Faculty – Page 19

Can wolves help prevent deer-vehicle collisions? According to a new study by Assistant Professor of Economics Jennifer Raynor, areas with wolf populations are seeing a 24 percent decline of car vs. deer accidents due to the canines creating a "landscape of fear" in ways human deer hunters cannot. Her study, titled “Wolves make roadways safer, generating large economic returns to predator conservation” was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on June 1. Raynor and her co-PIs investigated the potentially positive presence of wolves in relationship to roadways by examining 22 years of data from Wisconsin. The…

The following faculty were conferred tenure, effective July 1, 2021, by the Board of Trustees at its most recent meeting: Ioana Emy Matesan, Associate Professor of Government Michael Meere, Associate Professor of French Ioana Emy Matesan, Associate Professor of Government Professor Matesan’s scholarship focuses on the study of political violence with an emphasis on the Middle East. Her recent book, The Violence Pendulum: Tactical Change in Islamist Groups in Egypt and Indonesia (Oxford University Press, 2020), addresses what determines the appeal and spread of violent and nonviolent resistance. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter and helped…

Two proposed Venus mission concepts co-developed by planetary geologist Martha Gilmore were selected by NASA’s Discovery Program this week. The selected missions aim to understand how Venus became a scorching planet after it was potentially another habitable world in the solar system with an Earth-like climate. Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor of earth and environmental sciences, is a co-investigator of both winning concepts. Each project will receive approximately $500 million per mission for development and is expected to launch in the 2028–2030 timeframe. The projects include VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) and DAVINCI+…

Every spring, Wesleyan recognizes outstanding teaching with three Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the University’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, as well as current juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee of faculty and members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee. This year, Wesleyan honors the following faculty members for their excellence in teaching:…

During Wesleyan's 189th Commencement ceremony, seven faculty were recognized for retiring from active service on the faculty and have attained emeritus status: William Herbst, a member of the Wesleyan faculty since 1978 and John Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy since 2000. Joyce Jacobsen, a member of the Wesleyan faculty since 1993 and Andrews Professor of Economics since 2003. J. Donald Moon, a member of the Wesleyan faculty since 1970 and Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social Studies since 2008. Thomas Morgan, a member of the Wesleyan faculty since 1973 and Foss Professor of Physics since…

During the 189th Commencement ceremony, four Wesleyan University faculty received the honorary degree of Master of Arts ad eundem gradum. The degree is awarded regularly and solely to those members of the faculty who (1) are not graduates of Wesleyan at the bachelor’s level and (2) have attained or been appointed to the rank of full professor on our faculty. By the award of this degree, all full professors on the Wesleyan faculty are made alumni of the University, and are qualified to participate in alumni affairs. The recipients include: Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government; Barbara Juhasz, professor of…

Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, is the lead author on a research article titled “Wildlife severity and vegetation recovery drive post-fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine-oak forest, Arizona, USA” published in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation on May 8, 2021. Undergraduates Michael Freiburger '21 and Hunter Vannie '20 assisted in collecting field data. From the paper’s abstract: In this study, post-fire ET was driven by plant species composition and tree canopy cover. ET was significantly higher in the morning and midday in densely vegetated post-fire shrublands than pine-dominated forests that remained 5–7 years after wildfire. Our…

Associate Professor of History Jeffers Lennox was featured on a May 4 episode of the podcast Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. In an episode titled “What Was Canada Up To During The American Revolution? with Professor Jeffers Lennox,” Lennox spoke about Canada and the American Revolution. The podcast, which is hosted and created by Van Ness, an Emmy-nominated television star and New York Times bestselling author, focuses on different topics each week. Van Ness interviews experts in various fields and delves into the subjects in which they specialize. The episode began with Van Ness asking an overarching question: “What’s…

John Murillo, director of creative writing and assistant professor of English and African American studies, is the recipient of the 2021 Four Quartets Prize for his poem “A Refusal to Mourn the Deaths, by Gunfire, of Three Men in Brooklyn” from his poetry collection Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020). The prize, awarded by the T.S. Eliot Foundation and the Poetry Society of America, will bestow Murillo with $21,000. It was launched in 2018 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets being published in a single volume of work and is given to a “unified and…

Ellen Thomas, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Integrative Sciences, is the co-author of five scientific papers. All are part of the output of international collaborations of which her Wesleyan-based research was a part, funded by the National Science Foundation over the last three years. “All the studies look at different aspects of the behavior of microscopic organisms in the oceans under past environmental stress, whether caused by the impact of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, or past episodes of global warming or cooling, and at the effect of different rates of environmental change on these life forms," she said.…

Suzanne OConnell, professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Julian Dann ’17, a graduate student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, were both selected to be part of the American Geophysical Union’s 2021 Voices for Science Cohort. Hosted by the American Geophysical Union, Voices for Science aims to train scientists "to address the critical need for communicating the value and impact of Earth and space science to key decision makers, journalists, and public audiences," according to the union's website. Each cohort receives specialized training and mentoring throughout a 12-month period to hone their skills in communication and outreach. Throughout the…

On April 7, poet John Murillo, assistant professor of English, was named the 2021 winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award for his recent collection Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020). Murillo’s collection offers "a reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation." The Kingsley Tufts Award is awarded to a mid-career poet and comes with a $100,000 prize. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry also was nominated for the 2021 PEN Open Book Award and the 2021 NAACP Images Awards in the Outstanding Literary Work…

Raynor’s Study Suggests Wolves Help Decrease Vehicle Collisions with Deer

14 Faculty Promoted, 2 Conferred Tenure

NASA Selects 2 Proposed Venus Mission Concepts Co-Developed by Gilmore

3 Professors Honored with 2021 Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching

7 Faculty Retire from Wesleyan

4 Faculty Honored with MA Ad Eundem Gradum Degrees

Poulos Publishes Paper on Arizona Wildfires

Lennox Discusses History on Podcast “Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness”

Murillo Awarded Four Quartets Prize For Poetry

Thomas Co-Authors 5 Studies on Oceanic Environmental Stress

OConnell, Dann ’17 Join 2021 Voices for Science Cohort

Murillo Honored with $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Award for Poetry