Olivia DrakeThis issue we ask “5 Questions” of Eric Charry, associate professor of music. Charry, an expert on African music, is currently directing the Ethnomusicology and Global Culture Summer Institute at Wesleyan. Q: Professor Charry, as an associate professor of music, what are your areas of musical expertise and what classes do you teach at Wesleyan? A: Most of my research and writing until recently has been in the area of African music, specifically, the West African region where Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea and Mali meet. I spent two years in the region learning to play the kora (harp), balafon (xylophone), and…
David Pesci"Keep the habits of critical analysis you've learned at Wesleyan. This may sound like an austere and overly-sober message," said Dr. Paul E. Farmer. "But by critical I don't mean you should be contrarian...By being critical I mean taking an extra moment to interrogate accepted wisdom." This observation was the cornerstone of the address delivered by Dr. Farmer at the 179th Commencement Ceremonies at Wesleyan University, on Sunday, May 22. Farmer, a physician-anthropologist and author, founded Partners in Health, an international nonprofit organization that provides direct health care services to the sick living in poverty. Partners in Health also undertakes…
Bill HolderWesleyan University is establishing the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, which will support students who want to create programs and organizations serving the public good – anywhere in the world. The Patricelli Center and its programs are supported by a generous $2 million leadership gift from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation. Robert E. Patricelli ’61 is chairman and chief executive officer of Evolution Benefits and of Women’s Health USA and an emeritus trustee of Wesleyan. Margaret Patricelli is president and CEO of the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation. The Center will provide workshops, speakers, and networking opportunities…
“Let’s pass around the brains, but please be careful,” Jennifer Cheng '11 says. “They break easily.” Maryann Platt ’11 and Mandela Kazi ’12 hand out the brains, detailed plastic models with interlocking, removable pieces that allow anyone picking them up to study the organ’s specific areas. “I don’t think you need to use the stands,” says Janice Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior. “I think you can just give them the brains.” The students nod and make a note and return to their presentation, titled “The Human Connectome Project,” which focuses on the brain, connectomes and the new…
Cynthia RockwellWhile the rest of her classmates finished exams and headed for Foss Hill, Charlotte Cottier ’12 spent the sunny days of Finals Week inside the General Mansfield Home, getting ready to reveal excerpts from personal letters documenting a husband’s Western frontier travel to his wife at home, a nearly-failed courtship, and a myriad other stories that a nearly 200-year-old house can hold. Cottier, an American studies and sociology major, is a guest curator for the Middlesex County Historical Society, hanging her exhibit “Within These Walls: One House, One Family, Two Centuries,” which opened May 20. “The main theme is the…
Every year Wesleyan recognizes outstanding teaching with three prizes awarded at Commencement. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. '85, underscore Wesleyan's commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the university's distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, current juniors and seniors, and current graduate students. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee of emeriti and current faculty members, as well as members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee. This year, Wesleyan honored Wai Kiu Chan, associate professor of…
Rob Rosenthal, provost and vice president for academic affairs, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, announced a change of title for several faculty members. These new titles take effect July 1, 2011. New University Professors Ronald Kuivila, University Professor of Music, has been teaching at Wesleyan since 1981. He creates sound installations, performs experimental music, and integrates computer programming with music composition. More than 50 of his sound installations have been exhibited internationally, more than 40 works of his concert music have been given major performances, 12 of his works of music for dance have been performed in dance…
Wesleyan faculty and staff are growing a community. This summer, up to 50 employees have the opportunity to maintain their own plot in a Wesleyan Community Garden at Long Lane Farm. "We hope that the community garden will promote local growing and give people the space to grow their own produce," says Bill Nelligan, director of environmental health, safety and sustainability. "We will be planting alongside the student garden which will facilitate a growing atmosphere." Each plot measures 10 by 15 feet. Plot fees are $50 and include fence upkeep, annual soil amendments and community tools. Each gardener is responsible for…
Paul Farmer received a Doctor of Science during the 2011 Commencement. Farmer is an inspirational scholar, doctor, teacher, and leader. As a physician-anthropologist, he has dedicated his life to serving the world’s poor and to raising the standard of health care around the world. In 1983 he co-founded Partners In Health, an international nonprofit organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. His work focuses on community-based treatment strategies for infectious diseases, health and human rights, and the role of social inequalities in determining…
By Margot Boyer-Dry Early in our time at Wesleyan, we witnessed a student-led campaign to ‘Keep Wesleyan Weird’. At that time, the movement’s language struck me: What does it mean to ‘keep Wesleyan weird’? Surely, there is no shortage of unusual happenings here. You’d be hard-pressed to find another place where people are so excited about raw milk coops, acro-yoga, and entrepreneurial peer haircutting. Still, I don’t think the campaign’s philosophy was so simple. As I have experienced Wesleyan’s bounty of oddities, I have carried with me the words of that early campaign, ‘Keep Wesleyan Weird’; and now, years later,…
Mary Jane Rubenstein, assistant professor of religion, assistant professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, presented the "Senior Voices" baccalaureate address: Dawn points, and another day Prepares for heat and silence Out at sea the dawn wind Wrinkles and slides. I am here Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning. T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets all cycle around the theme of beginning with a kind of solemnity that’s both attentive and introspective. He looks out as the dawn points—out to the almost-day to feel the wind wrinkle and slide. He looks in and finds himself here, or there, or elsewhere.…
Robert 61, P’88, P’90 and Margaret Patricelli are among the Hartford area’s leading citizens and friends of Wesleyan. Their philanthropic and service activities have ranged from the arts to a science museum; from hospitals and educational institutions to programs that assist low-income neighborhoods. For their efforts, President Michael Roth awarded them with the Baldwin Medal during commencement ceremonies May 22. The Baldwin Medal pays tribute to the late Judge Raymond E. Baldwin ’16. Baldwin was the only man to have held the offices of Connecticut governor, U.S. senator and chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. First awarded September 20, 1981,…