Olivia DrakeThe following Wesleyan faculty members retired in May 2012: John Biddiscombe Director of Athletics (1988–2012) Adjunct Professor of Physical Education (1985–2012) Adjunct Associate Professor of Physical Education (1978–1985) Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physical Education (1974–1978) M.Ed., Slippery Rock University Joseph Bruno Professor of Chemistry (1996–2012) Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost (2006–2010) Associate Professor of Chemistry (1991–1996) Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1984–1991) Ph.D., Northwestern University Howard Needler Professor of Letters (1981–2012) Associate Professor of Letters (1973–1981) Assistant Professor of Letters (1969–1973) Ph.D., Columbia University Wallace "Pete" Pringle Professor of Chemistry (1987–2011) Associate Professor of Chemistry (1975–1987) Assistant Professor of…
The Wesleyan Chapter of Brighter Dawns, a non-profit organization founded by Tasmiha Khan ’12, was featured on News 8 WTNH on May 11. Brighter Dawns raises funds to build latrines and wells in Bangladesh. According to the report, Brighter Dawns started when Tasmiha Khan went to a slum in Bangladesh with her family and visited a young woman living in poverty. "Her name was Usma. She was about 15 years old. Had three children. Was forced into poverty at that time," she said. Khan started doing a few things to help that family, and when she came back to the U.S. she kept helping,…
Elizabeth McAlister, associate professor of religion, was invited to present recent work on how evangelical missionaries are responding to the Haiti earthquake at a conference on Refugees and Missionization at the Max Planck Institute, Goettingen, Germany Oct. 6-7, 2011. She also attended an invited conference on the study of prayer funded by the Templeton Foundation at the Social Science Research Council, Desmond NYC, on April 30, 2012. McAlister also is an associate professor of African American studies and associate professor of American studies.
Mary Jane Rubenstein, associate professor of religion, is the author of "Cosmic Singularities: On the Nothing and the Sovereign," published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 80, No. 2, pages 485–517, in 2012. Until very recently, the paper explains, "the creation myth of secular modernity has been the hot big bang hypothesis: the explosion of our single universe out of a single point. Physicists concede that in its traditional form, this story performs an uncanny recapitulation of Christian creation theology: the universe bursts forth suddenly, in a flood of light, out of nothing. As many contemporary thinkers have…
Justine Quijada, assistant professor of religion, is the author of two new publications. They include: “Signs as Symptoms in Buryat Shamanic Callings,” published in The Healing Landscapes of Central and Southeastern Siberia, with David Anderson, ed. The publication is supported by the Canadian Circumpolar Institute (CCI) Press in cooperation with the Centre for the Cross-Cultural Study of Health and Healing, University of Alberta. The edited volume is the first in a possible series that addresses health problems in Native Canadian communities by both training doctors to consider cross-cultural perspectives in health, and to train more Native Canadians as doctors. The book…
John Kirn, professor of biology, chair and professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the co-author of three recent articles. They include: "Adult neuron addition to the zebra finch song motor pathway correlates with the rate and extent of recovery from botox-induced paralysis of the vocal muscles," published in the Journal of Neuroscience, 31(47): 16958-16968. Yi-Lo Yu ’03, MA ’04 co-authored this paper. "Morphological plasticity in vocal motor neurons following song crystallization in the zebra finch," published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, Accepted manuscript online on April 2, 2012. DOI: 10.1002/cne.23120. Biology major Kathryn McDonald Ph.D. '09 co-authored this article. And "Adult neurogenesis is associated…
The Center for the Arts received a grant worth $10,474 from Department of Economic and Community Development on April 4 to support the Dance Series and DanceMasters Weekend 2013. The DECD also receives support from the National Endowments for the Arts, a federal agency.
Join the Wesleyan community for class reunions, educational WESeminars, picnics, campus tours, a parade of classes and much more during the 2012 Reunion & Commencement festivities May 24-May 27 on campus. Highlights include an Eclectic party featuring The Rooks; an all-college picnic and festival on Foss Hill; a 50th Reunion and President's Reception for the Class of 1962; a champagne reception for graduating seniors and their families; an eco-friendly All-College Dinner; "Senior Voices" with the Class of 2012; the traditional All-College Sing; Andrus Field Tent party featuring Kinky Spigot and the Welders; and of course, the 180th Commencement Ceremony on…
Every spring semester, more than 80 students attend lectures on Hemingway's writing, music and social movements, romantic poetry, Greek tragedies and French essays at Wesleyan. But these students aren't working on a college degree - yet. They're still in high school. As part of the Community and University Services for Education's High School Humanities Program, high school students from six area schools spend six Fridays on the Wesleyan campus, taking classes from Wesleyan faculty. On May 4, Wesleyan hosted a celebration of the program, which is more than 40 years old. "We're essentially offering high school students college courses in…
As a 2012-12 Fulbright recipients, Miriam Berger ’12 will study journalism in Egypt; and Matthew Alexander ’12 and Lynn Heere '12 will teach English in Germany. Su Zheng, associate professor of music, associate professor of East Asian studies, will study, "China’s Emergent Soundscape: New Music Creativities, Body Politics and the Internet in Defining a Global Chineseness," in Shanghai, China. The Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Miriam Berger, a College of Social Studies major, will begin…
Well-known and award-winning novelists, journalists, publishers and editors will be on the faculty of the 56th Annual Wesleyan Writers Conference, held June 14-17 on campus. The conference welcomes both experienced writers and new writers. "Our distinguished faculty offer careful attention to your work and will offer an array of seminars, readings, and panel discussions, all designed to move your work forward, or help you launch a new project," explains Anne Greene, director of the Wesleyan Writers Conference, director of Writing Programs. Over the years, conference participants have gone on to win a number of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, Whiting…