Olivia DrakeCarl Viggiani, professor of romance languages and literatures, emeritus, died suddenly on Jan. 16, 2010. He was 87 years old. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1954, teaching French language and literature. He was active in the Center for the Humanities in its early years, offered numerous colloquia for the College of Letters, founded the Wesleyan program in Paris which he directed or served as resident director in Paris over seven and a half years, and served frequently as chair of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. Viggiani earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College, master’s degree from Harvard University,…
Cultural historian Richard Slotkin, the Olin Professor of English, Emeritus, is featured in an Oct. 25 Hartford Courant article titled " Wesleyan Professor Sees 1864 Civil War Battle As Microcosm Of Racial Divide." The article focuses on Slotkin's most recent book , No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864. The title of the book references one of the battle's major controversies, which Slotkin addresses unsparingly: It was Confederate policy to take no black prisoners, resulting in summary executions of POWs on both sides. Slotkin says his fascination with the battle goes back to his interst in the Civil War.…
A service in tribute to Stanley Lebergott, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, who passed away on July 24, will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18. The service will be in the Daniel Family Commons in the Usdan University Center and will be followed by a reception. The Lebergott family invites friends and colleagues who may have photographs or remembrances of Stan to bring them to the service. Lebergott began his career as a public servant, working for 20 years in the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Labor Office, and the U.S.…
Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science emeritus, is the author of Stories in Stone: How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture published by Wesleyan University Press in July 2009. In the 228-paged book, geoscientist Zeilinga de Boer describes how early settlers discovered and exploited Connecticut’s natural resources. Their successes as well as failures form the very basis of the state’s history: Chatham’s gold played a role in the acquisition of its Charter, and Middletown’s lead helped the colony gain its freedom during the Revolution. Fertile soils in the Central Valley fueled the state’s development…
David PesciStanley Lebergott, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, died July 24 after a long illness. He was 91 years old. Lebergott began his career as a public servant, working for 20 years in the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Labor Office, and the U.S. Bureau of the Budget. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1962 as a professor of economics, becoming University Professor in 1970. He was a pivotal scholar in his field, and a prolific author. In addition to more than 50 articles, his books include: Manpower in Economic Growth: The American Record…
Willard B. Walker, professor of anthropology emeritus, died May 23 in Skowhegan, Maine. He was 82 years old. Walker was one of the mainstays of the Anthropology Department for more than two decades. He came to Wesleyan in 1966 as an assistant professor, where he and Dave McAllester established anthropology as a department. A specialist in Native American languages and cultures, Walker taught courses on the ethnography of the southwest, the southeast, and the northeast and he also single-handedly maintained a curricular focus on linguistic anthropology. His research interests ranged from Zuni phonology and semantics to the cryptographic use of…
Ellen "Puffin" D'Oench, curator emerita of the Davison Art Center, adjunct professor of art history emerita, and former trustee of Wesleyan University died May 22 in Middletown. She was 78 years old and had been ill for some time. D'Oench interrupted her education at Vassar College to marry Russell "Derry" D'Oench and raise their family. She completed her undergraduate education at Wesleyan in 1973, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in the same class as her son Peter. She received a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1979. D'Oench was Curator of the Davison Art Center from 1979 until…
A chapter from the novel, Abe, written by Richard Slotkin, the Olin Professor of English, emeritus, was reprinted in The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now, published by the Library of America No. 192, edited by Harold Holzer. The anthology was prepared in honor of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, and is being sold separately and as part of a boxed set with Library of America's edition of Lincoln's writings and speeches.
After 42 years of teaching, and a lifetime of painting and drawing, John Frazer isn't ready to rinse his brushes clean just yet. Although the professor of art, emeritus, is wheelchair-bound after six knee surgeries, his art studio remains intact. Set-up easels, brushes and oil paints, a painter's palate and untouched cotton canvases await his return. "I haven't been able to paint in over a year, but I will return to painting. I am sure of that, but I prefer to work standing up," Frazer says. "It's the only way I've ever worked." Frazer, a Texas native, came to Wesleyan…