Olivia DrakeMary-Jane Rubenstein, assistant professor of religion, will teach Modern Christian Thought and the Problem of Evil during the fall semester. Posted 08/24/06 Mary-Jane Rubenstein has joined the Department of Religion as an assistant professor. Her primary research interests are continental philosophy and Christian theology. She also focuses on post-colonial Christianities; literary and critical theory; and race, gender and sexuality studies. Rubenstein comes to Wesleyan from the Department of Religion at Columbia University in New York. There, she taught Contemporary Civilization and co-taught the courses, Religions in the Modern World and Religion and Its Critics. She was awarded the Core…
Wesleyan tennis coach Ken Alrutz, right, teaches his son, Graham, a few techniques on the Wesleyan tennis courts Aug. 24. Posted 08/24/06 Q: Ken, you will be entering your third year as the mens and womens head tennis coach. What attracted you to Wesleyan?A: When my wife and I contemplated a move, I decided I wanted to coach both women and men, to work at an academically distinguished school, and to finish my career at a small institution similar to the place where I began my professional life. Q: What months does the tennis season span? When do you…
Tom Morgan, the Foss Professor of Physics, developed a laser lab in the basement of Exley Science Center. He uses a control panel to fire atoms and study quantum mechanics. His atom research is supported by a recent National Science Foundation award of $200,000. Posted 08/24/06 In outer space, some protons and electrons can travel millions of years alone before colliding, forming super-excited exaggerated atoms. Tom Morgan, the Foss Professor of Physics, wants these atoms to come back down to earth. For the past 20 years, Morgan, an atomic and molecular physicist, has experimented with these excited atoms known as…
Posted 08/24/06 The Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich., has awarded a challenge grant in the amount of $500,000 to Wesleyan University. This grant will be applied toward the purchase of equipment for several Wesleyan science departments, including biology, chemistry, molecular biology and biochemistry, earth and environmental sciences and physics. To apply to the Science Equipment Program, Wesleyan had to raise $500,000 and now must raise an additional $1 million to meet the terms of Kresge challenge grant and establish an endowment for repair and replacement of science equipment. According to the tenets of the grant, Wesleyan must raise $1.5 million…
Grigori Enikolopov 08 was one of more than 50 students to present their research at the Hughes Program in the Life Sciences Poster Session in the Exley Science Center. Posted 08/24/06 When Grigori Enikolopov 08 studied the leaf economics in river, swamp and upland areas, he found that the wetter the area, the more ridges or teeth the leaves of woody tree species possessed. During the Hughes Program in the Life Sciences Poster Session Aug. 4, Enikolopov, explained that 70 percent of the trees in a swamp have teeth compared to 60 percent in the upland areas.…
Posted 08/15/06 Noah Lior Simring, originally a member of Wesleyan's class of 2007, died recently in New York City, his hometown. He was 21. Noah, who was on leave from Wesleyan for the past two years, graduated from the Horace Mann School in New York City where he enjoyed fencing. His interests included the sciences, theater, music, wilderness living, animation and rocketry and volunteerism. He is survived by parents Ruth and James Simring and sister, Mia Simring. Donations in his memory may be made to the Horace Mann School or Children International.
SUMMER SERIES : East L.A.-based Quetzal performed as part of the Center for the Arts Nights series June 29. The group was found by guitarist/jarana/bajo sexto player Quetzal Flores, who brings a grass-roots approach to fusing the folk styles of Mexico and Cuba along with elements of rock and blues. Quetzal's beats got the audience dancing in the aisles of Crowell Concert Hall. The concert was intended to be outside but rainy weather moved it indoors. Quetzal kicked off the CFA Night Series, which also includes upcoming performances Eclipse: Visions of the Crescent and the Cross Forces of Nature Dance…
Marcy Herlihy will be promoted to associate director of Wesleyan Fund Internal Operations. She's spent the past two years working with the fund and Data Services. Posted 07/28/06 In just under five years at Wesleyan, Marcy Herlihys role has changed three times. Next month, her responsibilities will change again, all for the better of the university. Herlihy was hired in October 2001 as the assistant director of The Wesleyan Annual Fund, which is now known as The Wesleyan Fund. Two years ago, she took over the role of manager of URs Data Services, but has continued to divide her…
Posted 07/28/06 Immigration, race and the history of U.S. citizenship are just a few of the topics that will be discussed during a summer institute presented by the Center for African American Studies for secondary school teachers from Aug. 7-10. Race and Membership: A History of United States Citizenship, has pre-registered more than 20 social studies teachers, most hailing from Connecticut. The four-day institute is open to all secondary school educators (grades six through 12), support staff, curriculum specialists and school librarians. The institute aims to foster a sustained and in-depth discussion among the participants about how to teach United…
The American Story Project, a theater company comprised of Wesleyan students and alumni, will perform We Can't Reach You, Hartford at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland Aug. 7-19. Posted 07/28/06 In 1944, the Hartford Circus Fire caused more than 150 deaths during an afternoon circus performance. Although the cause of the fire remains officially undetermined, five employees of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus were charged with involuntary manslaughter, and the circus was forced to accept full financial responsibility for the fire that occurred during their show. This tragic, yet compelling story, will be retold…
Patricia Klecha-Porter, head womens field hockey coach, offers her team advice during half-time. She also is the assistant squash coach, and has worked at Wesleyan for more than 20 years. Posted 07/28/06 Q: How were you first introduced to field hockey and squash, and at what age did you begin playing?A: My older sister was involved in the sport of field hockey. After her practice she would play with me. Organized training began in ninth grade. Squash was introduced to me at Wesleyan under the Head Coach Don Long. He mentored and gave me a solid foundation of skills,…
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, studies readers' eye movement. Posted 07/28/06 Barbara Juhasz has joined the Department of Psychology as an assistant professor. Juhasz studies the psychology of reading. Her main task in investigating word recognition is to measure readers' eye movements as they read sentences on a computer screen. The duration of readers' eye fixations on words provides detailed information on how easy or difficult words are to understand, she explains. While her research is usually conducted on literate adults, it has applications to the teaching of reading and the understanding of reading disorders. In my opinion,…