Faculty – Page 28

Amy Bloom, Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, is the author of White Houses, published by Penguin Random House in February 2018. White Houses is Bloom’s first historical fiction novel. Guided by 3,000 letters (hundreds more had been burned) between prominent journalist Lorena Hickok and politician/activist Eleanor Roosevelt, Bloom has re-created and reimagined one of the great love stories of the 20th century. From the description: Lorena Hickok meets Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932 while reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, “Hick,”…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Hartford Courant: "Connecticut Natives at Wesleyan Organize TEDx Conference" Wesleyan hosted its inaugural TEDx conference on April 7, featuring talks by many distinguished alumni, local officials, and others. Two of the student organizers, Eunes Harun '20 and Leo Marturi '20, are interviewed about the event. 2. The Hill: "Trump, Pelosi Appear Most in Early Ads—for the Other Side" A new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project finds that Donald Trump has been the top target of political attack ads this…

Melanie Khamis, assistant professor of economics and of Latin American studies, was named a fellow of the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School for the 2018–2019 academic year. In this fellowship, she hopes to continue and expand her research on “Gender in the Labor Market,” with a particular focus on the gender wage gap and occupational choices of women. “I am excited to have this opportunity to join and work with a community of leading researchers in this field,” said Khamis. According to its website, WAPPP is dedicated to closing "gender gaps in economic opportunity, political participation,…

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, chair and professor of American studies, professor of anthropology, and director of the Center for the Americas, delivered one of two keynotes at a conference on “Archipelagos and Aquapelagos—Conceptualizing Islands and Marine Spaces.” The gathering, hosted by the Global South Center at The Pratt Institute on March 30—April 1, focused on the need to reinvestigate and reconceptualize the nature of the aggregations of islands commonly referred to as "archipelagos" in order to produce more sophisticated understandings of them, along with the environmental, social, and transnational issues and impacts involved. As the organizers of the conference, May Joseph, Luka…

The scent of ancient perfumes evaporated eons ago, but scientists are able to reconstruct their ingredients by analysis of the residues left on their containers. Up until now, however, such studies have largely been isolated in the scientific literature, disconnected from the textual and archaeological data that place these perfumes back into the hands of their ancient users. Kate Birney, assistant professor of classical studies, archaeology, and art history, is hoping to change that as co-architect of the OpenARCHEM project, which seeks to assemble the largest set of organic residue samples ever collected from archaeological artifacts around the Mediterranean. Built…

On March 27, Professor Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Center for the Humanities, presented a lecture to the École Doctorale on "The Specters of the Past," as a distinguished visiting professor at University of Bordeaux Montaigne in Pessac, France. Kleinberg also is professor of history, professor of letters, and editor-in-chief of History and Theory. He is an expert on the intellectual history of Europe in the 20th century, the history of philosophy, as well as the philosophy and theory of history. Kleinberg's lecture focused on the theme of his latest book, Haunting History: for a deconstructive approach to the past…

Faculty, graduate students, and alumni attended the 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 19–23 in The Woodlands, Texas. Three graduate students were awarded funds from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant that allowed them to travel to this meeting. Earth and environmental sciences graduate student Reid Perkins presented a research poster titled "Where Are the Missing Tessera Craters on Venus?" Perkins's advisor is Martha Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor of earth and environmental sciences. Earth and environmental sciences graduate student Melissa Luna presented a poster titled "Multivariate Spectral Analysis of CRISM Data to Characterize the Composition of Mawrth…

Basil John Moore, professor emeritus of economics, passed away on March 8 at the age of 84. Moore, who received his BA from the University of Toronto and his PhD from Johns Hopkins University, came to Wesleyan in 1958. He retired in 2003 after 45 years of scholarship that took him to Cambridge, Stanford, Morocco, Vancouver, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Korea, India, and Stellenbosch, South Africa. (more…)

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Janice Naegele, the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, writes about the implications of a controversial new neuroscience study from the University of California, San Francisco. Naegele also is professor of biology and professor of neuroscience and behavior. Read her bio on The Conversation. Scientists have known for about two decades that some neurons—the fundamental cells in the brain that transmit signals—are generated throughout life. But now a controversial new study from the University of California, San Francisco, casts doubt…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Ahead of the 2018 Oscars ceremony that celebrates the best in film, The Conversation explores some of the worst film innovations of years past. Scott Higgins, director of the College of Film and the Moving Image, writes about Interfilm, a "choose your own adventure" theater technology that flopped in the early 1990s. Higgins is also the Charles W. Fries Professor of Film Studies, chair of Film Studies, and curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives. Read his bio on The Conversation.…

As an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellow, Marguerite Nguyen will spend the 2018-19 academic year working on her second book project in New Orleans, La. Nguyen, assistant professor of English, received the ACLS Fellowship in February. ACLS, a private, nonprofit federation of 75 national scholarly organizations, aims to advance scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences by awarding fellowships and strengthening relations among learned societies. Since 1957, more than 40 Wesleyan faculty have received an ACLS fellowship. Nguyen will focus her fellowship on Vietnamese American accounts of forced displacement in New Orleans to outline a broader paradigm for…

On March 1, Wesleyan will host the Veritas Forum featuring a discussion between Michael Wear, previously Faith Outreach Director of the Obama Administration, and President Michael Roth. Professor of Government Mary Alice Haddad will moderate. The event, titled, "The Trouble with Freedom: A Dialogue on Freedom in 21st Century America from a Religious and Secular Perspective," will take place at 7–8:30 p.m. in Daniel Family Commons, Usdan University Center. It is free and open to the public. The forum will explore the political, social, cultural, and religious implications of religious liberty. The presenters will share their past experiences and worldviews on religious…

Bloom Reimagines a Forbidden Love Affair in White Houses

Wesleyan in the News

Khamis Named a Harvard Kennedy School WAPPP Fellow

Kauanui Delivers Keynote Focused on U.S. Militarism and Hawaiian Decolonization

Birney Receives Mellon Fellowship to Pursue Role of Scents in Antiquity

Kleinberg Lectures in France, Elected to Historiography Commission

Alumni, Faculty, Graduate Students Make Presentations at Planetary Science Conference

Moore Remembered for Contributions to Monetary Economics

Naegele in The Conversation: Are Neurons Added to the Human Brain after Birth?

Higgins in The Conversation: Letting Audiences Twist the Plot

Nguyen to Research Refugee Narratives in New Orleans as ACLS Fellow

Veritas Forum to Explore Religious Liberty Issues in American Society