David PesciAndrew Curran, professor of romance languages and literatures, has been appointed to serve as the next Dean of Arts and Humanities. It is a three-year appointment which begins in July. Since coming to Wesleyan in 1998, Curran's contribution has been substantial: he is currently vice-chair of Advisory and has been serving on Advisory since fall 2008. He has twice served as head of the French section of his department, and has served on many committees including international studies, the CHUM advisory board, the CSPL advisory board, the EPC task force on the capabilities, faculty-student affairs, and the library committee. He…
Eric GershonAt first blush, it’s all about the cheese. But Zachary Malter ’13 says the new Wesleyan Cheese Co-op can be more than a source of variations on Gouda, Cheddar and Provolone – it’s a social and political experience in the making. “Food is not just a source of nourishment,” says Malter, chair of the Wesleyan Student Association’s dining committee and an organizer of the cheese co-op, which made its first distribution on Feb. 16. “It’s also a source of community building.” Malter envisions wine-and-cheese socials where Wesleyan’s cheese lovers, other foodies and friends-of-foodies mingle. The co-op has already established a…
Bill HolderWesleyan’s Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 26 to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 3.8 percent for the 2011-12 academic year. Continuing its commitment to a strong financial aid program, Wesleyan will increase its budget for aid by 11.8 percent. Wesleyan admits first-year students without regard to their financial circumstances and meets, through grants and loans, the full demonstrated need of all students eligible for financial aid. Tuition will be $43,404 for all students in 2011-2012. For freshman and sophomores, the residential comprehensive fee will be $12,032. For juniors and seniors, (more…)
Olivia DrakeThis spring, students of all ages will have the opportunity to see dinosaur tracks in Connecticut, discuss emerging infections, explore retirement planning options, or examine emotions, traits and institutions that promote healthy psychological functioning. These course topics, among others, will be taught through The Wesleyan Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL) this spring. The course offerings cover the arts, social sciences, literature, science and mathematics. The spring courses include: Legacies in Words: An Introduction to Memoir Writing, Life's Great Transitions and Four Essential Dialogues, Exploring the Mysteries of Finance, Positive Psychology, Life Is But a Dream, Germs Are Us, Brownstone Stories:…
Jan Willis, professor of religion, professor of East Asian studies, is featured in the Aetna’s 2011 African American History Calendar. The calendar’s theme is “Healthful Blessings: Faith-Based Health Initiatives Making a Difference for African Americans.” Willis’s profile on the Aetna web site reads: As a 10th grader in the ’60s, Prof. Jan Willis marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham, Ala. That moment, which she often still reflects on, changed her life forever. “The nonviolence that I witnessed there is echoed in Buddhism,” she said. Though she grew up a Baptist, she now practices and teaches Tibetan…
Brian KattenTwo Wesleyan athletes are going to the NCAA Championships. Kyle Roosa '13 will represent Wesleyan at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse March 11-12, while Tommie Lark ’12 will participate in the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track Championships at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, March 11-12. Roosa ’13 recently extended the wrestling team’s string of claiming at least one New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) title when he claimed the crown at 174 pounds during the annual NEWA Championships hosted by Trinity Feb. 26-27. The Cardinals, with two runner-ups, three fifth-place finishers and one…
Liza McAlister Liza McAlister, associate professor of religion, African American studies and American studies, joined an invited conference on “Global Oprah: Celebrity as Transnational Icon” Feb. 25-26 at Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. The academic conference aimed to theorize neoliberalism, celebrity and humanitarianism, using Oprah Winfrey as a focusing lens. The conference consisted of six panel discussions, which examined the way celebrities define America, and the role they play in international human rights and politics. McAlister presented a paper on Wyclef Jean, a Haitian-born Hip-Hop superstar. She discussed his career trajectory beginning with the Fugees, to his…
Susan Howe, the English Department's Distinguished Visiting Writer for 2010-11, was awarded the prestigious Bollingen Prize in American Poetry at Yale University. Previous recipients include Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore and Adrienne Rich. Two of Howe's most influential books, Singularities (poetry) and The Birthmark (essays), were published by Wesleyan University Press. Of Howe’s most recent book, the three-member judging committee said: “Susan Howe is a fierce elegist. That This, prompted by the sudden death of the poet’s husband, makes manifest the raw edges of elegy through the collision of verse and prose, visionary lyricism and mundane incident, ekphrasis, visual patterning, and the…
Richard Grossman, professor of economics, presented a paper titled "Contingent Capital and Bank Risk-Taking: Evidence from British Equity Markets before World War I” at the Yale Economic History Workshop on Feb. 21. Masami Imai, chair and associate professor of East Asian studies, associate professor of economics and director of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, co-authored the paper. The workshop was sponsored by Yale University's Department of Economics.
Wesleyan’s men’s ice hockey will play in its first NESCAC semi-final ever when it takes on No. 2 seed Williams on March 5. It is just the latest in a series of firsts by this squad. They began their record-setting run by Jan. 15 by knocking off Middlebury for the first time in 35 all-time meetings with a 4-3 overtime decision. On Jan. 21, the Cardinals defeated defending national champion Norwich 5-2, which was the first time a Wesleyan men's hockey team had beaten a team after they had won a national championship.. The string of firsts continued on Feb.…
Janice Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neurosceince and behavior, and a group of Wesleyan students attended the Connecticut Forum on “The Glorius, Mysterious Brain” Feb. 25 at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Conn. The Connecticut Forum is a nationally recognized, nonprofit organization that offers live, unscripted panel discussions among renowned experts and celebrities, and community outreach programs. Nagele’s group listened to Autism advocate Temple Grandin, author and Harvard professor Steven Pinker and cognitive scientist Paul Bloom. In addition, Michael Greenberg '76, chair of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, spoke to Naegele's students about “experience-dependent changes in gene expression."
Johan "Joop" Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of environmental studies, was elected as president of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE). The CFE is an organization of environmental advocacy, habitat restoration and outreach with about 20 staff members. Its mission is to protect and improve the land, air and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound by using legal and scientific expertise and by bringing people together to achieve results that benefit the environment for current and future generations.