The Wesleyan Connection

Alice Hadler, associate dean for international student affairs and coordinator of Writing Program Language Services for Non-Native Speakers, congratulates Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon ’16 for being the recipeint of two academic prizes, awarded on May 8. Jiranaphawiboon received the Ayers Prize for attaining the highest academic standing in the first semester, and the Sherman Prize for excellence in mathematics. (Photos by Eki Ramadhan ’16)

The Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Student Affairs hosted a reception honoring students who have been awarded academic prizes, fellowships and scholarships on May 8 in Daniel Family Commons. The awards and award recipients are:

GEORGE H. ACHESON AND GRASS FOUNDATION PRIZE IN NEUROSCIENCE

Established in 1992 by a gift from the Grass Foundation, this prize is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate in the Neuroscience and Behavior Program who demonstrates excellence in the program and who also shows promise for future contributions in the field of neuroscience.

• Nicholas Woods ’13

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY ANALYTICAL AWARD

Awarded for excellence in analytical chemistry.

• Andras Sagi ’14

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CONNECTICUT VALLEY SECTION AWARD

Awarded for outstanding achievement to a graduating chemistry major.

• Sarah Hensiek ’13

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

Awarded to a senior who has displayed a significant aptitude for organic chemistry

• Ging-ji Wang ’13

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD

Awarded for outstanding achievement to a graduating chemistry major.

• Sarah Shackleton ’13

AYRES PRIZE

The gift of Daniel Ayres, Class of 1842, to the first-year student who attains the highest academic standing in the first semester.

• Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon ’16 Continue Reading »

Tags: awards, student scholarships

At left, Mfundi Makama ’14 and Greg Shaheen ’13 received grants through the Davis Projects for Peace Program.

Two Wesleyan students have been awarded grants through the Davis Projects for Peace Program to bring their grassroots project proposals to fruition. Class of 2014′s Mfundi Makama’s $10,000 grant will support The Buddies Program, which he recently created as a way to empower young women in Swaziland through educational achievement. Greg Shaheen ’13 will use the funds to establish a community-based eco-center focused on environmental education and action for teenagers in Lebanon. The projects will take place this summer.

Student applicants at more than 90 Davis United World College Scholar Program partner schools—including Wesleyan—design grassroots projects that promote peace, build understanding, and address the root causes of conflict. The program is funded by internationalist and philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, who died earlier this year at the age of 106.

Makama, who is from Swaziland, is double majoring in neuroscience and behavior and molecular biology and biochemistry. Though Swaziland is known as the most peaceful country in Africa, its “culture and tradition relegate women to second-class citizens. Such cultural barriers incite abuse in Swaziland and lead to poor law enforcement,” Makama wrote in his project proposal. Continue Reading »

Tags: projects for peace, student achievements, THISISWHY

Distinguished scholars from China discussed “Comparative Enlightenments” with Wesleyan faculty and other guests during a forum May 9-11 at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies.

(Story contributed by Charles Salas, director of strategic initiatives)

“A golden example of what exchange should be between academic communities in the United States and China.” That’s how Gao Xiang, vice secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and editor-in-chief of the Social Sciences in China Press, described the Chinese-American Scholarly Exchange Forum that took place May 9-11 at Wesleyan’s Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. The forum brought 15 distinguished scholars from China to Wesleyan to meet with American counterparts to discuss the topic of “Comparative Enlightenments.”

The forum was framed by Wang Weiguang, president of CASS, who expressed fervent hopes for this dialogue “between Eastern and Western civilizations as if a lamp is lit by another lamp, as if a dream illuminates another dream, and ultimately illuminates our entire human world.” CASS is far and away the most important center in China for studies in philosophy and the social sciences, and this is the second forum in which they’ve partnered with Wesleyan. The topic of the first forum (held a year and a half ago in Bejing) was “Tradition.” Continue Reading »

Tags: East Asian Studies, History and Theory

Join the Wesleyan community for Reunion & Commencement Weekend 2013.

