Wes in the News

In a recent piece for The Huffington Post, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth shares a heartfelt story about the vote on Maine’s gay marriage initiative.

Gary Yohe, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, is quoted in a New York Times piece on Obama Administration’s assessment of costs versus benefits of climate change action – or inaction. Yohe is also quoted in a USA Today story saying that most economists recognize that humans are to blame for global warming and that inherent risks increase if it is not addressed.

Angus McCullough ‘10, is one of seven finalists in a design competition that re-imagines the Grand Concourse in Bronx, N.Y. The competition, sponsored by the Bronx Museum of Arts and the Design Trust for Public Space, asked participants to envision a revitalization to the Concourse, which is more than 100 years old. McCullough’s design was noted in The New York Times as a concept that “touches on a critical urban subject: the intensifying battle between transparency and privacy in the public realm.” The finalists will be on exhibit in the Bronx Museum of the Arts until Jan. 3. A more extensive feature in the Wesleyan Connection on McCullough’s design can be found here.

Mary Jane Rubenstein, assistant professor of religion, assistant professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, discusses some of varying attitudes among Episcopalians regarding the Vatican’s recent offer to join the Roman Catholic Church. Episcopalian have been fractured by their church’s recent acceptance of women and gays into leadership positions, with some dioceses reacting by splitting off and forming the Anglican Church of North America.

Wesleyan has been actively involved in monitoring all information and protocols provided by The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and State of Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), and the City of Middletown, and we have been implementing the prescribed measures aimed at precaution and treatment with regards to the Wesleyan Community. The latest information from Wesleyan’s Health Services Department is available here.

Updates and new announcements will be linked in this space as they become available.

Jared Radin ‘12 is among those interviewed in a Newsweek story about kids who grew up in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

All American Wesleyan volleyball player Lisa Drennan ‘09 has signed to play professional volleyball in Denmark this year.

No Quarter: The battle of the Crater, 1864 by Richard Slotkin, Olin Professor of English, emeritus, is praised in a recent review in The New York Times. The book examines a Civil War battle in 1864 that involved extensive use of black soldiers by the Union and became a polarizing political symbol that might have cost Lincoln his second term as President of the United States. The review calls No Quarter “a riveting narrative and fair play to both sides, while exhuming an important episode from relative obscurity.”

Jeanine Basinger, Chair and Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, discussed in The Los Angeles Times the recent reappearance of gigolo-type characters in feature films and television. Basinger talks about the social and economic implications of such characters and what they may imply about current times.

Geoffrey Ginsburg ‘78 is part of a team that has developed a genetic test for influenza that identifies infection before symptoms can even arise. The advance, reported in USA Today, could offer tremendous opportunities for early treatment of flu and the potential  reduce the number of people who come down with the illness as save lives.