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Archive for 2008

Wheaton receives major grant from Mellon Foundation to start national institute for English majors

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the college a grant of more than $400,000 for the first three years of the Summer Institute in Literary and Cultural Studies (SILCS), which aims to increase diversity among college and university faculty members teaching English.

Wheaton presents Latin American art

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

An exhibition of some of the most important Latin American artists of the last half-century opens at Wheaton College’s Beard and Weil Galleries on February 4 and continues through April 10.

Wheaton focuses on global warming

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

Wheaton students, staff and faculty will join their peers around the country in seeking to raise awareness about global climate change during Focus the Nation, which is being billed as the biggest teach-in in history.

‘Cabinets of Curiosity’ showcases personal collections

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Two Wheaton sophomores have curated a campus art exhibition from the personal collections of faculty and staff members.

Programming for the curious biologist

Friday, January 18th, 2008

To advise biologists navigating the unfamiliar terrain of computer programming, Wheaton professors Betsey Dyer (biology) and Mark LeBlanc (computer science) have written a guidebook, Perl for Exploring DNA, that serves as an introduction to computer-aided searching of biological sequences.

Astronaut Pam Melroy to speak at Wheaton

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

On Feb. 3, NASA astronaut Pam Melroy will talk about her experiences in space, including the dramatic and successful mission to the International Space Station that she led this fall.

Agriculture and sustainability to be subject of lecture

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Agriculture and sustainability will be the subject of a lecture by author and horticulturist Barbara Damrosch ’64 on February 21 at 5:30 p.m. in Hindle Auditorium of the Science Center.

Wheaton takes new look at nonviolence

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

"The Power of Nonviolence," a program of events designed to promote awareness of nonviolence and protest among member of the Wheaton community, will take place February 25 to 27. The program is sponsored by the college's Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility.

Wheaton greenhouses to welcome visitors March 12

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

The Wheaton College greenhouses will be open for tours and a repotting clinic on Wednesday, March 12, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wheaton presents African Film and Lecture Series

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

A series of African films and an accompanying lecture provide glimpses into the diversity of African cultures through issues such as gender and class.

Wheaton senior wins award for anthropology research

Friday, March 7th, 2008

Senior Kara Schamell's research into the meaning of a spiritual Zimbabwean music form played on an indigenous instrument and its transformation as a secular art form embraced in the World Music industry won recognition as the best undergraduate project of the year at a regional anthropology conference.

Two Wheaton seniors win Watson Fellowships

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Wheaton seniors Jennifer Bombasaro-Brady and Ru-Shyan Yen are two of 50 college students nationwide selected today to receive a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. The $25,000 award will support a year of travel and research for each student. Bombasaro-Brady plans to investigate the social significance of historical re-enactments; Yen will explore varied artistic techniques for creating batik.

Meehan wins MacDowell fellowship

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Wheaton Associate Professor of English and playwright-in-residence Charlotte Meehan has been awarded a coveted Alpert/MacDowell Colony Fellowship. The MacDowell Colony was established in Peterborough, N.H., in 1907 to nurture the arts by offering talented individuals an inspiring environment in which to produce their work.. Meehan joins the impressive company of previous MacDowell fellows, including award-winning playwrights Suzan-Lori Parks, Wendy Wasserstein and Thornton Wilder.

Computer science students lend Norton a hand in organizing town history

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Computer science professor Mark LeBlanc and four of his students are developing a searchable database of local historic images at the Norton Historical Society.

Ringgold shares life of art, activism

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Acclaimed artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold, who has published 14 children's books, visited Wheaton recently to share her work with local schoolchildren and the campus community.

Two students win grants for peace projects

Friday, March 21st, 2008

Thanks to the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace initiative, Ann Kwan '09 and Kelly Maby '09 have each won $10,000 grants to promote world peace through projects to be undertaken this summer. Kwan will establish a handicrafts shop for a Cambodian non-profit, while Maby will take urban high school students on a tour of the American South to learn from Civil Rights leaders.

