Olivia DrakeWesleyan University Press received a grant for $2,500 on Dec. 14 from the J.M. Kaplan Fund. The award will support of Jelle Zeilinga de Boer's forthcoming book New Haven's Sentinels: the Art and Science of East Rock and West Rock. de Boer is Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, Emeritus at Wesleyan.
The Center for the Arts received a grant for $6,000 from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven on Dec. 18, 2012. The award will support a symposium titled "Innovations: Intersections of Art and Science" on Feb. 28 and March 1. The symposium will bring teams of artists and scientists together to share approaches, skills and outcomes of their research at the intersection of art and science. For more information, open the graphic on this page, or see this link.
Leah Wright, assistant professor of history, assistant professor of African American studies, received a 2012 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The grant, worth $31,500, will support her her current book project, tentatively titled, The Loneliness of the Black Conservative: Pragmatic Politics & The Pursuit of Power. The 2012 Career Enhancement Fellowship program seeks to increase the presence of minority junior faculty (African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and Native Americans and Native Alaskans), and other junior faculty members committed to eradicating racial…
Jacob Herman, a graduate student in biology, received a grant worth $807 from the Sigma Xi Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Research in January 2013. The award will go toward lab supplies. Herman is investigating DNA methylation as a possible mechanism for adaptive trans-generational effects of drought on plant offspring development. His advisor is Sonia Sultan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies. The Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research program has a highly competitive application process and only 20 percent of applicants receive any level of funding.
Wesleyan's Program for Student College Success received a $5,000 grant from the Liberty Bank Foundation on Dec. 19. The award will support the program through Nov. 1, 2013. Wesleyan’s Program for College Success is a comprehensive program that supports first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students as they move through high school and into college. The program serves 100 high school students (25 in each class), helping them to make a successful transition to college. Led by a director and operated by college students and recent graduates, the program consists of a four-week summer session and 40 weeks of programming throughout the…
A collaborative study by four professors in the Psychology Department was published in the January 2013 issue of Developmental Science. "Minimal-group membership influences children's responses to novel experience with group members," was written by lead author Mariah Schug, visiting assistant professor of psychology, together with Hilary Barth, associate professor of psychology; Andrea Patalano, associate professor of psychology, chair of psychology; and Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology. The study examined how children's preference for members of their "ingroup" over those in an "outgroup" affects their processing of information. Children participating in the study observed ingroup and outgroup members acting in…
More than 110 students enrolled in the hands-on course Applied Data Analysis (QAC 201) presented research at the Quantitative Analysis Center's Student Poster Session on Dec. 12 in Beckham Hall. The poster session served as the course's final exam. More than 35 guests who use and teach applied statistics, attended the Quantitative Analysis Center's Student Poster Session to speak with students and judge the posters. Several of the guest judges were alumni. The interdisciplinary course QAC 201, taught by Lisa Dierker, professor of psychology, provides experience in data management and applied statistics. Students develop skills in several aspects of the…
Three Wesleyan students joined hundreds of climate change activists from around the world to strategize with fellow youth, discuss climate change policy, engage with delegates and participate in a climate change march during the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar. The convention began Nov. 26. Sophie Duncan '13, Samantha Santaniello '13 and Chloe Holden '15, accompanied by Michael Dorsey, fellow of the College of the Environment, visiting professor of environmental studies, obtained entry badges and jumped right into a panel discussion on equitable climate policies with representatives from…
Fifteen students from the Class of 2013 were elected to early-decision membership in Phi Beta Kappa during an initiation ceremony Dec. 5. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest surviving Greek letter society in America, dating back to 1776. The organization’s Greek initials signify the motto, “Love of learning is the guide of life.”To be elected, a student must first have been nominated by his or her major department. He or she also must have demonstrated curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations, and have achieved a grade-point average of 93 percent. Members of the Fall 2012 class all…
(Story contributed by Jim H. Smith) Its official name was the Century 21 Exhibition, but it was better known as the Seattle World Fair, and it seemed to be an unambiguous statement about America’s aspirations for its future. Boasting a futuristic monorail and an iconic Space Needle whose elevators were piloted by female attendants wearing excessive blue eye shadow and costumes out of a Hollywood sci-fi feature, it came to hold totemic significance for a nation whose philosophical differences with the Soviet Union were being sorted out against the majestic backdrop of outer space. One of the first visitors to the…
In this edition of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask "5 Questions" of Richard "Rick" Elphick, professor of history and co-chair of the College of Social Studies. Elphick is the author of The Equality of Believers: Protestant Missionaries and the Racial Politics of South Africa, published by the University of Virginia Press in September 2012. Q: What do you think is the main message, or the main achievement, of your new book? A: For decades, historians of South Africa have struggled to trace how a white minority, starting in the 1650s, established a system of stark inequality among the races in the…
Q: Dana, you're Wesleyan's first Civic Engagement Fellow. How do you describe your role? A: As the Civic Engagement Fellow, I focus on promoting civic engagement throughout the entire university, with students, faculty and staff. While the focus may be broad, I mainly work with two specific centers: the Center for Community Partnerships, under Director Cathy Lechowicz, and the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, under Director Paul Gagnon. At CCP, I’m primarily involved in informing students about the many opportunities for immediate impact here in Middletown, and in assisting student coordinators of the Office of Community Service's programs. We’re also developing…