Olivia DrakeSumarsam, the University Professor of Music, was named one of the 50 "successful" Indonesians in the United States by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in 2012. In collaboration with the Indonesian Consulate General in the U.S., the Embassy is publishing a book titled Secret of My Success: 50 Prominent Indonesian[s] Share Their Lessons on Life and Remarkable Career[s]. Sumarsam will contribute a 3,000 word essay for the publication. The goal of the book is to inspire Indonesian communities in the U.S. At Wesleyan, Sumarsam teaches Indonesia music and theater, focusing on the performance, history and theory of gamelan and…
In honor of International Women's Day, DoSomething.org named Tasmiha Khan '12 one of the "11 Young Women to Look Out For." Through the organization Brighter Dawns, Khan raises awareness about the water-related illnesses in Bangladesh and builds wells, latrines and shower rooms in an effort to combat sanitary ignorance and the inability to access safe sanitation. With a goal of 5 million active members by 2015, DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the U.S. for teens and social change. The story is online here.
Elizabeth Willis, the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, professor of English, is the recipient of the 2012 Winship/PEN New England award for her poetry book Address, published by Wesleyan University Press. The L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award was established by the Boston Globe in 1975 to honor long-time Boston Globe editor Laurence L. Winship. The awards celebrate best works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by New England authors. PEN (Poets/Playwrights, Essayists/Editors, Novelists) New England is an organization of published authors, aspiring writers, and all who love the written word. PEN aims to advance a culture of literature in New England and…
Three Wesleyan students were accepted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Honor Society. The students are Lee Gottesdiener '12, Sophia Levan '12 and Alejandra Olvera '12. These outstanding students have been selected based on their academic achievements, their commitment to research and science outreach. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members. Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Rockville, M.D. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of scientific and educational journals: the Journal of Biological…
Sonia Sultan, chair and professor of biology, professor of environmental studies, received a fellowship from the Wissenschaftskolleg/Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. She and approximately 40 other fellows from around the world will work on projects of their own choice for one academic year. The group is designed to represent a range of academic disciplines from both humanities and sciences. As a fellow, Sultan will be working on a book project that is under contract with Oxford University Press for its Ecology and Evolution series. "In this book, I aim to bring together recent findings from a range of biological disciplines to shape an updated understanding of the developmental…
Jeff Rider, professor of romance languages and literatures, professor of medieval studies, has received a residential fellowship from the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels for the second semester of the 2011-12 academic year. Rider is in Brussels working with two other fellows on the topic, "Perception and Performance of Social Identity in the Nascent Urban Societies of the High Middle Ages." In addition to presenting a lecture to other fellows at the center, he's presenting lectures at the University of Ghent, the Catholic University of Louvain, the Royal Library of Belgium, the Charles University in Prague, and to a European research group…
Khachig Tölölyan, professor of letters, presented several lectures on Diaspora studies in 2011. They include: “The Transatlantic Study of Transnational Diasporas,” at Germany’s Münster University, whose new program of diaspora studies was funded for $3.6 million by the Marie Curie Institute, an EU organization. Nov. 28, 2011; “Varieties of Diaspora: Phenomena, Concepts, Terminology,” at the conference “Perspectives on Global Diasporas,” organized by the Programs in Jewish Studies, Asian Studies, African American Studies and International Affairs, at Northeastern University, Nov. 17, 2011; “Twenty years of diaspora studies: success through confusion,” at the Conference on Diasporas and Cultures of Migration,” held at…
Mark Molina ’81 joined SafeNet, the data protection company, as senior vice president and chief legal officer this month. Responsible for the legal affairs of SafeNet on a global basis, with direct supervisory authority over the company’s worldwide legal strategies, functions, and personnel, he also serves as secretary to SafeNet’s board of directors. He brings to SafeNet more than two decades of experience advising public and private technology companies on a wide variety of matters, including public and private securities offerings, SEC reporting and compliance obligations, and intellectual property and protection efforts. Prior to joining SafeNet, he served as executive…
Dana Royer and Ellen Thomas are among the 21 authors of a review paper, "The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification," published in Science, March 2012: Vol. 335, no. 6072, pages 1058-1063. In the paper, the authors review events exhibiting evidence for elevated atmospheric CO2, global warming, and ocean acidification over the past 300 million years of Earth’s history, some with contemporaneous extinction or evolutionary turnover among marine calcifiers. Ocean acidification may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems; however, assessing its future impact is difficult because laboratory experiments and field observations are limited by their reduced ecologic complexity and sample period, respectively. Royer is…
Magda Teter, the Jeremy Zwelling Professor of Jewish Studies, published an article, “Sacrilege and the Sacred and Profane Spaces: Jews and Christians in Early Modern Poland," which was published in Brotherhood and Boundaries: Fraternià e barriere by Edizioni della Normale, pages 215-224 in 2011. Teter also is chair and professor of medieval studies, professor of history, and professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. This book offers a comparative study of secular and religious brotherhoods and networks of social relationships, analyzing role in the various forms of religious communities, national, cultural and social from the 14th to the 18th century. More information on…
Lisa Dierker, chair and professor of psychology, and Ruth Striegel, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, professor of psychology, are co-authors of a paper titled, "Behavioral Symptoms of Eating Disorders in Native Americans: Results from the Add Health Survey Wave III," published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2011. In addition, Dierker is the author of "Alcohol Use as a Signal for Sensitivity to Nicotine Dependence: Cross-sectional findings from a Nationally Representative Sample of Recent Onset Smokers," published in Addictive Behaviors, Issue 36(4), pages 421-426, 2011. And "How Spacing of Data Collection May Impact Estimates of Substance Use…
A research group led by Manju Hingorani, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, has published eight papers in 2011-2012 on the mechanisms of DNA replication and repair proteins, independently and in collaboration with research groups at Wesleyan and other national and international universities. The papers are: "Large conformational changes in MutS during DNA scanning, mismatch recognition and repair signaling," published in The EMBO Journal, 2012 (in press). "The Variable Sub-domain of Escherichia coli SecA functions to regulate in the SecA ATPase Activity and ADP release," published in the Journal of Bacteriology, 2012 (March 2 Epub). Don Oliver, the Daniel Ayres Professor of…