Lauren RubensteinUniversity Professor of Natural Science and Mathematics David Beveridge was one of 33 leading experts in science, engineering and technology recently elected to membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. The new members will be introduced at the Academy's 38th annual meeting and dinner on May 22 at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. According to the Academy, election is "on the basis of scientific and engineering distinction achieved through significant contributions in theory or applications, as demonstrated by original published books and papers, patents, the pioneering of new and developing fields and innovative products, outstanding leadership of nationally…
Olivia DrakeJanice Naegele will become director of the Center for Faculty Career Development on July 1. Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, has served as chair of the Biology Department, and has served on the Educational Policy Committee, Review and Appeals Board, the Graduate Liberal Studies Advisory Committee, the Life Sciences Building Committee, and the Writing Certificate Committee. She has published extensively in the areas of developmental neurobiology, stem cells and translational rodent models of neurological disorders. Her research explores genetic, small molecule, and neural stem cell based treatments for cognitive disabilities and epilepsy. She currently serves on…
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of American studies, associate professor of anthropology, was appointed an Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lecturer by the OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program. In an e-mail to Kauanui, Alan M. Kraut, president-elect of the OAH wrote, "Since 1981, OAH presidents have appointed their most illustrious and dynamic colleagues to our program, making it one of the longest running and most successful efforts of its kind among scholarly associations. It has proven to be an ideal way to reach a broader audience while raising money for the organization's initiatives on behalf of historians." As part of the…
An article by Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Center for the Humanities, professor of history, professor of letters, is featured in the 50th anniversary issue of Perspectives on History, the monthly publication of the American Historical Association. The article, titled "Academic Journals in the Digital Era" is part of a forum on "The Future of the Discipline" edited by Lynn Hunt. View the full list of contributors online.
David LowKrishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, is the translator of Patrick Roth's Starlight Terrace, published by Seagull Books in 2012. In a rundown Los Angeles apartment building—the titular Starlite Terrace—Roth unfurls the tragic linked stories of Rex, Moss, Gary and June, four neighbors, in a sort of burlesque of the Hollywood modern. In each of their singular collisions with fame, Roth’s dark prose presages a universal and mythical fate of desperation. In “The Man at Noah’s Window,” Rex shares the story of his father, a supposed hand double for Gary Cooper in High Noon. In “Eclipse…
The Wesleyan Board of Trustees recently awarded tenure to two faculty members. They are: Lois Brown, professor of African American studies, professor of English, came to Wesleyan last fall from Mount Holyoke College where she was Elizabeth Small Professor of English. At Mount Holyoke, where she began teaching in 1998, she was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004, and was director of the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts for five years. A literary historian, she focuses on culture, identity, race and gender in 18th and 19th century African American writing. She is author of three books…
Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, will attend a translators working meeting with Günter Grass Feb. 10-14 in Lübeck, Germany. Grass, 85, is novelist, poet, playwright, artist and sculptor. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. Winston has translated several of Grass's works, including his 1990 diary, From Germany to Germany, which was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in November 2012. This will be Winston's fourth meeting with Grass and fellow translators. The group will focus the discussion on Grass's poetry, autobiographical writings and artwork. "It's a pretty special thing when translators can sit down with the author for several…
On Jan. 11, Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin Fuller Professor of Film Studies, reviewed a new book, Hollywood Sketchbook, by Deborah Nadoolman Landis in The Wall Street Journal. Landis, a costume designer herself, “defines the difference between the designer’s costuming goal and the role of the sketch artist. Costume sketches were never intended to be fashion drawings: Kinetic, emotional and drawn for a specific personality or character, they were about much more than clothes,” writes Basinger. The book contains commentaries and reproduced sketches for 61 designers, including such famous names as Adrian (known for The Wizard of Oz, Camille, and Marie Antoinette, among…
During Wesleyan's winter recess, Vera Schwarcz, the Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, worked on a paratroopers' reservist base in Israel through Volunteers for Israel. The 30-year-old program seeks volunteers to promote solidarity and goodwill among Israelis, American Jews, and other friends of Israel. Each day, Schwarcz and 13 other volunteers in her group, reported for work in a warehouse overseen by a female officer, the mother of two young children. "We, the American volunteers worked alongside young soldiers (mostly 19-year-old girls) and male reservists in their late 20s - all sent to this base to help out with…
The Hartford Courant on Dec. 7 published an op-ed by Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Long about a new pilot program in Connecticut and four other states to increase time that children spend in school. Long responded skeptically to the program, writing that past experiments with increased learning time have shown mixed results, and are an expensive, unproven way to improve student learning. At a time when Connecticut school districts face increasingly tight budgets, the state should focus on reform efforts backed by research, Long writes. On Dec. 20, Long also participated in a discussion on the impact of increased class time…
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) named Carol Wood and Wis Comfort to its inaugural class of AMS Fellows. Wood is the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics. She is an expert in mathematical logic and applications of model theory to algebra. Comfort is the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus. He's an expert on point-set topology, ultrafilters, set theory and topological groups. The Fellows of the American Mathematical Society program recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication and utilization of mathematics.
John Bonin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science, participated in the annual American Economic Association meetings in San Diego, Calif. from Jan. 3-6. He chaired two panel sessions and was a discussant for papers in two different sessions. Three generations of Wesleyan economists were present in the first morning session of the meetings: Bonin was the chair and Assistant Professor of Economics Melanie Khamis presented a joint paper with her student Romaine Campbell '13 on informal employment in Jamaican firms. Campbell has completed his course work and is finishing his honors thesis to fulfill the requirements…