Olivia DrakeOn Dec. 12, the Center for the Arts received a grant worth $136,585 from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCCT) to support the Feet to the Fire initiative in 2011-12. The CCCT also awarded the CFA with an $11,000 award to support the Breaking Ground Dance Series in 2011-12.
Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, was featured in the Dec. 24 edition of the New York Times for his efforts teaching incarcerated men Dante’s “Inferno.” In the Dante Project, Jenkins leads a series of workshops that, through reading, analyzing, adapting and performing, explores the connections between Dante’s 14th-century epic poem and the lives of incarcerated men and women. Jenkins, who has taught in Wesleyan’s theater department for 11 years, introduced prison outreach into the curriculum in 2007, bringing Wesleyan students to the York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Niantic, to work with inmates on literary classics. In 2009 and 2010, they…
David PesciSuzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, and Edward Laine ’69, associate professor of earth and oceanographic science at Bowdoin College, organized a virtual workshop on service learning through the National Science Foundation in early 2010. Several participants met in person at the fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) national meeting in fall 2010. Timothy Ku, associate professor of earth and environmental science, one of virtual workshop participants, presented information about his service learning course “Environmental Geochemistry” at the AGU meeting. Laine, O’Connell, and Ku are pictured above at the AGU meeting.
On a recent episode of WNPR’s ‘Where We Live,’ Giulio Gallarotti, professor of government, and Michael Nelson, assistant professor of government, discussed China’s rising national profile and the Western perceptions of Chinese power. According to the WNPR broadcast, China reports a $20.8 billion trade surplus for December, $191 billion for the year and the world is cowering in fear of China’s rapid rise to power. Goldman Sachs predicts China’s and U.S. economies will be equivalent in size around 2027. As a result, recent polls show that Americans think the U.S. is in a downward spiral and China is the new…
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in December. Thomas joins 502 other fellows from across the country. These individuals will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum to be held Feb. 19 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Thomas will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette as a symbol of her distinguished accomplishments.
Eric GershonPost-Classical Ensemble, the Washington, D.C.-based orchestra co-founded by Angel Gil-Ordóñez, Wesleyan’s director of orchestra studies, has been awarded $200,000 by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The ensemble plans to use the money for programming and touring programs through the 2012-2013 season, as well as a DVD. At Wesleyan, Gil-Ordóñez is director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles, music director of the Wesleyan Orchestra and Wesleyan Concert Choir, and adjunct professor of music. Founded in 2003, the ensemble specializes in thematic programming involving film, theater, dance and vernacular music.
James McGuire, professor of government, delivered four invited lectures in 2010. These include: "Politics, Policy, and Mortality Decline in Chile: The Pinochet Paradox" on April 17 at Carleton College, Foro Latinoamericano; "Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America" on Nov. 3 at Brown University, Center for Latin American Studies; "Social Policies in Latin America: Characteristics and Consequences" on Nov. 11 at the University of California, (more…)
Cynthia RockwellVivian Chau ’03 was selected by Pacific Business News as one of the “Forty Under 40” young Hawaii business leaders last summer, and then in December, the Honolulu Star Advertiser named her one of the “10 people who changed Hawaii in 2010.” An art history major at Wesleyan and an elementary school teacher, Chau developed and now heads a donation project that provides 1,000 pounds of fresh, locally produced food to the homeless each month. Her “Give It Fresh Today”—or GIFT—program began last year, when she set up a table at the entrance of the Hawaii Farm Bureau’s farmers market…
David LowIn a recent article in Time magazine, “Shaking Schools Up in an Already Tumultuous Year,” Andrew Rotherham writes: “With budget cuts looming, and with more states considering radical changes to teacher tenure and other important policies, 2011 looks to be a big year for education, for better or for worse.” Rotherham singles out Michael Bennet ’87, U.S. senator from Colorado and 10 other educational activists for 2011, saying: “These activists are political and apolitical, working to change school systems from within and without, and can be found in the for-profit, nonprofit and governmental sectors.” The article says “Bennet, who was…
Tim Spencer ’97 was named vice president of worldwide sales for Skyword, an innovative venture that has trade-marked the term “search-driven media” (SDM) to describe its service. Spencer will create and oversee the company’s global sales initiatives. Previously vice president of sales for Gerson Lehrman Group, a market research firm maintaining the world’s largest network of subject-matter experts, Spencer began his career with Good Machine, a leading independent producer and distributor of award-winning films, such as The Ice Storm, In The Bedroom and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 2002, the company was acquired by NBC Universal and renamed Focus Features.…
Kenneth Kimmell '82 was named commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Previously he was general counsel for the executive office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, joining Governor Duval Patrick’s team in 2007. Energy and Environment secretary-designate Richard Sullivan has described Kimmell as the “legal lead” on all aspects of recent state energy and environmental policy. Kimmell has been credited with overseeing the state permitting of Cape Wind, the nation’s first off-shore wind project, as well as leading environmental permitting changes and drafting land-based wind energy siting reform legislation. Additionally, he has focused on the development and early implementation…
The New York Law Journal reports that “Katherine B. Forrest, a litigation partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore who specializes in antitrust and intellectual property, has left the firm to join the U.S. Department of Justice today as deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division.” Forrest ’86 will oversee operations for the division’s criminal and civil programs. Her portfolio will also include overseeing international issues and appellate policy for the division. She had been with Cravath since 1990 and made partner in 1998.