Olivia Drake Posted 03/15/05 Wesleyan University made a record-breaking contribution to this years Middlesex United Way annual community campaign. Frank Kuan, director of community relations and volunteer community campaign chair, reported that Wesleyan raised $140,018 for the local United Way chapter, exceeding the campaign goal of $135,000. This is the most Wesleyan has ever raised for Middlesex United Way in the 60-plus years the university has been involved in the campaign. Middlesex United Way supports critical human care services and county-wide projects that improve community conditions. This goes to show that Wesleyan employees care about the community that they work…
Lingzhen Wang, assistant professor of Asian languages and literatures stands outside Fisk Hall, where she teaches a class on 20th century Chinese literature and film. Posted 03/15/05 Lingzhen Wang joined the Asian Languages and Literatures Department as an assistant professor of Asian languages and literatures in January 2005. She teaches China Modern: An Introduction to the Literature and Film of Twentieth Century China and Intermediate Chinese at Wesleyan. Wang completed her undergraduate work at Nanjing University and earned her Ph.D at Cornell University. Her masters thesis is a comparative study of a well-known Chinese writer, Shen Congwen, and…
Biology visiting assistant professor Stanley Lin researches ways to prevent brain cell death in stroke patients. Posted 03/15/05 Q: Professor Lin, youre among only a handful of scientists, nationwide, studying excitotoxic cell death. Please explain your research, and what this means for stroke victims. A: After a stroke, millions of brain cells can get over excited and the cells can die. This cell death is an ongoing process. This condition can be prevented if the neurological signaling pathways that that cause cell death are inhibited. If we use proteins that block excitotoxic pathways, we could prevent post-stroke death.…
Public Safety Senior Officer William Heckstall has worked for Wesleyan more than 20 years. Posted 03/15/05 In his distinctive black, gray and red uniform, a shimmering silver badge and a belt equipped with a jingling set of keys and nightstick, Public Safety Senior Officer William Heckstall appears daunting from afar. But once eye-contact is made with this 6-foot-3, broad-shouldered officer, his sweet, signature smile overwhelms his face. I like to greet everyone with a friendly smile, and let them know Im a nice guy and can be trusted, officer Hex says, modeling his beaming grin. For 23 years,…
Allynn Wilkinson, digitization specialist, works on scanning and piecing together a map of Middletown inside the Information Technology Services digitization lab. Posted 03/15/05 Allynn Wilkinson is leading Wesleyan into a digital world. As Wesleyans digitization specialist, Wilkinson support curricular instruction by converting and creating multimedia instructional materials. And campus wide, technology seems to be contagious. We give faculty members what they need, and that gets other people interested in these types of services, she says. Its just amazing what we can do nowadays with technology. Wilkinson works in her own digitization lab at Information Technology Services. There, she uses…
Katy Wichlac, CPP, is Wesleyan's payroll manager and works in Financial Services. Posted 03/15/05 Q: Ive heard of a CPA but not a CPP. What does that stand for? A: A Certified Payroll Professional. Q: Are you a math person? What skills do you need to work in payroll and what is your educational background? A: I graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden, Connecticut. I have a bachelor of arts degree in American Studies and British History from Cardinal Cushing College in Brookline, Massachusetts I am currently taking classes through the Graduate Liberal Studies Program here at Wesleyan.…
Luke Snelling '05, a DJ with WESU 88.1FM, speaks on air during his talk show March 3. The student-run station now broadcasts shows via the Internet. Posted 03/15/05 On March 14, Wesleyan's student radio station, WESU 88.1 FM, introduced a new broadcast schedule that combines original programs by students and community members with program feeds from WSHU in Fairfield, Conn. For the first time, WESU will begin to broadcast via the Internet, a move that should add listeners both on campus and among alumni and parents. In addition, WESU will begin to raise funds from its alumni, local underwriters,…
Posted 03/15/05 On March 4, Tom Cornish '05 was transported to a local hospital with symptoms consistent with meningitis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tom was infected with strain B of Neisseria meningitidis, a strain not protected against by any existing vaccine, though one is in development. Based on this information, Tom had meningococcal meningitis, which is a type of bacterial meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Tom's condition has improved significantly since being admitted to the hospital and he is making steady progress toward recovery. Wesleyan's Office of Health Education has compiled a page with information about…
Economics Professor John Bonin is the editor of "Journal of Comparative Economics." Posted 03/15/05 As John Bonin recalls a recent overseas trip, one scene in particular stands out."The tree-lined streets with boutiques sprinkled among retail giants like the Gap could have easily been in a European city," says Bonin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science and editor of the "Journal of Comparative Economics." Perhaps the most remarkable part of this recollection is that the streets he describes weren't in Europe or even the west. They were in Shanghai, China. The image is important because it…
Mary Alice Haddad, assistant professor of government and East Asian studies, came to Wesleyan in June 2004. Posted 03/05/05 Mary Alice Haddad joined the faculty in the Government Department and East Asian Studies Program as an assistant professor in June 2004. Haddad, a native of Washington, D.C., completed her undergraduate work at Amherst College and earned a Ph.D at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her dissertation, "Creating Citizens: Volunteers and Civil Society, Japan in Comparative Perspective, was about civil society in Japan. Her primary area of research is comparative civil society, with a focus on Japan. I am especially…
COOKIN' IT UP AFTER WWII: An exhibition titled "Cookbooks and Gender in Postwar America," is on display at Olin Memorial Library through March 31. The exhibit brings together 30 cookbooks and printed ephemera that document cooking and gender in midcentury America, and explores the changing social conditions under which Americans lived and worked after the war.
Frank Kuan, director of community relations, stands outside the Center for Community Partnerships. Posted 02/23/05 Q: Community Relations collaborates initiatives between the university and the greater Middletown community. How does this benefit Wesleyan and the community?A: I would echo President Bennets sentiment: what is good for Middletown is good for Wesleyan, and vice versa. Wesleyan is a key employer and economic generator in Middletown. Under President Bennets leadership, Wesleyan has taken a proactive approach to town-gown relations of course, the leadership of the City of Middletown has also reciprocated on this positive connection. One of our most recent efforts…