media – Page 6

Kate Cullen ’16, an earth and environmental science and history major from Bethesda, Md., was selected for MSNBC's Women in Politics: College Edition series. The president of the Wesleyan Student Assembly, Cullen received the University's nomination "as a leader making a difference not only through key issues on campus, but in bridging the gender gap in politics." MSNBC plans to use the series to highlight women candidates and as a springboard for national conversations on women's issues. Cullen, who has "been fortunate to have a lot of strong female role models," says she was motivated to work in student government…

"There is an entire neighborhood full of funny people in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising," wrote Kevin Polowy, senior editor at Yahoo! Movies. "But some of the film’s biggest laughs belong to newcomer Beanie Feldstein, who makes her major-studio movie debut as the party-hearty sorority pledge Nora." Feldstein '15, a Los Angeles, Calif. native and sociology major at Wesleyan has been acting on stage since she was 5, with "three to six musicals a year every singer year from 5 to 22," ending last year with graduation. She tells Yahoo that Neighbors 2 was not a typecasting situation: “My college experience was nothing…

Bozoma “Boz” Saint John ’99, head of global consumer marketing for Apple Music and iTunes, wowed attendees at WesFest—admitted students and their parents— as keynote speaker. The eldest daughter of Wesleyan ethnomusicology graduate Dr. Appianda Arthur PhD ’77, Saint John spoke on Wesleyan's powerful influence on her life today. Her father, recalling his formative years at Wesleyan and the lively intellectual community, had encouraged her to attend Wesleyan. Although her desire to rebel figured in early in the decision process, she ultimately chose Wesleyan. “My father was so excited when I decided Wesleyan was the school for me, but he…

The Portland Business Journal named Kaiser Permanente President Andy McCulloch ’76 one of the top 10 executives of 2016. This award honors area executives whose business strategies have successfully expanded their companies over the last year. During the past year with Kaiser Permanente, McCulloch boosted membership by 3 percent while maintaining a member retention rate of 97 percent. In just their two hospitals, Kaiser Permanente physicians logged 3 million doctor visits and 420,000 dental appointments while earning $3.4 billion in yearly revenue. McCulloch began his presidency in 2006 and directs Kaiser Permanente in Oregon and Washington State. During this time, the…

Maggie Nelson ’94 received the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in the criticism category for her book, The Argonauts (Graywolf Press, 2015). Literary editor and book critic Michael Miller describes it on the National Book Critics Circle blog as “a potent blend of autobiography and critical inquiry…[which] combines the story of her own adventures in queer family-making with philosophical meditations on gender, art, literary history, sexual politics, and much more.” Previous works include The Art of Cruelty, a 2011 Notable Book of the Year, and Jane: A Murder, a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of…

Franklin Sirmans ’91, director of the Pérez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM), was credited for his “star power” that drew a crowd to the museum’s reception and fundraiser. The first African-American director of this publicly funded museum, Sirman was previously curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. An article in the Miami Herald quoted Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen ’66, who attributed the rise in attendance—double that of last year—to previously successful celebrations, as well as to Sirman’s arrival: “There is no getting around the fact that people are excited about Franklin Sirmans; they’re…

The New England First Amendment Coalition presented Wesleyan English major Jenifer McKim ’88 with a 2016 Freedom of Information Award. McKim is senior investigative reporter and trainer at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR), a nonprofit based out of Boston University and WGBH. The Freedom of Information Award is presented annually to New England journalists who protect or advance the public’s right to know under federal or state law. McKim’s award-winning series, “Out of the Shadows—Shining Light on State Failures to Learn from Rising Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths,” first published by the Boston Globe, examined the effectiveness…

Though movie sequels had been successful in the past, it was a huge surprise when The Empire Strikes Back turned out to be as popular as the original Star Wars film, Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, told the website Boing Boing for a story reflecting on Empire 35 years after it arrived in cinemas. “When you have set a level that you set with Star Wars in terms of financial success, critical success, audience success, quality of production, greatness of storytelling, you don’t really think even if the second one is going to be good that it can hit that same level twice…

Gina Athena Ulysse, associate professor of anthropology, wrote a tribute on the Tikkun Daily Blog to Karen McCarthy Brown, professor emerita of anthropology and sociology of religion at Drew University, who passed away earlier this month. "Reading Karen’s Mama Lola kept me in grad school. Vodou got a human face from her," Ulysses posted on Facebook after hearing news of Brown's death. She goes on to explain, "Mama Lola was published by the University of California Press in 1991. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted over a decade, Brown became an initiate of her subject, as a condition to deeper research and writing…

An essay by Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker is included in The Five Photographs that (You Didn’t Know) Changed Everything, a five-part BBC radio series focusing on historically important yet little-known photographs. In her segment, The Tichborne Claimant, Tucker tells the story of how an 1866 photograph of a butcher in Wagga Wagga, Australia, played a central role in a case that gripped Victorian Britain and had an enormous impact on our legal system, raising questions about what photography is for and how it should be used. Says Tucker: “Sometimes even a mundane photograph can have a powerful and…

President Michael S. Roth writes in The Wall Street Journal about the importance of exploring religious feelings and experiences in humanities education, and why these topics make students so uncomfortable.

Lack of entrepreneurship culture is among key challenges for Moroccan economy, security

MSNBC’s Women in Politics, College Edition, Highlights Kate Cullen ’16

Feldstein ’15 Dubbed ‘Breakout’ for Neighbors 2

Apple Music’s Saint John ’99 Recalls Formative Wes Moments in WesFest Keynote

Kaiser Permanente’s McCulloch ’76 Named a Top-10 Exec

Nelson ’94 Receives National Book Critics Circle Award for Argonauts

“Star Power” of Sirmans ’91 Draws Crowd to Miami Museum

Investigative Journalist McKim ’88 Receives Freedom of Information Award

Basinger Reflects on Star Wars Sequel Success

Ulysse Writes Tribute to Anthropologist Karen McCarthy Brown

Tucker Explores Photography’s Powerful Role in Our Legal System

Roth Writes in WSJ on Religion’s Role in the History of Ideas

Norman ’16 on Young Moroccan Entrepreneurs