Olivia DrakeDavid Beveridge, the Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, received a five year graduate student training grant from the National Institutes of Heath (NIH) in support of Wesleyan's interdepartmental program in Molecular Biophysics and Biological Chemistry (MBBC). This program is co-coordinated by Ishita Mukerji, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, director of graduate studies. The MBBC Program involves 12 faculty members from chemistry, biology, MB&B and physics departments along with both graduate Ph.D. students and undergraduate certificate students. The grant, worth $662,820, is the latest in a series of awards to this program, which…
Ruth Nisse, associate professor of English, associate professor of medieval studies, received a $40,000 fellowship grant from the American Council of Learned Societies for 2011-12. During the fellowship, she will complete her book Jacob’s Shipwreck. The study focuses on the “co-emergence” of Christians and Jews in12th and 13th century England and Northern France. She argues that the the two communities mediated their relations through the reception, translation and rewriting of ancient texts.
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This summer, 26 students representing six colleges and universities in the Northeast participated in the Humanitarian Free and Open-Source Software (HFOSS) Project 2011 Summer Institute, hosted by Wesleyan. Wesleyan is part of a growing community involved in The Humanitarian FOSS Project, dedicated to building and using free and open source software to benefit humanity. Students from Wesleyan, Connecticut College, Trinity, St. John's College, Mt. Holyoke College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute participated in the summer institute and designed 11 projects for HFOSS. They presented their research July 22 in Woodhead Lounge. Diego Calderon '13, Jeremy Fehr '13 and Trinity student Vlad…
On June 7, Zach Schonfeld '13 toured the modest 170-year-old site of President Grover Cleveland's 1837 birthplace. "Live from Caldwell, N.J.," Schonfeld blogged on this day. "It’s not much—the house has been expanded significantly since Cleveland’s birth, but the siteitself still blends seamlessly into the background of Caldwell’s quiet suburban sprawl. Yes, I drove past it initially and had to circle back. Sorry, Grover. Just be thankful I didn’t steal your parking spot." Cleveland's childhood home is one of 20-some presidential birthplaces Schonfeld is exploring this summer as a Wesleyan Olin Fellow. His project, partially funded by the History Channel,…
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During a 100 kilometer pilgrimage across Spain in June 2010, Kristin McQueeney purchased a silver scallop shell slide to wear on her necklace. Little did she know that shell carried a coincidental Wesleyan connection. The scallop, which represents the pilgrimage across Europe to Santiago de Compostela, also appears on the Wesleyan crest. According to Valerie Gillispie, assistant university archivist, the Wesleyan crest is based on the Methodist founder John Wesley's family coat-of-arms. Wesley was a descendent of the Wellysleye/Wellesley family, whose crest bears a cross decorated with five scallop shells. "Those who made pilgrimages across Europe, or from the port to the…
Wesleyan's Animal Studies hosted the Animals and Society Institute-Wesleyan Animal Studies Fellowship Program Conference June 27-30 in Usdan University Center. The conference is the culminating event in the first annual ASI-WAS Fellowship Program, which brings to campus a broad range of scholars studying human-animal relations. Lori Gruen, chair and professor of philosophy, and Kari Weil, university professor of letters, co-organized the conference. Photos of the conference faculty, guests and ASI fellows are below: (more…)
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The Davison Art Center's exhibition catalog, “Counting on Chance: 25 Years of Artists’ Books by Robin Price, Publisher” (DAC 2010) has won third place in the 2011 New England Museum Association Publication Award Competition in the category “Exhibition Catalogues over $10.” The catalog will be featured in the summer issue of NEMA News. The catalog was organized by Suzy Taraba, university archivist and head of Special Collections and Archives. The original exhibition at the DAC was co-curated by Suzy Taraba and Clare Rogan, curator of the DAC. "We are absolutely delighted by this award," Rogan says. First place in this category…
Guy Geyer '13 received the General John A. Wickham Scholarship, awarded by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Educational Foundation. Geyer, a physics major, will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Candidate must be a U.S. citizen and working toward a degree in electrical, computer, chemical, systems or aerospace engineering; computer science; physics; mathematics; science or mathematics education; technology management; or management information systems. An overall GPA of 3.5 on 4.0 scale or better is required. General John A. Wickham, born June 25, 1928, was United States Army Chief of Staff from 1983 to 1987. Geyer also received honorable mention for a Goldwater…