Reunite with classmates, attend WESeminars, tour campus, visit with former professors, and congratulate the Class of 2013 during Reunion & Commencement Weekend May 23-26.

Seniors and their families are invited to join alumni for the traditional Parade of Classes at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 25.

“Reunion & Commencement is such a fun and celebratory time for the entire Wesleyan community,” said Deana Hutson, director of events for University Relations. “There really is something for everyone. We have more than 150 events planned over the course of three days.”

In addition to another incredible array of WESeminars, Hutson recommends attending the traditional Friday and Saturday night parties, reunion class gatherings, academic department open houses and the Festival on Foss Hill.

On Friday night, alt-rock icon Amanda Palmer ’98 will perform a benefit concert for financial aid (buy tickets here). The weekend culminates with the 181st Commencement Ceremony where campus guests will hear from award-winning writer, director, and producer Joss Whedon ’87.

Other highlights will include several reunion class receptions and dinners, a Red, Black and Green All-College Dinner, stargazing at the Van Vleck Observatory, a volunteer breakfast, a tour of the Freeman Family Garden, a SteveSongs Concert, Thesis Art 2013 Exhibition, a gathering for graduating seniors and their grandparents, Senior Voices, the traditional All-College Sing, the Phi Beta Kappa initiation, Anugerah: Student Performance Showcase, and much more.

WESeminar topics include Approaches to Social Innovation, Wesleyan’s Partnership with Coursera, Mountaintop Removal Mining, the Grateful Dead at Wesleyan, Getting Published, the Art and Science of Mediating Complex Matters, Marriage Equality, the Art of Collaboration, Travel, Protest Posters Today, Hometown Security, Super Frog Saves Tokyo and more.

View the full schedule, by day, at this website.

This year, Wesleyan is expanding its bottled water elimination efforts through a Feet to the Fire: Earth and Justice for All campus initiative. Two student-designed water stations will deliver filtered and chilled water to Reunion & Commencement guests at the All-College Picnic and Commencement Ceremony. Learn more about this and other R&C sustainable efforts online here.

FAQs about R&C Weekend are online here.

Tags: reunion and commencement, reunion and commencement 2013

Anthony Braxton. (Photo by Jason Guthartz)

Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, has been honored with the 2013 Doris Duke Artist Award, one of the country’s most prestigious awards for individual artists. It comes with a $225,000 honorarium.

Braxton is a composer, saxophonist, teacher and philosopher with a career spanning half a century. He is also the founder of The Tri-Centric Foundation, a nonprofit that cultivates and inspires the next generation of creative artists to pursue their own visions with the kind of idealism and integrity Braxton has demonstrated throughout his long and distinguished career. The foundation also documents, archives, preserves and disseminates Braxton’s scores, writings, performances and recordings.

According to Mark Slobin, the Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music, the Doris Duke Artist Award “complements Prof. Braxton’s earlier ‘genius grant’ from the MacArthur Foundation [in 1994], and serves as an ongoing recognition of his unique and long-lasting contribution to the performing arts in America and internationally.” At Wesleyan, Braxton is known for his close mentoring of students, many who have gone on to become prominent figures in the New York music world and abroad, said Slobin.

“As Braxton has signaled that he will retire in December, it seems a particularly timely moment to salute both his current standing and his more than two decades of University service,” he added.

The Doris Duke Artist Awards “invest in exemplary individual artists in contemporary dance, jazz, theatre and related interdisciplinary work who have proven their artistic vitality and commitment to their field,” according to the award website. In addition to an unrestricted monetary award, recipients are also given access to special goal assessment tools, financial and legal counseling, and conferences with peer-to-peer learning opportunities

Artists may not apply for the award. Candidates are selected from a pool of artists who have won at least three national grants, awards, accolades or fellowships in the past 10 years. An anonymous panel of performing arts professionals then review eligible candidates, assessing “the quality of the artist’s work, the maturity of the artistic voice, the value of a grant at this moment in their careers, and the dedication of the artist to continue to move forward with creativity and curiosity.

