Nathan Rich ’02 was chosen as one of only 15 Henry Luce Scholars for the 2004-05 academic year. The Luce Foundation will subsidize Rich for one year of work and study in China and in an intensive Mandarin language program prior to his departure. He plans to work in an architecture firm and study urban development in preparation for graduate work in architecture.
The Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference announced the winners of the 2003 Bakeless Literary Publication Prizes, awarded to aid and encourage writers seeking publication of their first books. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Glück chose The Clerk’s Tale by Spencer Reece ’85 for the poetry prize. Reece, who received a master’s in English Renaissance poetry from the University of York in England, as well as a master’s degree in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, says his book, which will be published by Houghton Mifflin in April 2004, was inspired by his undergraduate class on Chaucer taught by the late Professor Hope Weissman. The title poem for his upcoming book appeared in the June 16 & 23, 2003, issue of the New Yorker.
The School for Visual Arts in New York City honored David Rhodes ’68 on his 25-year anniversary as president of the institution. During his tenure, SVA grew from just under 2,000 students to more than 3,000. In addition, SVA’s seven graduate programs were added, also the result of his leadership. “The greatest challenge of my career,” he notes, “has been seeing our transformation from an art school with three-year courses to an art college with graduate programs.” An avid photographer, Rhodes was further honored with an exhibition of his work, The Moving Line, at the celebration. A graduate of Wesleyan’s College of Letters, he pursued graduate training in philosophy and the economics of education at Columbia University. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of Wesleyan.
Jeffrey Richards ’69 was awarded a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for producing Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet. The awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall on June 5, 2005. Richards’ recent producing credits include Matthew Barber’s Enchanted April; A Thousand Clowns, starring Tom Selleck; Gore Vidal’s The Best Man; Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story; and The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged). Some of his upcoming projects include The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court Martial; and a revival of The Pajama Game. Richards holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Barbara Roessner ’75 has been selected, along with 11 other U.S. journalists, as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University for 2003-04. As a Knight Fellow, Roessner will examine the relationships between politics and the visual arts, such as film and photography, through the program’s independent course of study and special seminars. Currently a deputy managing editor at the Hartford Courant, Roessner previously worked as a reporter and editor at the Meriden Record-Journal and as a columnist for the Courant’s Life section, Northeast magazine, and op-ed page.
Monica Santana Rosen ’97 was awarded a 2003 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Rosen, a first-year MBA student at Harvard Business School, was chosen from among 1,100 applicants to receive one of 30 grants designed to support immigrants and children of immigrants–or New Americans–in pursuing graduate studies. Previously, Rosen was the executive director of Management Leadership Tomorrow, which aims to increase minority leadership. Eventually, Rosen says she hopes to “develop a program offering academic enrichment and financial literacy to young children and their parents.”
Xavier L. Rozas ’98 recently completed a six-month, 28,000-mile motorcycle journey from New York to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina, ending his two-wheeled adventure in Rio de Janeiro. A volunteer firefighter and founder of Call To Fire, a not-for-profit benefiting under-resourced firefighters in Latin America, he visited firehouses in all 16 countries on his goodwill mission. In addition to Call To Fire’s fundraising and community awareness efforts, Rozas maintained an interactive travelogue with second-grade classes in New York and Boston. Back in New England, Rozas has continued his efforts for Call To Fire, in addition to working with English-as-second-language students in Boston. (For further information, please see www.CalltoFire.com).
Jeffrey L. Shames ’77 was appointed to the Berklee College of Music board of trustees. A resident of Newton, Shames is the retired chairman of MFS Investment Management and the board of trustees of the MFS Funds. He is an avid jazz enthusiast. “I’m very excited to be part of Berklee,” said Shames. “From my days as a jazz DJ at Wesleyan, I’ve always looked for ways to be involved with music. I look forward to putting my energy into engaging Bostonians who benefit the arts to come on board and support Berklee.”
THEODORE M. SHAW ’76 was named to the Phyllis W. Beck Chair in Law at Temple University, a position created in 1997 in honor of Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Phyllis W. Beck. “Ted Shaw and Judge Beck both dedicated their careers to advancing equal justice under the law, making Ted an ideal candidate for the chair,” said Robert J. Reinstein, dean of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Shaw earned his law degree from Columbia University School of Law and is associate director and counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. In the challenge to affirmative action before the U.S. Supreme Court, Shaw represents 17 minority high-school students granted defendant status in the case against the University of Michigan. He also serves as senior vice chair of the board of trustees at Wesleyan.
Sandra Silvestre MALS ’77 was honored with a Teaching Award in Filmmaking by the North Carolina School of the Arts. A secondary school library media specialist and instructor of video journalism, TV production, and international film for the International Baccalaureate Program at Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield, Va., Silvestre calls herself “an ordinary teacher who teaches extraordinary students.”
