Olivia DrakeQ: Dana, you're Wesleyan's first Civic Engagement Fellow. How do you describe your role? A: As the Civic Engagement Fellow, I focus on promoting civic engagement throughout the entire university, with students, faculty and staff. While the focus may be broad, I mainly work with two specific centers: the Center for Community Partnerships, under Director Cathy Lechowicz, and the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, under Director Paul Gagnon. At CCP, I’m primarily involved in informing students about the many opportunities for immediate impact here in Middletown, and in assisting student coordinators of the Office of Community Service's programs. We’re also developing…
Lauren RubensteinHistory major Solomon “Zully” Adler ’11 has been named a Marshall Scholar for 2013-14, an honor that will allow him to study toward a graduate degree at a British university. He is Wesleyan’s eighth Marshall Scholar, and the first since 1996. The Marshall Scholarship was founded in 1953 in honor of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall to commemorate the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan (the American program to help European economies rebuild after the end of World War II). Each year, up to 40 intellectually distinguished young American scholars are selected to receive full financing of a…
Gabe Rosenberg '16Sara Molyneaux ’77 was recently elected first female chair of the Trustees of the Conservation Law Foundation (CFL), a nonprofit environmental protection agency for New England. Molyneaux, who has served on the board since 1998, succeeds Michael Moskow, chair since 2002, and is only the fifth board chair for the 46-year-old organization. In her new capacity, she will help CFL tackle local environmental challenges, such as the impact of recent storms, reducing transportation emissions and building livable cities, creating sustainable food systems and fisheries, and addressing the issue of water pollution in the region. Molyneaux, described as a “passionate environmental…
David LowJohn Whitmore ’62 has co-edited Sources of Vietnamese Tradition (Columbia University Press), a fascinating guide to 2,000 years of Vietnamese history and a comprehensive overview of the society and state of Vietnam. Well-chosen selections deal with key figures, issues, and events, and they create a thematic portrait of the country’s developing territory, politics, culture and relations with neighbors. The volume explores Vietnam’s remarkable independence in the face of Chinese and other external pressures while it recognizes the complexity of the Vietnamese experience over the years. The anthology begins with selections that cover more than a millennium of Chinese dominance over…
In Musicking Bodies: Gesture and Voice in Hindistani Music (Wesleyan University Press), Matthew Rahaim ’00 studies the role of the body in Indian vocal music. Indian vocalists have long traced intricate shapes with their hands while improvising melody. Although every vocalist has an idiosyncratic gestural style, students inherit ways of shaping melodic space from their teachers, and the motion of the hand and voice are always intimately connected. Musicking Bodies is among the first extended studies of the relationship between gesture and melody. Rahaim draws on years of vocal training, ethnography, and close analysis to examine the ways in which…
(Story contributed by Laignee Johnson ’13) Was Johnny Appleseed a real person? Author and professor Ray Silverman MAT ’67 addresses this question and and many others about the American folk figure in his new book, The Core of Johnny Appleseed: The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer (Swedenborg Foundation Press). Silverman’s spiritual biography of Johnny Chapman, the man who came to be known as Johnny Appleseed, seeks to separate reality from legend and find the real man behind all the tall-tale misconceptions. The book depicts Chapman as a businessman full of Christian conviction. Silverman leaves behind portraits of Chapman as…
Cynthia RockwellJohn "Jack" Kuhn ’86 has been named CEO of global insurance for Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. Kuhn will be responsible for the company's U.S., Bermuda and international insurance operations. Based in the Bermuda offices of Endurance, his appointment is subject to approval by the Bermuda Department of Immigration. Kuhn, whose 26-year career in insurance began with Chubb, where he ultimately served as chief underwriting officer for Chubb/Executive Protection, has also built and led specialty insurance operations, both in the United States and internationally. Most recently he was affiliated with Axis Insurance, where,…
In his new book How to Love Wine (William Morrow), The New York Times chief wine critic Eric Asimov ‘79 examines why the American wine culture produces feelings of anxiety and suggests how readers can overcome their fears and develop a sense of discovery and wonder as they explore the diversity and complexity of the world of wine. Asimov shares his professional knowledge and insights along with personal stories of his lifelong passionate relationship with wine, which began when he was a graduate student on a budget. Asimov discusses favorite vineyards, wine’s singular personalities, meaningless wine descriptions that often pass…
Writer and filmmaker Jeremy Arnold ’91 is the author of Lawrence of Arabia: The 50th Anniversary, published by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This special hardbound coffee table book is included in the recently released Lawrence of Arabia 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-ray box set, also released by Sony. The 88-page publication contains full-color photographs, a history of the epic film's significance, insight into the making of the movie (directed by David Lean), and editorial pieces by film directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. The book is only available in this package and will not be sold separately. It also has…
(Story contributed by Gabe Rosenberg '16) Jason Baron '77, director of Litigation at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, is the 2011 recipient of the Emmett Leahy Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Information and Records Management Profession. Baron is the first federal lawyer, and only the second lawyer, to receive this international award in its 40-year history. The Emmett Leahy Award Committee announced that for over two decades, Baron's leadership efforts have promoted an awareness of the importance of good records management to the legal profession. He has served as co-chair and editor-in-chief of three publications by The Sedona Conference©,…
Martha Shane '05 and Lana Wilson '05 have received a coveted grant from the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund for their feature-length documentary After Tiller, which they directed and produced. The film deals with the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller as the last four late-term abortion doctors in America confront harassment from protestors, challenges in their personal lives, and a series of tough ethical decisions. After Tiller is one of five films that received this year's grants, which are awarded to “projects that illuminate pressing problems in the United States.” This year the International Documentary Association received grant…
(Story contributed by Laignee Barron '13) Ellen Forney ’89 is the author of a new graphic novel Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me (Gotham Books), which follows the artist’s diagnosis with bipolar disorder shortly before her 30th birthday. In this intimate confession, Forney delves into her struggles with being accepted into “Club van Gogh.” “This unflinchingly honest memoir” (Kirkus Reviews) details Forney’s fears that her disorder could curtail her creativity and livelihood. Beginning with the manic state that led to her diagnosis, Forney explores what it means to be a “crazy artist.” At first disbelieves her psychiatrist, Forney is filled…