Faculty – Page 46

Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, is organizing a conference titled "Firearms and the Common Law Tradition" to be held at the The Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., Sept. 14-15. Topics will include "The Uses of Guns," "Laws Regulating Carriage of Guns," "Guns and the Supreme Court: The Influence of History," and "Guns and Constitutional Rights." Focused on the ways in which historical arguments have become important for the judicial debate about guns in America, the discussion will feature Darrell Miller, professor of law at Duke University School of Law and Eugene Volokh, the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA…

University Professor of Music Sumarsam and several PhD students and alumni recently presented papers at the 4th Symposium of the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on the Performing Arts of Southeast Asia (ICTM PASEA). The symposium was hosted by Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia, from July 31 to Aug. 6. Sumarsam presented a paper titled, "Religiosity in Javanese Wayang Puppet Play," and demonstrated puppet movements. (more…)

This month, the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center is once again hosting its K-8 Math Institute for 29 school teachers from Vernon and Hamden, Conn. The 80-hour program aims to increase teachers' mastery of math concepts as well as their confidence with math. Wesleyan Associate Professor of Mathematics Christopher Rasmussen is teaching the institute along with Sharon Heyman, a mathematics education specialist from the University of Connecticut. This is the fifth time the pair has taught the course together. The institute includes the content-intensive, 80-hour Intel Math course over the summer as a foundation for teachers, several follow-up workshops during the school year…

Two Wesleyan faculty received National Endowment for the Humanities grants on Aug. 9. Katherine Kuenzli, associate professor of art history, received a $250,000 Scholarly Editions and Translations grant. She and project co-directors Michael André and Kathleen James-Chakraborty will use the funds to prepare a critical edition and translation of a selection of writings by the Belgian artist and essayist Henry van de Velde titled Henry van de Velde: Selected Essays, 1889–1914. Scholarly Editions and Translations grants support the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. Typically,…

Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, was interviewed on BYUradio about the Olympics and nationalism. "The Olympics are practically built for indulging in what you might call 'good nationalism,' as opposed to the xenophobic kind," said host Julie Rose in the introduction. Yet this year's Olympic Games come at a time of fear of outsiders, both in the U.S. and abroad. They begin by discussing the difference between patriotism—which has more positive connotations—and nationalism, which implies dislike of foreigners. The key distinction, says Rutland, is about having respect for people from all countries.…

Kali Nicole Gross, professor of African American studies, writes in The Huffington Post about the case of Korryn Gaines, the latest death of an African American at the hand of police. Gaines was fatally shot after a five-hour standoff with police and SWAT officers in Maryland, and had prophesied her own demise during an earlier traffic stop, in which she had also been defiant. While Gaines' behavior may once have appeared irrational, and possibly a sign of mental illness, Gross writes, "after these and so many other deaths of black women and men killed during minor traffic stops, killed for selling loose cigarettes, or…

WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show featured a conversation between Joss Whedon '87, Hon. '13; Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives; and David Lavery, author of Joss Whedon, A Creative Portrait: From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Avengers and co-founder of the Whedon Studies Association. Basinger described her experience with Whedon while he was a student at Wesleyan. "When I encountered Joss at Wesleyan, he was my superhero because he was a really fabulous student, an original thinker and somebody who you just knew was born to be a storyteller. Those things were very, very clearly in…

Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, professor of integrative sciences, recently completed a two-year tenure working for the National Science Foundation's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB). Hingorani served as the program director of the MCB Genetic Mechanisms program. Hingorani worked with investigator-driven proposals submitted to both the Genetic Mechanisms and the Cellular Dynamics and Function programs. As a rotating program director, Hingorani managed proposal reviews and awards and responded to inquiries from principal investigators conducting fundamental research related to the central dogma of biology. (more…)

Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, died July 23 at the age of 81. De Boer received his BS and PhD from the University of Utrecht before coming to Wesleyan as a postdoctoral fellow in 1963. During his early years at Wesleyan he worked closely with Geology Professor Jim Balsley in the field of paleomagnetism. In 1977, de Boer was named the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and in 1984 he was named the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Sciences. In the 1970s de Boer worked as a joint professor at the…

Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, recently completed a collaboration with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in Florence, Italy. The center asked Jenkins to stage a play in a Florentine prison on the theme of human rights. The play, which was based on Dante Aligheri’s 14,000 line epic poem, “The Divine Comedy,” was performed on July 14 and featured Coro Galilei, a choir that specializes in Gregorian chants, and actors from a local prison. The script consisted of texts written by the prisoners on the theme of justice intertwined with fragments from the "Divine Comedy" and interviews with human…

Kindergarten Kickstart, a research-based, summer pre-K program for children in Middletown created by Associate Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman and her students, is celebrating its fifth year. It’s marking the occasion with an event July 20 at the Middletown Roller Skating Rink (free for any current or past Kickstart family, 4 to 6 p.m.) and using a new grant to further develop student innovation in the program. Shusterman and three of her students first launched Kindergarten Kickstart in summer 2012 as a pilot program with 15 children at MacDonough School. They designed the curriculum and taught the program together with…

Norman Shapiro, professor of French and the Distinguished Professor of Literary Translation, is the author/translator of The Gentle Genius of Cécile Périn: Selected Poems (1906-1956), published by Black Widow Press, 2016. This comprehensive bi-lingual anthology covers the full expanse of Périn's (1877-1959) works. "A reader of Cécile Périn's work cannot help being struck by the spontaneous and intuitive nature of her poems, effortlessly flowing from one subject to another, touching the reader by their unstrained yet profoundly beautiful images and sounds," Shapiro said. Despite limited bibliographical resources available on Périn's life, The Gentle Genius provides readers with sufficient material to embrace…

Tucker Coordinates Firearms, Constitutional Rights Conference Sept. 14-15

Sumarsam, PhD Students, Alumni Present at Symposium

Wesleyan Mathematics Faculty Train Area School Teachers

Kuenzli, Horst Honored with NEH Grants for Book Projects

Rutland Speaks on BYUradio about the Olympics, Nationalism

Gross Writes About a ‘Tipping Point’ in Relations Between Police, African Americans

Whedon ’87, Hon. ’13 Talks with Basinger on WNPR

Hingorani Finishes Program Director Appointment with NSF

De Boer Remembered for Teaching Connecticut Geology

Jenkins Stages Play in Florentine Prison

Wesleyan Students Help Local Preschoolers Get a Kickstart on Kindergarten

Shapiro Translates Anthology of French Poet Cécile Périn