Olivia DrakePosted 11/02/05. Updated 11.07.05 Several Hollywood female stars were introduced to Middlesex County women and girls during a benefit dinner Nov. 6, titled Stardom Then and Now. The presentation, by Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film studies and chair of the Film Studies Department Jeanine Basinger, provided an insiders look at the star system in Hollywood and how it has evolved through the years. Basinger, who is also the curator of Wesleyans Cinema Archives, offered an exploration of the power and limitations female stars dealt with in the early Hollywood years and the influences that changed the nature of stardom into its…
A NEW OCTAVE: Bruce Harkness of the Verdin Bell Co. prepares to install a new bell into the South College belfry Oct. 3. Eight new bronze bells were hoisted to the top by a crane, adding a full octave to the instrument. Harkness and Bill Burkhart, university photographer, discuss cable rack hardware for the new bells. Metal "tracker squares" connect the bells in the tower via the cable to the clavier -- or keyboard -- on a floor beneath the belfry. Bell installer Don Swem performs the balancing act inside and outside the belfry dome. Wesleyan Connection editor Olivia Bartlett…
Habitat for Humanity recipient Titeana McNeil, 11, plays with a caulk gun while Habitat volunteers Ted Paquette and Manny Cunard, site supervisor and director of Auxiliary Operations and Campus Services work on the family's new kitchen. Below, mother Jennifer McNeil and her children, Jamarea, 3; Tyquan, 14; Titeana, 11; and Taquana, 15 stop by their future home to check the progress on Oct. 13. (Photos by Olivia Drake) Posted 10/18/05 Jennifer McNeil had no idea that watching television would one day help her own a home. But, thanks to that and a partnership between Wesleyan University and Northern Middlesex Habitat for…
Long Lane Farming Club member Rachel Ostlund 08 will welcome the community to the clubs annual Pumpkin Fest Oct. 29. At left, a flower garden still blooms at the farm, located south of Physical Plant and Wesleyan University Press. Posted 10/18/05 Wesleyans Long Lane Farming Club will hold its second annual Pumpkin Fest from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday Oct. 29 and people from the campus and the local community are welcome to attend. But while the freshly-grown pumpkins available the fest will be locally-grown, they wont be a product of the students land. We had some problems this year…
Professor Dianna Wall of Colorado State University speaks with Lori Gruen, associate professor of philosophy and co-chair and associate professor of feminism, gender and sexuality studies during the 2005 Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium held Oct. 8.Below, Professor Barry Chernoff, the Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, professor of biology, professor of earth and environmental sciences, and director of the Environmental Studies Certificate program speaks with the symposium's attendees. Chernoff organized the day-long symposium. Posted 10/18/05 Where on Earth are We Going? II was the topic of the 2005 Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium held Oct. 8. in Exley Science…
Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, studies cognitive development. Posted 10/18/05 Hilary Barth has joined the Psychology Department as an assistant professor. Barth received her bachelors degree from Bryn Mawr College in psychology, concentrating in neural and behavioral sciences in 1996. She received her Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in cognitive neuroscience in 2002. Her research involved behavioral and brain imaging studies of numerical cognition - the study of how humans think about numbers and quantities. She currently studies cognitive development, specifically the development of number and quantity understanding. Even before they receive formal math training in…
Bill Johnston, professor of East Asian Studies, professor of history, professor of science in society and tutor of the College of Social Studies, studies the avian flu. Posted 10/18/05 Q: Bill, your areas of study include the history of disease. What do you think about the speculation about avian influenza or bird flu thats making recent headlines?A: I find it fascinating that people are sitting up and taking a hard look at the flu again. Maybe it is because recent natural disasters have brought peoples attention in that direction. On the other hand, it is hardly something…
Janice Watson, administrative assistant in the President's Office, enjoys meeting and greeting alumni and other visitors who have questions about the university. Posted 10/18/05 Q: Janice, when were you hired as the administrative assistant in the President's Office? A: I came to Wesleyan in May 2001.Q: What were you doing before you came to Wesleyan?A: I was a Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (DMERC) fraud investigator.Q: What are some of your job duties as administrative assistant? A: I handle and direct telephone calls, greet visitors, type correspondences, order office supplies, maintain office equipment, schedule meetings and handle meeting…
Nina Felshin, curator of exhibitions and adjunct lecturer in art history, is curator of The Disasters of War: From Goya to Golub, which is on view now in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. From left to right, Melanie Baker's charcoal and pastel drawing, Writing a Memo (in Blood); Francisco de Goya's etching from The Disasters of War (Los Desastres de la Guerra) and Leon Golub's acrylic on canvas, Interrogation III, on loan from The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica. Posted 10/18/05 War, torture and inhumane behavior in the international arena are themes of an exhibit in the Ezra…
Rick Culliton, dean of Campus Programs, and the director of the University Center Director, watches the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center's progress from his office in North College. Once the facility is complete in 2007, Culliton will move into the University Center to oversee students' co-curricular activity. Posted 10/18/05 From the view of his North College office, Rick Culliton, Dean of Campus Programs, can watch the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center emerge from a hole in the ground to the centerpiece of campus life. Cullitons interest is more than just a situation of his location. Hes also the center's…
Brian Katten, sports information director, is responsible for photographing Wesleyan athletic teams, maintaining the athletic Web site, preparing game programs, writing press releases and promoting student athletes. Posted 10/18/05 Q: When were you hired at Wesleyan, and what was your job title then? A: I started as the first, and fortunately to date, only full-time sports information director at Wesleyan in July, 1982. I had been an intern in that position for the 1979-80 year. I also served as intramural sports director from 1982-2002 but turned that title over to Mark Woodworth in 2002-03.Q: When did you graduate from…
Posted 10/01/05 The September, 2005 issue of Perspectives, the monthly publication of the American Historical Association, included a study of history Ph.D.s earned between 1989 and 2002 and showed that the leader in the field was in fact Wesleyan University - even though Wesleyan doesnt have a Ph.D. program in history. Though the results may sound incongruous at first, the data is actually quite solid. The studys author, Robert Townsend, found that a higher percentage of Wesleyan students who earned bachelors degrees during the surveyed period went on to earn Ph.D.s in history than undergraduates from any other institution in…