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| Michael Calter teaches organic chemistry and researches synthetic organic chemistry, which deals with making complex, useful organic molecules from simple starting materials. |
| Posted 02/23/05 |
| Michael Calter joined the Chemistry Department as an associate professor of chemistry in June 2004. Calter completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Vermont and earned his Ph.D at Harvard University in the chemistry department. His dissertation was titled “First Total Synthesis of the Macrolide Antibiotic, Bafilomycin A1.” At Wesleyan, Calter teaches organic chemistry and researches synthetic organic chemistry, which deals with making complex, useful organic molecules from simple starting materials. “I’m interested in using the new molecules that my group synthesizes to study biological systems,” Calter said. Calter chose Wesleyan based on the institutional commitment to education. “The high faculty to student ratios, the involvement of most undergraduates in cutting edge research, and the rigorous course work required of the graduate students were just some of the manifestations of this commitment that were obvious even during the interviewing process,” he said. “There is also a real feeling of community among the faculty that is lacking at larger institutions.” Calter recently co-authored a paper titled “Catalytic, asymmetric synthesis and diastereoselective aldol reactions of dipropionate equivalents,” published in the “Journal of Organic Chemistry” in 2004. He is currently organizing a symposium for the Chemistry Department that will bring together presentations by representatives from academia and industry. The symposium will be held on May 5. Calter lives in Middletown with is wife, Kimberley and children, Rachel, 12 and Christopher, 9. He has an amateur interest in the history of science, particularly where it intersects with the development of geometry, and the visual arts. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
All News
Adjunct Professor of Music Helps Students Create Music Here and Online
by Olivia Drake •
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| Ronald Kuivila, ’77, adjunct professor of music, smiles from the Grand Teton in Wyoming. |
| Posted 02/23/05 |
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Q: When did you join the Music Department at Wesleyan? A: I joined the department as an artist in residence in the early 80s and converted to adjunct associate professor in the early 90s. As an artist in residence, I was expected to teach three courses a year and maintain an active professional profile as an artist and composer. As an adjunct professor, I am expected to teach four courses a year, participate in committee work, and maintain an active professional profile. Most of the adjunct faculty in the Music Department began as artists in residence. Q: What do you consider yourself, musically, to be an expert on? A: Live electronics, computer music systems, sound installation and American experimental music. I am also a mediocre pianist. Q: Can you tell me a bit about your educational background and what led you into teaching music? A: I was a Wesleyan undergraduate and I came to Wesleyan with an interest in experimental music. In fact, it was a video tape of Nam June Paik’s that featured Alvin Lucier that led me to apply to Wesleyan in the first place. After Wesleyan, I studied at Mills College, worked as a recorded engineer and was an artist in residence at Media Study/Buffalo and a creative associate at Center for the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo. Q: You came to Wesleyan with an interest in experimental music, and now youre also director of the electronic music and recording studios. Tell me about the studio, and what you can produce here. A: There are two studios, a recording booth connected to two large recording studios that double as classrooms and rehearsal spaces and an electronic music studio. The studios are used for recording and producing student and faculty work. Much of the work we do in the electronic music studio takes the form of interactive systems and live electronics using various kinds of software and hardware. Q: Can you give me a project example? A: A particular focus is SuperCollider, a programming environment for computer music that is now distributed as free software. SuperCollider is being developed by a number of programmers located throughout the world through SourceForge, the largest open source software development site in the world. My own work with SuperCollider has been primarily focused on my own work and making tools that enable students to be able to develop pieces quickly. However, I recently provided a nerdier contribution by optimizing SuperCollider’s primary score library. Q: In addition to your work on SuperCollider, I understand that youre an active composer and scholar? A: This last year I have been doing more work as a scholar and curator. The most recent number of Leonardo Music Journal has an article of mine on the work of the composer and pianist David Tudor together with a CD of his work that I edited. Last spring I curated