Olivia DrakeVera Schwarcz, the Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, presented a paper on Jan. 20 titled "To Honor the Language of Truth: Reflections on F. Nietzsche, H.N. Bialik, Chen Yinke and Zhang Longxi" at the City University of Hong Kong. Schwarcz, who also is a professor of history, professor of East Asian Studies, was an invited speaker at the international conference on "Cross Cultural Studies: China and the World." Schwarcz's essay will be published as part of a book on 2012. (more…)
Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy, received a grant worth $65,932 from the Space Telescope Institute to support a project titled, "Cool Star Winds and the Evolution of Exoplanetary Atmospheres." The grant expires in October 2014. Redfield is observing stars that are host to their own planetary systems. These "exoplanets" were only discovered in the last decade or so, and since their discovery, astronomers are very interested in learning more about the properties of these planets and their atmospheres. "Invariably, the study of exoplanets is really an exercise in putting life on Earth into a cosmic context. How common are planets?…
Shining Hope for Communities, a Wesleyan foundation that serves Nairobi, Kenya’s poorest slum, was recently awarded a $750,000 grant from the Westport, Conn.-based Newman’s Own foundation to expand a school for girls in Kenya. Shining Hope for Communities was co-founded by Jessica Posner '09 and Kennedy Odede '12. Called the Kiberia School for Girls, the school is the first tuition-free school for girls in the community. The expansion of the school effectively doubles its size with 22 new classrooms. Newman’s Own Foundation has contributed nearly $1 million in grants to Shining Hope for Communities since 2010. In addition to funding for…
Wesleyan University Press received a grant from the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in December 2011. The grant will support the publication of five books in 2012 including: Garnet Poems: An Anthology of Connecticut Poetry Since 1776, edited by Dennis Barone and Ella Grasso: A Biography by Jon Purmont, which are part of The Driftless Connecticut Series; and When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA by Adam Abraham; The Great Camouflage Writings of Dissent (1941–1945) by Suzanne Césaire; and A Guide to Poetics Journal Writing in the Expanded Field, 1982-98, edited by Lyn Hejinian and Barrett Watten.
The Green Street Arts Center received a $3,500 grant from Citizens Bank and a $5,000 grant from Pratt & Whitney to support its After School Program in 2012.
The Davison Art Center received a $1,000 grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts and a $500 grant from the Middlesex County Community Foundation/Mary Ann Lambert Fund to support "The Big Draw: Middletown." "The Big Draw: Middletown" is a community event with drawing activities on Sunday, April 22. It is modeled on the successful British program that promotes interactive activities designed to break down the “I can’t draw” syndrome and promote the visual arts. Organized by the Friends of the Davison Art Center to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the event will be located on Wesleyan's campus, including the Davison…
Wesleyan's Center for Prison Education received a three year grant worth $60,000 from the Weissberg Foundation. The grant was awarded in December 2011.
Joe Siry, professor of art, is the author of the book Beth Sholom Synagogue: Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern Religious Architecture, published by the University of Chicago Press in December 2011. Beth Sholom Synagogue provides the first in-depth look at the synagogue’s conception and realization in relation to Wright’s other religious architecture. Beginning with his early career at Adler and Sullivan’s architectural firm in Chicago and his design for Unity Temple and ending with the larger works completed just before or soon after his death, Siry skillfully depicts Wright’s exploration of geometric forms and structural techniques in creating architecture for…
Jeff Rider, professor of Romance languages and literatures, professor of medieval studies, is the co-editor of the book The Inner Life of Women in Medieval Romance Literature: Grief, Guilt and Hypocrisy, published by Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2011. The essays explore medieval, romance emotional communities through both fictional and non-fictional narratives in French, Spanish and Italian texts ranging from the 12th through 15th centuries. By following these women characters in their considerations, readers can hope both to learn something about the times the women were writing in, while to enriching and enlarging their own "emotionologies." More information on the book is available…
Victoria Smolkin-Rothrock, assistant professor of history, assistant professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, is the author of two essays published in 2011. They include: "Cosmic Enlightenment: Scientific Atheism and the Soviet Conquest of Space,” in Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture in Post-Stalinist Russia, published by the University of Pittsburgh, pages 159-194; and “The Contested Skies: The Battle of Science and Religion in the Soviet Planetarium,” in Cosmic Enthusiasm: The Cultural Impact of Space Exploration on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Since the 1950s, published by Palgrave/Macmillan, pages 57-78.
Michael Roberts, the Robert Rich Professor of Latin, professor of classical studies, professor of medieval studies, is the co-author of the book, The Letters of Symmachus, Book 1. The book was published by the Society of Biblical Literature, in 2011.
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences is the co-author of "End-Cretaceous Marine Mass Extinction not Caused by Productivity Collapse," published in (PNAS) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; "Blake Outer Ridge: late Neogene variability in paleoenvironments and deep-sea biota," published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302: 435-451; "Seawater calcium isotopic ratios across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition, published in Geology, 39: 683-686; "A core-top calibration of B/Ca in the benthic foraminifera Nuttallides umbonifera and Oridorsalis umbonatus: reconstructing bottom water carbonate saturation," published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 310: 360-368; "Ocean deoxygenation: past, present and future," published in EOS Transactions AGU, 92: 409-410, all in 2011.