David PesciA presentation titled, “After Climategate: Rethinking Climate Science and Climate Policy” will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 25 in PAC 001. Admission is free and open to the public. The panel discussion will feature Gary Yohe, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics and senior member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Joe Rouse, chair of the Science in Society Program, Hedding Professor of Moral Science, professor of philosophy; Suzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental science, director of the Service Learning Center; and Paul Erickson, assistant professor of history, member of the Science…
Olivia DrakeFor the next three years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will support gene expression research led by Scott Holmes, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry. On March 2, the NSF awarded Holmes a $599,832, three-year grant for his studies on "Epigenetic Silencing of Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Gene expression refers to the observable characteristics generated on a molecular level by a particular sequence of DNA or gene; epigenetic controls are essential in maintaining the specific patterns of gene expression that distinguish hundreds of distinct cell types in skin, muscles and other types of tissue. "I’m thrilled to get…
Ethics leader and law professor Lawrence Lessig will speak on "Speech and Independence: The Wrongs of Corporate Speech," during the 19th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The event is at 8 p.m. April 7 in Memorial Chapel. Lessig is professor of law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. As director, Lessig is leading a five-year project studying “institutional corruption” relationships which are legal, even ethical, but which weaken public trust in an institution. Prior to Harvard, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he…
Wesleyan has reached the gold standard in sustainable structures. On March 15, the U.S. Green Building Council awarded Wesleyan's newly-renovated Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life building a Gold Certification based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system that verifies that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. "The Gold Certification demonstrates Wesleyan’s…
The Usdan Common Connections Committee will host "Critical Condition," a panel discussion focusing on the current efforts to reform the health care system in the United States, at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Daniel Family Commons, Usdan University Center. Much of President Obama’s first year in office and the first year of the Democrat-controlled Congress has been focused on changes to the health care system aimed at expanding care to the uninsured and lowering costs. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed their own bills and on Sunday, March 21, the House of Representatives approved the Senate…
Brian KattenWesleyan women’s tennis posted a 4-0 mark during its fall dual-match schedule, then added four victories in Orlando, Fla. during its spring training trip in March to head into the meat of its schedule with an 8-0 record. The rest of the season features matches against nine consecutive NESCAC rivals. The outcomes of this part of the schedule will dictate qualification for the NESCAC tournament. Women’s tennis is one of three Cardinal squads to inaugurate the season with an 8-0 start. Both the baseball and softball teams also have started 8-0. The 8-0 record is the best ever season opening records…
[youtube width="640" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LdSAiX2yQ[/youtube] Mike Whalen ’83 was named assistant athletic director and head coach of Wesleyan University’s football team. He will assume this post on April 1. Whalen was introduced to the campus community at a ceremony on Monday, March 8. Whalen, the 2006 NESCAC Coach of the year, comes to Wesleyan from Williams College, where he had been the head coach since 2004. During that time, Whalen’s teams posted a 38-10 record. “It is an honor and a true pleasure to welcome Coach Whalen back to Wesleyan,” says John Biddiscombe, director of athletics and chair, physical education. “He left…
Corrina KerrLisa Dierker, chair and professor of psychology, is the co-author of "Early Emerging Nicotine-Dependence Symptoms: A Signal of Propensity for Chronic Smoking Behavior in Adolescents," published in The Journal of Pediatrics, Jan 25, 2010.
Patricia Tully, who has been the interim university librarian since June 2009, was appointed the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian on March 1. During her interim appointment, Tully has administered the Library with creativity and dedication and has shown the strong leadership needed in these challenging times. Tully earned her B.A. in philosophy and graduated magna cum laude from Williams College; she earned her M.L.S. degree from the University of Michigan. Tully brings a wealth of experience to Wesleyan, having served in both public and academic libraries. "Many of you have worked with Pat during her terms as associate university librarian…
Melanye Price, adjunct associate professor of government, has been appointed to coordinator of internships for the Center for the Study of Public Life. This half-time position will be focused on developing new internship opportunities for Wesleyan undergraduates. Housed within the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the appointment complements Price’s continued teaching and scholarly work in the Department of Government. She assumed this new role in January. Price will be working with members of the Career Resource Center to develop the program, and to coordinate with the Educational Policy Committee and academic departments. She also will be consulting with peer institutions and…
David LowHabeas corpus has been known as the Great Writ of Liberty but history shows us that it is actually a writ of power. In Habeas Corpus: From England to Empire (Harvard University Press), Paul D. Halliday ’83, a history professor at the University of Virginia, provides a sweeping revisionist account of the world’s most revered legal device and changes the traditional way people understand the writ and democracy. The author examined thousands of cases across more than five hundred years to write this history of the writ from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Beginning in the 1600s, English judges…
Work by painter Ben Weiner ’03 is now on view in the exhibition Elements of Nature: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation at the Carnegie Art Museum (424 South C St., 805-385-8157) in Oxnard, Calif. The show also includes artistic contributions by Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Vija Celmins, Joe Goode, Ed Ruscha and Ali Smith. Works in this exhibition reveal the ability of art to interpret, replicate and reimagine the natural world. Some artists authentically depict the ephemeral beauty of the landscape, while others draw from nature to create their own fantasy environments. The show runs from now…