a group exhibition of sound works at the gallery Art in General in Tribeca. Most recently, a piece I made in collaboration with Ed Tomney was presented in New York City and a piece made while I was a composer in residence at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College was presented in Oakland, California. Q: Do you give presentations on your work and music? A: As anyone who knows me will verify, I like to talk. Over the last year, I have given talks and participated in panels at the Getty Research Institute, the art department at Stanford University, the music department at Harvard, the great hall at Cooper Union in New York City and at Columbia University. Q: How would you describe the musically-inclined students at Wesleyan. Where do these students end up working if they stick with a music degree? A: Music students at Wesleyan are an extremely varied group. The only attributes they all seem to share are keen interest and intelligence. Students of mine have gone to graduate programs at RPI, the Art Institute of Chicago, Cal Arts, Mills College, SUNY Stony Brook, the Baden-Wurttemburg exchange program. Some are teaching, some are in the media industry, some are in the music software industry, some are pursuing careers in Europe and the U.S. Q: Whats a typical day like for you here in the Music Department? A: Normally, I teach two classes, run a group tutorial and individual thesis tutorials with undergraduate and graduate students. I also organize an annual festival of new and experimental music. One project in last year’s festival involved replacing the light classical muzak that emanates from the parking garage near Main Street with projects developed by students in my class. Q: Outside of work, what do you like to do? Does it involve music? A: Along with music, I love cooking. Many composers are also good cooks! I also enjoy sports such as skiing, hiking, swimming and squash. I am a particularly bad squash player. I do some mountain climbing. Two years ago I climbed the Grand Teton with a friend and a guide. Q: Is your family into music, too? A: Actually, this is my most important project. During Valentine’s Day 2003, my wife, Bobbi, and I returned from China with our newly adopted daughter, Cai. Cai is definitely musically oriented. In the grocery store, she managed to get a crowd staring up at the speaker in the ceiling by pointing at it and saying, music. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
Plass Joins German Studies Department as Assistant Professor
by Olivia Drake •
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| Ulrich Plass studies German literature and continental philosophy with an emphasis on aesthetics. |
| Posted 02/23/05 |
| Ulrich Plass joined the faculty in the German Studies Department as an assistant professor in 2004. He teaches language courses as well as classes on a range of other topics that fall under the interdisciplinary rubric “German Studies.” Plass completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Hamburg in Germany, received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and completed his Ph.D at New York University with a thesis on the essay form in Theodor Adorno’s “Notes to Literature.” Plass is currently revising his dissertation for publication. It focuses on philosophical interpretations of literature within the social and cultural context of post-war Western Germany. Plass’s academic work encompasses German literature from Goethe to the present, as well as continental philosophy with an emphasis on aesthetics. He is currently collaborating with friends on developing a conference about the intersections of popular culture and intellectualism in the works of the writer Rainald Goetz. In the next few years, he plans to work on 19th century poetry. Prior to coming to Wesleyan, Plass met people who spoke highly about the university. “And it just so happened that I felt very comfortable and welcome here from the time I first visited,” Plass says. “I appreciate that Wesleyan’s size is very manageable, especially coming from Hamburg, Michigan, and New York, all places that can be nightmarishly confusing, if not hostile. I also really like the students, and I have been blessed with wonderful colleagues.” Plass lives close to campus with his significant other. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations Helps Raise more than $30M for Wesleyan Campaign
by Olivia Drake •
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| Carol Scully, director of Foundation and Corporate Relations seeks grants for the university from local and national foundations, corporations and private agencies. |
| Posted 02/23/05 |
