David Low(Story contributed by Laignee Johnson ’13) Was Johnny Appleseed a real person? Author and professor Ray Silverman MAT ’67 addresses this question and and many others about the American folk figure in his new book, The Core of Johnny Appleseed: The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer (Swedenborg Foundation Press). Silverman’s spiritual biography of Johnny Chapman, the man who came to be known as Johnny Appleseed, seeks to separate reality from legend and find the real man behind all the tall-tale misconceptions. The book depicts Chapman as a businessman full of Christian conviction. Silverman leaves behind portraits of Chapman as…
Cynthia RockwellJohn "Jack" Kuhn ’86 has been named CEO of global insurance for Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. Kuhn will be responsible for the company's U.S., Bermuda and international insurance operations. Based in the Bermuda offices of Endurance, his appointment is subject to approval by the Bermuda Department of Immigration. Kuhn, whose 26-year career in insurance began with Chubb, where he ultimately served as chief underwriting officer for Chubb/Executive Protection, has also built and led specialty insurance operations, both in the United States and internationally. Most recently he was affiliated with Axis Insurance, where,…
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Olivia Drake
Benjamin TraversWesleyan's Women in Science group hosted a Graduate School Admissions Panel Dec. 3 in the Allbritton Center. Students learned about the various opportunities in graduate studies from representatives in a wide range of disciplines. Panelists included: Richard Zeff, assistant dean of admission at University of Connecticut's School of Medicine; Mary Keefe, director of admission at the Yale School of Public Health; Cheryl-Ann Hagner, director of Graduate Student Services at Wesleyan; Dannika Byrd, assistant director of student affairs in Yale's School of Medicine's Physician Associate Program; Merideth Frey, Ph.D. candidate in Yale's Department of Physics; and Sarah Moustafa BA '11, MA '12, Ph.D. candidate in Yale's…
Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, received a New Music USA award in the Letters of Distinction category for 2013. This honor has been awarded annually since 1964 and recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to the field of contemporary American music. Braxton is the founder of The Tri-Centric Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that cultivates and inspires the next generation of creative artists to pursue their own visions with the kind of idealism and integrity Braxton has demonstrated throughout his long and distinguished career. The foundation also documents, archives, preserves and disseminates Braxton’s scores, writings, performances…
Michael Dorsey, fellow of the College of the Environment, visiting professor of environmental studies, was one of four panelists who discussed "Climate Change and the World Court: The Role of Law" during the Doha Sustainability Expo, held Dec. 3 in Qatar. The panelists questioned, "What is a state’s responsibility to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions under international law?" Dorsey also reviewed a campaign founded by the Ambassadors for Responsibility on Climate Change that sought an emissions-related advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. The expo was part of the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) of the United Nations Framework…
Wesleyan University Press's Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music by Alvin Lucier was named an "Overlooked Book" of 2012 by the Slate Book Review. Lucier is the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, emeritus. In the article published Nov. 28, the Slate Book Review critics suggested "20 great books you never heard about—but should’ve." Slate editorial assistant J. Bryan Lowder writes, "Gleaned from Lucier’s long-taught contemporary music course (No. 109) at Wesleyan, Music 109 is, indeed, Lucier’s notes, clippings from a lifetime spent making, performing, and, most importantly, listening to the 'classical' music of our era. For John Cage and other…
Publishers Weekly named Assistant Professor of English Lisa Cohen’s book, All We Know: Three Lives, as one of the "Best Books of 2012." In All We Know, Publishers Weekly says "Cohen ... fully delineates the conventional biographical matters of ancestry, parents, schooling, marriages, affairs, friendships, breakups, work, and death. This well-researched, gossipy, informative, and entertaining biographical triptych is also a thoughtful, three-part inquiry into the meaning of failure, style, and sexual identity." The New York Times also named the book one of the "100 Notable books of 2012." In a book review, the NYT says "Cohen’s own idiosyncratic hybrid doesn’t disappoint. She builds a rich picture…
Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth is featured in Hartford Magazine's "50 Most Influential People" list for 2012. His biography, published in the magazine's cover story, reads: Michael S. Roth, historian, curator, author and president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, remembers the flexibility the school showed him when he wanted to explore “how people make sense of the past.” He designed his own cross-discipline major at Wesleyan, earning a degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1978. He received a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1984. Roth curated a celebrated exhibit on Freud at the Library of Congress.…
The Indiana University New Music Ensemble began its Nov. 29 concert with a piece written by composer Paula Matthusen, assistant professor of music. Matthusen's the art of disappearing for chamber orchestra premiered in the Netherlands in 2006. The electroacoustic work is scored for both conventional instruments and fixed media elements, also called tape. The fixed media uses electric guitar sounds, another contemporary influence that Matthusen draws on frequently.