Olivia DrakeLucy Diaz, administrative assistant to the academic deans, is co-chair to the Administrators and Faculty of Color Alliance (AFCA). Posted 11/02/05 Q: When were you hired as the administrative assistant to the academic deans?A: I started at Wesleyan in October 2001.Q: What are some of your duties?A: The majority of my day is spent on the phone responding to inquiries from faculty and staff, reconciling accounts, gathering financial data, and maintaining various files and databases.Q: What goes on during a day in the Office of Academic Affairs? A: My job is a little different each day and I really…
Lisa Gates, dean of the class of 2007, holds a photograph of her class inside her office in North College. Gates monitors the academic performance of 760 students. Posted 11/02/05 Steering students toward success is Lisa Gates top priority. As dean of the class of 2007, shes constantly helping students meet or exceed their academic goals on the way to graduation. Gates meets with many of her 760 students during the academic year. As a class dean, she is responsible for monitoring the academic performance of her class and ensuring students are making appropriate progress toward earning their degrees.…
Posted 11/02/05 Kelly Greenhill joined the Government Department as an assistant professor in July. Greenhills current research focuses on non-traditional coercion, counterinsurgency operations and barriers to conflict resolution. Such research has appeared in a variety of books and journals, including Security Studies, International Migration, and Polity. This semester, Greenhill is teaching a course on civil wars and international conflict management and another on geography and international conflict. In the spring, she will teach an introductory international relations course, as well as another that offers a more in-depth exploration of international relations theory. I was attracted to Wesleyan for myriad reasons,…
Donna Wright, women's ice hockey head coach, learned to play hockey on a pond. Posted 11/02/05 Q: How many years have you been the womens ice hockey head coach? A: I began my coaching career at Wesleyan in September 1995. I was hired as the head womens hockey coach and assistant lacrosse coach. Because the position was not an adjunct faculty position at that time, I also took a part-time position in the Physical Plant as a network desktop support person. It enabled me to be at Wesleyan full-time.Q: When does the season begin and end? A: Our season…
Posted 11/02/05 Gary Yohe, the John E. Andrus Professor of Economics, wasnt surprised to learn that Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma were churning in the Gulf of Mexico. But along with scientists across the globe, the economist was surprised by how quickly the storms intensified into catastrophic proportions. The unpredictability of what these storms and global warmings possible effect on their intensity and increased frequency is what Yohe, a climate change economist, has been studying along with scientists for nearly 25 years. Climatologists, biologists, and climate modelers often collaborate with Yohe as they contemplate what could happen in certain scenarios. They…
A NEW OCTAVE: Bruce Harkness of the Verdin Bell Co. prepares to install a new bell into the South College belfry Oct. 3. Eight new bronze bells were hoisted to the top by a crane, adding a full octave to the instrument. Harkness and Bill Burkhart, university photographer, discuss cable rack hardware for the new bells. Metal "tracker squares" connect the bells in the tower via the cable to the clavier -- or keyboard -- on a floor beneath the belfry. Bell installer Don Swem performs the balancing act inside and outside the belfry dome. Wesleyan Connection editor Olivia Bartlett…
Professor Dianna Wall of Colorado State University speaks with Lori Gruen, associate professor of philosophy and co-chair and associate professor of feminism, gender and sexuality studies during the 2005 Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium held Oct. 8.Below, Professor Barry Chernoff, the Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, professor of biology, professor of earth and environmental sciences, and director of the Environmental Studies Certificate program speaks with the symposium's attendees. Chernoff organized the day-long symposium. Posted 10/18/05 Where on Earth are We Going? II was the topic of the 2005 Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium held Oct. 8. in Exley Science…
Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, studies cognitive development. Posted 10/18/05 Hilary Barth has joined the Psychology Department as an assistant professor. Barth received her bachelors degree from Bryn Mawr College in psychology, concentrating in neural and behavioral sciences in 1996. She received her Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in cognitive neuroscience in 2002. Her research involved behavioral and brain imaging studies of numerical cognition - the study of how humans think about numbers and quantities. She currently studies cognitive development, specifically the development of number and quantity understanding. Even before they receive formal math training in…
Bill Johnston, professor of East Asian Studies, professor of history, professor of science in society and tutor of the College of Social Studies, studies the avian flu. Posted 10/18/05 Q: Bill, your areas of study include the history of disease. What do you think about the speculation about avian influenza or bird flu thats making recent headlines?A: I find it fascinating that people are sitting up and taking a hard look at the flu again. Maybe it is because recent natural disasters have brought peoples attention in that direction. On the other hand, it is hardly something…
Janice Watson, administrative assistant in the President's Office, enjoys meeting and greeting alumni and other visitors who have questions about the university. Posted 10/18/05 Q: Janice, when were you hired as the administrative assistant in the President's Office? A: I came to Wesleyan in May 2001.Q: What were you doing before you came to Wesleyan?A: I was a Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (DMERC) fraud investigator.Q: What are some of your job duties as administrative assistant? A: I handle and direct telephone calls, greet visitors, type correspondences, order office supplies, maintain office equipment, schedule meetings and handle meeting…
Nina Felshin, curator of exhibitions and adjunct lecturer in art history, is curator of The Disasters of War: From Goya to Golub, which is on view now in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. From left to right, Melanie Baker's charcoal and pastel drawing, Writing a Memo (in Blood); Francisco de Goya's etching from The Disasters of War (Los Desastres de la Guerra) and Leon Golub's acrylic on canvas, Interrogation III, on loan from The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica. Posted 10/18/05 War, torture and inhumane behavior in the international arena are themes of an exhibit in the Ezra…
Rick Culliton, dean of Campus Programs, and the director of the University Center Director, watches the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center's progress from his office in North College. Once the facility is complete in 2007, Culliton will move into the University Center to oversee students' co-curricular activity. Posted 10/18/05 From the view of his North College office, Rick Culliton, Dean of Campus Programs, can watch the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center emerge from a hole in the ground to the centerpiece of campus life. Cullitons interest is more than just a situation of his location. Hes also the center's…