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When University Relations decided to spearhead a comprehensive campaign drive seven years ago, they needed someone to work with corporations, foundations and private funding agencies. Carol Scully was their leading lady. As director of Foundation and Corporate Relations, Scully helped Wesleyan raise more than $30 million from 219 funding sources for the recently completed Wesleyan Campaign. Most of these donations range between $10,000 and $3 million. Weve been quite successful, she says, modestly. But it was a team effort.” Scully has mastered a process to find grants. She begins by researching prospective sources foundations, corporations and other public and private funding agencies analyzing their support interests and how much they could give or have given in the past. Shell send them a letter of inquiry, write up a grant proposal and invite them to tour Wesleyan. Each tour is catered to the program officers, and usually includes a meeting with President Doug Bennet. We love to have them visit, so we can show off Wesleyan, and show theyll be making a good investment when they give to Wesleyan, she says. Its usually easy to sell Wesleyan. Funders are attracted to an organization that knows where it is going. In addition to the Wesleyan Campaign, Scullys office helped raise more than $1 million – or 50 percent of the total dollars to start-up and fund the Green Street Arts Center. The funds were contributed by corporations, foundations, and federal, state and local government agencies. Many foundation grants during the campaign helped establish new academic initiatives. For example, grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have funded the Center for Faculty Development, a post-doctoral program at the Center for the Americas, and the environmental studies program. The Freeman Foundation gave Wesleyan $1.9 million that created the Asian Asian/American Initiative. In 2000, the W. M. Keck Foundation awarded Wesleyan $500,000 to jump start its genomics program, and the Surdna Foundation gave three $75,000 grants in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to support the Service Learning Center, part of the Center for Community Partnerships. The key factor is to maintain good relationships with our donors, she says. When awarded a grant, we make sure we do what we said we would do and show results. Funders like to know their money has made a difference. Though Scully works for University Relations, shes more than willing to help anyone, campus wide, with grant-writing procedures. She encourages faculty members to stop by with drafts of grant proposals used to fund their research or special projects. Were sort of grant central here, she says. We edit, tutor and do whatever we can to be helpful. Sometimes people need help every step of the way, while others just need a signature. Scullys office has collaborated with Academic Affairs and Financial Services to create a grant Web site, http://www.wesleyan.edu/grants. The site provides databases for corporate, foundation and government-affiliated funding sources and highlights the grant-writing process. The three offices work closely together to support the Wesleyan community in their search for external funding – from the initial search for sources, to development of the proposal, to the administration of the award. Scully, who earned a bachelors degree in English from Fairfield University and a masters degree in communications from Syracuse University, said she acquired most of her grant-writing skills on the job. She worked in Wesleyan’s development office doing corporate and foundation giving between 1983 and 1987. She tutored English at Manchester Community College and wrote grant proposals for the Science Center of Connecticut and Saint Joseph College in West Hartford. And in 1997, she returned to Wesleyan as the director of foundation and corporate relations, building the new department from scratch. She oversees Betsy McCormick, associate director and Christina West-Webster, administrative assistant. “She is an extremely effective Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations because she is very skilled, has extremely high standards, respects and works well with many different constituencies, and is thoughtful and proactive,” says Ann Goodwin, assistant vice president for University Relations. “She is also a delightful colleague and a consummate team player who is always looking out for what is best for Wesleyan. We are very lucky to have her.” Scully is also co-chair of the Resource & Development Committee for the Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics (PIMMS) Advisory Council. Working at Wesleyan is very rewarding, she says. I get to work with many different people from many different areas. It can be very interesting. Scully lives in Hebron, Conn. with her husband, Jack and children Dan, 15, and Maura, 18. Most of her free time is spent at high school athletic events or in her garden. But before spring hits, shes going to take up a new sport herself squash. The new squash facilities here at Wesleyan are quite appealing, she says. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
Professor’s Book to Kick-off Reading Celebration
by Olivia Drake •
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| Matthew Sharpe, assistant professor of English, is the author of “The Sleeping Father,” which will be part of Norwalk’s “One Book, One Community” celebration. |
| Posted 02/23/05 |