Wheaton to walk for American Cancer Society

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Wheaton students, faculty and staff will again join the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer by raising funds through the Relay For Life, an all-night campus walk-a-thon.

Alumni conference to celebrate diversity milestone

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

April 12, 2008, from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

On April 12, a campus conference entitled "Building Bridges: A Celebration of 100 Alumni Men of Color," will highlight the experiences and accomplishments of alumni and male students of color since the college began admitting men in 1987.

Wheaton voice students draw raves at R.I. song festival

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Eight Wheaton students performed at the Song Festival of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing on March 1, and five of them came away with honors in the annual competition.

Wheaton students win awards and national honors

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Representing the broad diversity of scholarship and achievement on campus, a dozen Wheaton students have won awards and national honors this spring, including two seniors who have earned coveted Watson Fellowships for independent study abroad. The students have won recognition for their scholarly work, proposed research and service projects, as well as achievements in the arts.

Professor's film nabs top festival honors

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

The latest feature film by Wheaton professor Jake Mahaffy won the award for best "feature film" at the South By Southwest Film Festival held recently in Austin.

Islamic scholar to speak on democracy and Islam

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Abdolkarim Soroush, a leading light in the Islamic reform movement, will give a lecture entitled "Islam and Democracy: Democratic Voices within the Islamic World" at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 7.

Wheaton senior wins Fulbright for cultural research

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Wheaton senior Esther Jeong has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to research changes in traditional dance styles and the cultural shifts that have occurred as globalization has taken place in contemporary South Korea.
Fulbright scholarships are awarded for a variety of educational activities, including university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and [...]

Wheaton Ranks Among NCAA Division III's Top 15 Percent in Sports Academy Directors' Cup Standings

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Wheaton College is ranked among the top 15 percent of over 400 NCAA Division III institutions in the final winter United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings.

Greek revival

Monday, April 7th, 2008

A Wheaton tradition that dates back to the 1920s returns center stage on Friday, April 11, courtesy of senior Michael Balderrama, who is staging a Greek tragedy on the steps of the Madeleine Clark Wallace Library. Euripides's Orestes: A New Translation will be performed from 1 to 2:30 p.m. as part of Balderrama’s senior honors thesis during Wheaton’s 17th annual Academic Festival.

Wheaton junior wins Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in the sciences

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Blair Rossetti '09, a biochemistry major from Plymouth, Mass., has been named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for 2008. Awarded to outstanding college juniors and seniors in the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering, the Goldwater Scholarship is the premier national award for undergraduates in these areas.

Banquet serves up information on global hunger

Monday, April 7th, 2008

An interactive "hunger banquet" was held at Wheaton on February 28 to help raise campus awareness of global hunger, poverty and fair trade.

Wheaton enters federal direct loan program

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Wheaton has received approval to participate in the federally funded William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The college plans to implement this new program for the 2008-2009 academic year. The move will allow Wheaton students and their families to avoid the increasingly volatile market for Stafford and PLUS loans offered by third-party lenders.

Valuable support for women in math

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Rachelle DeCoste has been awarded a $6,000 grant from the Mathematical Association of America/Tensor Foundation that will support a newly created workshop for women in mathematics. The workshop will be held at Wheaton College July 27-29. The registration deadline is May 1.

Wheaton senior wins scholarship for graduate study

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Senior history major Caroline Teague has won scholarships from the St. Andrews Society of New York to support her studies at the University of Edinburgh's School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Senior wins Fulbright to teach in Malaysia

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

Meghan Kenny, a Wheaton College senior majoring in theatre studies and dance with a minor in sociology, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Malaysia.

Research experiences lead to Fulbright award

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

Senior Ashlan Musante has been awarded a 2008 Fulbright Scholarship to join the research team of Dr. Tanja Weil at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. The team's work involves the design and cellular characterization of customized polymeric architectures.

