Jerry M. Melillo ’65, Distinguished Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), was named chair of a joint public-private sector committee that will produce the next National Climate Assessment report for the United States. Gary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and environmental studies, is also a vice-chair of the National Climate Assessment. The National Climate Assessment analyzes the latest science and information about the current and projected effects of climate variability and change across the United States. The committee is an advisory body to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. His appointment to lead the National Climate Assessment committee…

K. C. Chan ’79, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, has been raising awareness Hong Kong’s role in the global financial marketplace. Chan was recently featured in an article in China Daily, where he talked about Hong Kong as a financial center and a good offshore market for Chinese and international investors, assuming a central role in the internationalization of the yuan. Chan said, “For me, Hong Kong’s strength is definitely international connectivity. We must make sure we build on that strength. … These days I think Hong Kong is still trailing behind New York and London,…

Eric M. Wetlaufer ’84 was named senior vice president, heading CPP Investment Board’s public market investments division. Prior to joining CPPIB this June, he was the group chief investment officer of the international division at Fidelity Management and Research in Boston. Previously, he was a chief investment officer at Putnam Investments, and a managing director at Cadence Capital Management. At Wesleyan, he earned his bachelor’s degree with a major in earth science. He is a chartered financial analyst.

The Hon. Rachel A. Ruane ’97 was appointed Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court, by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in December 2010. Previously, she was affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in the Office of the Chief Counsel in Los Angeles, Calif. serving in a number of different roles, most recently as deputy chief counsel. At Wesleyan, she double-majored in government and American studies, with Professor of Government John Finn and Professor of American Studies Claire Potter as her advisors. She earned her juris doctorate from Emory University and was a judicial law clerk for the Executive Office for Immigration Review,…

Kathy Prager Conrad '81 was named the principal deputy associate administrator of the General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. Honored as a Federal 100 award winner by Federal Computer Week in March, she was previously senior vice president of Jefferson Consulting Group. In an interview with Federal Computer Week, Conrad noted that she was honored to have the opportunity to advance the Administration's open government and innovation initiatives. Her new responsibilities include fostering adoption of innovative technologies such as cloud services and mobile computing and enhancing use of government data to improve government and citizen engagement.…

Jonathan Smith ’92 will be one of 14 delegates selected to participate in the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) Mission to Indonesia in July. The delegation, made up of U.S. investors, entrepreneurs and academics, will offer individualized mentoring to Indonesian early-stage and growth-stage companies. Additionally Indonesian start-ups will have an opportunity to present their ideas to the delegation with the hopes of obtaining investors. Smith, who earned his Wesleyan bachelor’s degree with a College of Social Studies degree, also holds a master’s degree in accounting, as well as a certificate in Homeland Securities Studies from Michigan State University.…

In late December, Denise Jefferson Casper ’90 was confirmed to a United States District Court Judgeship in Massachusetts. She had been nominated last April by President Obama, and an American Bar Association panel had rated her as "unanimously well qualified'' for this lifetime appointment. Casper was previously the Deputy District Attorney for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, overseeing the daily operations of one of the largest district attorney's offices in New England.  Prior to that position, Casper taught legal writing at Boston University School of Law. She had served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston from 1999 to…

The law firm of Miller Canfield has elected Megan Norris ’83 to serve a two-year term as a managing director, effective Jan. 1. She is part of a five-person management administration that works with the CEO to oversee the firm’s offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Poland and China. A principal in the Detroit, Mich. office, Norris is leader of the firm’s Labor and Employment Law Group. She counsels clients on employment matters that include discipline and discharge, discrimination, harassment, and tort claims. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family…

The 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…

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…