Olivia DrakeMelvin "Mel" Strauss, adjunct professor of music, emeritus, died Sept. 5 following a prolonged illness. During his time at Wesleyan, Strauss directed and conducted the University Orchestra and Concert Choir and also served as director of the Private Music Lessons Program, which he helped to rejuvenate. Born in Newark, N.J., in 1929, Strauss earned his bachelor of arts degree in humanities from Rutgers University, and his master of arts degree in musicology from New York University. Subsequently, Strauss worked with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood (then the Berkshire Music Center), and it was through Strauss's involvement at Tanglewood, with the Boston…
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Wesleyan hired the following new employees in July, August and September: Alexis Sturdy joined the Office of Community Partnerships on July 2. Joseph Giaimo joined University Relations on July 2. Jennifer Kleindienst joined the Office of Finance and Administration on July 2. Nicola Bennett joined University Relations on July 16. Scott Houser joined the Financial Aid Office on July 16. Evan Carney joined the Office of Admission on July 23. David Baird joined Information Technology Services on Aug. 1. Rachel Ludwig joined the Physical Education Department on Aug. 1. Rachel Cross joined the Office of Admission on Aug. 1. Robert…
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Elizabeth McAlister, chair of the Religion Department, received a grant worth $114,000 from an initiative funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and developed in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council’s program on Religion and the Public Sphere. McAlister plans to study the increase and globalization of what she terms “aggressive forms of prayer,” including evangelical spiritual warfare prayer and political forms of imprecatory prayer, in the context of increasing global militarization. Over the coming years, 28 grantees will participate in a series of interdisciplinary workshops and digital initiatives organized in conjunction with the project. McAlister also is associate professor…
Suzy Taraba, director of Special Collections and Archives, is the co-editor of Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives, published by the Association of College and Research Libraries Insider, 2012. In the age of ubiquitous access to information, library special collections and archives have received renewed attention through digitization projects designed to share collections with the world at large. Yet these materials also offer opportunities for student learning though direct engagement with rare or unique items. While special collections and archives have largely been used by advanced researchers and scholars, an increasing number of undergraduate courses…
Sonia Sultan, professor and chair of biology, professor of environmental studies, recently had several new articles published. "A resurrection study reveals rapid adaptive evolution within populations of an invasive plant," was published in Evolutionary Applications, September 2012. Wesleyan research students Tim Horgan-Kobelski BA '09/MA '10, Lauren Nichols BA/MA '09, Charlotte Riggs '08 and Ryan Waples '07 co-authored the study. The paper is part of a multi-year study of the introduced Asian annual Polygonum cespitosum, which has recently become invasive in North America. Also in September, Sultan had another paper published about the same invasive species at PLoS One (Public Library of Science One). This paper, titled, "Phenotypic…