Wesleyan President-Elect Michael Roth '78 speaks to the Wesleyan community during his introduction April 27 in Memorial Chapel. Reposted 05.02.07 Though it was gray and soggy outside, the inside of Memorial Chapel glowed with laughter and applause as the campus community was formally introduced to Wesleyan’s 16th president, Michael S. Roth ‘78. Roth, who will come to Wesleyan from the presidency of California College of the Arts, spoke to a capacity audience of students, faculty, staff and Middletown residents. The event was webcast and is archived at (Quicktime needed): http://condor.wesleyan.edu/openmedia/webcast/archive/roth.mov As Roth entered the chapel, he was met with an…

More than 40 students, staff, faculty and alumni participated in a recent squash tournament at the Rosenbaum Squash Center. Posted 05/02/07 All but one player got ‘squashed’ for the grand prize during the WesFest Squash Tournament April 21 in the Rosenbaum Squash Center. The community-inspired tournament was open to all faculty, staff, students, family, alumni and friends of the university. This year, a crowd of 45 players spanning all levels of skills and age ranges, took part in the event. “It was great to see such a cross section of squash playing community present at the same time,” says co-coordinator…

Posted 05/02/07 Two distinguished faculty members will be appointed leadership roles in university centers for the next three years, with terms beginning on July 1, 2007.Suzanne O'Connell, left, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, has agreed to assume the directorship of the Service-Learning Center for a three-year term. O’Connell will be replacing Rob Rosenthal, professor of sociology. O'Connell studies climate change, coastal processes, and diversity in the geosciences. She is the author of more than 50 refereed publications and the recipient of more than $1 million in National Science Foundation grants. Most recently she was the Principle Investigator on…

Posted 05/02/07 A scholar in philosophy and a scholar in literary studies can pick up the same book, read the same words, and come away with completely different perceptions about the contents and messages of the text. It is this phenomenon that is the focus of a conference being held at Wesleyan from May 9-10, titled, “Philosophy and Literature: Reading Across the Disciplines.” The idea behind the conference is to gather scholars from both academic areas and compare how each interpret the same text. This is the first year of our conference and the positive response has far exceeded our…

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal speaks with Joe Bruno, vice president for Academic Affairs and provost; Barry Chernoff, director of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program; and Midge Bennet prior to his talk on global warming April 18. Posted 05/02/07 “Connecticut’s Role in the Fight Against Global Warming” was the topic of Wesleyan’s Earth Day celebration April 18. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal delivered the keynote address to a Memorial Chapel-full of students, faculty, staff and members of the local community. Blumenthal, the 23rd elected AG of the state, had worked as a federal prosecutor for several cases against environmental polluters.…

Assistant Professor of Art Leslie Snipes is one of 10 faculty participating in The Faculty Show in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery through May 27. Posted 05/02/07 Through a three-dimensional art piece made of carpet spools and mobile platforms, Jeffrey Schiff, professor of art, explores movement and stability, and the desire to exert control and temptation to escape.Schiff and nine of his colleagues are showing their work at The Faculty Show, an exhibition that showcases the work of studio art faculty in Wesleyan’s Art and Art History Department. The first of its kind in more than a decade, the…

Psychology major Nikko Marko Lencek-Inagaki '07 will study in France this summer as one of 57 Humanity in Action Fellows. Posted 05/02/07 Nikko Marko Lencek-Inagaki '07 is a first-generation American: his father is Japanese and his mother is Italian-Slovene. With his mother he celebrates the arrival of St. Nick; his father made obento for lunch in high school. He also is "quite gay," he says. A psychology major facing "politics of difference", Lencek-Inagaki always asks "Why? Why do people do what they do, think what they think?". "Because I am sensitive to and critical of how differences are construed," he…

Michele Chun ’07, who works in Olin Library's preservation services, is one of 44 seniors who receive a bookplate label inside a library book, honoring their service to the library. Posted 05/01/07 In 2004, Michele Chun ’07 became acquainted with the work of author Joy Williams. While studying abroad in Scotland that year, she read Williams’s The Honored Guest, and it’s remained one of her all-time favorite reads. Chun, who worked as a student assistant in Olin Library for four years, will graduate this May, but her love for The Honored Guest will be remembered at Wesleyan long beyond Commencement.…

731 students received bachelor of arts degrees May 27 at Wesleyan. (Photo by Olivia Drake) Posted 05/27/.07 Don’t be afraid of risk, and don’t shy away from service to others. These were among the thoughts offered during Wesleyan University’s 175th commencement ceremony by Jim Lehrer, anchor of PBS’ The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and noted novelist. Lehrer delivered the commencement address before more than 10,000 people at Wesleyan’s campus in Middletown, Conn. During the ceremony, the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Joyce P. Jacobsen, Andrews Professor of Economics; Richard Slotkin, Olin Professor of American Studies…

Gregory Dubinsky ’07 will work with experts in Washington DC after graduation. He was named a Carnegie Junior Fellow, the first Wesleyan has had since 1991. Posted 04/17/07 Gregory Dubinsky ’07 will have the opportunity to work with two Russian scholars as a newly-accepted Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank based in Washington, DC that focuses on promoting cooperation between nations. Dubinsky, a government and intellectual history double major, is one of only seven students in the country to receive this honor. Each year the Carnegie Endowment offers the one-year fellowships to seniors and individuals…

John Seamon, professor and chair of the Psychology Department, led a study titled the study, "Do you remember proposing marriage to the Pepsi Machine? False recollections from a campus walk," which appeared in a recent issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Posted 04/17/07 Did you propose marriage to a Pepsi machine two weeks ago, or did you just imagine it? That's one of the questions John Seamon, professor and chair of the Psychology Department, asked participants in a study designed to determine if memories, and, in particular, bizarre false memories, could be implanted. "We were interested in seeing if merely…