Wheaton graduate wins Fulbright to Thailand

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Derron J.R. Wallace, who graduated from Wheaton in May 2007, has been awarded a 2008 Fulbright to teach English and conduct research on education reform in Thailand. In his Fulbright proposal, he said that as a teaching assistant he hopes to help Thai students gain higher levels of fluency in English and a broader, fuller understanding of the diversity and complexity of American culture.

Fulbright scholar to teach English in Russia

Friday, April 18th, 2008

Russian Studies major Michael Freese '08 will head to Russia later this year to teach English as a 2008 Fulbright Scholar.

Repotting clinic to be offered May 16

Monday, April 21st, 2008

The Wheaton College greenhouses will offer an open house and repotting clinic on Friday, May 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Horticulturalist and greenhouse caretaker Jane Young will be available to answer questions.

Considering Violence as a Public Health Issue

Monday, April 21st, 2008

Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a nationally acclaimed public health leader, will deliver a lecture titled "Violence Prevention: A Public Health Mandate" at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, in Watson Auditorium.

Trio of seniors, sports information staff and dean honored at Wheaton's annual year-end athletics banquet

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

The Department of Athletics held its annual awards ceremony at Emerson Dining Hall on Tuesday night. Highlighting the evening was the announcement of the five major awards, including two that went to senior Erin Davis (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow), and acknowledgment of Dean of Students Sue Alexander and her 21 years of support for Wheaton athletics.

Ashley Smith wins Fulbright to Canada

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

For years, the hidden history of the Abenaki peoples of the northeastern United States and Canada has captivated Wheaton College senior Ashley Smith, who has been researching the historical and contemporary lives and cultures of this Native American group. Now she gets to dig deeper. The Madison, Maine resident has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in Canada on the Abenaki.

Cultivating their own garden

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

The children and teachers of the Elisabeth W. Amen Nursery School worked together to create a vegetable garden on the school grounds this spring. President Crutcher paid a visit to help with the digging.

English professor wins Fulbright Scholarship to Southern France

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Wheaton English professor and writer-in-residence Sue Standing will teach literature and poetry writing and work on a series of poems in Toulouse, France, this fall as a Fulbright Scholar.

A Rose by any other name is ... not acceptable

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

What's in a name? For Dean of Students Sue Alexander, who has to pronounce all of the student names at Commencement and get them right, everything. What's the secret to her success?

Leading scholar on gender issues delivers keynote

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Giving the keynote address at Wheaton College's 173rd Commencement held on May 17, 2008, Wheaton alumna Katharine T. Bartlett marveled at the dramatic social, technological and scientific advances that have occurred over the past 40 years since she graduated in 1968, and called attention to how far we still have to go.

Out of Africa - knowledge

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Two Wheaton faculty members are heading to Africa in June to participate in faculty development seminars sponsored by the Council for International Educational Exchange (CIEE). The seminars, supported with funds through the Wheaton Office of the Provost, will help the professors enrich their classroom curriculum.

Cara Strachan Awarded French Government Teaching Assistantship

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Graduating senior Cara Strachan wins French Government Teaching Assistantship that will allow her to spend next year teaching English to elementary level students in Provence.

Anne Bahr Awarded French Government Teaching Assistantship

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Graduating senior Anne Bahr was awarded a French Government Teaching Assistantship which will provide her the opportunity to teach English as a foreign language through the Academie de Dijon next year.

Seniors are up to the challenge

Friday, June 6th, 2008

The Class of 2008 has set a new Wheaton record for Annual Fund participation by a graduating class, with 324 seniors--90 percent of them--contributing to the senior class gift.

Pedaling to empower

Friday, June 6th, 2008

Wheaton College 2008 graduate Ryan Patch plans to bike from California to Boston to raise $50,000 to empower poor villagers in Nicaragua, where he spent time last summer creating and funding microcredit as part of his project for peace, which was funded by Wheaton.

Wheaton graduate earns Fulbright to Philippines

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Ryan Letada '08 has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the Philippines to research methods to reduce homelessness.