Olivia DrakeApril 6, 20101min
Claire Potter, professor of history, professor of American studies, wrote an Op-ed titled "Intimate Partner Violence: A Scourge Hauled Out of the Shadows," for the April 4 edition of The Hartford Courant. Potter discusses the often unreported crime of intimate partner violence and how recognition of these incidents has at least increased over the last few decades. While awareness of these incidents as crimes has increased since the 1970s, when Potter was first exposed to it, the patterns and incidents themselves remain entrenched. "Reflecting on this as an adult feminist, I think that we — several women and men —…

Olivia DrakeApril 6, 20101min
A translation by Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, will be given its world premiere on April 15, 16, 17 at Harvard University. The play, translated from Eugène Labiche's comedy, is titled "PATER OMNIPOTENS (OR A SUITOR UNSUITED)." Shapiro also will be lecturing in the Boston University Translation Seminar series on April 16 on "Tour de Farce: On Translating French Comedy."

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20104min
For the next three years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will support gene expression research led by Scott Holmes, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry. On March 2, the NSF awarded Holmes a $599,832, three-year grant for his studies on "Epigenetic Silencing of Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Gene expression refers to the observable characteristics generated on a molecular level by a particular sequence of DNA or gene; epigenetic controls are essential in maintaining the specific patterns of gene expression that distinguish hundreds of distinct cell types in skin, muscles and other types of tissue. "I’m thrilled to get…

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20102min
Ethics leader and law professor Lawrence Lessig will speak on "Speech and Independence: The Wrongs of Corporate Speech," during the 19th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The event is at 8 p.m. April 7 in Memorial Chapel. Lessig is professor of law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. As director, Lessig is leading a five-year project studying “institutional corruption” relationships which are legal, even ethical, but which weaken public trust in an institution. Prior to Harvard, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he…

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20103min
Wesleyan has reached the gold standard in sustainable structures. On March 15, the U.S. Green Building Council awarded Wesleyan's newly-renovated Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life building a Gold Certification based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system that verifies that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. "The Gold Certification demonstrates Wesleyan’s…

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20101min
The Usdan Common Connections Committee will host "Critical Condition," a panel discussion focusing on the current efforts to reform the health care system in the United States, at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Daniel Family Commons, Usdan University Center. Much of President Obama’s first year in office and the first year of the Democrat-controlled Congress has been focused on changes to the health care system aimed at expanding care to the uninsured and lowering costs. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed their own bills and on Sunday, March 21, the House of Representatives approved the Senate…

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20102min
Melanye Price, adjunct associate professor of government, has been appointed to coordinator of internships for the Center for the Study of Public Life.  This half-time position will be focused on developing new internship opportunities for Wesleyan undergraduates. Housed within the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the appointment complements Price’s continued teaching and scholarly work in the Department of Government. She assumed this new role in January. Price will be working with members of the Career Resource Center to develop the program, and to coordinate with the Educational Policy Committee and academic departments. She also will be consulting with peer institutions and…

Olivia DrakeMarch 22, 20102min
Hari Krishnan, artist-in-residence in the Dance Department, was featured in the March 13 issue of The Toronto Star. In an article titled, "Dance: Traditional Meets the Postmodern," Krishnan speaks about his dance troupe, InDANCE, which performs Indian classical dance style bharatanatyam with Western contemporary eroticism. Krishnan was raised in Singapore, part of the small island republic's Indian minority. He studied bharatanatyam and an imported European form of ballet. He embraced Western contemporary dance as an undergraduate in Canada. He holds a master's degree in dance from York University in Toronto. As a result, he's hard to categorize and this has proved to be…