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Cynthia RockwellMay 25, 20183min
Frantz Williams Jr. ’99 has been named the successor to Vice President for University Relations Barbara-Jan Wilson, who has announced her upcoming retirement at the end of December 2018. A government major as an undergraduate, Williams joined the University Relations team right after his graduation and has continued to serve the University, most recently as assistant vice president for development. “We’re fortunate that Frantz will lead University Relations,” said President Michael S. Roth ’78. “He is eminently well prepared to continue Barbara-Jan’s legacy of immensely successful fund-raising and friend-raising, and I am grateful that he will be at the helm…

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Olivia DrakeMay 7, 20185min
On May 1, Wesleyan launched a new massive open online course (MOOC) on Coursera titled "Career Decisions: From Insight to Impact." Free to Wesleyan alumni, the course aims to help learners understand their motivations, strengths, and goals, and appreciate how personal identity affects career decision making. A second version of the class for current Wesleyan students will go live in July, and entering students will be encouraged to complete it before they arrive on campus in the fall. The course is taught by Gordon Career Center Director Sharon Belden Castonguay, who also recently gave a talk at TEDxWesleyanU titled, “The…

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Cynthia RockwellMay 7, 20184min
Doris Zhao, an investment associate with Wesleyan’s Investments Office, joined Chief Investment Officer Anne Martin’s team in 2013, after graduating from Yale. Since then, she has completed all three levels of the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst credential. “My role here at Wesleyan is to help manage the portfolio through monitoring our current managers and selecting new managers,” she says. When we approached her for this Q&A, we discovered that scheduling was an issue: Zhao’s position sends her on frequent travel across the country and internationally, but on a sunny December afternoon she was on campus and spoke with us about…

Himeka CurielMay 7, 20183min
The Office of Human Resources announces the following hires, transitions, and departures for January–April 2018. HIRES John Lundell, athletic facility maintenance, on Jan. 2 Johanna DeBari, director of survivor advocacy and community education, on Jan. 3 Lee Walsh, postdoctoral research associate in physics, on Jan. 17 Kara Murphy, development research analyst in University Relations, on Jan. 22 Clifton Watson, director of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, on Feb. 5 Dennis Hohne, video producer in University Communications, on Feb. 12 Nafeza Kingston, facility and events manager in Usdan Campus Center, on Feb. 12 Matthew Magenheim, senior investment associate in the…

Olivia DrakeMay 7, 20185min
This year Wesleyan will reward administrative offices that go green. The new Green Office Certification Program, overseen by the Sustainability Office, is designed to recognize, support, and promote offices that engage in environmentally sustainable practices. All administrative and academic offices are eligible to become certified. To get started, a department needs to elect an office coordinator who will fill out the Green Office Certification form, coordinate office participation, and review completed checklists with the Sustainability Office. The coordinator will distribute individual checklists to all employees in the office or within a defined space. If at least 75 percent of the…

Olivia DrakeMay 7, 20181min
Paul Turenne, systems analyst for Information Technology Services, received a Coordinator of the Year Award during the Middlesex United Way Campaign Awards Breakfast on May 8. Turenne served as Wesleyan’s 2017–18 United Way Employee Campaign campus coordinator. He helped the University post the highest numbers—both in participation and in amount pledged—since 2012. More than 400 Wesleyan employees, retired faculty, and authorized vendors (including 38 “Leadership Givers” pledging $1,000 or more) participated. Together they donated a total of $122,150 in support of United Way programs in Middlesex County and throughout the state. To date, the employee campaign has raised approximately $1.9 million…

Himeka CurielMay 7, 20181min
Three outstanding employees were honored with Cardinal Achievement Awards during the past few months. Smith Kidkarndee, psychotherapist, Counseling and Psychological Services; Cathy-Lee Rizza, assistant director of student accounts, Student Accounts Office; and Gladys Rodriguez, administrative assistant, Registrar's Office were recognized for demonstrating extraordinary initiative in performing a specific task associated with their work at Wesleyan. This special honor comes with a $250 award and reflects the University’s gratitude for their extra efforts.

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Bill HolderMarch 19, 20182min
Barbara-Jan Wilson, vice president for University Relations, recently announced that she will retire in December, ending a Wesleyan career that began in 1982 and included leadership of two major capital campaigns. Wilson assumed her present role in 1999, but she is also well known to generations of alumni through her prior leadership of Admission and before that, Career Resources – the position she took when she was hired by President Emeritus Colin G. Campbell Hon. ’89. Her efforts as Wesleyan’s energetic and highly successful fundraiser spanned two presidents and four Board chairs. She worked with President Emeritus Douglas J. Bennet…

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Cynthia RockwellJanuary 17, 20186min
In this Q&A, we speak to Jasmine Cardi, who joined the Access Services staff at Wesleyan's Olin Library on Jan. 7, 2013 (“Five years already!” she says). Now the weekend and evening supervisor, she provides support to the departments of Interlibrary Loan (ILL), Olin Reference, Reserves/E-Reserves, and Olin Circulation. With her arrival, the ILL office was able to lengthen their hours until 10 p.m. some evenings, offering availability for those geared to later study nights in the library. Q: What do you like best about working for Interlibrary Loan? A: I love seeing all the books we get from around…

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Olivia DrakeJanuary 16, 20182min
In 2017, the Wesleyan Library began overseeing two programs. The Wesleyan Museum, which houses the university's archaeology and anthropology collection, has moved under the library's oversight. These materials, located in the Exley Science Center, contain a broad variety of unique items, including Middle Eastern artifacts, historical materials from 18th- and 19th- century Middletown, missionary-collected objects from South America and Native American pieces including pottery and jewelry. Jessie Cohen is the manager of the collection. The collection will eventually be discoverable through the library’s online catalog (OneSearch) so students and faculty will have the opportunity to find and physically work with…