Olivia DrakePosted 06/25/08 The Wesleyan University Board of Trustees affirmed the promotion with tenure, effective July 1, 2008, of the following members of the faculty:Katja Kolcio, associate professor of dance, was appointed as an assistant professor of dance at Wesleyan in 2001. Prior, she was a visiting assistant professor and interim chair at Antioch College, an adjunct assistant professor at Hunter College and a graduate teaching fellow at Ohio State University. Kolcio was awarded a University Fellowship and was honored for Top Graduate Research in the Fine Arts at Ohio State University and has been the recipient of numerous grants including…
Gim Seng Ng '08 was recently published in two internationally-recognized physics journals. Posted 06/25/08 For his research efforts in mesoscopic physics, Gim Seng Ng '08 was awarded the 2008 Vanderbilt Prize for Undergraduate Research in Physics and Astronomy. Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tenn., offers the annual prize to any undergraduate student in the U.S. doing original research in physics or astronomy. Ng is part of Wesleyans Complex Quantum Dynamics and Mesoscopic Phenomena Group, led by Tsampikos Kottos, assistant professor of physics. The groups objective is to develop models and theories to understand the interplay between quantum mechanics, interactions, and…
Fred Cohan, professor of biology, searches for microbe samples in Death Valley, Calif. Posted 06/03/08 While exploring Death Valleys parched landscape, Professor of Biology Fred Cohan collected samples of compacted clay from the dry grounds. He sought a bacterium that is closely related to the microbe Bacillus subtilis, previously isolated from neighboring, gravel-based terrains. B. subtilis has similar genes and DNA as the bacteria Cohan discovered living in the clay soils, but Cohan argues that the clay-thriving microbe represents an ecologically-distinct ecotype of bacteria that has adapted to the low-nutrient habitat. We have identified and confirmed that Bacillus living in…
Posted 06/03/08 A Wesleyan faculty member with Hawaiian ancestry is a founding member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA).J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of American studies, is one of six scholars to co-create the professional organization for faculty and researchers who work in American Indian, Native American, First Nations, and Aboriginal or Indigenous studies. The association was officially launched on April 11. "It is clear that scholars in these linked fields are at critical mass, and that the intellectual work has matured in a way that makes the importance of our multi-faceted epistemological…
At right, Ann Campbell Burke, associate professor of biology, and biology graduate student Frank Tulenko, look over Tulenko's research poster explaining how lamprey embryos develop. Tulenko is continuing this research at the RIKEN Institute in Kobe, Japan this summer. Posted 06/03/08 In the past 350 million years of vertebrate evolution, the musculoskeletal system has morphed significantly across taxonomic groups. The first vertebrates, had no jaws or paired fins, and are represented today by the eel-like aquatic the lamprey that continues to thrive with its archaic cartilage jowls. As a recipient of an East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S.…
Senator Barack Obama delivered the 176th commencement speech May 25. Posted 06/03/08 When a pinch hitter comes into a game, it's usually a crucial moment hope balanced against uncertainty. At Wesleyan's 176th Commencement May 25, the hope shone through, and by all accounts, the pinch hitter sent a grand slam far over the fences. "I have the distinct honor today of pinch-hitting for one of my personal heroes and a hero to this country, Senator Edward Kennedy," said U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "He called me up a few days ago and I said that Id be happy to…
Ian Renner '08 will observe, assist and run theater activities for child laborers in Egypt as a 2008-09 Fulbright scholar. Posted 06/03/08 In Egypt, about 300,000 children spend their days laboring six days a week to help support their families and shoulder significant responsibilities at home. As a recent Fulbright scholar, Ian Renner 08 will spend the 2008-09 academic year helping some of these children regain their childhood through theater. He is one of 13 Wesleyan students and recent graduates to receive scholarships under the auspices of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Administered by the Institute for International Education,…
Wesleyan's softball team hosted the NESCAC Tournament May 3-5. Posted 05/15/08 Coming off a team-record 21-15 season in 2007, one that featured a first-ever trip to the NESCAC tournament, Wesleyan's softball team came into the 2008 campaign with realistic hopes of repeating last year's success. Our goal this season was to get better every day, said seventh-year head coach Jen Shea. We knew we had a lot of talent but we needed to see how it would come together. Come together was just what the team did, equaling the team record for wins, three of those coming during…
Posted 05/15/08 Associate Professor of History Magda Teter has received a $14,000 grant from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University to help with the operating costs of the sixth annual Early Modern Workshop (EWM) in summer 2009. The workshop will explore the topic of History of Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in Early Modern Europe. The workshop seeks to form collaborative interaction between scholars of Jewish history, early modern history and literature and to facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas between them. Workshop participants will be examining how Jewish readers coped with the advent of…
Posted 05/15/08 Robert H. Whitman, professor of Russian emeritus, died recently in Berkeley, Calif. He was 78 years old. Professor Whitman was trained as a linguist. He earned a bachelor of arts from Hamilton College and a Ph.D from Harvard University and joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1959. He left Wesleyan in 1963 and spent a year in the USSR, then returned to teach and continue his research at Cornell University, the University of Indiana, and the University of California at Berkeley, before returning to Wesleyan in 1971. He was a visiting professor at Yale for one semester, served as…
At right, Lori Gruen, associate professor and chair of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, associate professor of philosophy at Wesleyan, spoke on Environmental Justice as a Feminist Issue during the Environmental Justice Curricular Workshop at Malcom X House May 9. Posted 05/15/08 In 1982, the State of North Carolina chose to dump 60,000 tons of PCB-contaminated soil into a landfill in Warren County. Residents felt the state had chosen their county because it was predominately black and one of the poorest in the state. As a result, the landfill became the focus of accusations of environmental racism, or racial discrimination…
The Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Celebrates its 20th Anniversary with the Freeman family from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 24. Posted 05/15/08 What began in an empty, shingle-style home on the edge of campus 20 years ago has prospered into a central hub for East-Asian-focused lectures, tea ceremonies, exhibitions, student performances, and programs to introduce school-aged children to new cultures. This year, the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies celebrates two decades of existence. Wesleyan will honor the Freeman family for their unique legacy of excellence during an open house and reception May 24. The…