Olivia DrakeFor 40 years, Wesleyan's Upward Bound Program has prepared hundreds of underrepresented local youth for college by providing rigorous academic summer experiences, motivational "boot camps," college visits, and assistance with the challenging college application and financial application processes. On Nov. 10, Upward Bound will celebrate its 40th anniversary inside Wesleyan's newly renovated Fayerweather Building in the Edgar F. Beckham Hall. Beckham was one of the Upward Bound founders, and along with Willard McRae and others, they had a vision that local, low-income students should have the opportunity to consider the college dream. "Upward Bound has been empowering eligible youth to…
Rev. Joan Cooper Burnett leads Sunday worship services that include music, dance and other artistic talents of Wesleyan students. She encourages students of any faith to attend the 2 p.m. services. Posted 11/05/07 Q: Q: Rev. Burnett, what attracted you to Wesleyan, and when did you begin working on campus?A: My term at Wesleyan began the week of new student orientation, and Im so excited to be here! The motivating factor for my accepting the position as Chaplain was the desperate quest for some Christian students to practice Christianity at Wesleyan without trepidation. During my employment interview I was…
Erika Taylor, assistant professor of chemistry, is interested in finding antibiotics for the disease cholerae. Posted 11/05/07 Erika Taylor has joined the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor of chemistry. Taylors research interests include the exploration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis and discovering new antibiotics for gram negative bacteria. My passion is exploring new ways of fighting diseases, with everything from drug development to education, she says. My research at Wesleyan will focus on the development of new antibiotics, especially for pharmaceutically undervalued diseases like cholerae, which infects 3 to 5 million people each year with a 5 percent…
Wesleyan's men's crew team took second place at the annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass. Posted 11/05/07 The sport of rowing requires strength, endurance and technique. The pattern of striking the water with a perpendicular blade, pulling through a stroke, raising the blade while feathering for the next stroke, and contacting the water again is rhythmic. Perfecting this action, especially in an eight-person boat, is an art. If that is the case, then Wesleyan mens crew is right up there with Van Gogh. This year, despite having three rowers and the coxswain graduate, Wesleyan opened the season…
SOUNDS OF EAST ASIA: The group IIIZ+ (Three Zee Plus) performed for an audience inside the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Oct. 11. From left to right are Ryuko Mizutani playing a Japanese koto; Yi-Chieh Lai, playing a Chinese zheng; Il-Ryun Chung playing Korean percussion; and Jocelyn Collette Clark '92 playing a Korean kayagum. Combining these instruments is not traditional in East Asia. Clark, who majored in East Asian studies, says the ensemble relies on collaborations with contemporary composers in order to build its repertoire. At left, Vera Schwarz, director of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian…
Posted 10/16/07 In the event of catastrophic weather, accidents that threaten the campus or other life-threatening situations, Wesleyan has furthered its capabilities to inform the campus community quickly and effectively. A recently-implemented Emergency Preparedness Notification System was tested university-wide on Oct. 10. The emergency notification system alerts students, parents, faculty and staff of serious campus-wide emergencies. If Wesleyan has an extended power outage, an incident requiring mass evacuation, or possibly a hostage situation, we will use this system to quickly notify the Wesleyan community, says Cliff Ashton, director of Physical Plant and chairperson of Wesleyans Business Continuity Committee. Wesleyan has…
Dale Purves, the George Barth Gellor Professor for Research in Neurobiology, and director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University will speak on Why We See What We Do: Brightness and Color" as part of the upcoming Snowdon Lecture Series. (Photo courtesy of Duke University) Posted 10/16/07 Upcoming lectures funded by the Edward W. Snowdon Fund focus on childrens book writing, the way human beings perceive brightness and color, and cognitive behavior as it relates to stress and health. For several years, the family of Edward W. Snowdon '33 has supported a variety of programs through the Edward…
Posted 10/16/07 Growing up, Karen Collinss family found themselves in financially-difficult situations. But when times got tough, her community generously helped the family through local programs. In college, she received financial aid, and relied on the support of many alumni of her school to finish her degrees.Nowadays, the chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department, professor of mathematics, is giving back to her community by chairing Wesleyans Middlesex United Way campaign drive for the 2007-08 term. Wesleyans annual campaign kick-off is Oct. 23. Im a supporter of United Way because I want to give back to the world some…
Celina Gray, assistant professor of classical studies and archeology is teaching Magic in the Ancient World and Introduction to Ancient Greek this fall. Posted 10/16/07 Celina Gray has joined the Department of Classical Studies as assistant professor. Gray came to Wesleyan this fall after a year spent as the Blegen Research Fellow in the Department of Classics at Vassar College, her alma mater. Previously, she was assistant professor of Greek art and archaeology at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario. This semester at Wesleyan, she is teaching GRK101, Introduction to Ancient Greek, and CCIV118, First Year Initiative: Magic in the…
Posted 10/16/07 Anna Shusterman has joined the Department of Psychology as an assistant professor of psychology. This semester she is teaching PSYCH110, "Issues in Contemporary Psychology: What Makes Us Human? Shustermans research interests are on the structure and development of mental representations, interactions between language and cognitive development, and representations of space and number. She comes to Wesleyan from Harvard University, where she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for Developmental Studies. Wesleyan has provided me with everything I need to do my research, including a beautiful new child development laboratory, she says. I also appreciate that Wesleyan…
The Long Lane Farm Club is spearheading the fourth annual Pumpkin Festival Oct. 20 for the Wesleyan and local community. The event will be held at the student-run Long Lane Farm. Posted 10/16/07 The Wesleyan community and people from the surrounding area can paint and purchase pumpkins during the fourth annual Long Lane Farm Pumpkin Festival Oct. 20. The event offers educational composting and organic gardening workshops, beekeeping, pumpkin face painting, tours of the farm, T-shirt designing, free bike tune-ups, garlic planting, music by student and local bands, games and a farmer's market, selling farm produce and pumpkins. Long Lane…
Wesleyan's Gary Yohe is a member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel is supported by the United Nations. Posted 10/16/07 Gary Yohe, the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, is a senior member and coordinating lead author on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a co-recipient of the 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize. The other co-recipient was former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The official press statement from The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the IPCC and Gore for: "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change,…