| More than 20 publishers rejected the manuscript for “The Sleeping Father.” But one small independent publisher, Soft Skull Press, decided to take a chance. Since then, “The Sleeping Father” has earned critical praise, won the 2004 Independent Publishers Award for fiction in 2004 and been part of the “The Today Show Book Club.” In April it will receive one more distinction: the town of Norwalk will kick off its first “One Book, One Community” celebration with “The Sleeping Father.” “The success of my book is almost making me revise my glass-is-half-full-of-air outlook on life,” says Sharpe, assistant professor of English. This is Sharpe’s third published book and, so far, his most successful. More than 30,000 copies have been sold since its release in October 2003. The “Sleeping Father” is a dark comedy about Bernard, a divorced father of two teenage children, who accidentally takes two incompatible antidepressant medications and lapses into a coma. When he comes out of it, his son and daughter attempt to rehabilitate him. “The Sleeping Father combines family drama and social satire with elements of the wacky teen caper, all couched in finely-tuned language that is a pleasure to read,” says William Stowe, the Benjamin Waite Professor of English Language in the English Department. “It stands out for its clarity, and it’s up-to-date and playfully postmodern without being self-important or obscure.” When writing “The Sleeping Father,” Sharpe wanted to understand the enormous change in American mental healthcare, which he says now relies much more heavily on psychopharmaceuticals than it did even ten years ago. Sharpe adds that a The New York Times report indicated 120 million Americans took antidepressants in 2002. “I know a lot of people who have been substantially helped by antidepressants, and even therapist friends of mine who favor the talking cure say some of their patients are too depressed to talk without the pills,” Sharpe says. “But still, if half the country’s taking them, I think we can safely say they’re over prescribed.” Characters in “The Sleeping Father” have a comic bent, but Sharpe says they are decidedly realistic. “The book is always humane,” he says. “The characters may sometimes behave like figures out of a comic book or a laugh-track sitcom, but they are fully developed and elicit caring not just amusement.” Sharpe, who joined the English Department last September, said some of his most profound influences have not been writers but people working in other fields. James Ensor, Julius Hemphill, Marlon Brando, and Violeta Parra, among others, have inspired him. Sharpe wrote his first story when he was 10 years old about a bulldog who was a construction worker. “It was hard to write that first story and it’s been hard to write every story since then,” he says. “So why do I still do this? Because the career as an international supermodel didn’t pan out.” Sharpe will also make a presentation about “The Sleeping Father” during a luncheon at the Norwalk “Festival of Words” on April 9 at Norwalk Community College. Sharpe’s first book, “Stories from the Tube” is a collection of 10 short stories based on TV advertisements. His first novel, “Nothing is Terrible,” is loosely based on “Jane Eyre” and set in the late 20th century in New York City. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
New Faculty, Renovated Classrooms, Scholarships, Financial Aid all Outcomes of $281M Wesleyan Campaign
by Olivia Drake •
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| Money from the Wesleyan Campaign helped to fund a variety of initiatives, including new facilities and refurbished facilities like this computer resource center in The Exley Science Center. | |||
| Posted 02/23/05 | |||
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Study May Affect Future Land Use in Middlesex County
by Olivia Drake •
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| Jessica Pfund, ’05 and Phillip Resor, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, observe one of Middletown’s few remaining agricultural sites. | |
| Posted 02/23/05 | |
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It started out with little more than an idea, some old aerial photos and a handmade map. Several months and a lot of hard work by three dedicated people later the result may provide a whole new way to evaluate and influence the look and growth of towns in Middlesex County for years to come. Not bad considering it all started out as a question from an inquisitive undergraduate. The undergraduate, earth and environmental sciences major Jessica T. Pfund `05, was a student Earth and Environmental Science 322: Introduction to GIS (Geographical Information Systems), in the spring of 2004. The classs instructor, Phillip Resor, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, had brought in a guest speaker, Sandy Prisloe, a geospatial extension specialist from the University of Connecticuts Center for Land-use Education and Research (CLEAR). Prisloes presentation included a discussion of how satellite data were being used to quantitatively measure changes in Connecticuts landscape and to infer the impacts of these changes on the quality of life and the environment. Sandy mentioned that he had a map from the 1970s that showed the areas that were farmland at that time, says Resor. He also