From left, Noah Hutton ’09 and Jeremy Finch '09 are co-producers of the new WESU 88.1 FM show, "The Faculty Lounge." Posted 02/27/08 Over radio waves, Neely Bruce chatted about his recent musical compositions; Peter Mark expressed his opinions on the recent crisis in Kenya; and Patrick Dowdey spoke on his passions as a museum curator. Bruce, professor of music; Mark, professor of art history and professor and director of African American studies; and Dowdey, curator of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies and adjunct assistant professor of East Asian studies and anthopology, had the opportunity to speak on…

Posted 02/27/08 Nobel Prize winner and University of Massachusetts Medical School professor Craig C. Mello, Ph.D, pictured at left, will be presenting a lecture as part of Wesleyan’s First Year Matters program. The talk, titled "Return to the RNAi World: Rethinking Gene Expression, Evolution and Medicine," will begin at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, in Shanklin 107. The event is free and open to the public. Mello and his colleague Andrew Fire, Ph.D, of Stanford University, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2006 for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi). “We are excited and…

Posted 02/27/08 Along with returning to campus with suntans (or sunburns), new spring duds and a backpack full of work to complete by the end of March, Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, would like students to bring back one more thing from break: a book for Middletown gradeschoolers. The “Bring Back a Book” Book Drive is the brainchild of students in Juhasz’s Psychology of Reading Class. The drive will be going on throughout the week of March 24. The idea is for Wesleyan students come back from break with new or lightly used books that are appropriate for first…

Dalit Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion, meets with Avi Nesher, director of the Israeli film, The Secrets. Nesher's film is part of the ongoing Ring Family Wesleyan Israel Film Festival, coordinated by Katz. Posted 02/27/08 Last June, Dalit Katz fell in love with two contemporary Israeli films shown at international film festivals.    “I saw these movies and I told myself, ‘I am going to bring these films to Wesleyan,” says Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion.   Katz stayed true to her word.   The films, titled Jellyfish (2006) and The Secrets (2007) are both part of the…

Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, will conduct a survey of Islamic materials during a five-week sabbatical in Africa. Posted 02/27/08 Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria to travel to the country in March to conduct a survey of Islamic manuscripts and related materials. Wesleyan has granted her a five-week sabbatical so she can travel to locations such as Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri to assess materials and help with preservation efforts. The work of Biddle and more than 20 other archivists and librarians will…

Posted 02/27/08 Michael Whaley, formerly the interim dean of the college, was promoted to vice president for student affairs on Feb. 21. In addition to supervising a large and complex office, he has worked imaginatively with the vice president for academic affairs to develop programs that connect faculty and students outside the classroom in a variety of co-curricular activities. The change of title to vice president for student affairs reflects the duties of the position as it has evolved at Wesleyan, and positions the office as an integral part of the educational enterprise. “Mike has a true gift for hearing…

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy is currently the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate. He will speak at the 176th Wesleyan commencement. Posted 02/01/08 U.S. Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy will deliver the main address at Wesleyan's 176th commencement in May. Senator Kennedy, a Democrat, is the senior senator from Massachusetts and the second longest-serving current member of the U.S. Senate. “Senator Kennedy has long been a thoughtful and energetic supporter of higher education in the United States,” says Wesleyan's President Michael Roth. “In this time of great change at our universities, it is…

Janice Astor del Valle, left, director of the Green Street Arts Center, listens to Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, director of the Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, speak in Memorial Chapel during a campus visit Nov. 2. Mañjon will return to campus in July as Wesleyan's new vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships. Posted 02/01/08 President Michael Roth has appointed Sonia BasSheva Mañjon as vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships, a new position that will include leadership on civic engagement and cooperation with private and public organizations. Mañjon will work…

Wesleyan has secured a permanent endowment that will support the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the Center for the Americas. Posted 02/01/08 In 2004, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation challenged Wesleyan to raise $1.5 million over a three-year period. Wesleyan agreed -- and recently succeeded. As part of the challenge, the Mellon Foundation matched these funds to endow a permanent Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in the humanities within the Center for the Americas. Since 1998, postdoctoral fellows were hired on a year-to-year basis as grant funding allowed. “The Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program has become part of the very rhythm of the…

Barbara Juhasz, at right, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and behavior, explains eye-tracking data to guests during a roving lab event Jan. 23. Posted 02/01/08 Three new psychology labs in Judd Hall allow faculty and students to study readers' habits, to reveal insights into children's' minds and to help improve existing treatments for schizophrenia.The Department of Psychology hosted a roving lab event Jan. 23 to introduce the labs and showcase the extensive renovations that were completed to create customized multi-purpose facilities. The renovations include Barbara Juhasz's eye tracking lab on the fifth floor, Anna Shusterman’s child development lab on…