More than 700 students graduated from Wesleyan May 22.   Posted 05/23/05 During the last four years, Wesleyan University students have generated responses to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq, the genocidal crisis in Darfur, the Tsunami of 2004 and several other events. In his commencement address on Wesleyan’s campus on Sunday, May 22, Wesleyan President Douglas J. Bennet `59 urged the 718 undergraduates from the Class of 2005 to continue their good work. “My commencement wish for each of you is that you never lose your instinct for challenging the society around you,” Bennet said. Bennet exhorted…

Amelia Long ’06, Tiffany Lo ’05, Beth Coddington ’05 and Maria Nankova ’05, students in the Community Research Seminar, completed a study titled "Hungry Children in Middletown."   Posted 05/23/05 Four Wesleyan students have discovered that one out of five local children lives in a household that suffers from food insecurity. Beth Coddington ’05, Tiffany Lo ’05, Amelia Long ’06 and Maria Nankova ’05 presented results of their study, "Hungry Children in Middletown” on May 12. The students were enrolled in the Community Research Seminar taught by Rob Rosenthal, professor of sociology. The Middlesex Coalition for Children commissioned the survey.…

At left, Wesleyan Jewish Chaplain Rabbi David Leipziger and Muslim Chaplain Imam Abdulla Antepli try on traditional Turkmenistan hats in an Egyptian Bazaar. At right, Jessica Strom ’07, Alana Miller ’08 and Jeremy Gillick ’07 observe the only mosque in Ankara, Turkey.   Posted 05/02/05 What is life like in a secular Muslim nation, especially for Jews? This was the question that motivated 17 Wesleyan students – 12 Jewish, 5 Muslim – to go to Istanbul, Turkey, in March during spring break to see for themselves. The eight-day trip, which was envisioned and created by Wesleyan’s Muslim Chaplain Imam Abdullah…

Kirk Davis Swinehart, assistant professor of history, specializes in early American history. (Photo by James Ward Swinehart, Jr.)   Posted 05/02/05 Kirk Davis Swinehart, assistant professor of history, has been spending most of his time in the 18th century with an Irish knight and a Mohawk woman. Swinehart’s research and teaching focus on events from the period just before and leading up to the American Revolution. He has also done extensive research on the New World soldier-adventurer Sir William Johnson (1715–74) and his families, Irish and Mohawk, both of which fought for Britain during the American Revolution. Funded by an…

The Human Resources department's new Virtual Orientation Web site provides vital information for new employees.   Posted 05/02/05 Prospective employees can learn all about Wesleyan before they even set foot on campus -- just by going online. The Human Resources department has launched a Virtual Orientation Web site this month for new employees. The site can be viewed at: http://www.wesleyan.edu/hr/newemployee The site features a list of important resources, interesting facts and valuable information that employees will need before they arrive and during their first month at Wesleyan. “We wanted to create a place for new employees to learn as much…

Posted 05/02/05 More than 150 guests, many from academia and the pharmaceutical industry, attended the 33rd Peter A. Leermakers Symposium May 5 at the Exley Science Center. The annual, one day meeting brings together internationally recognized chemists for a day of intensive examination of a particular subject in chemistry. This year’s symposium, titled “Chirality,” united scientists working in the general area of stereochemistry. The speakers have played a fundamental role in the control and understanding of stereochemistry. Stereochemistry is a property that certain molecules have that can make two molecules behave completely differently as drugs, even though the structures of…

Posted 04/19/05 Wesleyan University recently announced that it will confer four honorary degrees during its 173rd commencement exercises on Sunday, May 22 to the following recipients: Amy Gutmann (Doctor of Letters) – Amy Gutmann, Wesleyan's commencement speaker, became president of the University of Pennsylvania this year. Formerly, she was provost and Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She was the founding director of the Princeton University Center for Human Values, a multi-disciplinary center that supports teaching, scholarship and public discussion of ethics and human values. Bill Belichick (Doctor of…

A new grant will expand emphasis on computer science instruction and resources.   Posted 04/15/05 An $800,000 Mellon Foundation grant will allow the Mathematics and Computer Sciences departments at Wesleyan University, Connecticut College and Trinity College to collaborate on a new cost and resource sharing arrangement, expand the departments’ curricula and provide incentives for more computer science faculty to work in a liberal arts setting. The grant will fund the hiring of four post-doctoral fellows in computer science who will develop new courses, seminars and workshops. While each fellow will be employed by a “home” institution, all four will provide…

Posted 04/15/05 "Vanity Fair" contributing editor Christopher Hitchens and Pulitzer Prize nominee Michael Parenti participated in a debate titled "Iraq and the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy" April 18 at Wesleyan’s Memorial Chapel. Hitchens is an Oxford-educated self-described liberal who has become a supporter of U.S. intervention in Iraq. A former columnist for The Nation and book critic for Newsday, he is now a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. His books include "Hostage to History: Cyprus From the Ottomans to Kissinger" and his most recent, "Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays." Parenti, a Yale graduate, has been a…

Posted 04/15/05 Vice President for Finance and Administration Marcia Bromberg will retire from Wesleyan at the end of the fiscal year. In her four years at Wesleyan, Bromberg has overseen numerous improvements. When she was hired she was charged with providing a more transparent financial planning and reporting system. This led her to a revamping of the budget planning cycle, budget and long-range planning materials, and the annual budget and financial statements. The result has been a more open and understandable set of processes and documents. Bromberg also opened up the facilities planning process with the establishment of the Master…

P Pictured above, Lydia Bell ’07 (center) and area children watch the Footnotes Dance Theater perform during the Saturday for Kids Program’s “Buddy Day.” Bell is a substitute teacher at Saturday for Kids, a recreation/respite program for children with disabilities. At right, Saturday for Kids Program Director and Wesleyan administrative assistant Debbie Sierpinski helps a child with a craft project. Sierpinski is recruiting volunteers and performers for the program. Posted 04/15/05 Twice a month, Lydia Bell ’07 gets to mingle with an aspiring rock star. “He really loves to get everyone singing ‘Yankee Doodle,’ or doing the moves for the…