mentioned that, if someone was motivated to use data that was recently created by a the group at the University of Connecticut showing the land cover in 2002 and compare what was found to the data from 1970, it would be interesting to see how things had changed. Pfund was intrigued, and she was looking for a possible research project. Many of my classmates were doing studies that were more theoretical and scientific, she says. This seemed to have scientific and social implications for the local area that could have a relatively immediate impact. After discussing the idea further with Resor, Pfund decided: this would be her project. Aided by a $2,500 grant from the Middlesex County Community Foundation and additional support from the Mellon Foundation and The University of Connecticut, Jessica, who was responsible for the bulk of the data collection, got to work. I dont think when I started I had an idea of exactly what I was getting into, Pfund says, now almost a year into the project. Its been very interesting and exciting, but its also been a lot of work. Much of this was linked to the differences in how the information being examined was generated. The images from the 1970 study were based on a hand-made mylar map that was in turn based on aerial photographs of the county. The information this would be contracted with was generated by images derived from satellite images of the same area in 2002. The images and data didnt match up, says Resor. The satellite images are way precisely located, but cant image anything smaller than 30 meters. By contrast, the 1970s map was generated by aerial photographs and on the ground surveys that could capture small details, but werent necessarily as well located. So we had to find ways to account for the differences. There were some other challenges too. For instance, the old maps identified the land as: active agricultural, inactive agricultural or nonagricultural. GIS images provided more than a dozen different characterizations, including assessments of soil viability for agricultural use and disposition of wetlands. Translating the GIS data also had some interpretive challenges that were produced because of how things have been done in the state over the years. Because of the way small plots of land are often used in Connecticut, what LandSat (the satellite) may identify as a large lawn area may actually be an active or inactive cultivated field, Pfund says. This meant we had to visit some locations in person to verify exactly what the use was. Currently there is still a substantial amount of data to crunch and quantify, but Resor and Pfund anticipate having the study done sometime in the spring. They will publish a report with Prisloe detailing their findings. There will be public presentations and discussions of the data at town meetings in Middlesex County. The towns can then use the data to better plan new housing and business construction. A lot of towns in Middlesex County are proud of their rural atmosphere, Resor says. This information can help them maintain that atmosphere as they move forward with new developments. However, the study has already generated a result that will be producing more benefits for the county. Resor received a service-learning grant from Wesleyan to expand his efforts in these types of studies. This spring, his students are working on similar projects for The Nature Conservancy, The Connecticut River Costal Conservation Commission, The Middlesex Land Trust and the Town of Portland. Its been pretty interesting to do a scientific study that actually has social implications and affects local issues, says Pfund. People dont often think of scientists working that way. Its been a very rewarding project. |
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Wesleyan to Acquire 8 New Bells for South College
by Olivia Drake •
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| Chimemaster Peter Frenzel, professor emeritus of German studies, plays the keys of the bells, located at the top of South College. In August, the university will acquire eight additional bells. The new bells, Frenzel said, will enable him to play more complicated songs. (Photo by Bill Burkhart) |
| Posted 01/31/05 |
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Wesleyan has signed a contract with the Verdin Bell Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the casting and installation in the South College belfry of eight additional bells. This new addition will upgrade the Wesleyan bells from the status of a chime (10-22 bells) to that of a carillon (23 or more). Acquiring a carillon for the university has been in the planning stages since 1999. The installation will take place in August 2005 with a dedication during homecoming/family weekend. The new bells will provide the Wesleyan bell players with two full octaves and one additional note. Now Ill have more notes, so I can play more songs, and more complicated songs, said six-year chimemaster Peter Frenzel, professor emeritus of German studies. Were moving out of the minor league of bell playing and into the major league. The new configuration will enable them to play songs such as Wesleyans Alma