christian or demonic space, where Satanic forces operate as "strongholds" of evil. They believe that Haiti is under the influence of Satan. McAlister draws on recent ethnographic fieldwork in Haiti to…
Wesleyan faculty members played key roles in StemCONN 2015, Connecticut's stem cell and regenerative medicine conference, held April 27 in Hartford, Conn. Janice Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, director of the Center for Faculty Career Development, served on the conference's organizing committee for the second time this year. Gloster Aaron, associate professor of biology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, spoke at the conference on "Investigating how transplants reduce seizures: brain slice electrophysiology and ontogenetic stimulation of transplanted cells." He discussed the collaborative work being done by his lab and those of Naegele and Laura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs…
Two Wesleyan students, Lucy Rubin ’17 and Aletta Brady ’15, have been awarded U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) to study critical needs languages abroad this summer. Rubin will study Japanese in Hikone, Japan, while Brady will study Arabic in Amman, Jordan. (more…)
The Hartford Courant turned to Erik Grimmer-Solem, associate professor of history, tutor in the College of Social Studies, for perspective on the sinking of the ocean liner R.M.S. Lusitania, one century later. "The British were very effective in using the sinking of the Lusitania as a propaganda tool, portraying the Germans as beastly and dastardly," he told the Courant. "But [Woodrow] Wilson was in a tough spot. The United States had a significant German population, who were certainly not in favor of war." Grimmer-Solem said the German government naturally viewed the horror of the Lusitania quite differently. He said the British…
On May 1, the Neuroscience and Behavior Program held its second annual undergraduate research symposium. Arranged in the format of a professional scientific conference, seniors in the program presented their research done in faculty labs, while students and faculty in attendance enjoyed dinner at Daniel Family Commons. Five seniors spoke and seven other students presented posters on topics ranging from sonification of measures of electrical activity in the brain to the study of characteristics of neuronal membranes. About 50 junior and senior neuroscience and behavior students attended, in addition to the NSB faculty. (Photos by Dat Vu '15.) (more…)
Charles Sanislow, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the co-author of a new paper published in the journal Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. The paper is titled "Personality Disorder Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts over 10 Years of Follow-Up." The findings in the paper are from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), on which Sanislow has been an investigator since it began in 1996.
On May 2, the Wesleyan Symposium on Risk brought together faculty and students for an interdisciplinary discussion of risk. The event was sponsored by American Studies, the Center for the Humanities, the College of Letters, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies, the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the Neuroscience and Behavior Program, the Science in Society Program, and the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies support funds. (Photos by Hannah Norman '16) (more…)
On April 30, the Psychology Department held its annual poster session in Beckham Hall. More than 50 psychology and neuroscience and behavior majors presented research, and the event was attended by several hundred psychology majors. (All photos by Dat Vu '15.) (more…)
Wesleyan is home to students of many different faiths, as well as those who don’t practice any religion. The week of April 19, Wesleyan’s Interfaith Council of students organized a Faith Shadowing Week to allow students an opportunity “to get a glimpse at what the different religious and spiritual fellowships and events look like, and how different traditions and forms take shape,” as Lydia Ottaviano ‘17, head of the council, put it. (more…)
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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…