Olivia DrakeSumarsam MA '76, University Professor of Music, participated in an ethnomusicology panel during the State of Indonesian Studies Conference April 28 at Cornell University. Sumarsam spoke on "Javanese Music Historiography: The Lost Gamelan of Gresik." The interdisciplinary conference focused on Indonesia's anthropology, art history, history, language, government and ethnomusicology. Marc Perlman MA '78, Ph.D. '94, associate professor at Brown University; Martin Hatch '63, MA'69, associate professor at Cornell University; Kaja McGowan '82, associate professor at Cornell; and Christopher Miller MA '02, a Wesleyan ethnomusicology Ph.D. candidate, also participated in the conference. The conference was hosted by Cornell's Southeast Asian Program.…
Bill HolderBill Herbst, the John Monroe van Vleck Professor of Astronomy, will serve as director of graduate studies, beginning this fall 2011 through spring 2014. Herbst received his B.A degree from Princeton University, his M. Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto and has taught at Wesleyan since 1978, often serving as chair of the Astronomy Department and as director of the Van Vleck Observatory. In 2003, he received the Wesleyan Alumni Association's Binswanger Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has recently served on the Advisory Committee, as chair of the Merit Committee, as vice-chair of RAB and, over the years, on many other faculty…
An article by Masami Imai, director and chair of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, associate professor of economics, was published in Journal of International Business Studies, Issue 42, pages 406-426, in 2011. The article is titled "Related Lending and Banking Development," and is co-authored by Robert Cull and Stephen Haber.
Abigail Hornstein, assistant professor of economics, is the author of “Where A Contract Is Signed Determines Its Value: Chinese Provincial Variation in Utilized vs. Contracted FDI Flows,” published in the March 2011 edition of the Journal of Comparative Economics, 39(1). In the article, Hornstein explains how there are major differences between ex ante corporate investment plans and ex post investments. The case of China is useful for understanding this problem because there is substantial time series and cross sectional variation in the ratio of utilized to contracted FDI (UC ratio), which is less than one in most province-year observations. Provinces…
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles received the 2010 Wammie Award for Classical Conductor / Director by the Washington Area Music Association for his efforts directing the Post-Classical Ensemble, a Washington, D.C.-based orchestra co-founded by Gil-Ordóñez. The Washington Area Music Awards recognize significant career achievements by area musicians. Nominations and balloting come from the WAMA membership. Past show participants include Emmylou Harris, Joan Jett, The Clovers, The Orioles, Bo Diddley, Jorma Kaukonen, Jimmy Dean, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Andrew Curran, professor of romance languages and literatures, is the co-winner of the 2010-11 James L. Clifford Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies to the author of the best article regarding any aspect of eighteenth-century culture. Receiving the award is Curran’s Rethinking Race History: The Role of the Albino in French Enlightenment Sciences. The Clifford Fund was originally established to support an annual prize in honor of James L. Clifford. Clifford founded The Johnsonian News Letter in 1940, was Secretary to the English Institute, twice a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of…
Elizabeth McAlister, associate professor of religion, associate professor of American Studies, associate professor of African American Studies, gave the keynote presentation in collaboration with her daughter, Lovely Nicolas, at a conference at Harvard University on March 25 titled “African Dance Diaspora: A Symposium on Embodied Knowledge. McAlister and Nicolas presented an academic performance combining dance, memoir, and dance theory in a piece titled “Move Your Words.”
David PesciWesleyan is pleased to announce that during its most recent review, the Board awarded tenure to four faculty effective July 1, 2011. Ulrich Plass, associate professor of German studies, joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2004 as assistant professor. Plass is a specialist in German literature, literary criticism, and critical theory, with a particular focus on the works of the German philosopher Theodor Adorno. He conducted his undergraduate studies at the University of Hamburg, Germany; his M.A. is from the University of Michigan, (more…)
Neely Bruce, professor of music, received an Arts Advocy Award from the Middletown Commission on the Arts on April 4. Annually, in honor of National Arts Advocacy Day, the Middletown Commission celebrates an individual and a group who have shown extraordinary support and initiative for the arts in the city. Bruce was granted the individual award for his lifelong commitment to the arts. Bruce is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music, past chorus director for Connecticut Opera, and director of music at South Congregational Church.
On a March 9 episode of Ebru TV‘s “Fresh Outlook,” Giulio Gallarotti, professor of government, discussed the premise, “Has the United States, once the leader of the free world, lost its edge?” The discussion was prompted by recent world events, especially the uprisings in the Middle East, as well as the outcome of last fall’s G-20 Summit. Ebru TV is a Turkish-based broadcasting network with affiliates throughout the world.
Liza McAlister Liza McAlister, associate professor of religion, African American studies and American studies, joined an invited conference on “Global Oprah: Celebrity as Transnational Icon” Feb. 25-26 at Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. The academic conference aimed to theorize neoliberalism, celebrity and humanitarianism, using Oprah Winfrey as a focusing lens. The conference consisted of six panel discussions, which examined the way celebrities define America, and the role they play in international human rights and politics. McAlister presented a paper on Wyclef Jean, a Haitian-born Hip-Hop superstar. She discussed his career trajectory beginning with the Fugees, to his…
(more…)