Mater, Come Raise the Song, written in 1894. The bells are played in a way similar to a piano, except the chimemasters push wood handles. Some notes, such as a low C, can reverberate for 45 seconds and be heard for more than a mile away. The new bells will be cast by Petit & Fritsen, the Royal Dutch Bell Foundry in The Netherlands, and then shipped to Cincinnati via New Orleans and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. They’ll later be completed and fine-tuned by the Verdin Bell Company. Wesleyan’s first set of 11 bells was shipped across the north Atlantic from England, while dodging German U-Boats in 1918 during World War I. They were first played on campus on George Washington’s birthday in 1919 and donated by the seven surviving members of the Wesleyan class of 1863. An additional five bells were donated to Wesleyan in 1966 anonymously. The donor was later revealed as Victor L. Butterfield, who was the outgoing president of Wesleyan at the time. The new bells were all donated by Wesleyan friends, alumni and parents. Each bell in South College has an inscription of a donor or a set of donors to Wesleyan University. The bells are played nearly every weekday by dedicated members of the Wesleyan bell guild, Bell & Scroll. The chimemasters this semester have been Esther Cheung, ’06; Kathleen Day, ’07; Joel Ting, ’06; and Allison Torpey, ’07. They will be joined next semester by Jack Hagihara, ’05, and Meredith Steinberg, ’06. |
| By Laura Perillo, associate director of Media Relations |
More Than 250 People Attend Green Street Arts Center’s Grand Opening
by Olivia Drake •
| Posted 01/31/05 |
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| A ribbon cutting on Jan. 5 marked the formal opening of the Green Street Arts Center (GSAC) L. to R. are: Middletown Mayor Domenique Thornton, GSAC Director Ricardo Morris, North End Action Team President Peggy Busari, GSAC Assistant Director Manny Rivera, Wesleyan University President Doug Bennet. The center is housed at the former St. Sebastian School at 51 Green Street in Middletown’s North End. More than 250 people attended the grand opening. (Photo by Lex Leifheit) |
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| Children draw in one of the two visual art centers at GSAS. The facility also has a dance studio and a performance studio with 100 seat capacity. Pre-opening pilot classes have already drawn 3,000 participants. (Photo by Olivia Drake) |
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| President Bennet speaks with guests as Ricardo Morris looks on. Funds for the school’s renovation were raised through a partnership involving Wesleyan, along with grants from the city, state and national level. Wesleyan also partnered with The North End Action Team, the Macdonough School, Church of the Holy Trinity, Community Health Center and other organizations. (Photo by Bill Burkhart) |
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| The Kamau Trio performs urban jazz at the opening. Pictured left to right are George Blackman, Jr., saxophone; Lance “Kamau” James, djembe; and Kalim Zarif, keyboard. All three teach music classes at GSAC. (Photo by Olivia Drake) |
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| Teens dance inside the GSAC dance studio after the grand opening ceremony. More than 50 students have already enrolled in the GSAC after-school programs. Wesleyan students also volunteer as academic tutors for the children. (Photo by Olivia Drake) |
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| Mayor Thornton and Jennifer Aniskovich, executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History and Film, greet guests during the grand opening. (Photo by Bill Burkhart) |
| For more information or to receive a spring catalog call 860-685-7871 or visit http://www.greenstreetartscenter.org/. |
Olin Memorial Library Earns “Building of the Year” Award
by Olivia Drake •
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| Erhard Konerding, documents librarian, works inside the Olin Memorial Library, which was built in 1928. |
| Posted 01/31/05 |
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When Wesleyan’s Olin Memorial Library opened in 1928, the classically symmetrical structure fronted with six marble columns stood out as a bold yet elegant structure. Nearly 80 years later, the building is still turning heads. On January 13, The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Greater Hartford awarded the library with The Office Building of the Year (TOBY) award in the historic building category. The TOBY award recognizes excellence in building management, operational efficiency, tenant retention, emergency planning and community impact. The Olin Library won in the “proper maintenance of the historical building,” category. “It was built in 1928 and still has that old world charm,” said Pete Caniano, chairman of the TOBY award committee. “I could find myself getting lost in a great book in Olin all the time.” Caniano, district manager for American Building Maintenance Janitorial Services of Danbury, Conn., provides janitorial services to Wesleyan and nominated the library for the award. “I nominated Olin