David LowThe first comprehensive mid-career retrospective devoted to pioneering New York–based artist Glenn Ligon ’82 is being held at the Whitney Museum of American Art (45 Madison Ave. at 75th Street, 212-570-3600) in New York City through June 5. The exhibition, "Glenn Ligon: AMERICA," features about 100 works, including paintings, prints, photography, drawings, and sculptural installations, as well as striking recent neon reliefs, one of them newly commissioned for the Whitney’s Madison Avenue windows. Over the course of his career, Ligon has created a body of work that has explored American history, literature, and society as it has built critically on the legacies…
For three years, Dana Delany ’78 brought a refreshing jolt of energy to ABC’s Desperate Housewives, in which she played the intriguing and conniving Katherine Mayfair. After displaying remarkable chemistry with actor Nathan Fillion on another popular ABC show Castle, she will now star on the same network in her own program, Body of Proof, which premieres on Tuesday, March 29. Delany plays Megan Hunt, a medical examiner who formerly was the first female head of neurosurgery at a prominent U.S. university hospital. Hunt takes on a new career when a car crash leaves her unable to continue performing surgery.…
Dr. Halley Faust, MA ’05 has been elected the president of the Board of Regents of the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM). Faust will assume the presidency in 2013; he will sit on the Board of Regents and the executive committee of the board until 2017, according to the Jewish Ledger. Faust currently works in bioethics and venture capital from his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He is clinical associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of New Mexico, and sits on the university’s Preventive Medicine Residency Advisory Committee. Previously, he was visiting professor of biology…
Ellen Driscoll ’74 is one of three artists this year to receive the prestigious 2010 MacColl Johnson Fellowships of $25,000 each—one of the largest no-strings awards to artists in the United States—from the Rhode Island Foundation. The fellowships are intended “to fund an artist’s vision or voice,” and have been awarded on a three-year cycle since 2005 to composers, writers, and visual artists. Providence-based Driscoll, a professor of sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design, plans to use her award to create three new floating sculptures for the Providence River. Her creations in sculpture, drawing, installation, and public art reflects…
Cynthia RockwellNominated by President Obama in January 2011 and confirmed in March, Eric Postel ’77 joins the leadership team at the U.S. Agency for International Development as assistant administrator for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. Postel, an experienced economic development expert and financier with a background in emerging markets investments, has worked in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East as an advisor and financial officer. In 2006, he served as commissioner on the bi-partisan Senate Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People Around the Globe (HELP) Commission. A mathematics/economics major at Wesleyan, he is also a four-year veteran of the…
Olivia DrakeAli Chaudhry ’12 and Kumail Akbar '12 participated in the Geneva International Model United Nations (GIMUN) conference March 12-18. Chaudhry and Akbar currently serve as co-presidents for the Wesleyan Model United Nations Society. The conference took place at the "Palais des Nations," the United Nations Office at Geneva (previously the Headquarters of the League of Nations). Meetings were held in rooms used by United Nation committees with journalists and interpreters in attendance. The students dined in the UN cafeteria. “It felt like we were living the life of a diplomat,” Chaudhry says. “We were walking around conducting negotiations and overseeing…
Two student-run organizations, Brighter Dawns and Possibilities Pakistan, were named semifinalists in the 2011 Dell Social Innovation Competition. Vote tallies, along with the competition judges, determines the $50,000 grand prize winner. Possibilities Pakistan already received the Dell Social Innovation Competition “Webbie Award” worth $1,000, for receiving the most votes online. The organization collected a total of 67,830 votes. More information (more…)
David PesciAppearing on a March 4 episode of “The Takeaway,” which is broadcast by NPR and other affiliates, Laura Stark, assistant professor of science in society, assistant professor of sociology, assistant professor of environmental studies, discusses her research which uncovered medical experiments in the U.S. on uninformed or under-informed individuals. The questionable consent practices ultimately led to today’s informed consent procedures and continue to influence consent development. She also commented in a story posted by ABC News, discussing unethical medical experiments performed on prisoners, the disabled and others during the last century.
Neely Bruce, professor of music, received an Arts Advocy Award from the Middletown Commission on the Arts on April 4. Annually, in honor of National Arts Advocacy Day, the Middletown Commission celebrates an individual and a group who have shown extraordinary support and initiative for the arts in the city. Bruce was granted the individual award for his lifelong commitment to the arts. Bruce is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music, past chorus director for Connecticut Opera, and director of music at South Congregational Church.
Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, is the recipient of the Curran Fellowship for 2011, according to the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP). The Curran Fellowship, made possible through the generosity of Eileen Curran, professor emerita of English at Colby College, and inspired by her pioneering research, provides research and travel grants intended to aid scholars studying 19th-century British magazines and newspapers in making use of primary print and manuscript sources. Tucker is carrying out a study of the British press's coverage of the Tichborne Claimant…
On a March 9 episode of Ebru TV‘s “Fresh Outlook,” Giulio Gallarotti, professor of government, discussed the premise, “Has the United States, once the leader of the free world, lost its edge?” The discussion was prompted by recent world events, especially the uprisings in the Middle East, as well as the outcome of last fall’s G-20 Summit. Ebru TV is a Turkish-based broadcasting network with affiliates throughout the world.
The Telegraph (UK) is reporting that a recently-discovered dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period (about 110 million years ago) has been named Brontomerus mcintoshi for John S. “Jack” McIntosh, Foss Professor of Physics, emeritus. The fossil, discovered in Utah, is marked by its large, powerful thighs which may have been used to kick predators and travel over rough terrain. The American-British team of scientists who discovered the remains named the dinosaur for McIntosh, “a lifelong avocational paleontologist.” According to the article, it's possible that Brontomerus mcintoshi was more athletic than most other sauropods. It is well established that far from being…