Faculty – Page 55

Jelle Zelinga de Boer, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, was selected by the Geological Society of Connecticut (GSC) as the recipient of its 2015 Joe Webb Peoples Award, in recognition of de Boer's many contributions to the understanding of the geology of Connecticut. (more…)

A book by Stephen Angle, the Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, was recently published in Chinese translation by Jiangxi People's Press. Titled, "Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy: Toward Progressive Confucianism," the book was originally published by Polity in 2013. The Chinese version includes a new preface. According to the blurb for the English-language version: Confucian political philosophy has recently emerged as a vibrant area of thought both in China and around the globe. This book provides an accessible introduction to the main perspectives and topics being debated today, and shows why Progressive Confucianism is a particularly promising approach. Students…

Writing in the The Washington Post, President Michael Roth questions the predominant media narrative painting college students as "pampered with coddled minds." Roth argues that such denigration of young people by older generations is an age old tradition, dating back to the founding fathers shaking "their heads about dueling and drinking on campus." He writes: When I look around my campus and visit others, I don’t find pampered students with coddled minds. I find math majors in the gym every day preparing for a soccer match or a swim meet. I find writers pulling all-nighters to finish a project working side by…

Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, appears in an interview about internationally renowned film actress Ingrid Bergman in the new documentary Ingrid Bergman—In Her Own Words, directed by Stig Bjorkman, which recounts the life of the cinema luminary through the subject’s home movies, photographs, diary entries and letters to family and friends. The director had access to these materials from the Ingrid Bergman Collection at the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, making ample use of them in the film. The documentary also features interviews with Bergman’s daughter, actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini, as well as other relatives and actresses Liv…

(By Fred Wills '19) A composition by Assistant Professor of Music Paula Matthusen will debut in the U.S. on Nov. 21. Her work, “on the attraction for felicitous amplitude,” will be performed by the string quartet, Brooklyn Rider, in Crowell Concert Hall. Join Matthusen for a pre-concert talk at starting at 7:15 p.m. In addition, on Dec. 3, violinist Todd Reynolds will perform a composition written by Matthusen at CFA Hall. Matthusen returns to Wesleyan this fall after being named a 2014-2015 Rome Prize recipient. Through a fellowship awarded by The American Academy in Rome, she received the opportunity to expand upon her own professional and…

In an op-ed written for Inside Sources (and appearing in Las Vegas Sun and other newspapers), Assistant Professor of Government Ioana Emy Matesan questions whether the swift French military response to the recent ISIS attacks on Paris will be effective in preventing future attacks and improving security for civilians. Matesan, who studies contentious politics and political violence in the Middle East, considers different opinions on ISIS's strategic logic and what each would mean for the repercussions of a military response. She concludes that the most likely logic is one of provocation. She writes: [Provocation] is a strategy beloved by al-Qaida and many other extremist groups,…

Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, will participate in an international simulcast on Nov. 27 to celebrate Balinese language and Indonesia’s cultural and linguistic diversity. The simulcast will take place at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington where Jenkins will be helping to celebrate Saraswati Day by reading from his new book, Saraswati in Bali. Saraswati Day is the Balinese day set aside for honoring wisdom, knowledge and culture. The celebration will be streamed simultaneously to Indonesian diplomatic missions in New York, Tokyo, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Australia. The program also will include live simulcasts of a reading of a…

The Muslim Coalition of Connecticut honored Wesleyan's Center for the Arts on Nov. 15 for its "outstanding contributions and standards of excellence in advancing higher education," according to a proclamation from Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman. The awards dinner in Hartford was attended by Center for the Arts Director Pam Tatge, Associate Provost Mark Hovey, and faculty, staff and students from the advisory committee and Wesleyan's Muslim Students Association. View the event's photo gallery online. The honor recognized the CFA's Muslim Women's Voices series during the 2014-15 academic year. The series explored and celebrated the complexity of Muslim women today, and the historical and cultural context from…

Psyche Loui, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, assistant professor of integrated sciences, is the co-author of a new study, "Rhythmic Effects of Syntax Processing in Music and Language" published in Frontiers in Psychology in November. The article's lead author is Harim Jung '16, and it is also co-authored by Samuel Sontag '14 and YeBin "Shiny" Park '15. According to Loui, the paper grew out of her Advanced Research Methods in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience course, and is the precursor to Jung's senior and master's theses. The study uses a behavioral test to look into how music…

Graduate Liberal Studies will present a special concert and open session of the course Monk and Mingus: The Cutting Edge of Jazz with Jazz Ensemble Coach Noah Baerman, Nov. 30 in Russell House. Baerman will perform on piano, accompanied by bassist Henry Lugo, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Private Lessons Teacher Pheeroan akLaff on percussion. The first hour of the class (6:30-7:30 p.m.) will be a discussion, demonstration and Q&A session, followed by a performance of music composed by and associated with Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. Attendees interested in learning more about Graduate Liberal Studies are encouraged…

On Nov. 9, more than 200 people gathered to celebrate the launch of The World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Capacity Building in Mental Health at Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry. The event, Global Mental Health Priorities and Opportunities, provided a platform for discourse around the challenges humans are tackling in mental health. Ruth Weissman, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, professor of psychology, joined a panel discussion on "Global Mental Health Priorities and Opportunities," which was moderated by Pulitzer Prize winning author Sheryl WuDunn. Weissman and other leaders in the field discussed stigma…

(by Fred Wills '19) Joseph Rouse, the Hedding Professor of Moral Science, is the author of a new book titled Articulating the World: Conceptual Understanding and the Scientific Image, published by University of Chicago Press in December 2015. Rouse also is professor of philosophy, professor and chair of the Science in Society Program, professor of environmental studies. In his new book, Rouse examines naturalism as a historically situated philosophical project, "as we find ourselves in the midst of ongoing conflicts over what naturalism’s commitments are and why they matter, along with challenges to those commitments," he explained. According to Rouse, “the most…

de Boer Honored by GSC

Angle’s Book Published in Chinese Translation

Roth Disputes Narrative of ‘Coddled’ College Students in Op-Ed

Basinger Interviewed in Ingrid Bergman Documentary

Composer Matthusen’s U.S. Premiere Performed Nov. 21 at Crowell

Matesan Writes About Strategic Response to ISIS Attacks on Paris

Jenkins Celebrates Indonesia’s Cultural, Linguistic Diversity in International Simulcast

Muslim Coalition of Connecticut Honors Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts

Loui, Jung ’16, Alumni Authors of Article in Frontiers in Psychology

GLS Presents Jazz Concert, Open Course Session, Nov. 30

Weissman Discusses Mental Health Care as Panelist

Rouse Examines Naturalism in Articulating the World