All News – Page 210

In its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure on four faculty members including Tiphanie Yanique, associate professor of English; Jay Hoggard, professor of music; Ron Kuivila, professor of music; and Sumarsam, professor of music. Sumarsam also was appointed to the Winslow-Kaplan Professorship of Music. The appointments will be effective on Jan. 1, 2017. "Please join us in congratulating them on their impressive records of accomplishment," said Joyce Jacobsen, provost and vice president for academic affairs. Tiphanie Yanique is a widely published and highly regarded fiction writer, essayist and poet. She is the author of two novels, one children’s…

William Wistar "Wis" Comfort II, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, died Nov. 28 at the age of 83. Comfort received his BA from Haverford College, and an MSc and PhD from the University of Washington (Seattle) and was an expert on point-set topology, ultrafilters, set theory and topological groups. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1967 after teaching at Harvard, University of Rochester and University of Massachusetts (Amherst). Comfort taught in the mathematics department for 40 years until his retirement in 2007, where he supervised 17 PhD theses and three MA theses. He was a key…

In May 2010, the Board of Trustees adopted Wesleyan 2020 as a tool for strategic decision making at Wesleyan. Reflecting the input of faculty, trustees, staff, alumni and students, and designed to be flexible, this framework for planning has assisted the University in making decisions about the allocation of resources since that time. Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth has provided an update, Beyond 2020: Strategies for Wesleyan, organized under the rubric of Wesleyan’s three overarching goals: to energize Wesleyan’s distinctive educational experience; to enhance recognition of Wesleyan as an extraordinary institution; and to work within a sustainable economic model while…

More than 100 members of the Wesleyan community attended “Hamilton on the Road: Chicago” Nov. 22 at the PrivateBank Theatre in Chicago. The event included a pre-show reception hosted by alumnus David ’78 and Mimi Olson and a first run performance of Hamilton, the Tony-award winning musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 and Thomas Kail ’99. Photos from the event appear in this Wesleyan Flickr album.

On Nov. 18, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (E&ES) hosted the 8th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Connecticut (GSC). The event featured a student scholarship wine-tasting fundraiser and a public science lecture called “The Real Jurassic Park in the Connecticut Valley,” by paleontologist Robbert Baker. During the meeting, Phillip Resor, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, Martha “Marty” Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology, were awarded the Joe Webb Peoples Award for their efforts in hosting the 2015 New England Intercollegiate Geologic Conference. The award recognizes those who have contributed to the understanding…

Season one of Amazon’s period drama, Good Girls Revolt, premiered in October 2016 and the show's star is Genevieve Angelson ’08. Good Girls Revolt is based on the book by Lynn Povich P’03, and coincidentally stars another Wesleyan parent, Jim Belushi P'04. Povich is an award-winning journalist who wrote about her early career at Newsweek. She was one of 46 women who sued the magazine for sex discrimination in 1970. After the lawsuit, Newsweek agreed to provide equal employment opportunities to women, and Povich went on to become the first female senior editor in Newsweek’s history. Angelson, who was a…

Tyshawn Sorey MA '11 is the subject of a Nov. 26 article published in JazzTimes titled "Tyshawn Sorey: The Maestro." "It’s something to see," writes David Adler for JazzTimes. "A fired-up young sideman blossoms into one of the most multifaceted and restlessly evolving artists of our time at age 36. It’s hard to tally just the most recent accomplishments." His accomplishments include premiering a work—Sorey on piano and drums—at the Ojai Festival in California that had been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) at the Ojai Festival in California last February—and another ICE commission is upcoming. His Alloy trio (pianist…

"A featured performer at the The Progressive’s 100th anniversary party in 2009, [Dar] Williams [’89] has always identified with progressive causes," writes Bill Luedes, associate editor of The Progressive magazine, by way of background to his Q&A with Williams that follows. "She toured with Joan Baez early in her career and has embraced feminist, anti-war, and pro-environment positions. She’s taught a class titled 'Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy' at her alma mater, Wesleyan University. A mother of two children, she has written a novel for young adults, Amalee, and is working on a sequel." In the interview, Luedes explores…

"There’s no other sound in music precisely like Mary Halvorson’s guitar, which she plays with a flinty attack, a spidery finesse and a shiver of wobbly delay," writes New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen in a review of her recent shows around Brooklyn in October. She also released her eighth album, Away With You, on Oct.28. The album is produced by Firehouse 12, a production studio co-founded by fellow jazz musician Taylor Ho Bynum ’98 MA ’05, which has released his work, as well as the music of Halvorson's and Bynum's Wesleyan professor and mentor Anthony Braxton, whom Chinen calls…

Next spring, May Treuhaft-Ali '17 will graduate from Wesleyan with a degree in theater, but that won't be her final curtain call. As a Mitchell Scholar, Treuhaft-Ali will have the opportunity to advance her studies on theater and performance at Trinity College in Dublin. The George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program is a nationally competitive award for U.S. citizens sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance. Named in honor of the former U.S. Senator's pivotal contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process, the Mitchell Scholarship is designed to introduce and connect future American leaders to the island of Ireland, while recognizing and fostering…

For the third year in a row, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded Wesleyan with a Regional Food Recovery Achievement Certificate for its efforts reducing and diverting food waste. Wesleyan is among 26 organizations and institutions to receive the honor in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. This also is the third year Wesleyan has participated in the EPA's New England Food Recovery Challenge. "These organizations are showing that protecting the environment, saving money and feeding the hungry can go hand in hand,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. “It’s true year-round, but especially important to keep…

On Nov. 2, Milk Like Sugar, a new play by Kirsten Greenidge ’96, premiered at the Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, D.C. Broadway World calls it a “rousing story about young women coming of age in a time when issues of acceptance, mentorship, and materialism challenge the dreams and ambitious of so many teens.” This production is a D.C. premiere, for both the play and for the playwright. Greenidge has had extensive production history around the country, but had yet to premiere a production in D.C. Greenidge, who majored in history at Wesleyan, was inspired to write the play "because…

Board of Trustees Confers Tenure on 4 Faculty

Comfort Remembered for Teaching Mathematics 40 Years at Wesleyan

President Roth Presents Beyond 2020: Strategies for Wesleyan

Alumni, Guests Attend “Hamilton on the Road: Chicago”

Wesleyan Hosts 8th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Connecticut

Angelson ’08 is Star of Amazon’s Newsroom Drama

Composer/Drummer Sorey MA ’11 is “The Maestro”

Williams ’89: “Bridge Broadly and Creatively”—Interview in The Progressive

Jazz Guitarist Halvorson ’02 Is “Unflinching and Full of Grace”

Mitchell Scholar Treuhaft-Ali ’17 Will Continue Theater Studies in Ireland

EPA Recognizes Wesleyan for Reducing, Diverting Food Waste

Play by Greenidge ’96 Explores Pressures of Today’s Teens