Wellesley commemorates Asian Awareness Month
The College celebrates Asian Awareness Month annually by hosting events to spread awareness and engage students in conversations about issues faced by minorities like affirmative action, immigration and mental health. The events, which are sponsored by various departments, funds and the Advisor to Students of Asian Descent, Karen Shih, will feature various speakers and performances. This year’s speakers include prominent spoken word poet Princess Chan, activist Ling-Chi Wang, singer Meera Mohan-Graham ’05 and keynote speaker Mayor Lisa Wong. Notable events this month include a talk on Asian American women in politics, a coffeehouse and a poetry workshop.
Wellesley professor featured in media for dress explanation
A dress appearing as either black and blue, or gold and white, depending on the viewer, took social media by storm last week. Bevil Conway, a Wellesley College professor of neuroscience who focuses on the neural basis of color, offered his insight to many media outlets, including “WIRED,” a monthly magazine that centers around technology and culture, and the daily British newspaper “The Guardian.” Conway analyzed how perception of color is related to multiple factors, including emotions and how the brain processed different colors. In the past week, Conway has been quoted and cited by NPR, CNN and Huffington Post.
Professor Alice T. Friedman given the first Arcus/Places Prize
Friedman, the Grace Slack McNeil Professor of American Art, has been awarded with the inaugural Arcus/Places Prize. The prize, which recognizes outstanding scholars whose work focuses on and evaluates the intersection between queer theory and the built environment, is given through the Arcus Endowment at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. Friedman won the first Arcus/Places Prize for her research in the relationship between sexuality and environment. Earlier this year, she published an article in PlacesJournal and gave a lecture at Berkeley called “Queer Old Things: Image, Myth and Memory in 20th Century Paris,” which analyzed the impact of queer spaces on American lesbians living in Paris during the previous century.
Professor makes appearance as guest judge in Japanese game show
Robert Goree, a Wellesley College professor specializing in Japanese languages and cultures, recently acted as a guest judge on a Japanese game show known as Sushi Time during a Boston filming. In the episode, two sushi chefs, one American and one Japanese, competed against each other and Goree cast the deciding vote. Goree’s teaching at Wellesley focuses on Japanese and Asian literature, cultures and history. He hopes to incorporate his experience on the show into a possible future course evaluating the influence of food on Japanese culture. The episode is available to view on Youtube.
