Olivia DrakeCathy Lechowicz, who served as the director of the Office of Community Services and Volunteerism for the past eight years, has taken on a new role, director of the Center for Community Partnerships (CCP). "Cathy’s charge is to support the University’s liberal arts mission by collaborating with departments to engage faculty, staff, and students to weave civic engagement into the fabric of Wesleyan’s academic, community, and student endeavors," wrote Rob Rosenthal, provost and vice president for academic affairs, in an all-campus e-mail. The CCP combines the resources of Service-Learning Center, the Office of Community Service and Volunteerism, the Office of…
Wesleyan welcomes six new employees in 2012. Charlotte Coulter was hired as the assistant director of university events and scheduling on Dec. 1, 2011. Kirby Hawkes was hired as an application specialist in Information Technology Services on Dec. 12, 2011. Lauren Rubenstein was hired as an editor/ new media writer in University Communications on Jan. 3. Quatina Frazer was hired as an administrative assistant for Graduate Liberal Studies Program on Jan. 3. Gretchen Streiff was hired as an assistant director of student activities and leadership development on Jan. 17 Patricia Cluney was hired as an administrative assistant for University Relations on…
Joel Pfister, the Kenan Professor of the Humanities, chair of the English Department, is invited to serve as one of two American faculty members in the West-China Faculty Enhancement Program in American Studies. The program, which will take place in July in Xi'an, China, is sponsored by the Ford Foundation and China Association for the Study of American Literature. Pfister will present 10 intensive, two-hour lectures on American literature to faculty from universities in western China that have poor rural students. He'll also conduct a seminar session on American studies pedagogy. "The aim is to better equip these university teachers…
A book written by Deb Olin Unferth, assistant professor of English, was named a 2011 finalist in the National Book Critics Circle. Olin Unferth's Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War (Henry Holt) is one of five finalists in the autobiography category. In the memoir, Unferth describes the year she ran away from college with her Christian boyfriend and followed him to Nicaragua to join the Sandinistas. Winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards will be announced at the awards ceremony on March 8 at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium in New York.…
Su Zheng, associate professor of music, associate professor of East Asian studies, will speak on "150 Years of Chinese Music" during a Year of the Dragon Festival Feb. 26. From 1 to 2:30 p.m., she will address her audience in English and from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Mandarin. Her lecture will take place at Flushing Town Hall in Flushing, N.Y. Each lecture will be followed by a signing of her book, Claiming Diaspora. The year 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, which comes once every 12 years; and is also a Year of the Water Dragon, which occurs…
An article written by three Wesleyan faculty and two alumni was published in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, 32(1): pages 46-61. In "Differentiation and functional incorporation of embryonic stem cell derived GABAergic interneurons in the dentate gyrus of mice with temporal lobe epilepsy," the authors describe embryonic stem cell derived neuronal transplants for treating temporal lobe epilepsy. The authors include Jan Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior; Gloster Aaron, assistant professor of biology, assistant professor of neuroscience; Laura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society, professor of biology; Xu Maisano Ph.D. '11; and Elizabeth…
Ruth Striegel, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, professor of psychology, is the co-author of Developing an Evidence-Based Classification of Eating Disorders: Scientific Findings for DSM 5, published by the American Psychiatric Association Press in 2011. The culmination of several years of collaborative effort among eating disorders investigators from around the world, this volume provides summaries of the research presentations and discussions of the conceptual and methodological issues involved in diagnosing and classifying eating disorders. The mission of the DSM-5 Eating Disorder Work Group was to improve the clinical utility of eating disorder diagnoses by recommending revisions based…
We live in a world of germs; multitudes of them live in our own bodies. While some cause many infectious diseases, they also help digesting and processing the food and fight off tooth decay. How is this possible? During the Spring 2012 semester, William Firshein, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry emeritus, will discuss the myths and realities of these pathogens as part of the Wesleyan's Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL). Germs are Us, is just one of the seven courses offered this spring by the institute, housed in the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty on Lawn Ave. WILL provides…
Courtney Fullilove, assistant professor of history, wrote an article titled "Dead Letters—By a Resurrectionist: Liberty and Surveillance in the Tombs of the U.S. Post Office," published in the January 2012 issue of Common-Place.org. In the article, Fullilove describes a history of the 19th century Division of Dead Letters. Until World War I, all undeliverable letters were processed through the central office in Washington. By law, unclaimed letters were burned, pulped, or otherwise destroyed. But Fullilove discovered this wasn't the case. "Here was a riddle," she writes. "In a non-existent box were four letters that should have been destroyed. Their presence was evidence…
A translation titled "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats," written by Kevin Wiliarty, academic computing manager, was published Jan. 31 by The Other Press. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a translation of Jan-Philipp Sendker's Das Herzenhören, originally published in 2004. A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never…
The Center for Faculty and Career Development announce the Spring 2012 Academic (Technology) Roundtable lunch series. A(T)R lunches are designed to promote conversation, cooperation and the sharing of information, ideas and resources among faculty members, librarians, graduate students and staff. Meetings take place at noon in Olin Library's Develin Room (unless specified otherwise) and include a buffet lunch. The Spring A(T)R Schedule is below: Feb. 20 "Using Digital Media in Place of the Traditional Academic Paper," a videoconference with Hisa Kuriyama of the Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History, Harvard University. Feb. 27 "Writing History in the Digital Age," with…
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask 5 Questions of Catherine Poisson, associate professor of romance languages and literatures. Q: Professor Poisson, you were recently named a Chevalier L'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (a Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) by the Minister of Education for your contribution to the promotion of French language and culture. What was your reaction to receiving this award, and why do you think you were nominated for the honor? A: I was puzzled and somewhat apprehensive on receiving the notice of Certified Mail, so when I opened the envelope at the post…