Olivia DrakeComposer, saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, pianist and music educator Anthony Braxton was named a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for his unique approaches to jazz. The award is considered the nation's highest honor in the field. Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, will receive a $25,000 award along with the honor. According to the NEA, Braxton's compositions "almost defy categorization through his use of the improvised and rhythmic nature of jazz but moving it in a more avant-garde direction, such as in his Ghost Trance Music compositions." Braxton, who was born in Chicago, Ill. has redefined…
Nine Wesleyan faculty members received promotions on July 1. In its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure to Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, associate professor of psychology. (Seven faculty members were tenured in 2012-13; Rodriguez Mosquera joins four faculty members who were awarded tenure earlier this spring, and two who received tenure in the fall.) Additionally, the following eight faculty members are being promoted to full professor: Michael Calter, professor of chemistry; Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Scott Holmes, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion; Masami Imai, professor of economics; Suzanne O’Connell, professor of…
Students enrolled in the June Summer Session course, Field Methods in Archaeology, participated in several excavations on the triangle of land between Vine Street, Cross Street, and Knowles Avenue, known as the Beman Triangle. Several African-Americans built homes and lived in this area in mid-19th century. Although few above-ground traces now suggest the presence of this community, material about their lives survives in the record of their trash and other archaeological features that remain beneath the backyards of the houses on this land. The course is taught by Sarah Croucher, assistant professor of anthropology, assistant professor of archeology, and provides…
Carol Wood, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, retires this summer after 40 years at Wesleyan. In honor of her retirement and her many contributions to the University and the profession, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science hosted the Conference on Model-Theoretic Algebra, May 31-June 1. Professor Wood is pictured below in the green sweater. (Photos by Eki Ramadhan '16) (more…)
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Wesleyan hosted a science tour for Snow Elementary School students on June 19. Faculty, staff and graduate students taught the fifth graders about astronomy, biology, scientific imaging, physics and chemistry through several hands-on activities. The students also visited the Joe Webb Peoples Museum in Exley Science Center. Photos of their science tour are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)
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Laura Ann Twagira, assistant professor of history, received the 2013 ICOHTEC Young Scholar Book Prize from the International Committee for the History of Technology. The ICOHTEC is interested in the history of technology, focusing on technological development as well as its relationship to science, society, economy, culture and the environment. Twagira was honored for her Rutgers University dissertation on the study of women’s development of food technology in early 20th century colonial west Africa, Women and Gender at the Office du Niger (Mali). "Twagira’s dissertation successfully characterizes and contextualizes the technological gestalt of a mundane and routine, but absolutely necessary…
Two years after its founding in May 2011, Wesleyan University’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE) is becoming a hub of activity by supporting students and alumni interested in creating and sustaining programs, businesses, and organizations that advance the public good. During the 2012-13 academic year, the PCSE offered 36 events featuring 30 alumni and five students, awarded 22 grants to 44 applicants, provided bi-weekly student counseling hours to dozens of undergraduates, and added more than 30 alumni volunteers to its growing network. 2012/2013 highlights include: Five $5,000 Seed Grants were awarded to individual students or student teams with plans for a new venture or a scaling up of…
Professor of Economics Richard Grossman presented a paper during the Workshop on Monetary and Financial History, held June 26 at the at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The paper he presented, titled, "Bloody Foreigners! Overseas Equity on the London Stock Exchange, 1870-1913," considers data on capital gains, dividend, and total returns for domestic and overseas equities listed on the London Stock Exchange during 1870-1913. The paper is available to read here.