David PesciUnexpected invitations come with the holidays every year, but one in particular received by Jan Willis, professor of religion, caught her attention. It was from the U.S. State Department, and was inspired by President Barack Obama. The invitation asked Willis to serve as just one of 20 American religious scholars and nonprofit leaders selected by the U.S. State Department to participate in the inaugural Indonesia-U.S. Interfaith Cooperation Forum that was being held in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 25-27 under the auspices of Religions for Peace. “As soon as I read it, I knew I had to attend this,” Willis says. “It…
Corrina KerrThis issue we ask 5 Questions of...Assistant Professor of Psychology and Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior Barbara Juhasz. Q. How did you first become interested in psychology? A. I’ve always been fascinated by how the mind works and why people behave the way they do. Since early in high school, I had the idea that I wanted to be a research psychologist. At that time, I really did not know what the field of psychology actually consisted of. Like most people, I believe, I thought psychology meant psychopathology. Once I started studying psychology at the college level, I realized…
Olivia DrakeIn 1966, the apartheid government controlling South Africa began forcing more than 60,000 residents of color from their Cape Town homes in attempt to destroy a multi-racial neighborhood called District Six. On Jan. 8, 2010, Taylor Cain '11 and CaVar Reid '11 toured this area, once a flourishing and lively community of freed slaves and immigrants. The township exploration was just one way Cain and Reid gained an understanding of the South African socio-economic, racial, cultural, historical and environmental landscape while interacting with students from academic institutions in the United States and South Africa. "Knowing the history involved in District…
Following the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, three Wesleyan faculty, Alex Dupuy, Elizabeth McAlister, and Gina Ulysse have appeared in numerous publications and on radio programs to provide context for thinking about the disaster. Alex Dupuy, the Class of 1958 Distinguished Professor of Sociology, spoke to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp and wrote an essay titled "Beyond the Earthquake: A Wake-Up Call for Haiti" on the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) forum, saying, “There is no doubt that the dominant economic and political classes of Haiti bear great responsibility for the abysmal conditions in the country that exacerbated the impact of…
For the fifth year in a row, Wesleyan students, faculty and staff are becoming "recycle maniacs." RecycleMania, a national recycling and waste minimization competition for universities and colleges, began Jan. 17. For 10 weeks, Wesleyan will record the volume of paper, cardboard and glass/metals/plastics collected from most academic, administrative, on-campus student dormitory facilities and the Usdan University Center. Wesleyan also will record the amount of garbage. This year, all plastic items identified as numbers 1 through 7 can be recycled in Wesleyan's “glass/metal/plastic” recycle containers. "In the past we have only been able to recycle No 1 and No. 2,"…
Wesleyan's Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) has been selected by The United Illuminating Company (UI) and The Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P) to provide professional development workshops for eesmarts teachers regarding energy and energy-efficient behaviors and technologies. These new contracts provide funding for a fourth year of the program and are renewable for an additional two years. The first three years of the program provided nearly $1M in funding to PIMMS to conduct the program. Funding for the next three years show a slight increase. eesmarts is an energy-efficiency learning initiative that is funded by…
The second Neuroscience and Behavior Alumni Symposium will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 in Science Center 121. The public is invited. Five of the department's “best and brightest” alumni from the last decade will speak at the symposium. "We invited these particular alumni because they are at different developmental stages on paths toward uniquely varied careers," says John Kirn, professor and chair of the Neuroscience and Behavior Department, professor of biology and director of Graduate Studies. "This symposium will focus on their personal stories of post-Wes training in graduate school, biotechnology, medical school, and at…
Writing At Wesleyan, The English Department, and the Shapiro Creative Writing Center announce the Spring Readings Series. George Saunders, the Writing Programs’ 2010 Jacob Julien Visiting Writer, reads at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24 in the Memorial Chapel. Saunders is the author of six books, including the story collection In Persuasion Nation and the book of essays Braindead Microphone. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, GQ, McSweeney's, The Guardian, and other publications. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches in Syracuse University's MFA program. Event organized by Deb Olin Unferth and Anne…
Carl Viggiani, professor of romance languages and literatures, emeritus, died suddenly on Jan. 16, 2010. He was 87 years old. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1954, teaching French language and literature. He was active in the Center for the Humanities in its early years, offered numerous colloquia for the College of Letters, founded the Wesleyan program in Paris which he directed or served as resident director in Paris over seven and a half years, and served frequently as chair of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. Viggiani earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College, master’s degree from Harvard University,…
To determine the difference between a decisive and an indecisive person, follow the movements of their eyes. Andrea Patalano, associate professor of psychology, and Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, have collaborated on research examining how decisive and indecisive people differ in their processing of information, which is a little-studied area. Their full findings are scheduled to be published in the near future, and both researchers are excited about what they found. Patalano has spent many years studying decision-making while Juhasz has spent time tracking readers’ eye movements using a device called an eye-tracker. Since the researchers were examining the…
In the past decade, the Wesleyan Men's Water Polo Club captured two titles and appeared in six Division III National Collegiate Club Championships. For their efforts, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) named the team the "Collegiate Club Division III Team of the Decade" for 2000-09. Unlike many teams in their conference, the Wesleyan club runs its program without monetary or administrative support from the Department of Athletics. The students are coached by team captains, and occasionally a graduate student who has played on the team will coach without compensation. Nevertheless, the team won the 2004 and 2005 Division III…
John Bonin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science, tutor in the College of Social Studies, led the Presidential Address during the Allied Social Science Association American Economic Association meetings in Atlanta, Ga. Jan. 3-5. As outgoing president of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES), Bonin spoke on "From Reputation Amidst Uncertainty to Commitment Under Stress: A Decade of Foreign-owned Banking in Transitioning Economies." He focused on the experiences of 10 transition countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Russia) regarding the reforming, or developing, of their banking sectors. In all…