Tag Archives: guest speakers

EVENT
Education Policy Speaker Series: Beth Bye

Andy Ribner ’14 believes that you may be interested in politics, education, and other important topics. If so:

From Wikipedia:

“Bye is a long-time resident of West Hartford and was first elected to the school board in 2001. She is the former director of Trinity
College Community Child Care and the School for Young Children at Saint Joseph College. Beth has been involved with the development of 3 preschool facilities since 2000: The School for Young Children in West Hartford, The Charter School for Young Children in Hartford and The Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School in Bloomfield.

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EVENT
Elephants: A Talk by Laurence Möhr Kruger, Ph.D.

Laura Lupton ’12 sends in an event that combines the four (or five, depending on how you count it) most important elements for living a fulfilling life:

Do you like Elephants? Do you like South Africa? Do you like Plants and Ethnobotany? Do you like Conservation?

If the answer to any of the above is YES! (which, let’s admit, it obviously was), then come to a cool talk at Earth House this Thursday, Nov. 4th!

Laurence Möhr Kruger, Ph.D., a professor and director at the Organization for Tropical Studies in South Africa, will give a presentation about elephants in South Africa and their interaction with the plants and environment around them. His extensive field work in the national parks of South Africa and research in the field has given him a unique ability to shed light on their interactions, which can have consequences about plant and animal relationships everywhere.

Date: Nov. 4
Time: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Place: Earth House
Cost: How about a link to the facebook event instead?

EVENT
Lecture by Dan Choi

Asian/Asian-American House presents Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq veteran who received a discharge letter from the army after he announced that he was gay on The Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009. Since then, Choi has been an LGBTQ rights activist fighting for reform of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prevents openly gay officials from serving in the army.

Choi’s talk at Wesleyan is especially timely, given the recent order by US federal judge Virginia Phillips to the Pentagon that it stop enforcing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Choi signed up to enlist in the army again at the recruiting station in Times Square (video) and his request is in process.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from someone at the frontline of the fight for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” reform. Choi has emphasized that he invites all to hear him speak regardless if they agree with his ideals; he wants everyone to hear his message before they form a judgment.

What: Truth & Consequences: One Man’s Quest to Openly Serve His Country
When: Wed, Nov 3, 7pm – 8.30pm
Where: Tishler Hall (Exley 150)
Cost: FREE
Facebook event

EVENT
RIGHT NOW: DKE Presents Former Major Leaguer, Scout, and Manager Rico Brogna

This is in less than 20 mins… From Joey Giaimo ’11:

Wesleyan: A Sports Business Factory

Former Major League Baseball Player, Pro-Scout, recent Wesleyan football coach, and current Minor League Manager Rico Brogna is coming to speak at Wesleyan on Tuesday, February 2nd. Brogna spent nine seasons in the major leagues with Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta and the New York Mets. He has been a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks, worked as a volunteer football coach at Wesleyan University, was a minor league field coordinator for the Diamondbacks in 2009, and was just selected as the next manager of the Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate, the Mobile BayBears in Mobile, AL.

Coach Rico brings a wealth of knowledge from his days as a player and as a scout. If you are interested in following in the footsteps of people like Jed Hoyer (recently hired GM of the San Diego Padres Wesleyan Class of 1996), Eric Mangini (Cleveland Browns Head Coach Class of 1994), and Bill Belichick (New England Patriots Head Coach Class of 1975) in the sports business world – then Coach Rico Brogna can give you some great insight into how professional organizations are run behind the scenes and what it takes to succeed in the industry to become the next executive of a professional team from Wesleyan.

The talk will start at 7:30 P.M. on Tuesday, February 2nd in Delta Kappa Epsilon’s main room. Please contact Joe Giaimo ’11 at jgiaimo(at)wesleyan(dot)edu for more information. Sandwiches and drinks will be provided.

Date: Feb. 2
Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Place: Delta Kappa Epsilon Main Room

Commencement Speaker: Anna Quindlen

It’s official! Anna Quindlen P’07 will be the commencement address speaker!

From an All-Student Email entitled “Wesleyan Honorary Degree Recipients”:

It is with great pleasure that I announce to the Wesleyan community that an award-winning best-selling author, a pioneering entrepreneur and philanthropist and two dedicated members of the Middletown community will be the honorary degree recipients at the 177th Wesleyan Commencement on May 24, 2009.

Anna Quindlen P’07, who will also give the Commencement Address, is a novelist, a journalist, and a champion of higher education. She currently writes the “Last Word” column on the back page of Newsweek and serves as chair of the board of Barnard College, where she received a degree in English literature.
(AP Photo)

Ms. Quindlen has published five novels, all of them bestsellers. Her most recent, Rise and Shine, debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. She has also published many nonfiction books, including Thinking Out Loud, How Reading Changed My Life, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life, which has sold more than a million copies.

Ms. Quindlen spent most of her journalism career at The New York Times, where she wrote three columns, “About New York,” “Life in the 30s,” and “Public and Private.” She won the Pulitzer Prize for her work on the paper’s OpEd page. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities.

Ms. Quindlen is the mother of three children. Her son Christopher Krovatin, also a novelist, graduated from Wesleyan in 2007.

[Via Michael Roth ’78]

Activist Leo Cerda to speak Thursday

Jonathon Booth ’12 writes:

SDS and EON bring you Leo Cerda!

Leo Cerda is an indigenous human rights and environmental activist from Ecuador. He was born in the Amazon region of Ecuador, and his activism has focused on that area. Since he was 14 years old he has been fighting oil exploitation in the Amazon region of Ecuador, speaking in indigenous villages across Ecuador about the costs and consequences of the oil industry. These costs range from the destruction of the local environment to global climate change. He has also worked to support sustainable alternatives to oil for indigenous communities, including organic products cooperatives.

He will be speaking about the destruction he has seen and experienced in the Ecuadorian Amazon, what local groups are doing to resist this destruction, and what we, as American college students, can do to help.

Date: Thursday, Oct. 30
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Exley 150