because I felt it had great architectural character and it has gone through some excellent architectural renovations throughout its history that add to its appeal,” he said. “Olin library is a wonderful landmark on campus.” Caniano and members of the judging panel inspected the facility, grading it on physical attractiveness, cleanliness, mechanical functionality, aesthetics and standard building operation equipment and procedures. Each category had to receive a passing grade for the building to be considered for the award. Caniano said Wesleyan’s Physical Plant had a lot to do with the outcome of the judges’ findings. “If the building had been simply attractive and architecturally marvelous but not maintained well and had antiquated maintenance systems, it would not have won,” he said. Caniano noted many positive points while touring the library. The stacks, he said, are well organized; the building is kept in pristine condition; and the ambiance of the reading room “is exceptional.” He also favored the private alcoves used for student research and described the library’s staff as “very helpful.” “The building is kept in pristine condition and is very practical for student use,” he said. Olin Memorial Library was first opened as a memorial to Stephen Olin, Wesleyan’s president from 1842 to 1851, and his son Stephen Henry Olin, class of 1866, a Wesleyan trustee for 45 years and the university’s acting president in 1922 and 1923. The original plans for the building were begun by Henry Bacon, who designed the Lincoln Memorial, and after his death were completed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. It currently provides Wesleyan’s 2,730 students and 1,060 staff and faculty members with 1.5 million publications and a variety of electronic and archival services. A major renovation and expansion of the building, completed in 1986, was designed by Perry, Dean, Rogers & Partners. It nearly doubled the space available in Olin for study areas and collections. The 163-foot wide façade surmounted by a pediment and capped by a balustrade. Marble, exterior and interior, amounted for 20 percent of the final construction cost of $727,000. Now that the library has won at a local level, it has an opportunity to advance to the regional level in each of the eight North American regions of BOMA International. Regional winners advance to the international level. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
Tsunami Hits too Close to Home
by Olivia Drake •
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Ganesan Ravi Ravishanker, director of Technology Support Services and adjunct associate professor of chemistry, explains where his home countries were struck by the December 26 tsunami. |
| Posted 01/31/05 |
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Millions of Americans watched as the Dec. 26 tsunami obliterated south Asia’s coastal belts. But for Ganesan “Ravi” Ravishanker, the event was far more personal. Ravishanker, director of Technology Support Services and adjunct associate professor of chemistry, is a Sri Lanka native and attended college in southern India where the tidal waves battered both shorelines for a half-mile inland. Those are both places where I have spent a lot of my childhood and teenage years and have vivid memories of, Ravishanker said. Most of my extended family members live in these two countries. The tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia, killed more than 170,000 people as it crashed the shores of 10 countries around the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka and Indonesia received the hardest hits. Ravishanker, who lost his parents as a young child, grew up with his aunt, uncle, sister and 11 cousins in the countrys capital, Colombo. Three of these cousins are raising families in Sri Lanka and the rest moved to southern India. I was just getting back from vacation and I was still in a relaxing vacation mode, when they started flashing news about the tsunami damage on TV, he said. I immediately thought about my family. Many of them were living in area close to the coast. Relatives in Tamil Nadu, India, immediately e-mailed Ravishanker in America and let him know they were OK. His relatives in Sri Lanka, however, were still unaccounted for. Although his relatives lived inland in Kandy, he feared they may be traveling on a train that was derailed by the tsunami. All I could do is sit, watch and wait, he said. Sri Lanka, a pear-shaped island four times larger than the state of Connecticut, is located 18 miles southeast of India. With no communications available to his homeland, he waited as the death toll climbed to 30,000. The missing count hovered at 5,600. More than 200,000 families were displaced by the earthquake-spawned waves. The Sri Lanka that I remember, that I grew up in, was one of the most enjoyable places. It was surrounded by the ocean, there were beaches, a perfect climate and the people were very friendly. It was a great place, he said. It was like paradise. Via Indian television channels, Ravishanker watched debris of fishermens wood shacks envelop the once pristine, palm-lined beaches. Disfigured bodies in all forms