Faculty – Page 41

The Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching recognizes Wesleyan faculty who have had a lasting impact on the academic and personal development of their students. Juniors, seniors, graduate students and Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) are able to nominate up to three professors for 2017 Binswanger Prizes, which will be awarded during Wesleyan's Commencement Ceremony on May 28. The deadline for nominations is February 9, 2017. NOMINATE NOW. The Binswanger Prize is made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank Binswanger Sr. Hon. ’85, and underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers who are responsible for the university’s distinctive approach…

For her outstanding efforts in pioneering studies in micropalaeontology and natural history, The Micropalaeontological Society (TMS) awarded Wesleyan's Ellen Thomas with the 2016 Brady Medal. The Brady Medal is TMS's most prestigious honor and is awarded to scientists who have had a major influence on micropalaeontology by means of a substantial body of research. Thomas was honored for "communicating to an extremely broad audience fascinating, impactful and often thought-provoking research" and "academic encouragement of students and peers over the years with [her] generosity of time in a very busy and successful career," noted TMS President F. John Gregory. Thomas, research professor…

Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, is the co-author of "Pteropoda (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Thecosomata) from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum of the United States Atlantic Coastal Plain," published in Palaeontologia Electronica, Article 19 (3) in October 2016. The Paleocene Epoch lasted 65 to 54.8 million years ago and the Eocene Epoch lasted from 56 to 33.9 million years ago, and was a period of rapid global warming. The response of many organisms to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) has been documented, but marine mollusks are not known from any deposits of that age. For the first time, Thomas and her…

Following a visit to China Peking University–Shenzhen, which has decided to start an undergraduate liberal arts college, President Michael Roth reflects in an op-ed in The Washington Post on why commitment to a liberal education is more important today than ever. He contends, "This is a fragile time for liberal education, making commitment to it all the more urgent." Keeping in mind John Dewey, the pragmatist philosopher who visited China in 1919 to talk about education, Roth focuses on "two dangers and two possibilities." He warns of the "danger of narrowing specialization" at a time when "we need more academics who can…

Associate Professor of Dance Hari Krishnan has been named one of "10 Toronto Stage Artists to Watch This Winter" by NOW Toronto magazine, which highlights his upcoming spring production, "Holy Cow(s)!" exploring cultural appropriation. It will run March 23-25 at Harbourfront Centre Theatre. The profile of Krishnan states: "A few years ago, Krishnan heated up the local dance scene with a sizzling, eyebrow-raising piece about queerness called SKIN. Now, just in time to melt winter's last snow comes a white-hot mixed program sending up ideas about gender, sexuality and cultural taboos. The night of solos and ensemble pieces includes works…

A Brazilian play, translated by Wesleyan's Elizabeth Jackson, will make its American premiere at The Yale Cabaret in early February. "The Meal: Dramatic Essays on Cannibalism" tells three stories about people consuming — and being consumed. This poetic piece by Newton Moreno, one of Brazil’s leading contemporary playwrights, was translated into English by Jackson, adjunct associate professor of Portuguese for Wesleyan's Romance Languages and Literatures Department. Jackson's translation of "The Meal" first appeared in Theater, Yale's journal of criticism, plays, and reportage (Vol. 45 No. 2, 2015). "The Meal" is one of four texts by different playwrights that Jackson translated for the journal.…

Abigail Hornstein, associate professor of economics, presented two papers at the 2017 American Economic Association meeting held Jan. 6-8 in Chicago. In her working paper, "Words vs. Actions: International Variation in the Propensity to Honor Pledges," Hornstein used data on contracted and utilized foreign direct investment in China to show that firms fulfill an average of 59 percent of their pledges within two years. "The propensity to fulfill contracts is lower for firms from countries with greater uncertainty avoidance, power distance and egalitarianism; and is higher if the source country is more traditional," she explained. Prior literature has shown that…

Professor of Economics Richard Grossman tells his students that getting closer to the truth is what economic research is all about. That's why he was so dismayed when "my devotion to, and belief in, the truth was battered by the presidential election," he writes in an op-ed on The Hill. He writes: It turns out that polling data and analysis contained very little truth. The news were no better. The mainstream media got many things wrong. And there was no shortage of fake news. Although peddled as the real thing, it really wasn’t even trying to provide truth, only to shape opinion.…

Sonia Sultan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies, was invited to speak at a major meeting of London’s Royal Society in November. The theme of the meeting was “New Trends in Evolutionary Biology.” Sultan was joined by biologists, anthropologists, doctors, computer scientists and other visionaries to discuss the future of evolutionary biology. Sultan discussed her research on the Polygonum plant, known by its common name “smartweed.” Her research shows that if genetically identical smartweed plants are raised under different conditions, the end result is plants that may look like they belong to different species. Sultan is a plant evolutionary…

From Dec. 17-24, 2016, University Professor of Music Sumarsam and other 40 diasporic Indonesian scholars were invited by the Indonesian Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Ristekdikti) to participate in a program called “Visiting World Class Professor.” The program aims at enhancing human resources of higher education in Indonesia through various scholarly activities. After the opening of the program by the Vice President Yusuf Kalla, the Minister of Ristekdikti and its Director General of Resources, the first day of the program consisted of seminars and workshops in Jakarta, attended by university rectors and academics. Each of the scholars were…

In human beings, the cerebellum occupies only 10 percent of the brain volume, yet has approximately 69 billion neurons; that is 80 percent of the nerve cells in the brain. In the book Evolution of the Cerebellar Sense of Self, published by Oxford University Press in January, co-authors David Bodznick and John Montgomery use an evolutionary perspective to explain cerebellar research to a wide audience. Bodznick is professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior at Wesleyan, and Montgomery is professor of biology and marine science at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The cerebellum first arose in jawed…

This fall, the College of East Asian Studies welcomes Joan Cho to Wesleyan. Cho is an assistant professor of East Asian studies, a tenure-track position partially funded by the Korea Foundation. She also is an affiliate member of the Government Department. Her research and teaching interests include authoritarian regimes, democratization, and social movements, with a regional focus on Korea and East Asia. During the fall semester, Cho taught Social and Political Changes in Korea and Democracy and Social Movements in East Asia. In spring, she will teach Korean Politics through Film and Legacies of Authoritarian Politics. "Although this is only my…

Nominate Wesleyan Professors for Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching

Thomas Honored by Micropalaeontology Society

Thomas’s Research on Marine Biota during a Period of Rapid Global Warming Published

President Roth Defends Liberal Education in Op-Ed, Radio Interview

Krishnan Named One of “10 Toronto Stage Artists to Watch”

Brazilian Play on Cannibalism, Translated by Jackson, to Make American Debut

Hornstein Presents Papers at American Economic Association Conference

Grossman Argues Truth Was Lost in the Election

Sultan Discusses Evolutionary Biology at the Royal Society in London

Sumarsam Attends World Class Professors Program in Indonesia

Bodznick Co-Authors Book on Cerebellar Sense of Self

East Asian Studies Welcomes Korean Politics Expert Joan Cho