Olivia DrakePamela Tatge is Director of the Center for the Arts and spearheaded the development of the Green Street Arts Center. Posted 05/02/05 When Pamela Tatge became the director of the Center for the Arts (CFA) six years ago, Wesleyan had a golden reputation in the arts. Unfortunately, not enough people in the community or on campus were taking notice. We were an undiscovered gem, Tatge recalls. I saw the richness in this institution and believed the resources should be shared with the community. Tatge would spend the first five years of her Wesleyan career raising the publics…
Above, Tula Telfair, professor of art, sits near her students' work inside her office in Art Studio South. At right, Telfair's oil on canvas, "Obscured to the Eye Apparent on the Map," measures 79 by 100 inches. Posted 05/02/05 Many people who see Tula Telfairs landscape painting titled To Make Space Distant, are confident the artist painted a place familiar to them. However, before she painted it, the grassy field, split by a pond highlighted in fire brush existed nowhere but in Telfairs mind. Its part of a world that the professor of art at Wesleyan creates from…
Kirk Davis Swinehart, assistant professor of history, specializes in early American history. (Photo by James Ward Swinehart, Jr.) Posted 05/02/05 Kirk Davis Swinehart, assistant professor of history, has been spending most of his time in the 18th century with an Irish knight and a Mohawk woman. Swineharts research and teaching focus on events from the period just before and leading up to the American Revolution. He has also done extensive research on the New World soldier-adventurer Sir William Johnson (171574) and his families, Irish and Mohawk, both of which fought for Britain during the American Revolution. Funded by an…
Ed Below, director of Administrative Applications helped develop systems on the electronic portfolio. Posted 05/02/05 Q: When did you come to Wesleyan? A: I came to Wesleyan in 1987 as the director of Financial Aid. In 1998, I became the project manager for the PeopleSoft Student Administration System, and later the director of administrative applications. It was a new position. Q: What does it mean to be director of administrative applications? A: I have overall responsibility for how the Student Administration System (SFIS) and the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) are used by the functional offices around campus. My…
CLASS ON THE GREEN: Students make good use of the spring weather on April 5 by holding class outside on the College Row lawn. A Wesleyan student leads a group of prospective students and their parents on a campus tour on April 12. Here, they are passing by the Center for Fine Arts. On April 6, Foss Hill and Andrus Field became the hot spots for warm-weather activities. Temps exceeded 60 degrees. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett)
Posted 04/19/05 Wesleyan University recently announced that it will confer four honorary degrees during its 173rd commencement exercises on Sunday, May 22 to the following recipients: Amy Gutmann (Doctor of Letters) Amy Gutmann, Wesleyan's commencement speaker, became president of the University of Pennsylvania this year. Formerly, she was provost and Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She was the founding director of the Princeton University Center for Human Values, a multi-disciplinary center that supports teaching, scholarship and public discussion of ethics and human values. Bill Belichick (Doctor of…
Ernesto Verdeja, assistant professor of government, started teaching at Wesleyan in August 2004. Posted 04/15/05 Ernesto Verdeja joined the Department of Government and College of Social Studies as an assistant professor of government in August 2004. I was attracted to Wesleyan because of its reputation for promoting research and teaching among its faculty, he says. "And the students are fantastic. Verdeja earned his bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his masters and Ph.D in political science/political theory from the New School for Social Research in New York City. His dissertation, which Verdeja is turning into…
Joyce O. Lowrie, professor of romance languages and literatures, is retiring this semester after 39 years. Posted 04/15/05 It's been a "bon voyage" for Madame Joyce O. Lowrie. After a 39-year career at Wesleyan, the professor of romance languages and literatures has announced her retirement at the end of this semester. But she's not saying "au revoir" just yet. "You could say my retirement is more of an a bientôt I'll be seeing you soon, she says from her third floor office on High Street, a room that once housed President Doug Bennet in the converted all-male fraternity house…
Jerry Maguda, computer operations specialist, helps Wesleyan employees and students solve their computer problems. Posted 04/15/05 Q: When did you come to Wesleyan, and were you always a computer operations specialist? A: I started July 7, 1977 or 7/7/77. A lucky number? I was hired as a computer operator, and in time my title changed to production manager for administrative systems. I left Wesleyan in 1982, because at that point in my career I felt I needed more exposure to ever changing technology. From 1982 to1985 I worked 2nd and 3rd shift jobs for different employers ranging from a…
Debbie Mathre, hostess of Wesleyans University Club, serves a tray of treats inside the eatery on 164 Mt. Vernon Street. Posted 04/15/05 Q: When did you start at Wesleyan? A: About eight years ago. I had been laid off from an office-job and was looking for work and there was an opening at the campus center. Cooking was always a hobby of mine, so I applied, and got a job behind the line. Q: And when did you start working for the University Club? A: The University Club has been in existence for many, many years, but I…
Eva Bergsten-Meredith, adjunct assistant professor of physical education, is the women soccer team's head coach and lacrosse team's assistant coach. Posted 04/15/05 Q: When did you join the Physical Education Department as an adjunct assistant professor and what are your responsibilities? A: I came here in July 2004. Im head coach of the womens soccer team, assistant coach of the Lacrosse team and I teach physical education classes. Q: What is your educational background? A: I have a bachelors degree in graphic communications from Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, and Im currently taking classes through Wesleyans GLSP…
Registrar Anna van der Burg stands outside the registrar's windows in North College where she helps students answer questions about class enrollment. Posted 04/15/05 Not long ago, all Wesleyan students returning to campus each semester had to participate in Enrollment Day. This meant hours of waiting in lengthy lines snaking through the lobby of the Exley Science Center. If they wanted to drop or add a class, students would have to chase down professors and their advisor to sign the drop/add slip. Students would carry this slip over to the registrars office, again waiting in long lines for…