Tags: Braxton, faculty achievements, Music Department

Jan Naegele is one of 19 women faculty in the country to receive a Drexel Fellowship.

Jan Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, was named a 2013-14 ELATE (Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering) at Drexel® Fellow for the 2013-14 academic year.

Naegele and 18 other women faculty in science, technology, engineering and math fields, received the fellowship. They come from a range of universities and colleges across the country, many with global experience.

The ELATE at Drexel® Fellow program focuses on increasing personal and professional leadership effectiveness, leading and managing change initiatives within their institutions, using strategic finance and resource management to enhance the missions of their organizations, and creating a network of exceptional women. Facilitated by leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math research and leadership development, the curriculum includes classroom lessons and activities, online instruction and discussion, and on-the-job application at each fellow’s home institution.

In addition to learning about the financial planning and resource management in this program, each of the fellows has a project that they develop over the year-long program.

“While continuing the current support structure at the Center for Faculty Career Development, I will also develop new resources for minorities and women faculty, including workshops to assist junior faculty with their teaching and research,” Naegele said. “One topic to be addressed in workshops will focus on survival skills for junior science faculty as they set up their research laboratories, establish funded research programs, and recruit undergraduate and graduate students. Another will be to expand resources and mentoring to recruit and retain underrepresented minorities across the disciplines.”

The work for this second incoming class begins in May with online assignments and community building activities, and the program will conclude in March 2014 with a symposium organized around their projects. Naegele will begin the first of three week-long, in-residence sessions on July 31 at the ACE Conference Center in Lafayette Hill, Pa.

More more information visit Drexel’s website.

Tags: Biology, faculty achievements, Naegele, Neuroscience

Anna Haensch is one of two mathematicians selected for the prestigious Mass Media Fellowship this year.

When Anna Haensch tells new acquaintances that she’s a mathematician, many people immediately recoil.

“There’s this repellent nature to math,” she said. “There’s this big wall up around it—people find it terrifying or uninteresting.”

That’s exactly why Haensch, a Ph.D. student who just successfully defended her dissertation, wants to learn how to communicate better to the general public about math. She is the recipient of a Mass Media Fellowship, administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Haensch’s fellowship is sponsored by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). The 10-week summer program, which starts June 3, places graduate and post-graduate level science, engineering and mathematics students at media organizations around the country, where they develop skills to translate their work to the public. Haensch will be stationed at the NPR Science Desk in Washington, D.C.

She was one of two mathematicians selected for the prestigious fellowship this year. Thirteen fellowship recipients in other scientific fields will be stationed at media outlets such as the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, NOVA, Scientific American, and WIRED.

Haensch, who earned her undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at New Paltz, has been at Wesleyan for the past six years, working on number theory under Professor of Mathematics Wai Kui Chan.

“I plug integers into polynomials and see what integers I get out,” she explained. “This is a question that’s really easy to ask, but it’s very hard to get our hands on the solution. Over the last several hundred years, this has been a question people have been very interested in.”

After passing her qualifying exams at Wesleyan, Haensch began teaching courses in pre-calculus Continue Reading »

Tags: graduate students, mathematics and computer science, student achievements, student research, student scholarships

Government major Ivan Stoitzev ’13 presented his research on “Everything Revolves Around Oil and Natural Gas: Russia’s Economic and Political Centers of Gravity,” during the Center for the Study of Public Life’s 2012-13 thesis research presentations on April 26. Stoitev investigated the role oil and natural gas play in the Russian economy and political sphere.

The Center for the Study of Public Life’s profiled a range of Wesleyan senior thesis research projects on topics related to the study of public life on April 26.

The inaugural event featured 10-minute presentations by Wesleyan seniors whose 2012-13 thesis research represents an undertaking to pursue knowledge about public life in its broad definition.

Three students spoke about the topic “Regionalism, Nationalism, Infrastructures and Identity.”

History major Sophia Hussain discussed “The Derailed Power Broker: Rexford Tugwell’s American Crusade for Planning and Professional Authority.”

