Bill HolderAmy Bloom ’75, a distinguished writer of novels, short stories, nonfiction, and projects for television, has been named the Kim-Frank Family University Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University. Her appointment takes effect July 1. Bloom will enhance Wesleyan’s curricular offerings in writing by offering two courses per year, and she will serve as a senior thesis advisor. She will have an office in the Shapiro Creative Writing Center. “Amy Bloom is one of the most accomplished writers in the United States today,” says President Michael S. Roth. “Her insight, her creativity, and her deep understanding of the craft of writing…
During the academic year, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees maintains an ongoing process of tenure case consideration. During its most recent review, the Board awarded tenure to two faculty effective July 1, 2010. Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, was appointed assistant professor of psychology at Wesleyan in 2007. Previously, he has held appointments at the Institute for Living in Hartford, Trinity College, Hartford Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He has been awarded numerous grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Hartford Hospital and NARSAD. His research focuses on schizophrenia,…
Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees voted last weekend to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 5% percent for the 2010-11 academic year. Tuition will be $41,814 for all students in 2010-2011. For freshman and sophomores, the residential comprehensive fee will be $11,592. For juniors and seniors, the fee will be $13,176. The higher residential comprehensive fee for juniors and seniors reflects the higher cost of the options available to them. Juniors and seniors have access to apartments and houses in addition to residence hall rooms. They also have greater flexibility in dining options. “Although we are mindful of the difficulties inherent in…
The freshly minted Wesleyan Lawyers Association (“WLA”) hosted a successful kickoff event Nov. 7 during Homecoming /Family Weekend at the Woodhead Lounge in the Exley Science Center. Approximately 100 attorney alumni, undergraduates, and friends attended a talk given by Ted Shaw ’76, currently the Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University Law School and of counsel at the international firm of Fulbright and Jaworski. Shaw, who was director-counsel and president of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 2004 through 2008 and served as a Wesleyan Trustee for 15 years, addressed how his experience at Wesleyan affected his legal career as one of…
David Montero ’98 has been nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine." The nomination recognizes his Frontline documentary titled "Pakistan: State of Emergency," which explores the volatile Swat Valley. At the foot of the Himalayas in the border area with Afghanistan, the Swat Valley is an impoverished area that has provided a fertile ground for conflict between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops. In a Frontline interview, Montero said, “I first went to Swat in May 2007. Maulana Fazlullah, a radical cleric in the valley, had begun to become a problem for…
Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg ’78 of Duke University and his colleagues have developed an experimental genetic test that can detect common infections before people know they are sick, according to an article in USA Today. The test can distinguish between bacterial and viral illnesses, which may help physicians determine when they first see a patient whether giving antibiotics to a person will be helpful. Unlike existing diagnostic tests, which typically detect either the germ itself or antibodies, the new approach detects the activation of genes that govern an immune response. It requires no more than a finger-prick of blood. USA Today…
A recent New York Times story noting that Shanghai and Beijing are “new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates” featured Joshua Arjuna Stephens ’07, who took a temporary job with China Prep, an educational travel company. Stephens told the Times that he new little about China and didn’t speak the language, but he wanted to “do something off the beaten track.” Now, two years after leaving for China, his is fluent in Mandarin and works as a manager for XPD Media, a social media company based in Beijing that makes online games. Young Americans are attracted by the…
Two Wesleyan alumni performed May 12 for President Obama, his family and others at the White House. The event was titled “An Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word.” Ayelet Waldman '86 and her husband Michael Chabon, both writers, were among the speakers. An NPR story about the event included Waldman discussing the power of the written word: “To harness the power of language you have to be able to put yourself in the position of the person you are speaking to—to imagine what they are thinking, what they’re feeling. That’s hard.” Also at the White House was Lin-Manuel…
On April 20, Oracle Corp. announced it would acquire Sun Microsystems, whose chief executive officer is Jonathan Schwartz ’87. The deal, valued at $7.4 billion, promises to make Oracle a more potent competitor against I.B.M., Sun’s previous suitor, according to The New York Times. "With Sun, Oracle will more directly compete against I.B.M., H.P. and other giants selling products and services used in corporate data centers by big corporations,”"said the Times. “The move by Oracle is part of the trend of the largest technology companies to assemble more offerings — hardware, software and services — for corporate customers, often through…
“Book-lover Dick Rohfritch didn’t set out to buy 12,000 modern first editions once owned by an eccentric lawyer-collector found murdered in his rural Missouri home. It’s just that he doesn’t like to play golf. And thereby hangs the tale of how The Woodlands got Good Books in the Woods, a new secondhand bookstore full of remarkable finds.” The Houston Chronicle recounts this story about Rohfritch ’66, an English major who works in chemical sales but has always loved reading and enjoys collecting books. The dead man, 70-year-old Rolland Comstock, was an avid bibliophile who acquired signed first editions by 20th-century…
Just in time for the opening crack of bats, the prolific Paul Dickson ’61 has produced The Dickson Baseball Dictionary: The Revised, Expand, and Now-Definitive Work on the Language of Baseball (Norton). Writing for The Washington Times, James Stroud says: One cannot be a writer in Washington and not know this local Samuel Johnson of our craft. He is the author of more than 50 books in a staggering range from authoritative accounts of Sputnik, the 1932 Bonus Army March, the history of ice cream and, not surprisingly a whole shelf about the language of slang from the battlefield to…
Long known for producing writers of great variety and distinction, Wesleyan will open the Shapiro Creative Writing Center in the fall, and with it two programs that further signal the importance the university attaches to writing. The English Department has established a concentration in creative writing for English majors who wish to pursue writing intensively at a high level. The university also is developing a certificate in writing, now in the planning stage, open to undergraduate students in any field of study who wish to establish writing as an area of concentrated academic work. “Nothing is more essential to a…