Olivia DrakeJen Shea, head softball coach, assistant field hockey coach, teaches swimming as an adjunct professor of athletics. Posted 04/17/06 Q: At what age did you first pick up a bat and ball, and where was this?A: I grew up in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Hatfield is a small town of 3,500 people with a strong athletic tradition. When I was in elementary school, the high schools varsity softball team won back-to-back state titles and that is when I really became interested in the sport. I started off playing T-ball when I was in first grade and then graduated to slow-pitch softball when…
Greg Pyke, senior dean of admission, stands outside the Office of Admission. Posted 04/17/06 Every year, the Office of Admission begins with a prospective student pool of over 30,000 and mails information to another 88,000 based on PSAT and ACT scores and grades. Of these, about 7,000 apply, and after review, this number is whittled down to less than 2,000. Of this amount, ultimately, 720 of the applicants will become Wesleyans newest freshman class. As a senior associate dean of admission, Greg Pyke reviews hundreds of these applications, and he meets almost as many potential applicants each year. Hes…
Steven Jacaruso, art director, designs the look and feel for Wesleyan magazine. Posted 04/17/06 Q: When did you come to Wesleyan?A: I was hired in July 1998 as the assistant art director. Later on I became the associate director, and then the art director in 2000 for the Office of University Communications.Q: How did you become interested in graphic design?A: When I was a kid, I was always into drawing and I was intrigued by logos and full-page movie ads in the New York Times. Ive always had my eye on the visual aspect of things. Back then, graphic…
Above, Midge Bennet chats with men's basketball coach Gerry McDowell during the Winter Athlete Reception April 13 in the Freeman Athletic Center. At right, President Doug Bennet speaks to winter athletes during the reception. Below, wrestling coach Drew Black, pictured on left, shakes hands with John Biddiscomb, director of Athletics. Posted 04/17/06 President Doug Bennet, Midge Bennet and John Biddiscombe, director of Athletics and chair of Physical Education, honored winter athletes at a reception in the Freeman Athletic Center's Bridge Lobby April 13. The positive spirit and enthusiasm of the teams seemed very strong this winter, President Bennet said.…
All alumni of color are invited to a reunion April 21-23 on campus. The reunion will coincide with WesFest so alumni have the opportunity to mingle with prospective students. Posted 04/17/06 Wesleyan's alumni of color will have the opportunity to reconnect with each other and meet the newest generation of students of color during a reunion on campus on April 21-23. "We Are Family: Wesleyan through the Years" will allow fellow alumni of color to reminisce about five decades of Wesleyan's distinctive history. It will also provide an insider's glimpse of Wesleyan today and all of the renovations, enhancements and…
Baseball player Jeff Maier '06 has received national media attention this month for breaking Wesleyan's career hits record. Posted 04/17/06 Jeff Maier '06 a government major and third baseman on the varsity baseball team set the all-time record for most hits in a career against Bates College on April 12. During the game he finished 2-for-3, doubling twice, to give him 170 career hits. Prior to the game he posted four of the Cardinals' 13 hits during a double-header with Middlebury at home April 9 to tie Bill Robinson '03 for the team lead in career hits with 168. Maier's…
Rachel Ostlund 08 sprinkles seedlings inside a shelter at Long Lane Farm. The farm is expanding this spring to a full acre. Pictured below are vegetables grown last year by the Long Lane Farming Club. Posted 04/17/06 Although Wesleyans Long Lane Farm Club uses organic methods to grow its produce, a little Miracle Grow has been sprinkled on one aspect of their garden: its progress. The Long Lane Farm Club was created in 2004 so students would have a place to come together and learn about food security issues. What began as a 50-foot plot of flowers and vegetables…
Posted 04/17/06 The Wesleyan community will celebrate Earth Week April 16-April 22 with a series of activities, lectures and observations. Events include: Lecture on "The Purpose of Nature" Verlyn Klinkenborg, a writer and professor of literature and creative writing at Fordham University and Harvard University, will deliver the Earth Day address The Purpose of Nature at 8 p.m. April 20 in Memorial Chapel. A reception and book signing immediately follow in the Zelnick Pavilion. Verlyn Klinkenborg is the author of Making Hay, The Last Fine Time, The Rural Life, and Timothy: Or, Notes of an Abject Reptile, and many magazine…
Barb Spalding, associate director of Campus Fire Safety, teaches Annalisa Kelly '08 how to use a fire extinguisher in a set-up drill. Spalding hopes to teach all students on campus how to use the devices. Posted 04/01/06 Q: Barb, how did you work your way up to the associate director of Campus Fire Safety?A: I started in November 2003, as a consultant, hired by Joyce Topshe, the assistant vice president of facilities to do a fire/life safety study of the undergraduate residences. In April 2004 I was hired as a fulltime employee as associate director, project manager in Construction…
Beth Labriola, associate registrar, is responsible for daily office operations, the drop/add system, the grade entry system, transfer credit articulation and the diploma process. Posted 04/01/06 After 14 years working in the Office of the Registrar and Office of Graduate Student Services, Beth Labriola says every day at Wesleyan is just as exciting. Im constantly being challenged, and because of these challenges, I have really been able to grow, she says from her office in North College. Theres always something new going on here. Labriola, associate registrar, came to the university in 1992 as an administrative assistant in the…
Walter Curry, head track and field coach, says he loves to make a difference in his student-athletes' lives. Posted 04/01/06 Q: When did you become the head mens and womens track coach?A: I started coaching at Wesleyan in December of 2002.Q: You are a U.S.A. Track and Field Level II certified coach in sprints, hurdles and jumps. At Wesleyan are these what you specialize in?A: My first three seasons with the team I coached just the sprints, long, triple and high jumps. I was lucky enough to have a really good part-time hurdle coach and a very good parttime…
At right, Jessica French Smith 09, paints a mural with students from Nagarote, Nicaragua. She was one of more than 100 Wesleyan students who volunteered their spring break time to help others around the nation and world. Posted 04/01/06 Jane Maxson 06 spent her spring break on the gulf coast; however she wasnt sporting a sun hat and flip-flops on the beach. Equipped with a hammer, nails and tool belt, Maxson spent her time-off school volunteering for hurricane relief efforts. Maxon was one of over 100 Wesleyan students and faculty volunteering world-wide during break.Helping the Hurricane Victims Maxon and 50…