When artist Chris Domenick stood in the monumental Main Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, he observed the way light from the building’s windows worked with his new installation. “It's so cavernous and incredible and the light is so amazing,” he said. The moment marked a milestone—his first solo institutional exhibition, Private Figure, a show that combines floor- and ceiling-based lamps with wall works by the artist. The Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University’s home for contemporary art since 1973, is known for encouraging artists to take risks that may not be as welcome at more traditional gallery spaces. For…

Alumnus, professor, and civil rights attorney Theodore M. Shaw ’76 returned to Wesleyan on Feb. 11 to deliver the 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Luncheon keynote address. During his talk, Shaw reminisced about his time at the University, shared highlights of his career, and offered his thoughts about the current political moment. Standing at the podium, Shaw paused to honor the Hall’s namesake, Edgar Beckham, who was the first African American dean at the University. He also recalled that as a student he had played pickup basketball in the same space which was once known as the small…

A film adaptation of Associate Professor of Theater Edwin Sanchez’s play Unmerciful Good Fortune has begun production with Concord Studio. Actress Rosario Dawson will play a lead role and is a producer on the project, according to Deadline. “I think it's about the quality of life versus the quantity of life and who gets to decide that,” Sanchez said. “And how sometimes the people we love need more from us than maybe we're ready to give.” Unmerciful Good Fortune is a story about a high-profile lawyer, Maritza Cruz, who is pulled into a peculiar case of a young waitress, Fatima,…

By: Phuc Ngo ’27 Sixty countries are represented in Wesleyan’s community, and over 70 languages spoken. This rich diversity of language and culture is the focus of the third annual Power of Language Week (POL) at Wesleyan. From Feb. 13 to 21, the Fries Center for Global Studies, in partnership with the Office of International Student Affairs, the Resource Center, and several academic departments, is hosting a series of events that celebrate the history of language and multilingual students—from language learners to heritage speakers to international students. “Language is something that we use not only to communicate, but to convey…

In 2018, author and journalist Pagan Kennedy ’84 became intrigued by news reports about rape kits and the backlog in processing them. The scandal of nearly a half million kits left untested fascinated her and was the start of a research journey that led to her most recent book, The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story (Penguin Random House). “The more I thought about it, the more amazing it seemed to me that this kit existed at all—that there was this nationwide, very elaborate system for collecting sexual assault evidence seemed to me kind of a…

By: Rose Chen ’26 In the summer of 2024, Oleksandra Volakova ’27 received a Wesleyan Summer Grant to travel to Poland, where she documented the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and interviewed refugees from the war. She then returned to her hometown of Kremenchuk in eastern Ukraine, and decided to continue the project by travelling around the country and hearing from other survivors throughout the region. On Feb. 5, Volakova shared her research “Three Years of Full-Scale War: How Ukrainians Continue to Resist and Stay Hopeful” during a talk at the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty. “As a…

By: Phuc Ngo ’26 President Michael S. Roth ’78 wrote a piece in Slate on recent decisions by other higher education institutions to take a position of neutrality on controversial issues. “We must not sacrifice academic freedom and a healthy civil society for the short-term gains of anticipatory compliance,” Roth said. Following his piece in Slate, The Washington Post ran an opinion piece highlighting Roth’s efforts to speak out against threats to higher education. “Leaders in higher educational institutions should stand up for their values. Not to pick a fight with Donald Trump or JD Vance. We should stand up…

In Professor of Physics Francis Starr’s Lab, researchers focus on studying the complexities of soft matter and materials. One target of their investigations are phase change materials, or substances that can transition from one state to another, similar to common transitions between a solid and liquid, but in this case the material can very rapidly switch between two different solid phases. In a recently published paper, Starr and his student co-authors developed a novel model to simulate a phase change that could one day have an impact on such practical matters as how quickly our smartphones process data. For their…

The Africana Research Collective, a group of faculty, students, and recent alumni, journeyed to Southern Louisiana for a hands-on research experience focusing on the intellectual and cultural history of the African diaspora. This was the collective’s second ever trip after an inaugural research excursion to the Dominican Republic in 2022. This particular trip was organized around the theme of “agency,” which can be tentatively defined as “someone’s or something’s capacity to produce an intended or unintended effect,” said Assistant Professor of African American Studies Garry Bertholf. This four-day, cross-institutional research collaboration brought together undergraduate fellows from Wesleyan’s Bailey College of…

While Professor of Philosophy Stephen Angle was on sabbatical in Beijing, China in 2016-2017, he wanted to find a way to directly engage fellow experts on and advocates of Confucianism. He attended conferences and met with other Confucianists before coming up with the idea of organizing a series of dialogues about the meaning of Confucianism today. The dialogues—eight in all—culminated in Angle’s latest book Progressive Confucianism and its Critics: Dialogues from the Confucian Heartland. To Angle’s knowledge, the dialogues—most of which took place at Renmin University in Beijing—were the first of their kind to put Chinese Confucians, most of whom…

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Iris Yoon first became intrigued by topology—a branch of mathematics concerned with the study of shapes—as an undergraduate student. “I took a topology class in undergrad which was fascinating to me,” said Yoon. “And I found this field by accident. I went on Google and searched ‘applications of topology’ and found that it was an actual field of research.” That fascination led Yoon to contact a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, who invited her to join his weekly research seminars and ultimately served as advisor for her Ph.D. in applied mathematics and computation science. …

The Wesleyan community has demonstrated a commitment to the University’s sustainability goals. Undergraduate participation in sustainability in coursework, workshops, and research incorporating environmental justice is on the rise, as is the University’s engagement with Middletown on sustainability efforts. In 2023-24, 1,717 students, or 55 percent of undergraduates, engaged in one or more internships, courses, research projects, leadership experiences, workshops, or volunteer activities related to sustainability. This is an increase of 160 students from 2022-23, according to an annual progress report on the University’s Sustainability Strategic Plan. “It’s been exciting to see a continued increase in student engagement with sustainability both…

Chris Domenick, Parker Ito Reimagine Painting in Zilkha Gallery

Theodore Shaw ’76 Gives Annual MLK Talk

Film Adaptation of Sanchez Play in Production

Preview: Power of Language Week 2025

Alum’s Book Reveals Untold History of Rape Kits

Ukrainian Student Shares Stories of Survival

Wesleyan in the News: February 2025

Starr Lab Develops New Model to Study Novel Phase Change Material

Africana Research Collective Visits Louisiana

Angle’s New Book Debates Critical Questions About Confucianism

Math Researcher Provides New Tool to Study the Brain

Campus Sustainability Work on the Rise