Olivia DrakeShari Swanson '79, library assistant and cataloger, started working at Olin Library in 1981. She plans to retire this summer. Posted 04/17/07 Shari Swanson may be considered a bit bibliophilic. During the day, Swanson works as Olin Librarys assistant and cataloger, sorting an array of reading material. And during the evening, she may retire to her personal library stocked with more than 5,000 volumes. I am a bibliophile of the first order, Swanson says. I love to read, admire and collect books, old and new. A s a matter of fact, with me, it's even close to an…
John Seamon, professor and chair of the Psychology Department, led a study titled the study, "Do you remember proposing marriage to the Pepsi Machine? False recollections from a campus walk," which appeared in a recent issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Posted 04/17/07 Did you propose marriage to a Pepsi machine two weeks ago, or did you just imagine it? That's one of the questions John Seamon, professor and chair of the Psychology Department, asked participants in a study designed to determine if memories, and, in particular, bizarre false memories, could be implanted. "We were interested in seeing if merely…
After exams finish up, Kudakwashe Ngogodo '08 hopes to provide safe drinking water in a rural community in Zimbabwe. Jessica French Smith '09 wants to spend her summer building a community center for the troubled youth of Nagarote, Nicaragua. With support from the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace Program, Smith, Ngogodo and other students from 65 colleges and universities will receive funding to undertake their proposed projects. Philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, on the occasion of her 100th birthday in February, established the new program with a donation of one million dollars so that each of the projects will…
Goaltender Mike Palladino '09 was named to the 2007 New England NESCAC All-Conference first-team. (Photo by Richard Orr) Posted 04/17/07 Seven Wesleyan athletes and one coach were named to the 2007 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) All-Conference Teams. Mens hockey team members Will Bennett '07 and Mike Palladino '09 were first-team choices. Bennett, pictured at right, was the hockey teams top scorer, and Palladino was the starting goaltender for the hockey Cardinals. Bennett, the 2004 NESCAC Rookie of the Year, is tied for second in the conference in scoring with 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points…
Holly Nicolas, postal clerk at Wesleyan Station, helps two students send their mail. He was recently featured on Afropop Worldwide Radio. Posted 04/02/07 Its 20 minutes after noon and postal clerk Holly Nicolas heads to the Wesleyan Station window. Students begin trickling into a line. Some want to send letters, others wait to pick up packages. When the students get out of class, we really get hit, Nicolas says in his Creole-accented English. Holly, pronounced O-Lee, is a Haitian native who moved to the United States in 1993. His days begin with sorting incoming mail for the universitys faculty,…
A study by Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, has established a calculable relationship between increases in CO2 and global surface temperatures. Posted 04/02/07 The connection between CO2 concentrations and increased global temperatures just gained a significant amount of evidence - about 420 million years worth of evidence, to be specific. In a paper published in the March 29 issue of Nature, Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, and two colleagues from Yale University have used nearly 500 data points to create the most comprehensive model of the relationship between CO2 and temperature to…
Michael S. Roth, a historian and president of California College of the Arts, will become the 16th president of Wesleyan at the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year. Roth, a member of Wesleyan's Class of 1978, has been a professor in history and the humanities since 1983 and is recognized both as a curator and author. He is noted for founding the Scripps College Humanities Institute in Claremont, Calif., as a center for intellectual exchange across disciplines, for his scholarly leadership in the arts community as associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and for enhancing the…
Nancy Chesbro, secretary for the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, attends several Wesleyan athletic events. She's worked in the department for 26 years. Posted 04/02/07 Q: Nancy, youve been a secretary in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics for 26 years. What led you here in the first place?A: I had worked in the Physical Education Department at the University of Connecticut, so when I decided to look for a job in Middletown, Wesleyan was the logical place to start. When I was offered a position in Physical Education it was a perfect match for me. I…
At left, Marlon Bishop 07 and Leigh Senderowicz 07 received Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowships, which facilitate independent projects abroad. Posted 04/02/07 Two Wesleyan students will have the opportunity to travel abroad and conduct independent studies as Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellows. Marlon Bishop 07 and Leigh Senderowicz 07 each received the $25,000 award. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship provides graduating college seniors with a one year fellowship to explore an independent project outside of the United States, to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the…
In center, Suzanne OConnell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, teaches visiting 5th grade students about rocks. O'Connell was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support building a community of women geoscience leaders. Posted 04/02/07 A three-year, $488,367 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to Suzanne OConnell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Mary Anne Holmes, research associate professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, will help women from all academic levels take part in a community that stresses professional development in the geosciences. The project, titled, Building a Community of Women Geoscience…
Jenna Gopilan '07 researches neural stem cells in mice brains, and presented her research at a recent StemCONN conference. Posted 04/02/07 Jenna Gopilan 07 familiarized herself with the scientific research environment during her freshman year as a work study student. As a sophomore, she shadowed graduate students to learn their techniques. Now, as a senior, the neuroscience and behavior major had the opportunity to present her own research project to the Media and Legislative Briefing at the State Capitol in Hartford. The briefing took place during Connecticut's Stem Cell Research International Symposium, also known as StemCONN 07, March 27-28. Gopilans…
Posted 04/02/07 Jacob Dorman, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Dorman will conduct research at the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library. His project title is Everyday Life and the Harlem Renaissance. Dorman received a bachelors of art from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in African American history. At Wesleyan, he teaches Black Urban Religious History. He will use his Gilder Lehrman Fellowship to research the social history of black life during the Harlem Renaissance. To support outstanding…