Olivia DrakeWesleyan University is the cover feature in the Spring 2009 edition of River & Shore Magazine. In an article titled "College by the River: Memories Cut in Brownstone," the author, Erik Hesselberg, writes about the history of Wesleyan, College Row's brownstone buildings, the crew team, Wesleyan's first president Wilbur Fisk, the former Judd Hall of Natural Science Exley Science Center, the Geology Department and more. Jelle de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, also is mentioned in an article titled "Reading the Rocks." The article focuses on De Boer's interests in plate tectonics and mentions his theory on…
Jelle Zelinga de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, was cited in April 3 edition of The Hartford Courant. In an article titled " Remnants Of Old Mine In Middletown Date to Revolutionary Times," de Boer explains why an abandoned silver mine in Middletown, Conn. played a supporting role in the history of the country's industrial past. According to de Boer, the Middletown mine was originally opened to mine lead and was one of only two sites in New England that produced the metal for the Continental Army during the early stages of the Revolutionary War. The…
Michael Singer, assistant professor of biology, is the author of “Self-Medication as Adaptive Plasticity: Increased Ingestion of Plant Toxins by Parasitized Caterpillars," published in PLoS ONE, March 2009. PLoS ONE is an open access, online scientific journal from the Public Library of Science. This new article rigorously demonstrates that caterpillars can self-medicate, following up on a previous publication in Nature in 2005. This is the first experimental demonstration of self-medication by an invertebrate animal. This paper also represents the first publication to arise from research funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Singer in December 2007. Kevi Mace…
Bill HolderAlberto Ibarguen ’66, CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and former publisher of The Miami Herald, was a guest recently on the PBS News Hour in a segmented devoted to the future of newspapers. The segment aired to coincide with the move of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from print to the web. Ibarguen told the News Hour’s Jeffrey Brown that the market will find a way to “provide people with the news that we need to function in a democracy”—though perhaps not through newspapers. Asked about the record of newspapers migrating to the web, Ibarguen called it…
Jorge Arevalo Mateus, a Ph.D candidate in ethnomusicology, was featured in the March 5 edition of The Middletown Press in an article titled "Global music, culture student in residence at Wesleyan." Mateus, a music archivist, ethnomusicologist, scholar, musician, composer and audio installation artist, is a Grammy-winning producer for Best Historical Recording. In 2008, Mateus won an award for writing from the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, CD Liner Notes, and he has published many essays, articles and reviews in academic and popular journals, edited volumes, and other publications such as New York Archives Magazine, Ethnomusicology, Journal of Popular Music Studies; and…
David PesciElizabeth McAlister, associate professor of religion, associate professor of African American studies, is part of a roundtable discussion on Haitian Music in The New Yorker magazine. McAlistar, an expert on the Vodou religion has written a book titled Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora about this musical celebration that is a vital part of Haitian culture.
In a piece for The Moscow Times, Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of government, points out that the initial treatment of Russia by the Obama Administration has begun with clumsy missteps and a perspective toward U.S.-Russian relations that offers nothing new compared to what Russia has seen from previous U.S. administrations.
Michael Singer, assistant professor of biology, recently published a study of caterpillars in PLoS 1 that details the possible self-medication by Wooly Bear caterpillars that have been infected with parasites. The study, cited in Discover gives evidence to the theory that some animals are able to self-medicating without being taught to do so.
Richard Grossman, chair and professor of economics, commented on the economy and the moves of the Obama Administration to counter the country's sliding economic prospects since the inauguration.
Gary Yohe, Sysco-Woodhouse Professor of Economics, is co-author of a new report issued by the United Nation's Internation Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that discusses the rapidly increasing risks of global warming. A story in Scientific American summarizes the article and quotes Yohe, an economist who studies climate change with regards to its inherent risks.
In a Reuters article, Richard Grossman, chair and professor of economics, discusses at length the declaration of bankruptcy of the 150 year-old Lehman Brothers Holding Inc., and why that event marked a major turning point in American economic history.
Jeanine Basinger, chair and Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, discussed with CNN how the recession may be reflected in the content of upcoming films.