MALS’93 – Wesleyan Magazine Classnotes

Obituaries | 1990-19992014/12/18

ELENA M. RUSNAK MALS’93

ELENA M. RUSNAK MALS’93, 68, dance chair at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts and founder of the Dance Department at Naugatuck Valley Community College, died Aug. 9, 2014. She graduated from the University of Connecticut and received a master’s degree in English before receiving an MALS from Wesleyan. A performer, teacher, and choreographer, she was a pioneer for dance education in Connecticut. One of her main achievements was the award to NVCC for the Formal Pathways to Dance Certification K-12 by the State Board of Education. She founded and directed the Terpsichorean Dance Ensemble, created at NVCC and most recently, in retirement, acted as the artistic director of the newly formed ATTAK dance company. Among those who survive are her husband, Joseph N. Rusnak, two children, a grandson, a sister, and two brothers.

Obituaries | Graduate2014/12/18

DZINTRA K. INFANTE MALS’91

DZINTRA K. INFANTE MALS’91, a developmental cell biology researcher with her husband, Anthony Infante, Wesleyan professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, emeritus, died July 26, 2014. She was 77. Born in Latvia, she immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 9. She received a bachelor’s degree from Westhampton College of the University of Richmond and had a long productive professional life in industry and academia as a biochemical research assistant. Prior to joining the department at Wesleyan, where she received her MALS degree, she worked at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as in other academic laboratories in the U.S. and Europe. She was an active and longtime member of the Greater Middletown Chorale. Her husband, Professor Anthony Infante, survives, as do two daughters; two sons, including Niel Infante ’94; and five grandchildren.