Olivia DrakeMarch 1, 20067min
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, examines the fossils of sea creatures from her office in Exley Science Center. Thomas extracted her samples from the ocean's floor. She says they are more than 65 million years old. Posted 03/01/06 The largest habitat on Earth lies hundreds to thousands of feet beneath sea level, in a dark, near-freezing, high-pressure environment with little food. About 65 million years ago, the life forms living on the ocean-floor in this habitat survived the an asteroid impact, which probably wiped out the dinosaurs and many other forms of life on land and…

Olivia DrakeMarch 1, 20062min
Dan deLalla '07, pictured on top, received the New England College Conference Wrestling Association (NECCWA) Championship title at 157 pounds. Posted 03/01/06 Wrestling team co-captain Dan deLalla '07 received the New England College Conference Wrestling Association (NECCWA) Championship title at 157 pounds during the match, hosted by Wesleyan Feb. 18 and 19. deLalla becomes Wesleyan first NCAA qualifier since Brian Fair '01 captured the 149-pound title in 2001. DeLalla traveled to the College of New Jersey for the NCAA Division III Championships March 3 and 4. deLalla competed in the 157-pount weight class for Wesleyan and lost to third-seeded Robert…

Olivia DrakeMarch 1, 200617min
Shona Kerr, head men’s and women’s squash coach and assistant women’s tennis coach, says the opportunity to help the Wesleyan Squash program reach its potential is among her goals as a new coach.   Posted 03/01/06 Q: When were you hired as Wesleyan’s head men’s and women’s squash coach and assistant women’s tennis coach?A: July was when I first set foot on Wesleyan’s campus as head squash coach and assistant tennis coach. I spent the summer in and out of the office, preparing for the season, moving to Middletown, coaching at some squash camps and starting the recruiting of new…

Olivia DrakeMarch 1, 200610min
Yuriy Kordonskiy, assistant professor of theater, will receive an award in April for directing the performance of The Heart of a Dog, performed at the National Theatre of Bucharest, Romania. Below, at left, is a scene from his Wesleyan production, Crime and Punishment, and at right, a scene from Sorry.   Posted 03/01/06 Yuriy Kordonskiy’s stage is not limited to Wesleyan. Kordonskiy is international. Kordonskiy, is an assistant professor of theater, teaches acting and directing courses and has directed student productions such as M. Bulgakov’s A Cabal of Hypocrites, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and the Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas…

Olivia DrakeMarch 1, 20068min
Trevor West, library assistant in acquisitions, orders, receives and accounts for the materials added to Wesleyan's main library collections   Posted 03/01/06 Q: When were you hired at Olin Library as a library assistant in acquisitions?A: I began on January 31, 2005.Q: What libraries on campus do you order books for?A: I place and receive orders for the Art Library, the Science Library, and the Olin Library, including the Scores and Recordings collection, and reference materials for the Special Collections and Archives.Q: What is the purpose of the library’s Acquisitions Department?A: Working in direct collaboration with the collection development librarian,…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 28, 20061min
CHINESE PAINTING: Pictured at left, center, artist Zhang Hong, from the Art and Industrial Design College at Beijing Institute of Technology, teaches Chinese ink painting during a demonstration-workshop Feb. 2 at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. Hong presented a slide-show and history on the art form, and introduced the 20 participants to the tools and techniques of traditional Chinese painting. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett)

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20063min
Posted 02/16/06 Judith Brown, vice president for academic affairs and provost, will step down from her position June 30. She will spend a year on sabbatical, and return to Wesleyan as a professor of history in 2008.   Brown was recruited six years ago to help Wesleyan achieve its highest academic aspirations as a liberal arts university.    “Judith brought extraordinary intelligence and commitment to what is surely one of the most difficult jobs in university administration,” says President Doug Bennet. “I speak for the trustees and all of us in thanking her for her leadership and celebrating her plan…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20068min
Pictured left to right, 9-year-old Monica gets homework help from Wesleyan basketball players Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg '09, Jared Ashe '07 and Nick Pelletier '08 during the Green Street Arts Center After School Program. Below, Gonzalez-Kreisberg, who helped launch an ongoing tutoring volunteer initiative goes over a book report with 7-year-old J.J. (Photos by Olivia Drake) Posted 02/16/06 Students involved in Middletown’s Green Street Arts Center After School Program look up to Wesleyan University’s basketball team in more ways than one. “They always tell me that I’m so tall!” exclaims Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg, a 6-ft. 8-inch tall Wesleyan freshman, recalling how students he…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20064min
Posted 02/16/06 Wesleyan received a $200,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support an ongoing lecture series titled Ethics, Politics and Society. The award was given in honor of Douglas Bennet’s 10 years as president of Wesleyan University. “Wesleyan’s history of diversity, openness, and activism provides an environment that embraces the opportunity for scholarly discourse around issues of ethics, politics and society,” Bennet wrote in the endowment proposal. “As a liberal arts college, we have a responsibility to produce graduates who are able to think and act strategically within an ethical and moral framework. A permanent lecture fund,…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20069min
Ronald Ebrecht, university organist, plays Wesleyan's concert organ, which he designed for the Memorial Chapel. Below, the organ pipes are installed in the chapel. (Photos by Bill Burkhart)   Posted 02/16/06 Q: When did you become the Wesleyan organist and visiting instructor in music?A: I came to Wesleyan in 1988. Q: How did you begin playing the organ and where? A: I started as a young child, maybe around the age of 10. I loved the organ like kids love fire trucks.Q: Did you have an interest in piano that led to the organ?A: I didn’t want anything to do…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 200610min
  David Beveridge, pictured at right, the University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics and professor of chemistry studies molecular dynamics of biological molecules and systems with postdoctoral fellow Bethany Kormos and research associate Surjit Dixit. Posted 02/16/06   By simulating complex protein and polynucleotide structures on a supercomputer, a Wesleyan professor has been able to study one the fundamental events that lead to gene expression in biological systems. David Beveridge, University Professor of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, has spent the past 20 years studying various aspects of the structures, molecular motions and binding properties of…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 16, 20067min
Pictured left to right, front row: Gloster Aaron, assistant professor of biology; John Seamon, professor of psychology; Janice Naegele, associate professor of biology; John Dekker, candidate, department of neurobiology, Harvard Medical School; Megan Carey, postdoctoral fellow, neurobiology department, Harvard Medical School; Allan Berlind, professor of biology, emeritus; Joshua Gooley, postdoctoral fellow, Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital; David Bodznick, professor of biology; Harry Sinnamon, professor of psychology; John Kirn, chair, neuroscience and behavior program and associate professor, biology; Back row: Sam Sober, postdoctoral fellow, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, UCSF and Mauricio Delgado, assistant professor, department of psychology,…