David PesciIn an Aug. 24 op-ed for The Hartford Courant, Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, says that U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin’s reference to women being able to consciously prevent conception during rape is relying on “facts” presented by the ancient Roman physician Soranus of Ephesus in the Second Century, A.D. Caldwell also says, “The next time I teach my course, I will be able to bring in the example of Rep. Akin to illustrate the ways in which 'medical understanding' continues to be used with the aim of social control,” which was also an objective of Roman rulers in…
On Sept. 18, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, associate professor and chair of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. In light of the current mission of the Mars Curiosity Rover, Tucker writes about the centuries-long search for extraterrestrial life. The op-ed can be read online here. On Aug. 23, The New York Times published an op-ed by Tucker. Tucker says that the science behind Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin’s comments on rape is completely sound, at least from the perspective of the 12th Century. She says that what may be…
Lauren RubensteinPeter Rutland, professor of government, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, writes in a Sept. 10 op-ed published in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune about two recent symbolic events in the Caucasus region that threaten to ignite hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Olivia DrakeElizabeth McAlister, chair of the Religion Department, received a grant worth $114,000 from an initiative funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and developed in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council’s program on Religion and the Public Sphere. McAlister plans to study the increase and globalization of what she terms “aggressive forms of prayer,” including evangelical spiritual warfare prayer and political forms of imprecatory prayer, in the context of increasing global militarization. Over the coming years, 28 grantees will participate in a series of interdisciplinary workshops and digital initiatives organized in conjunction with the project. McAlister also is associate professor…
Suzy Taraba, director of Special Collections and Archives, is the co-editor of Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives, published by the Association of College and Research Libraries Insider, 2012. In the age of ubiquitous access to information, library special collections and archives have received renewed attention through digitization projects designed to share collections with the world at large. Yet these materials also offer opportunities for student learning though direct engagement with rare or unique items. While special collections and archives have largely been used by advanced researchers and scholars, an increasing number of undergraduate courses…
Sonia Sultan, professor and chair of biology, professor of environmental studies, recently had several new articles published. "A resurrection study reveals rapid adaptive evolution within populations of an invasive plant," was published in Evolutionary Applications, September 2012. Wesleyan research students Tim Horgan-Kobelski BA '09/MA '10, Lauren Nichols BA/MA '09, Charlotte Riggs '08 and Ryan Waples '07 co-authored the study. The paper is part of a multi-year study of the introduced Asian annual Polygonum cespitosum, which has recently become invasive in North America. Also in September, Sultan had another paper published about the same invasive species at PLoS One (Public Library of Science One). This paper, titled, "Phenotypic…
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the author of an article titled, "Sensory experience ratings for over 5,000 mono- and disyllabic words." The article was published online on Aug. 31 in the Behavior Research Methods journal, a publication of The Psychonomic Society. It was co-authored with Melvin Yap of the National University of Singapore. The study provides sensory experience ratings (SERs)--which reflect the extent to which a word evokes a sensory and/or perceptual experience in the mind of the reader—for 2,857 monosyllabic words used in a 2011 study, as well as 3,000 new disyllabic words.…
Benjamin TraversMatt Donahue '14 is a double major in psychology and neuroscience and behavior, works in several departments on campus, and is the chapter president of Brighter Dawns, a student run non-profit that aims to improve health conditions in the slums of Bangladesh. Learn more about Donahue in the video below: [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-xjE8Zsv2U[/youtube]
David LowThis year’s Toronto International Film Festival in September featured the North American Premiere of Museum Hours, directed by Jem Cohen ’84, and the world premieres of Imogene, co-directed by Shari Springer Berman ’85 and Robert Pulcini, and Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Joss Whedon ’87. All three films were well received by Toronto audiences and film critics. Both Imogene and Much Ado About Nothing were picked up in Toronto by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for release in North America. MPM Film is handing international sales and The Cinema Guild has acquired U.S. distribution rights for Museum Hours. Museum Hours…
Six-time Tony Award winner Jeffrey Richards ’69 is co-producing three exciting productions on Broadway this fall season. First up is a new revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which begins previews on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 and opens on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street), exactly 50 years to the day of the play’s original opening. This alternately hilarious and devastating dissection of marriage and grief, directed by Tony Award nominee Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park), features Tracy Letts and Amy Morton—the playwright and the star of the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning…
Lim: The introduction of foreign policy as a major issue in the presidential race could be bad news for Romney
Wesleyan was prominently mentioned in national news stories on Coursera's expansion