Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20092min
Shirley Lawrence celebrated her 34 years at Wesleyan with a retirement party Dec. 14 in the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. Lawrence began her Wesleyan career in a part-time position the Mathematics Department where she remained until 1977. Lawrence moved to the Center of Humanities where she worked until 1985, and she worked in Alumni Programs until 1987 when the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies officially opened on Washington Terrace. She is retiring as a program coordinator. Over the years Lawrence has coordinated such events as tours of the Freeman Family Japanese Garden, lectures on U.S.-Japan…

Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20092min
Pamela Tatge, director of the Center for the Arts, received the William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The William Dawson Award is given to an individual or organization in the presenting field for sustained leadership, innovation and vision in program design, audience building and community involvement efforts. The award honors William M. Dawson, a seminal leader in the field of arts administration, who served for 14 years as Director of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (then called the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators). "The William Dawson Award is the…

Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20091min
Lisa Dierker, chair and professor of psychology, and David Beveridge, the University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, received a $174,999 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will support an inquiry based, supportive approach to statistical reasoning and applications. The award will be applied Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2012.

Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20092min
The new film, Songs of a Sorrowful Man, directed by Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, and edited by film major Joe Sousa ’03, began its journey debuting at the biennial Royal Anthropological Film Festival, held at Leeds University in July. The film was then shown at the the American Anthropological Association meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. Dec. 2-6. It also was screened recently at at Brown where it was featured as the lead event in Brown's "Year of India" celebrations (2009-10). The “sorrowful man,” Dukhushyam Chitrakar is a charismatic figure who encourages women to take up the traditional craft of scroll painting and musical composition pursued…

Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20092min
Gary Yohe, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, and senior member of the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), discusses in a Dec. 6 issue of  The Los Angeles Times the possibilities at the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference In Copenhagen, Denmark. In the article, Yohe says that "many nations would like to see a definitive agreement come out of the Copenhagen conference. But in the absence of climate legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, it is unlikely we will see anything like a binding treaty. Still, significant progress is possible. Copenhagen offers the prospect of agreement on a number of…