and shapes piled up near landmarks all recognizable to the Sri Lanka native. It was heart-wrenching to watch, he said. I was thinking of my family, but also these poor children affected by this disaster. Whats so sad is that the first wave came in and pushed all these fish up on shore, and all the fishermen told their kids to come out and see and play with the fish. Little did they know that a bigger wave was coming to eat them all up. On Dec. 30, Ravishanker finally heard from his Sri Lankan relatives. Everyone was alive. With his family all accounted for, Ravishanker immediately pursued ways to help the victims of the disaster. Rescue efforts are somewhat hampered by an ongoing civil war in the country between the Sinhalese and Tamil Tigers. Pockets of the northern and eastern areas are heavily mined. A physical presence of rescue workers in these areas carries a certain amount of danger. The Sri Lankan government has urged donor nations to donate $15.6 billion to rebuild tsunami-affected parts of the country, but Ravishanker was advised to hold off and carefully explore more long lasting avenues to help those affected. Hes considering funding an orphaned childs education for life. His brother-in-law, Shankar, is working with these orphaned children directly back in Chennai, India. I take great pride in my brother-in-law for doing this, and I think the outpouring of local support is a great thing to see. People are setting aside their religious differences and caste barriers are vanishing, he said. I cant imagine people doing this 20 years ago. People are already setting up shops and makeshift schools. Recovery have been remarkable. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
Women’s Studies Administrative Assistant Participates in Youth Mentoring Program and has Interest in Women’s Issues
by Olivia Drake •
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| Noreen Baris, administrative assistant for the Womens Studies Program, stands outside her office on High Street. Baris serves as a liaison between the programs chair, faculty and students. |
| Posted 01/31/05 |
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Q: When did you become the administrative assistant in the Women’s Studies Program? Were you working at Wesleyan before then? A: Yes. I first came to Wesleyan in November 1986 and worked in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department until 1992. I’ve been at Women’s Studies since then. Q: How would you describe a typical day? Are you mostly working at your desk, talking on the phone or meeting with people? A: This position is rather diversified and I do all the above mentioned duties on a daily basis. I work closely with the chair of Womens Studies and I serve as a liaison between the Womens Studies chair and the faculty and majors. I also coordinate the scheduling of Womens Studies meetings, luncheons and events, manage the budget, update the Web page, do other computer related duties and monitor Womens Studies course offerings. Q: What do you like most about your job and working in the Women’s Studies program in particular? A: I have found the Womens Studies faculty to be exceptional in many ways and I enjoy working with them. I also like the diversity of the position. In addition to my other duties, the Women’s Studies Program has two major events per year: The Womens Studies Symposium in the fall semester, and the Diane Weiss Memorial ’80 Memorial Lecture during spring semester. I enjoy coordinating the many details required for both events. Q: Do you, yourself, have any interest in women’s issues? A: Yes, I am interested in women’s issues such as better medical research and health care of women, equal pay for men and women doing the same job, and better benefits for working mothers. Q: What do you do after work? Do you have any hobbies? A: My hobbies are knitting, quilting, and gardening, and I enjoy doing them in my spare time. I also enjoy and have been serving as a mentor for children for the past eight years. Originally I started mentoring teenage girls and being a buddy at the Cromwell Children’s Home. I am now affiliated with The Children’s Center Youth Mentoring Partnership and have been mentoring the same young girl for the past four years, at least five hours per week. I’m very much involved with her life, her problems and her accomplishments. Q: Tell me about your family. A: I have been married to my husband John for 35 years and we live in Durham. I have two daughters, Laney, who is 30, and Carrie, who is 26. Laney is a veterinarian practicing in New Jersey and Carrie is a high school English teacher in California. I am very proud of them both. Q: I understand you have the summers off. Do you travel much? A: We have traveled extensively in the U.S. Up North, down South, out West. Weve especially enjoyed Yosemite, Yellowstone and Zion national parks, and weve also gone to Hawaii. We’ve been to Canada — Montreal, Quebec and cities in-between — several times. Also traveled to Aruba and Europe. Last summer, we traveled to Switzerland and Austria. We visited Italy, France and England in May 2002. |
| By Olivia Drake, The Wesleyan Connection editor |
