Olivia DrakeSince January, Middlesex United Way has helped keep more than 170 families from becoming homeless, and its support of area food pantries and soup kitchens has helped them provide more than 780,000 meals to hungry Middlesex County residents. And since 1935, Wesleyan employees have responded to the needs of the community by participating in the annual United Way Employee Campaign. This year's goal is to top $135,000. "It is more important than ever for us at Wesleyan to show support for the larger community of which we are a part," said President Roth in an all-campus e-mail. "In today’s economy,…
David LowThis fall, Wesleyan University’s Center for Film Studies will sponsor a special film and speaker series titled WOMEN AND FILM. This series is dedicated to work made by women. Each installment of the series will feature a movie helmed by a female filmmaker, to be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker herself. Made possible by special support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, WOMEN AND FILM will comprise a wide variety of cinematic experiences, including short films, documentaries and a romantic feature film. “I am thrilled that the Academy is sponsoring WOMEN AND FILM because I’ve…
Bill HolderWesleyan has received a $2 million challenge grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help endow the Center for the Humanities. The grant requires Wesleyan to raise an additional $4 million in endowment funds over the next four years. “This grant is a welcome acknowledgement of the Center’s leadership role in keeping humanities scholarship at the center of the most interesting trends in American intellectual life,” said Wesleyan President Michael Roth. “Scores of Humanities Centers across the country have adopted the Wesleyan model, and I am deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for affirming the importance of this work.”…
For 15 minutes, Elizabeth Milroy, professor of art history, describes the life, artistic techniques and style of abstract expressionist painter and printmaker Helen Frankenthaler. "Here, we see her thinking about framing and edging," Milroy says, pointing at a lithograph in the Davison Art Center. "She emulates Chinese characters in this print. She bring out lusciousness in lithography." As part of the new series, "Artful Lunch," faculty briefly speak about an artist, and display one example of the artist's work from the Davison Art Center's collection. The series is sponsored and hosted by the Friends of the Davison Art Center as…
Construction on the former squash building continues, and according to construction manager Alan Rubacha, everything is on schedule. The building is expected to reopen as the Career Center, Art History Department and College of Letters in January 2012 - just three months away. "You can see over here where the five classrooms are going to go, and this will be a conference room that will hold between eight and 10 people," Rubacha says during first-floor building tour. "And over there, that's the main entry. There's going to be a big bronze door." On Sept. 16 and Sept. 23, Rubacha led…
Stacey Close, a professor of history, philosophy and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University, will spend the current academic year at Wesleyan as an ACE Fellow. Sponsored by the American Council on Education, the program prepares fellows to serve American colleges and universities in leadership positions. “It's a pleasure to welcome Stacey Close to campus,” says President Michael S. Roth. “Wesleyan will surely benefit from the expertise he brings, and I hope he will fulfill his professional goals through his association with us.” Close has served as director of faculty development at Eastern’s Center for Educational Excellence and as…
The newly-formed Campus Activities Committee (CAC) wants to celebrate Wesleyan's faculty and staff - and their families too. Starting this month, the committee will offer a series of events, catered to Wes employees. "Our committee is working to provide a wonderful opportunity for members of our community to meet one another in different settings. Wesleyan offers great resources and our planned activities will encourage faculty, staff and families to enjoy them," says committee member Pat Melley, director of human resources. On Oct. 15, CAC will host a family day during the Wesleyan football game. The CAC will provide free game…
Artist-in-Residence Hari Krishnan’s dance company inDANCE presented the Canadian premiere of Fallen Rain Oct. 1-2 at the Robert Gill Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The dance troupe performs Indian classical dance style bharatanatyam with Western contemporary eroticism. Under the artistic direction of Krishnan, inDANCE performed the 60-minute premiere as part of the Festival of South Asian Literature and the Arts and the University of Toronto’s The Centre for South Asian Studies. Initially choreographed as a series of solos and duets, the Canadian premiere of Fallen Rain features seven lyrical dancers and six musicians. It includes rare genres of dance that have never been presented on…
This issue we ask "5 Questions" of Natasha Korda, professor of English, professor of Feminist, Gender and Sexuality studies. Korda's book, Labors Lost: Women's Work and the Early Modern English Stage, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in September 2011. She also co-edited a book, Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama, published by Ashgate in February 2011. Q: Professor Korda, you've taught English and gender studies at Wesleyan since 1995, and you were promoted to full professor in 2010. What courses do you teach and what are your scholarship interests? A: My area of expertise is Renaissance literature…
At 8:50 a.m., Jimmy Albrecht '15 began lugging in boxes of clothing, canvas totes of athletic equipment, a 3.1 cubic-square-foot fridge, an X-Box, microwave, bedding, toiletries and six - make that eight - pairs of shoes, into his new student residence in Clark Hall. "Oh, there's another pair over there. And there's another pair. Jimmy, you're going to need a shoe rack," says his mother, Sharon, who drove Jimmy to Wesleyan from their home in Chicago, Ill. Jimmy's father, George, also helped with the unloading. "Our Jeep was so packed with stuff, there wasn't even room for a toothbrush back…
"Drug Design from Transition State Analysis" will be the central topic of the 12th annual Molecular Biophysics and Biological Chemistry Retreat Sept. 22. The public is invited to the retreat, which will be held at Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown. Faculty from chemistry, physics and biology will present lectures. (more…)
In attempt to increase awareness and understanding of global issues, the Wesleyan International Relations Association created a forum to allow top academics and commentators to discuss global issues with the Wesleyan community. This year, the 33-member association is hosting a conference titled “Deciphering Pakistan and U.S.-Pakistan Relations,” Sept. 30-Oct. 1. "This year we’re focusing on Pakistan because of the strategic importance of the region," says association founder and president Ali Chaudhry '12. "We feel that it is a country that most people are interested in learning about. However, many people do not have enough information about Pakistan, which often leads…