Olivia DrakeAugust 6, 20091min
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter named Katherine Gajewski '02 as the new director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability. According to a July 18 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mayor Nutter interviewed several candidates as he searched for someone with political savvy and operational experience who was also a team player. Ultimately, the mayor said, "we found that person and she was just across the hall." Gajewski was a current staff member in the office. As an aide to the chief of staff, Gajewski oversaw two citywide "spring cleanups" and advised Nutter on appointments to city boards and commissions. Before joining…

Olivia DrakeAugust 6, 20092min
More than 1,700 incoming University of Dayton (UD) students are required to read Melody Moezzi's ’01 book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, before they arrive on campus Aug. 22 for first-year orientation, according to a July 26 Dayton Daily News article. The book is an award-winning collection of essays about young American Muslims, Moezzi is an American Muslim of Iranian descent. UD is a Marianist Catholic university. Moezzi’s book will serve as the basis for a series of student dialogues on the issue of diversity and differences. “I hope that they’ll be able to see a human side…

Olivia DrakeAugust 6, 20091min
According to Variety, Ray Tintori '06 is slated to direct Shane Jones' debut novel "Light Boxes." Spike Jonze has acquired feature rights. "Light Boxes," published earlier this year by Genius Press, is centered on a mysterious town that endures a deadly 1,000-day winter. Tintori's directed numerous music videos plus short films "Jettison Your Loved Ones" and "Death to the Tinman," the later of which was completed while he was a student at Wesleyan and later featured at the Sundance Film Festival.

Olivia DrakeAugust 6, 20093min
Brian Northrop has joined the Chemistry Department as the assistant professor of chemistry. His research focuses on the design, synthesis and analysis of new organic materials utilizing molecular recognition, self-assembly and dynamic covalent chemistry. "I wanted to work at a school that has a strong emphasis on teaching and the liberal arts, but I also really enjoy doing high-level research in chemistry and Wesleyan allows me to do both," Northrop says. "Wesleyan is unique in it’s size and strengths, and I’m very excited to be here." Northrop graduated from Middlebury College in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and…

Olivia DrakeAugust 6, 20092min
Alvin Lucier, professor of music, Iván Naranjo MA ’09, and Katherine Young MA '08 are mentioned in a July 19 New York Times article titled "Where Bows Tap and the Cello Travels." The Flux Quartet, which performed an American contemporary music program at Bargemusic near the Brooklyn Bridge, performed music that grew from their association from Wesleyan. For several years the quartet has participated in Wesleyan’s graduate seminar for composers, playing new pieces by students. Along with an experimental work by composer Lucier, who has been on the Wesleyan faculty for nearly 40 years, there were recent scores by two…

Olivia DrakeJuly 14, 20094min
For efforts with the May 6, 2009 shooting near Wesleyan's campus, the Wesleyan University Public Safety Department was honored with the Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association President's Award for Outstanding Performance on June 14. C. G. "Neil" McLaughlin Jr., chief of police at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Conn. nominated David Meyer, director of Public Safety at Wesleyan and the Wesleyan officers for this honor. His recommendation read: "On May 6th at 1 p.m. a man in disguise, wig, beard, mustache and glasses entered the campus bookstore about a block and a half from the Public Safety Office…

Olivia DrakeJuly 14, 20092min
Dozens of Connecticut teachers went back to school July 7 to gain knowledge, confidence and skills for teaching their students about science, energy and energy conservation. As part of the 2009 Energy Education Workshops series, sponsored by the Project to Increase Mastery of Math and Sciences (PIMMS) and eeSmarts, teachers learned creative exercises to bring back to their classrooms. The annual program is open to all teachers in the state. During a "bottle shake" energy transformation experiment, the teachers were put into groups of four and given two plastic water bottles with a small amount of clear liquid in each…

Olivia DrakeJuly 14, 20093min
Next fall, Wesleyan students and faculty will perform research activities on the same state-of-the-art animation computers that produced Ice Age the Meltdown, a $652 million worldwide box office hit. The computer hardware was donated July 2 by Greenwich, Conn.-based Blue Sky Studios, the creator of a number of award-winning digital animation features, including the Ice Age series and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, which took in nearly $300 million worldwide. In 2008, Blue Sky Studios refreshed their technology for their latest movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and bought racks of new computers. "The old computer racks still…