Mike SembosLaura Fraser '82, who majored in American studies, has cofounded and launched Shebooks, an e-publishing site dedicated to producing short e-books by and for women. The site went live in January, and it features exclusive memoirs, fiction and journalism by established authors like Hope Edelman, Marion Winik, Faith Adiele, Jessica Anya Blau and Suzanne Paola. Some contributing Wesleyan authors include Jennifer Finney Boylan '80, who wrote an original novella for Shebooks and is on its advisory board, Virginia Pye '82, who wrote an original novella, stories by Bonnie Friedman '79 and some essays by Fraser herself. All works, ranging from long…
Natalie Robichaud ’14Hamidreza (Hamid) Ramezani Ph.D. ’13, recently won the Biruni Graduate Student Research Award. The award aims to promote and recognize outstanding research by a physics graduate student of Iranian heritage who is currently studying in one of the institutions of higher education in the United States, seeking originality, thoroughness, a teamwork spirit and ownership among the candidates. The honor comes with a cash award. Before graduating with his Ph.D. from Wesleyan in November, Ramezani studied cosmology and gravitational physics while earning his master’s degree at the University of Tehran. He completed his bachelor study in solid state physics at Sahed University.…
Cynthia RockwellMax Perel-Slater ’11 has won an Advancing Leaders Fellowship from World Learning for the Tanzania-based project, The Maji Safi Movement (“maji safi” means “clean water” in Swahili; see majisafimovement.org). Maji Safi is focused on disease prevention and health promotion and particularly aimed at empowering rural communities in their efforts to combat water-borne and water-related diseases. The Movement encompasses both a local NGO and a US-based 501(c)3; Perel-Slater is president and co-founder of the U.S. arm and treasurer of the Tanzania-based organization. He has worked on water projects in Shirati, Tanzania, since 2009, when he led the construction of a rainwater…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently appointed Shola Olatoye ’96 as chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority. Olatoye’s last position was vice president at Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit organization that advocates affordable housing nationally. The previous head of the authority was John Rhea ’87. The mayor made the announcement at the Abraham Lincoln Houses in Harlem, a complex of 1,282 apartments in which de Blasio and other Democratic candidates spent a night during the mayoral campaign in order to get a firsthand look at the “moldy walls and broken cabinets” that constitute the disrepair of…
Clifton B. “Kip” Anderson ’71 has written a full-length poetry book, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder, published by White Violet Press in 2013. Anderson was a gardener with the PBS show “The Victory Garden” for over 20 years and only began writing poetry in 2003, at the age of 54. He e-published an e-chapbook, A Walk in the Dark, with The New Formalist Press in 2007. This new work is the first poetry collection he’s published using ink and paper. Anderson’s poems are strongly influenced by the world of fertility and natural growth, but they are not simply an…
Olivia DrakePeri Smilow '82, a College of Letters graduate, will be honored at the Association of Reform Zionists of America's (ARZA) 36th Anniversary Gala on April 5 at Central Synagogue in New York City. Known internationally as one of the bright lights in contemporary Jewish music, Smilow will be recognized for her ability to elicit a sense of spirituality and social action in her audiences, drawing on a wealth of personal and professional experiences. As a composer, Smilow's music is sung in worship, in youth group settings and at Jewish summer camps throughout the country. As a recording and touring artist, her music has been enjoyed…
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Four Wesleyan faculty and five alumni participated in the annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) in Boston, Nov. 21-24, 2013. Wesleyan attendees included Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic thought, professor of government, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, tutor in the College of Social Studies; Victoria Smolkin-Rothrock, assistant professor of history, assistant professor of Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies, tutor in the College of Social Studies; Priscilla Meyer, professor of Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies; Bill Trousdale, associate professor of physics, emeritus; and Russian…
Bill FisherNataly Kogan '98 is the co-founder and "chief happiness officer" of Happier.com, a Boston-based happiness company. Kogan immigrated to the United States with her parents from the former Soviet Union when she was thirteen and spent two decades "chasing the big happy," as she calls it. But when even her achievements failed to make her truly happy, Nataly turned to science and became inspired to stop saying "I'll be happy when..." and start thinking "I'm happier now because..." Kogan was a student in the College of Social Studies and met her husband, Avi Grossman Spivack '99, while they were working…
David LowThe ever-busy Jeffrey Richards ’69 is the co-producer of a new musical The Bridges of Madison County, based on the hugely popular novel by Robert James Waller, which opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway on February 20. The musical stars acclaimed actors Kelli O’Hara (Nice Work If You Can Get It, South Pacific) and Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) with a score by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, Parade), a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden, ‘Night, Mother), and direction by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, The Light…
Brian KattenTalia Bernstein '11 made a walk-on in a scene set at Wesleyan during the episode of How I Met Your Mother titled "Rally" which aired Monday, Feb. 24. Bernstein is the all-time leading hitter in Wesleyan softball history with 192 career hits and the career RBI leader with 114. She works on the production staff of the show and was picked to walk across the scene in her Wesleyan softball sweatshirt while characters Marshall and Lily Eriksen were dropping their son off at Wesleyan in the year 2030. How I Met Your Mother is in its ninth and final season…
Dan Poliner ’97 released his debut feature-length film “Jack, Jules, Esther & Me” in October 2013 at the Austin Film Festival. It’s about four friends living in NYC — two rich and two poor — during their final week of summer before leaving for college. It’s a wacky comedy, a romantic comedy and an examination of the differing paths presented to those who have money, and those who don’t. Much of the music in the film was provided by the band Peace Museum, which Casey Feldman ’12 formed on campus. “I believe all the music was recorded while they were…