Olivia DrakePosted 05/01/08 Richard l. Berke, assistant managing editor for news at The New York Times, will be the keynote speaker at a conference titled Make Democracy Work, on Saturday, May 3. The conference will run from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and is being presented by the Wesleyan University Chapter of the Roosevelt Institution. The conference also features panel discussions and workshops designed to highlight important components of democracy that are often overlooked or taken for granted and give them both local and national perspectives. We wanted to raise awareness about what democracy means and how it functions and fails…
In the dry, Rift Valley province of Kenya, communities are struggling with deforestation issues and infertile soils for farming. This rural area relies heavily on firewood for cooking and warmth, however locals are being forced to travel further for resources, limiting the time spent supporting their families.As Davis United World College Projects for Peace recipients, Robert McCourt 08 and Nyambura Gichohi 08 will help this community create alternative energy through biogas this summer. They will work with the Noontoto Womens Project, a group of 25 women that have come together to aspire to improve their livelihood. As one of 100…
Molecular biology and biochemistry majors Noah Biro 09, above, and Alison Ringel 09, below will conduct independent research next year with help from a Goldwater Scholarship. Posted 04/21/08 Alison Ringel 09 and Noah Biro 09, both molecular biology and biochemistry majors, will conduct independent research as Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program fellows in 2008-09. The two students were among 321 juniors and seniors nationwide selected for highly competitive undergraduate scholarship in science, math or engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is applied to their undergraduate studies. Next year, they will receive up to $7,500 each to help defray…
Jeffrey Schiff, professor of art, is a Guggenheim fellowship recipient. Posted 04/21/08 Jeffrey Schiff, professor of art, was awarded a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. According to the foundation, the "fellowships are appointed for stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment." Schiffs fellowship was awarded in the "Fine Arts" category in recognition of his work in sculpture. The program provides funds to permit fellows to work with "as much creative freedom as possible." The fellowships are without conditions or stipulations, allowing recipients the liberty to spend the awarded funds in the way they…
Posted 04/21/08 Eight individuals and three teams have been selected into Wesleyans newly-established Athletics Hall of Fame. The seven prominent Wesleyan graduates, one long-time athletic coach, and a series of three football teams will be inducted during a ceremony May 23. The inaugural class of the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame is comprised of many great athletes, coaches that have accomplished much while at Wesleyan, or in their post graduation careers and, for some, in Olympic competition, says John Biddiscombe, director of athletics. The standard that this group establishes for future hall of fame recipients insures that being inducted into…
Sporting a blue sweatshirt, Janis Astor del Valle, director of the Green Street Arts Center, gathers with others featured in the film, "Marriage Makes a Word of Difference, which promotes marriage equality in Connecticut. Astor del Valle's wife, Amy Myers, is pictured in the brown sweatshirt. The film's director Fran Rzeznik is on the far right. Posted 04/21/08 When the Hartford-based organization Love Makes a Family (LMF) was looking for interesting stories about how same-sex couples met, Green Street Arts Director Janis Astor del Valles wife Amy Joy Myers sent in the unique story of their first meeting as childhood…
At right, Paiki Muswazi, deputy client services librarian at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, meets with, from left, Jody Schenker, library assistant; Barbara Jones, the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian; Graziano Kratli, international program support librarian at Yale University; Alec McLane, music librarian and director of the World Music Archives; and Diane Klare, head of reference, during his visit to Wesleyan April 14. Posted 04/21/08 A librarian has traveled from the other side of the world to experience ways librarians in the United States aid researchers. Paiki Muswazi, deputy client services librarian at the University of…
Wesleyan's Long Lane Farm originated in 2004 as a place students could learn about food security issues and grow their own produce. It recently won an award from the Department of Higher Education. Posted 04/21/08 Wesleyans student-run Long Lane Farm received a Higher Education Community Service Award from the State of Connecticut for sustaining community-supported agriculture and providing needy families access to fresh, locally-grown produce. The award was presented by Michael Meotti, commissioner of the Department of Higher Education, and State Representative William Dyson, chair of the Connecticut Commission on Community Service, during an award ceremony April 1 in Cromwell,…
Ayanna Perez, 11, is DJ Ferrell for the Middletown Youth Radio Project. Posted 04/21/08 The Middletown Youth Radio Project (MYRP), Central Connecticut's premier youth radio training program, aired its 25th live broadcast April 18 on Wesleyans WESU 88.1 FM. From 6:30 to 7 p.m., two young DJs hit the airwaves and play their newest original songs, stories, poems, and commentaries, interspersed with anecdotes and their favorite tunes of the week.MYRP is a weekly radio program written, produced, and hosted by kids ages 10-17. The first live broadcast aired on Sept. 10, 2007. The youth, many of whom live in the…
Joshua Boger 73, P06 P09 speaks about Building a 21st Century Pharmaceutical Company during the student-organized Graduate Student Career Retreat March 29. Posted 04/04/08 Students pursuing degrees in biology, molecular biology and biochemistry fields had the opportunity to discuss their future careers with Wesleyan alumni during the Graduate Student Career Retreat March 29. The first-ever event, held at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, allowed alumni to deliver a series of brief talks on their own careers and participate in panel discussions. In addition, graduate students held a poster session to share their own research with the invited guests. I consider…
Posted 04/04/08 Wesleyan raised $136,098.32 this year to support the Middlesex United Way, topping last years campaign total. The campaign supports critical human care services and county-wide projects that address the top concerns of local residents: housing, mental health and substance abuse. Funds were raised through the annual Wesleyan Employee Campaign. This year, 498 employees and 24 vendors participated. Of these, 99 were new givers and 125 individuals increased their gift from the previous year. Although we are short of our stated goal this year, our campaign garnered terrific results, says Karen Collins, 2007-08 campaign chair and chair of the…
As Thomas J. Watson Foundation Travel Grant for Research Fellows, Bien, pictured at left, and Littman, pictured below, will have the opportunity to independently research these topics for 12 months in 2008-09. Each year, more than 1,000 college seniors apply to the Watson program, but only 50 fellowships are awarded. Bien's project, titled "Documenting the Chinese Diaspora: A Photographic Ethnography of Chinatowns" will take him to Chinese populations in Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, Italy, Ethiopia, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. He will explore the similarities and differences of these communities primarily through interactions with community members, photography and audio recordings.…