Cynthia RockwellPhilip Stern ’97, assistant professor of history at Duke University, received the 2011 Morris D. Forkosch Prize for the best book in the field of British, British Imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485. The prize, awarded by the American Historical Association, recognizes Stern’s The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India (Oxford University Press, 2011). The prize committee calls Stern’s book a “sophisticated study of the East India Company …[that] challenges a long-established account of the chartered company as a trading venture that only belatedly became a territorial power” and lauds him…
Susan Rodrigue McFarland ’90 was appointed director of health, safety and environmental affairs at the Barnes Group, Inc., in Bristol, Conn. A molecular biology and biochemistry major at Wesleyan, McFarland earned a master’s degree in environmental sciences at the University of New Haven and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer in Hartford, Conn. She has worked in environmental compliance and occupational safety for 22 years. Prior to joining the Barnes Group, she worked at Pratt and Whitney, Sikorsky Aircraft and Carrier Corporation.
(Story contributed By Susannah Betts ’15) Elizabeth Liang ’92, who graduated from Wesleyan with a B.A. in English literature, is the author of two recently-published essays. Her essay, "Transforming Three Sisters, A Hapa Family in Chekov’s Modern Classic," was included in the academic journal Asian American Literature: Discourses and Pedagogies published by San Jose State University. It's published online here. Another of her essays, "Checked Baggage: Writing Unpacked," is in the anthology Writing Out of Limbo: International Childhoods, Global Nomads, and Third Culture Kids published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Morten Ender, professor of sociology at the United States Military Academy at…
Ralph Jones III '78 was recently named president and chief operating officer of SPARTA Insurance. An economics major at Wesleyan, he began his insurance career at Chubb and Son, with underwriting positions of increasing responsibility in their offices on both the East and West coasts. Named chief underwriting officer for Europe, he moved to London and later became president of Chubb Europe. In 1999, he was named CEO of Chubb Executive Risk (later Chubb Specialty Insurance). In 2003, he joined Arch Worldwide Insurance as their CEO and then, five years later, joined Everest Reinsurance Holdings as president and COO. Jones…
Mark Puzella ’94 joined the law firm of Fish and Richardson in Boston as a principal in its intellectual property litigation group. He will continue to focus his practice on copyright, trademark, false advertising and licensing disputes for clients. Previously a partner at Goodwin Procter, he had recently served as co-lead counsel for Aereo, Inc., in a high-profile copyright case brought by major television networks regarding technology that enables access to over-the-air television broadcast signals and other services. Attorney Ann Cathcart Chaplin, the litigation practice group leader at Fish, says that the addition of Puzella “will help us build on…
Olivia DrakeLaura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society, professor of biology, received a grant worth $10,000 from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven on Dec. 14, 2012. The award will support a project titled "Reintegrate," an interactive, multi-media performance piece that will explore stems cells and the ethical implications of stem cell research. The piece will investigate personal meaning and the power of metaphor in science and art. Particular focus will be placed on how individuals bring their full thoughtful and emotional selves to both scientific exploration and artistic creation. "In the science classroom at Wesleyan, we…
Wesleyan University Press received a grant of $35,000 from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving on Nov. 6, 2012. The grant will support the publication of up to seven books, published either as part of the 2013 Driftless Connecticut Series or selected books outside the series. The grant was made possible through the generosity of the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation.
The Center for the Arts received a grant for $25,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development. on Jan. 17. The award will support the Middletown Remix project and a festival in Middletown's North End on May 11. The Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Wesleyan University Press received a grant for $2,500 on Dec. 14 from the J.M. Kaplan Fund. The award will support of Jelle Zeilinga de Boer's forthcoming book New Haven's Sentinels: the Art and Science of East Rock and West Rock. de Boer is Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, Emeritus at Wesleyan.
The Center for the Arts received a grant for $6,000 from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven on Dec. 18, 2012. The award will support a symposium titled "Innovations: Intersections of Art and Science" on Feb. 28 and March 1. The symposium will bring teams of artists and scientists together to share approaches, skills and outcomes of their research at the intersection of art and science. For more information, open the graphic on this page, or see this link.
Leah Wright, assistant professor of history, assistant professor of African American studies, received a 2012 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The grant, worth $31,500, will support her her current book project, tentatively titled, The Loneliness of the Black Conservative: Pragmatic Politics & The Pursuit of Power. The 2012 Career Enhancement Fellowship program seeks to increase the presence of minority junior faculty (African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and Native Americans and Native Alaskans), and other junior faculty members committed to eradicating racial…
Jacob Herman, a graduate student in biology, received a grant worth $807 from the Sigma Xi Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Research in January 2013. The award will go toward lab supplies. Herman is investigating DNA methylation as a possible mechanism for adaptive trans-generational effects of drought on plant offspring development. His advisor is Sonia Sultan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies. The Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research program has a highly competitive application process and only 20 percent of applicants receive any level of funding.