Olivia Drake
This spring, a research team from Wesleyan traveled to Death Valley National Park to explore the ways bacteria diversifies in extreme environments. Death Valley, located about 130 miles west of Las Vegas, is a below-sea-level basin known for being the hottest place on earth and driest place in North America. The average rainfall is less than 2 inches, annually. "National parks are ideal for research, in general, because the land is protected indefinitely from commercial development," said team leader Fred Cohan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies. "Death Valley is a nice model system for exobiology because of its extreme…
In recognition of their career achievements, the following faculty members are being appointed to endowed professorships, effective July 1: Joe Knee, professor of chemistry and dean of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division, is receiving the Beach Professorship of Chemistry, established in 1880. Janice Naegele, professor of biology, is receiving the Alan M. Dachs Professorship of Science, established in 2011. Stewart Novick, professor of chemistry, is receiving the Joshua Boger University Professorship of the Sciences and Mathematics, established in 2010. Christopher Parslow, professor of classical studies, is receiving the Robert Rich Professorship of Latin, established in 1863. Irina Russu, professor…
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (STARS) recently awarded Wesleyan with a Silver rating for its 2016 sustainability performance. Wesleyan completed its first STARS report in 2013 and earned a Silver rating with a score of 53.06. Over the past three years, Wesleyan developed a Sustainability Action Plan to address many of the areas of improvement found in the 2013 report, and has increased its score to 58.11. Sixty-five points are needed to obtain the Gold rating, and 85 points are needed to obtain the Platinum rating. Wesleyan’s commitment to sustainability began in the 1980s with…
Writing at Wesleyan welcomed established writers, new writers and others interested in the writer's craft to the 61st Annual Wesleyan Writers Conference, held June 14-17 on campus. Participants had the opportunity to finish work in progress, start something new or be inspired by other writers' work. The conference included seminars, lectures, readings, workshops, and manuscript consultations. Topics included novel, short story, poetry, nonfiction, young adult fiction, shaping narratives, literacy life in the digital age, writing about science and medicine, literary journalism and memoir, editing and translation and navigating publishing options. Faculty included Amy Bloom '75, the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative…
(more…)
On June 12, the Office of Human Resources hosted the third annual Faculty and Staff Ice Cream Social on Andrus Field and the Huss Courtyard. "This event provides us with the opportunity to enjoy a fun afternoon with colleagues and a way for all of us to kick off the summer months," said Julia Hicks, chief human resources officer. In addition to ice cream and sorbet, Wesleyan employees enjoyed popcorn and pretzel snacks, live entertainment with DJ Mario Torres (also a material handler in Physical Plant), raffle prizes, a tie dye t-shirt station, bingo, water balloon toss, volleyball, a block-stacking game,…
Faculty, staff, students and alumni recently gathered for the dedication of the Fries Center for Global Studies. The center, housed in Fisk Hall, includes the Office of Study Abroad; Fellowships, Internships and Exchanges; Language Resources and Technology; and Language and Intercultural Learning. The center was dedicated in recognition of the generosity of Board of Trustees member Michael Fries '85, vice chairman and CEO of Liberty Global, and is committed to helping all members of the Wesleyan community achieve the knowledge, language skills, and sensitivity to exercise effective and responsible citizenship in an increasingly inter-dependent world. "Our emphasis on intercultural communication,…
Karen Ocorr PhD '83, a professor at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, Calif., is using fruit flies to investigate how long-term weightlessness might affect the cardiovascular health of astronauts. Ocorr’s research team packed 400 adult fruit flies and 2,000 eggs in a capsule, which will be launched by a rocket in June and return to Earth after spending a month docked in space. In a New York Times article published on June 2, titled “Fruit Flies and Mice to Get New Home on Space Station, at Least Temporarily,” Ocorr explains that although the structure of a…
On May 27, the Class of 2017 Freeman Asian Scholars were honored at a reception in Daniel Family Commons. Scholars, their families, friends, advisors and alumni attended the event. The Freeman Asian Scholarship Program provides expenses for a four-year course of study toward a bachelor’s degree for up to 11 exceptional students annually, one each from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. During the event, the nine graduating Class of 2017 scholars spoke briefly about their time at Wesleyan and post-graduation plans. Other speakers included Tracey Gardner…
In its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure to Anthony Ryan Hatch, associate professor of science in society; Basak Kus, associate professor of sociology; and Courtney Weiss Smith, associate professor of English. Their appointments begin on July 1. Hatch, Kus and Weiss Smith join faculty Courtney Fullilove, Tushar Irani, Tiphanie Yanique, Jay Hoggard, Ron Kuivila and Sumarsam in the 2017 tenured cohort. In addition, seven faculty members are being promoted: Abderrahman Aissa, adjunct assistant professor of Arabic; Balraj Balasubrahmaniyan, adjunct associate professor of music; Daniel DiCenzo, adjunct professor of physical education; Michael Fried, adjunct professor of physical education; Ruth…
Professor Norman Shapiro's translation of the poem "Clair de lune (Moonlight)," will appear in the audio guide to accompany the Guggenheim Museum's exhibition Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, opening June 30. "Clair de lune," appears in Shapiro's One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine (University of Chicago Press, 1999). Shapiro, professor of French studies and the distinguished Professor of Literary Translation and Poet-in-Residence at Wesleyan, received the Modern Language Association's Scaglione Prize for translating Verlaine's poetry collection.