Posted 03/16/07 Competing in the 5,000M event in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track Championships for the third year in a row, Ellen Davis '07 completed her rise from eighth in 2005, to fourth in 2006, and finally national champion in 2007 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. March 10. Her winning time of 16:43.73 eclipsed the team record she set a year ago (16:46.61) when she entered the NCAAs with the fastest qualifying time in the country. This race is equivalent to 3.1 miles. Davis, pictured at far left, came into the event as the number…

Posted 03/16/07 Bill Herbst, John Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy and chair of the Astronomy Department, has received a $330,990 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will benefit Wesleyan and the seven other elite liberal arts member institutions in the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (KNAC). Along with Wesleyan, the other KNAC institutions covered by the funding are Colgate University, Haverford College, Middlebury College, Swarthmore College Vassar College, Wellesley College and Williams College. The funding allows the schools in the consortium to continue their summer research program for undergraduates, which has been in existence for 17 years. "Since…

University Relations created WesLink for faculty, staff, students and alumni to post events. Posted 03/16/07 On a single site, Wesleyan alumni can market their businesses, faculty can promote their newly-released books, students can seek volunteers for their community service projects, and much more. WesLink, a Web site launched Feb. 16 by the Office of University Relations, enables all alumni, faculty, staff and students to post non-Wesleyan sponsored events, announcements, activities, and services to the greater Wesleyan community. “We are always looking for opportunities to engage alumni with the university and with each other, and WesLink helps to bridge that engagement,…

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will speak April 18 on campus. Posted 03/16/07 Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will deliver a keynote address on Connecticut’s Role in the Fight Against Global Warming at Wesleyan University’s Earth Day celebration at 8 p.m. April 18 in Wesleyan’s Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will be held afterward in the adjoining Zelnick Pavilion. The presentation is being sponsored by The Robert Schumann Lecture Series in the Environmental Studies Certificate Program. For more information, contact Valerie Marinelli at 860-685-3733 or vmarinelli@wesleyan.edu.

Wesleyan will keep its Internet services private. Posted 03/16/07 Wesleyan will adjust its computer network access protocols in order to remain exempt from an order by the Federal Communications Commission that requires facilities-based Internet service providers to engineer their networks to assist law enforcement agencies in executing wiretap orders. The changes, intended to ensure that the university's network is viewed as "private" and thus exempt, include requiring log-ins for access to the campus wireless network, kiosks and library computers. To facilitate guest use, each Wesleyan user will be able to request as many as five guest accounts through the electronic…

Posted 03/02/07 A new Wesleyan program will facilitate the opportunity for one person’s trash to become another person’s treasure. This month, the Wesleyan freecycle program is launching its own electronic mailing list. Staff, faculty and students are eligible to join the freecycle program. Launched last May by the Wesleyan Recycling Committee with the appearance of the “PODS”, the Wesleyan freecycle program, encourages students, staff and faculty to exchange unwanted items, rather than throwing them away. Wesleyan’s program is part of the national freecycle movement where people give away things that they don't need, or ask for items they do need.…

Posted 03/02/07 Wesleyan’s 175th Commencement Ceremonies will be held on Sunday, May 27, and will complete the 2007 Reunion-Commencement Celebration that will run from May 24-27. During that ceremony, the following people will receive honorary degrees: Jim Lehrer, P ’85, who will also give the principal address at commencement, will be awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree during the ceremony. Lehrer has anchored The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on the Public Broadcasting Service since 1995. Lehrer joined PBS in 1972, teaming with Robert MacNeil in 1973 to cover the Senate Watergate hearings. They began in 1975 what became The…

Posted 03/02/07 A new WESU 88.1 FM radio program is gaining a nation-wide audience with its emphasis on indigenous politics. The show, titled ''Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond,'' was launched Feb. 5 from the Wesleyan-based radio station. J. Kehaulani Kauanui, assistant professor of anthropology and American Studies, is the producer and host of the program. The multi-media program airs shortly after 5p.m., right after the “Jive at Five” community calendar, and runs until 6 p.m. each Monday with a live streaming Web cast on www.wesufm.org. ''Indigenous Politics'' features interviews with political leaders, community activists, filmmakers and artists,…

Posted 03/02/07 Wesleyan will increase tuition for the 2007-2008 academic year and simplify its fee structure. The new comprehensive fee structure will combine charges that are now billed separately as room and board. Tuition will increase by 5.5 percent to $36,536 for all students in 2007-2008. For freshman and sophomores, the residential comprehensive fee will be $10,130. For juniors and seniors, the fee will be $11,512. The residential comprehensive fees are based on the current room and board charges experienced by students at these class levels, plus a fee increase of $590 and $550, respectively. The increases in student charges…

An image from: “Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore" by Jacob Bricca '93, adjunct assistant professor of film studies. The film was screened March 6 at the Center for Film Studies. Posted 03/02/07 Though he loves to read, Jacob Bricca ’93 admits that he was never “a book person,” one of those individuals who have an affinity for books and bookstores. But when he heard that an independent bookstore called Printers, Inc., in his hometown of Palo Alto, California, was closing, he was immediately saddened. “When I was growing up, even if you weren’t into books, that…

Andrew Moreno, a graduate student in chemistry, teaches a lesson on probability to his peers during a Molecular Biophysics Journal Club class Feb. 7. Posted 02/16/07 Alicia Every, a graduate student in chemistry, went to class last week not only to learn, but to teach. She and the other 20 students taking the course, Molecular Biophysics Journal Club II, are expected to prepare a lesson on relevant course material and present a micro-lecture to their peers. For 20 minutes she spoke, jotting equations on the chalkboard while explaining that heat is in random motion. She drew a gas molecule inside…