David PesciAs the College of Letters (COL) celebrates its 50th anniversary, we asked Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history and letters, director of the COL, about his life in two departments, his views on interdisciplinary teaching, how this impacts his own scholarship, and the future of the COL. Q. How did you end up with a joint appointment in the College of Letters and History Department? EK: As an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley I created my own curriculum combining philosophy, history and religion as a “Humanities Field Major.” In graduate school at UCLA I combined work in History and Comparative Literature…
Corrina KerrFrom its beginnings in 1959, Wesleyan’s College of Social Studies (CSS) has grown into a well-respected program and is celebrating its 50th year in 2009. The multidisciplinary program allows students to explore the subjects of government, history, economics and philosophy concurrently. Many attended lectures and celebrations for CSS during Homecoming/Family Weekend last weekend. The first event of the weekend was a CSS Public Lecture by John Goldberg (CSS 1983, professor of Law, Harvard Law School) on Friday, Nov. 6. His talk was titled “John Locke on Tort Reform (Really!): A CSS Parable.” John Goldberg was introduced by Brian Fay, the…
Olivia DrakeKrishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, dean of the Arts and Humanities and coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, translated the new book, Don Juan: His Own Version, written by Peter Handke. The 128-paged book is published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It will be released in February.
Deb Olin Unferth has joined the Department of English as assistant professor. She specializes in fiction writing, innovative literature, the short story and the novel. She says she was attracted to Wesleyan because of its well-known writing program. “Wesleyan is a fantastic liberal arts school,” Unferth says. “I am very excited to be here. I am enjoying my classes immensely. The students are excellent—in ability, focus, creativity, intelligence, and temperament.” Unferth has a B.A. in philosophy with distinction from the University of Colorado, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. In 1998, she earned her M.F.A. in creative writing from Syracuse…
Several Wesleyan faculty, graduate students and alumni participated in the 2009 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Oct. 18-21 in Portland, Ore. Suzanne O'Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, presented a research poster and delivered a presentation titled "Techniques and Tools for Effective Recruitment, Retention and promotion of Women and Minorities in the Geosciences." She spoke about the grant-funded organization Geoscience Academics in the Northeast (GAIN), which was established to build a community of academic geoscience women within a small geographic area. Johan Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science,…
Fred Cohan, professor of biology, delivered a presentation titled "Darwin vs. Mayr on the Origin of Bacterial Species," during a Darwin conference, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. The event was held Oct. 29-31 at the University of Chicago. Cohan joined other evolutionary biologists, historians and philosophers who connected their work directly with Darwin. 2009 also marks the 150th anniversary of Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Joel Pfister's book The Yale Indian: The Education of Henry Roe Cloud was published by Duke University Press in June 2009. Pfister is the chair of the English Department and the Kenan Professor of the Humanities, along with being professor of American studies.
The candidate for issue’s "5 Questions with..." is Mary Alice Haddad, assistant professor of government, assistant professor of East Asian studies. She provides some insight into the recent, dramatic change in the Japanese government. Q: What are your primary areas of study and research? MAH: My primary area of research has been on civil society and democracy with a focus on Japan. I am beginning a new research project on environmental politics in East Asia. I am particularly interested in the ways that local politics around environmental issues can lead toward greater citizen participation in democratic as well as nondemocratic…
To view upcoming guest speakers go to: https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2009/09/22/writing-programs-announces-fall-faculty-readings/
Rich Olson joined the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry as an assistant professor. Olson is an expert on X-ray crystallography and biophysical characterization of soluble/membrane proteins. He specifically studies the structure and function of membrane proteins in the nervous system, immunological molecules in the nervous system and structural biology of pathogen virulence factors. This semester, he is teaching a course titled "Receptors, Channels, and Pumps: Advanced Topics in Membrane Protein Structure and Function," and an individual undergraduate research tutorial. When applying to Wesleyan, Olson says he was looking for an institution that would provide a balance between teaching and…