Olivia DrakeRosann Sillasen examines laminate flooring before installing it in the 200 Church Street house for students. Posted 07/13/05 Roseann Sillasen knows how to take care of a bowing floor or sagging ceiling. Shes also pretty good at helping treat pneumonia, intestinal bleeding and other major ailments. Sillasen, the associate director and project manager of Wesleyans Construction Services, is also a practicing registered nurse. The full-time project manager and part-time nurse says the two occupations are a perfect match. Both careers involve working with people and critical thinking, she says. They create a balance. Not that balance equals easy. Being…
Paul DiSanto, director of leadership gifts, builds strong programs for the 25th and 50th reunions. Posted 07/13/05 During his fifth-year reunion, 1981 Wesleyan alumnus Paul DiSanto realized the importance of pledging annual gifts to the university. I feel the type of education Wesleyan offers is important, and can only continue with support from future generations, he says. DiSanto has pledged an annual gift every year since. As Wesleyans director of leadership gifts, DiSanto has also encouraged several thousand other alumni to give to their alma mater. DiSanto works with a number of top donors and helps build strong programs…
Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, studies fossilized plants and plant physiology. He started at Wesleyan July 1. Posted 07/13/05 Dana Royer has joined the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department as an assistant professor on July 1.His professional interests include global change; paleoclimatology, paleoecology, carbon cycles, paleobotany; plant physiology and stable isotope geochemistry. I study fossil plants in order to infer something about the paleoclimates in which they lived, as well as their paleoecologies, he says. I also study modern systems to learn more about the biological basis of these plant-environment relationships. After spending a semester studying…
Posted 07/12/05 Updated 07.25.05 Olympic Champion Otylia Jedrzejczak, who also holds the world record in the 200-meter butterfly (2:05.78), was one of 17 athletes on the Polish National Swimming Team who trained at Wesleyan July 15 through July 21. The Polish squad was preparing for the World Championships to be held in Montreal, Quebec from July 24-31. It is customary for international teams to do time-zone acclimation training, according to Brad Flood, head women's swimming coach at the University of Bridgeport. Flood has been working with the Polish National team for more than a dozen years and recruited a number…
Cheryl-Ann Hagner, library assistant for Special Collections and Archives and coordinator of the Friends of the Wesleyan Library, sorts through a card catalog inside the archives. Posted 07/13/.05 Q: How is your summer going so far here at Olin? Do you miss the students?A: Summer in the library is quiet. I miss the interaction with students and the energy they bring to campus, but it is nice to have time to catch up on projects that had to be put on hold during the busy semester. Q: How many years have you worked at Wesleyan?A: Ive been at Wesleyan…
WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T: Wesleyans Center for Community Partnerships hosted a Conference for Service-Learning titled What Works and What Doesnt May 25-26. Staff members from Amherst, Bowdoin, Byrn Mawr, Connecticut College, Smith, Swarthmore, Trinity, University of Pennsylvania, Williams and Wesleyan convened to assess service-learnings impact on students, administration and community partners. The event was arranged by Professor of Sociology and Director of the Service-Learning Center Rob Rosenthal, pictured back left. Also pictured are Scott Laidlaw, director of the Community Outreach Program at Amherst College; Sharon Friedler, professor of dance at Swarthmore College; and Sarah Barr, associate director of the Holleran…
Marcia Bromberg, vice president of Finance and Administration, holds out a student housing map inside her office in North College. Bromberg, who spearheaded the new Fauver Field Residence Complex planning, is retiring from Wesleyan in July. Posted 06/15/05 Marcia Bromberg will retire from her position as vice president for Finance and Administration in July, but shell always have her footprint here on the campus. Bromberg came to Wesleyan in 2001 to oversee all financial and administrative areas of the university including accounting, budget, financial planning, investments, Human Resources and benefits, legal affairs and risk management. Shes also the watchdog…
Leith Johnson, co-curator of Cinema Archives, stands inside the Elia Kazan's "America America" exhibit in the Rick Nicita Gallery. The exhibit closes June 21 and is available for viewing by appointment. Posted 06/15/05 Q: Leith, youre co-curator of Cinema Archives. When did you come to Wesleyan and were you hired in as co-curator? A: I came to Wesleyan in 1990 as the associate curator. I was promoted to co-curator in 1999. Q: Where do you have degrees from, and in what? A: I received my B.A. and M.A. in history, both from UConn. Q: Before coming to Wesleyan, what…
Michael Roy, director of Academic Computing Services and Digital Projects, works on a project inside the Science Tower Lab. Posted 06/15/05 Q: Mike, youre director of Academic Computing Services and director of Digital Projects. What is your personal interest with technology? A: My personal interest in technology comes from being curious about how technology can solve problems, about how it can improve our ability to understand the world, and how it can allow us to communicate that understanding in new and effective ways. Q: When did you come to Wesleyan? A: I came here in 1996 as the Humanities…
This photograph of a West Bengal wedding altar by Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology and film studies, and Lina Fruzzetti of Brown University, is on display in The Museum of Cultures in Helsinki, Finland. It is part of an exhibit titled Divine Gifts: Marriage and ritual in rural West Bengal. Posted 06/15/05 In India, marriage carries great social and cultural meanings. It ensures the continuity of the male line and it is vital to the maintenance of caste status. Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology and professor of film studies, has spent the past three years traveling to Bishnupur, West…
In July, South College will receive eight new bells. Scaffolding will surround parts of the building, as crews install the bells and remodel the belfry. Sections of the white panels will be removed, however the copper-top will stay in tact. Posted 06/15/05 The South College belfry will receive eight new bells and a facelift during the next several months. This renovation will add eight new bells to the current 16-bell array. This will upgrade the status of the Wesleyan bells from a chime (10-22 bells) to that of a carillon (23 or more). Now well have more notes, so…
Summer Hughes Fellows Maiko Kondo '07 (top) and Brandon Stein '07 (left) work on their research projects in Wesleyan labs. Hughes Fellows have 10 weeks to finish a research project of their choice. Faculty members provide guidance and instruction. Posted 06/15/05 In Wesleyans Mukerji Lab, Maiko Kondo 07 studies peptides modeled after those found in Alzheimers plaques. Nearby in the Flory Lab, Brandon Stein 07 examines nuclear functions of telomere-associated proteins. As Wesleyan University Summer Hughes Fellows, Kondo and Stein have 10 weeks to complete their research, work one-on-one with a faculty advisor and participate in a variety of…