alumni – Page 9

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) honored Eric Dachs ’98, the founder and CEO of PIX System, with a Technical Achievement Award at its Oscars 2019 Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation on Feb. 9, 2019. Since its creation in 2003, PIX System has become the entertainment industry gold standard in providing secure communication and content management capabilities. Dachs, a theater major while at Wesleyan, designed and coded the initial software early in his career when he was an assistant to sound designer Ren Klyce for Panic Room. It was then that he saw the need for an easy, safe…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Forbes: "Three Questions to Ask Yourself at the Beginning of Your Career" Sharon Belden Castonguay, director of the Gordon Career Center, offers career advice for young people just starting out. 2. The Times Literary Supplement: "Multiple Lives" Hirsh Sawhney, assistant professor of English, coordinator of South Asian studies, explores the "complicated existence" of Mahatma Gandhi. 3. The Washington Post: "The Delight of Being Inconspicuous in a World That's Always Watching Us" President Michael Roth reviews a new book, How to Disappear:…

When Opium Moon won the Grammy Award for the Best New Age Album this year, “Thank you, Julie Yannatta…” were the first words from singer/violinist Lili Haydn's lips once she reached the stage. Yannatta ’91 is founder and owner of Be Why Music, the label that released the self-titled debut album by the eclectic band—Lili Haydn on violin/voice, Hamid Saeidi on santoor (Persian hammered dulcimer) and voice, M.B. Gordy on ancient percussion, and Itai Disraeli on fretless bass. Their haunting music draws from each member's cultural traditions: Iran, Israel, Canada, and the United States. Yannatta, with a career path as eclectic as…

As part of Art Miami's 29th annual art week held Dec. 4-9 in Miami, Fla., several alumni, parents, and friends attended a brunch with Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78. The brunch included a general day pass to view three fairs at Art Miami, CONTEXT Art Miami, and AQUA Art Miami. Former Wesleyan Trustee Alberto Ibarguen ’66, P’97, Hon.’11 introduced President Roth at the brunch. Ibarguen is president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami. View photos of the event below and in this Wesleyan Flickr album. (Photos by Leo Photographer, Miami) (more…)

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Wall Street International Magazine: "Tula Telfair: Reverie" Professor of Art Tula Telfair's new exhibition of landscape paintings, "Reverie," is presented Feb. 7 through March 30 at the Forum Gallery in New York. According to the article, "In the fourteen paintings that comprise 'Reverie,' she explores the inner reaches of her dreams and memories, taking us to places she has been or believes in so fully that she is able to portray and take the viewer to the…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News The New York Times: "Anthony Braxton Composes Together Past, Present and Future" Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, Emeritus, is profiled. Among other ongoing projects, Braxton has spent much of the past four years working on his newest opera, “Trillium L,” which, he says, “is a five-day opera”—if it is ever performed. 2. Los Angeles Review of Books: "That Bit of Philosophy in All of Us" Tushar Irani, associate professor of philosophy, associate professor of letters,…

The Wesleyan magazine issue on the future of journalism (2018, issue 2) prompted Adrienne Scott ’76 to write a letter to the editor, recalling a high point in her early career in journalism: when legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali granted her an exclusive interview. Scott, who had been a columnist for The Wesleyan Argus as an undergraduate, as well as a student of University Editor Jack Paton ’49, P’75, was at that time a young journalist and the first African American full-time news reporter at WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I. The Connection reached out to Scott to continue the conversation that…

“Herb Kelleher, who turned conventional airline industry wisdom on its head by combining low fares with high standards of customer service to build Southwest Airlines into one of the nation’s most successful and admired companies, died on Thursday. He was 87,” wrote Glenn Rifkin in The New York Times. An English major who graduated from Wesleyan in 1953, Kelleher also earned a bachelor of laws from NYU in 1956, and a little more than a decade later he founded Southwest Airlines, a small Texas commercial aviation company. With a larger-than-life personality—he notably settled a dispute over the company's name by…

On Dec. 18, approximately 100 Wesleyan alumni and family members as well as staff gathered at The Bushnell in Hartford to celebrate the Connecticut debut of Hamilton: An American Musical, the Tony Award-winning musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda '02 and directed by Thomas Kail '99. Hamilton is currently touring the U.S., with a run at the Bushnell Dec. 11-30, 2018. Photos from the event are below: (Photos by Rich Marinelli) (more…)

Newsday writer Rafer Guzmán quotes Jeremy Arnold ’91, a film historian, commentator, and author, in his roundup of new movies and old favorites for this time of year in his article "More Christmas Movies Than Ever This Holiday Season.” Arnold, the author of Christmas in the Movies (Running Press, 2018) a Turner Classic Movies book, points out that “The new big-screen films are not only competing with Hallmark and Lifetime but all the previous feature films that are available on home video.” A film studies major as an undergraduate, Arnold also answers Guzmán’s question of what constitutes a film of this genre: “‘I would say…

In a cover story for Vanity Fair, titled “The Supercalifragilistic Lin-Manuel Miranda,” writer Bruce Handy explores both the upcoming movie, Mary Poppins Returns, as a sequel to Walt Disney’s 1964 adaption of the children’s books by P. L. Travers, and one of its stars, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. '15. In the 1964 movie, the chimney-sweep companion to Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) was Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke. This 2018 Mary Poppins (Emma Blunt) has chimney sweep Jack (supposedly a former protégé of the late Bert), played by Miranda, as her sidekick and friend. Hardy offers biographical background, along with personal…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News 1. Los Angeles Times: "As the World Warms, Deadly and Disfiguring Tropical Diseases Are Inching Their Way Toward the U.S." In this op-ed, Professor of Biology Frederick Cohan and Isaac Klimasmith '20, both in the College of the Environment, write that infectious disease is a growing threat, resulting from climate change, that humans may find hard to ignore. Cohan is also professor, environmental studies and professor, integrative sciences. 2. Hartford Courant: "Trump's Immoral Response to Climate Report" Gary Yohe, the…

Dachs ’98 Receives Sci-Tech Oscar for PIX System

Wesleyan in the News

Yannatta ’91: Opium Moon Wins Grammy on Her Be Why Music Label

President Roth Hosts Brunch in Conjunction with Art Miami

Wesleyan in the News

Wesleyan in the News

Scott ’76 Reflects: On Being Black and Female in Late 1970s TV Journalism

Southwest Airlines Founder Kelleher ’53, Hon. ’90, Remembered for Reshaping Industry

Alumni, Family Members Gather for Hamilton Performance in Hartford

New Book by Film Historian Arnold ’91: Christmas in the Movies

Vanity Fair Cover Story: “Supercalifragilistic” Miranda ’02

Wesleyan in the News