Posted 02/27/08 Along with returning to campus with suntans (or sunburns), new spring duds and a backpack full of work to complete by the end of March, Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, would like students to bring back one more thing from break: a book for Middletown gradeschoolers. The “Bring Back a Book” Book Drive is the brainchild of students in Juhasz’s Psychology of Reading Class. The drive will be going on throughout the week of March 24. The idea is for Wesleyan students come back from break with new or lightly used books that are appropriate for first…

Dalit Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion, meets with Avi Nesher, director of the Israeli film, The Secrets. Nesher's film is part of the ongoing Ring Family Wesleyan Israel Film Festival, coordinated by Katz. Posted 02/27/08 Last June, Dalit Katz fell in love with two contemporary Israeli films shown at international film festivals.    “I saw these movies and I told myself, ‘I am going to bring these films to Wesleyan,” says Katz, adjunct assistant professor of religion.   Katz stayed true to her word.   The films, titled Jellyfish (2006) and The Secrets (2007) are both part of the…

Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, will conduct a survey of Islamic materials during a five-week sabbatical in Africa. Posted 02/27/08 Michaelle Biddle, head of Preservation Services at Olin Library, was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria to travel to the country in March to conduct a survey of Islamic manuscripts and related materials. Wesleyan has granted her a five-week sabbatical so she can travel to locations such as Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri to assess materials and help with preservation efforts. The work of Biddle and more than 20 other archivists and librarians will…

Posted 02/27/08 Michael Whaley, formerly the interim dean of the college, was promoted to vice president for student affairs on Feb. 21. In addition to supervising a large and complex office, he has worked imaginatively with the vice president for academic affairs to develop programs that connect faculty and students outside the classroom in a variety of co-curricular activities. The change of title to vice president for student affairs reflects the duties of the position as it has evolved at Wesleyan, and positions the office as an integral part of the educational enterprise. “Mike has a true gift for hearing…

Wesleyan's Academic Media Studio created the website, www.henrymerrittwriston.org, in honor of Wesleyan alumnus Henry Merritt Wriston, B.A. '11, M.A. '12. Posted 02/27/08 This month Wesleyan's Academic Media Studio premiered www.henrymerrittwriston.org, a biographical portrait of distinguished professor, college president, and foreign policy expert Henry Merritt Wriston, ‘11. Created though support by the Wriston family, the non-profit educational site was designed to provide textual, visual and audile information about the life and work of Henry Merritt Wriston and serve as a research portal for scholars investigating liberal education, college administration, internationalism, domestic and foreign policy and more. The website presents a complete…

Posted 02/27/08 Being home to one of the oldest ethnomusicology programs in the country, it was only fitting that Wesleyan host the 53rd annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), Oct. 25-28. All activities will take place on the Wesleyan campus, primarily in the Center for the Arts, Usdan University Center and Memorial Chapel. The meeting will take place during fall break to accommodate the more than 850 academics, students, professional musicians, and public sector administrators expected to attend. Events during the three day meeting will include conference-style panels, performance workshops, and concerts. A one-day pre-conference on Oct. 24…

From left, Noah Hutton ’09 and Jeremy Finch '09 are co-producers of the new WESU 88.1 FM show, "The Faculty Lounge." Posted 02/27/08 Over radio waves, Neely Bruce chatted about his recent musical compositions; Peter Mark expressed his opinions on the recent crisis in Kenya; and Patrick Dowdey spoke on his passions as a museum curator. Bruce, professor of music; Mark, professor of art history and professor and director of African American studies; and Dowdey, curator of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies and adjunct assistant professor of East Asian studies and anthopology, had the opportunity to speak on…

Janice Astor del Valle, left, director of the Green Street Arts Center, listens to Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, director of the Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, speak in Memorial Chapel during a campus visit Nov. 2. Mañjon will return to campus in July as Wesleyan's new vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships. Posted 02/01/08 President Michael Roth has appointed Sonia BasSheva Mañjon as vice president for diversity and strategic partnerships, a new position that will include leadership on civic engagement and cooperation with private and public organizations. Mañjon will work…

Wesleyan has secured a permanent endowment that will support the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the Center for the Americas. Posted 02/01/08 In 2004, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation challenged Wesleyan to raise $1.5 million over a three-year period. Wesleyan agreed -- and recently succeeded. As part of the challenge, the Mellon Foundation matched these funds to endow a permanent Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in the humanities within the Center for the Americas. Since 1998, postdoctoral fellows were hired on a year-to-year basis as grant funding allowed. “The Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program has become part of the very rhythm of the…

Barbara Juhasz, at right, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and behavior, explains eye-tracking data to guests during a roving lab event Jan. 23. Posted 02/01/08 Three new psychology labs in Judd Hall allow faculty and students to study readers' habits, to reveal insights into children's' minds and to help improve existing treatments for schizophrenia.The Department of Psychology hosted a roving lab event Jan. 23 to introduce the labs and showcase the extensive renovations that were completed to create customized multi-purpose facilities. The renovations include Barbara Juhasz's eye tracking lab on the fifth floor, Anna Shusterman’s child development lab on…

Multimedia artist Lenore Malen is the artistic director of "Lenore Malen and the New Society for Universal Harmony," on display in Zilkha Gallery Feb. 2-March 2. Posted 02/01/08 A new Center for the Arts exhibit uses the lens of history to explore the far-ranging beliefs and anxieties of our time and the sciences and technologies that have informed them. “Lenore Malen and the New Society for Universal Harmony” runs from Feb. 2 through March 2 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. It consists of a multi-media installation that uses video, digital prints and archival materials. “The New Society exhibit…

Shawn Hill, desktop support specialist, front, and Catalino Cuadrado, junior instructional media specialist, send a document to a printer in the Science Tower Computing Lab. Three printers in the lab are set up for duplex printing, which is just one way Wesleyan is implementing "green" computing methods. Posted 02/01/08 First came green energy, then green chemistry, and now Wesleyan is exploring green computing as another way to fight global climate change and become a more sustainable institution and community. “We are in the process of implementing several green computing ideas to support the university’s mission to become a responsible environmental…