Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20076min
Holly Nicolas, postal clerk at Wesleyan Station, helps two students send their mail. He was recently featured on Afropop Worldwide Radio.   Posted 04/02/07 It’s 20 minutes after noon and postal clerk Holly Nicolas heads to the Wesleyan Station window. Students begin trickling into a line. Some want to send letters, others wait to pick up packages. “When the students get out of class, we really get hit,” Nicolas says in his Creole-accented English. Holly, pronounced “O-Lee,” is a Haitian native who moved to the United States in 1993. His days begin with sorting incoming mail for the university’s faculty,…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20077min
Members of the class of 1918, the last class to hold a "Cannon Scrap" on campus, serenade the Douglas Cannon at their 55th reunion in 1973. Rumors have it that the cannon may return this year during Reunion & Commencement Weekend. Below, the cannon makes an appearance in Paris, France in the mid 1980s. Posted 04/02/07 There are no promises, but rumors have been heard that the 139-year-old Douglas Cannon – a revered Wesleyan artifact – may make an appearance during the 175th Commencement this May. John Driscoll, director of alumni relations, says he's heard vague rumblings that the cannon…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20072min
Posted 04/02/07 Jacob Dorman, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Dorman will conduct research at the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library. His project title is “Everyday Life and the Harlem Renaissance.” Dorman received a bachelor’s of art from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in African American history. At Wesleyan, he teaches Black Urban Religious History. He will use his Gilder Lehrman Fellowship to research the social history of black life during the Harlem Renaissance. To support outstanding…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20075min
Jenna Gopilan '07 researches neural stem cells in mice brains, and presented her research at a recent StemCONN conference. Posted 04/02/07 Jenna Gopilan ’07 familiarized herself with the scientific research environment during her freshman year as a work study student. As a sophomore, she shadowed graduate students to learn their techniques. Now, as a senior, the neuroscience and behavior major had the opportunity to present her own research project to the Media and Legislative Briefing at the State Capitol in Hartford. The briefing took place during Connecticut's Stem Cell Research International Symposium, also known as StemCONN 07, March 27-28. Gopilan’s…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20076min
In center, Suzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, teaches visiting 5th grade students about rocks. O'Connell was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support building a community of women geoscience leaders. Posted 04/02/07 A three-year, $488,367 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to Suzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Mary Anne Holmes, research associate professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, will help women from all academic levels take part in a community that stresses professional development in the geosciences. The project, titled, “Building a Community of Women Geoscience…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20077min
  At left, Marlon Bishop ’07 and Leigh Senderowicz ‘07 received Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowships, which facilitate independent projects abroad. Posted 04/02/07 Two Wesleyan students will have the opportunity to travel abroad and conduct independent studies as Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellows. Marlon Bishop ’07 and Leigh Senderowicz ‘07 each received the $25,000 award. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship provides graduating college seniors with a one year fellowship to explore an independent project outside of the United States, to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20076min
Nancy Chesbro, secretary for the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, attends several Wesleyan athletic events. She's worked in the department for 26 years.   Posted 04/02/07 Q: Nancy, you’ve been a secretary in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics for 26 years. What led you here in the first place?A: I had worked in the Physical Education Department at the University of Connecticut, so when I decided to look for a job in Middletown, Wesleyan was the logical place to start. When I was offered a position in Physical Education it was a perfect match for me. I…

Olivia DrakeApril 2, 20073min
Michael S. Roth, a historian and president of California College of the Arts, will become the 16th president of Wesleyan at the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year. Roth, a member of Wesleyan's Class of 1978, has been a professor in history and the humanities since 1983 and is recognized both as a curator and author. He is noted for founding the Scripps College Humanities Institute in Claremont, Calif., as a center for intellectual exchange across disciplines, for his scholarly leadership in the arts community as associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and for enhancing the…

Olivia DrakeMarch 28, 20072min
ETCHED IN TIME: Annalisa Kelly ’08 and Evan Barton ’08 discuss artist Jim Dine’s The Pine in a Storm of Aquatint (1978) displayed at Davison Art Center’s gallery March 8. The piece was part of the DAC’s exhibit “Etching Since 1950.” Kelly looks over a seven-plate etching from artist Mimmo Paladino titled Among the Olive Trees (1984). The print was acquired by the Friends of Davison Art Center in 1985. A print titled Incubus (1998) by David Schorr, professor of art, was on display in a glass case inside the gallery. This sequence of proof states record Schorr’s process as…

Olivia DrakeMarch 16, 20077min
 Posted 03/16/07 This summer, Gaël Hagen ’09 will be doing something a little different than he’s used to. Specifically, he’ll have the opportunity to meet with such high-level government officials including Supreme Court Justices, the Secretary of State, U.S. Senators, U.S. Congressmen, as well as business leaders. Hagen, pictured at right, is a newly-selected scholar to the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, a leadership program centered at Georgetown University. Each year, 24 minority male students are selected to participate in the two-summer program in Washington, D.C. During the first summer, students take courses on campus while interning in the D.C. Metro…

Olivia DrakeMarch 16, 20076min
University Relations created WesLink for faculty, staff, students and alumni to post events. Posted 03/16/07 On a single site, Wesleyan alumni can market their businesses, faculty can promote their newly-released books, students can seek volunteers for their community service projects, and much more. WesLink, a Web site launched Feb. 16 by the Office of University Relations, enables all alumni, faculty, staff and students to post non-Wesleyan sponsored events, announcements, activities, and services to the greater Wesleyan community. “We are always looking for opportunities to engage alumni with the university and with each other, and WesLink helps to bridge that engagement,…

Olivia DrakeMarch 16, 200715min
Ryan Lee, Web designer, was instrumental in designing the "175 Years" logo, posted on the glass doors of Zelnick Pavilion, as well as numerous Wesleyan department Web sites.   Posted 03/16/07 Q: Ryan, when did you come to Wesleyan?A: My first day here was Nov. 29, 2004—a day I remember vividly, as I had previously been unemployed with a new mortgage for four months. I was hired as a one-year temporary contract position, Web designer, which has since, thankfully, turned onto a permanent position. Q: Prior to Wesleyan, what was your Web experience?A: My first job out of college was sort…