Government major Katherine James spoke on “Policy and Planning for Large Water Infrastructure Projects in the People’s Republic of China,”a study of three water projects – the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, the Three Gorges Dam, and the Nu River Project- that explores how and why China has persisted with a policy of constructing mega-projects to assuage domestic water scarcity and supply issues, in spite of their high social, political, economic, and environmental costs.

Government major Ivan Stoitzev ’13 presented his research on “Everything Revolves Around Oil and Natural Gas: Russia’s Economic and Political Centers of Gravity,” during the Center for the Study of Public Life’s 2012-13 thesis research presentations on April 26. Stoitev investigated the role oil and natural gas play in the Russian economy and political sphere.

And history major Sophia Hussain discussed “The Derailed Power Broker: Rexford Tugwell’s American Crusade for Planning and Professional Authority,” a historical investigation of the agricultural economist’s public writings and his relationship to the New Deal, racial politics, and the building of America’s first Greenbelt Towns in the 1930s.

Four students discussed studies about “Policy and Political Processes.”

College of Social Studies major Caitlin Aylward presented “Food for People, Not for Profit: Justice and the Food Movement,” a study of how the predominant food justice, slow food, and food sovereignty movements are each a response to a respective element within a triad of distributional, recognition based and procedural injustices. Continue Reading »

Tags: Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life

From left, Nina Gerona ’15; Jen Kleindienst, sustainability coordinator; Bruce Strickland, instrument maker specialist; Tavo True-Alcalá ’15; Dave Strickland, instrument maker specialist; Brent Packer ’15; and Madeleine O’Brien ’16 present the student-designed “Wishing Well.” The project was constructed by the Machine Shop inside Wesleyan’s Scientific Support Services.

As a part of its commitment to be a bottled water-free campus, Wesleyan is continually seeking alternatives to hydrate the campus community.

During Reunion & Commencement, May 23-26, a group of students will debut their sustainable solution, “The Wishing Well,” a custom-built mobile water station. The two-piece water tank, constructed by Wesleyan’s Scientific Support Services, features eight water filtration dispensers. On May 25, the stations will be positioned on Andrus Field, and on May 26, near North College. The stations will dispense filtered water from the public water supply.

The students, Nina Gerona ’15; Tavo True-Alcalá ’15; Brent Packer ’15; and Madeleine O’Brien ’16, received a shared $1,000 prize on May 8 for their design, which won a competition sponsored by the Sustainability Office, Center for the Arts’ Feet to the Fire Initiative, the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and the College of the Environment. The water station also will be used at Homecoming/Family Weekend, and other outdoor events.

Kleindienst and True-Alcalá  presented the design contest to sustainability professionals from across the U.S. at the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference, held in Bethesda, M.D.

During R&C weekend, Wesleyan will provide campus guests with the reusable water bottles. During Commencement, one will be placed under each attendee’s seat.

Read a Hartford Business Journal article on the water filtration systems online here.

Tags: student achievements, sustainability

Twenty-three colleges and universities in New England, including Wesleyan, have joined an EPA effort to cut the amount of food that goes to waste. This doubles the participation of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge in 2013, since 11 New England colleges and universities were already participating in the challenge. In 2011, these schools recovered a total of 4,538 tons of food.

The partnership, which was announced in honor of Earth Day, aims to reduce the 1.64 million tons of food wasted each year in the six New England states. EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, encourages organizations to reduce, donate, and recycle as much of their excess food as possible, which saves money, feeds the needy, and helps protect the environment–the triple bottom line. By joining the challenge, Wesleyan pledges to reduce food waste disposed on campus.

“The EPA Food Recovery Challenge will help us to benchmark our food waste and increase recovery of food through expanded food donation, composting, and other initiatives,” said Jen Kleindienst, sustainability coordinator. “We’re excited to be a part of this effort and look forward to working with Bon Appetit and the campus community to make this great.”

Last year, Wesleyan composted about 3.5 tons of pre-consumer food waste.

Wesleyan is already undertaking a number of efforts to reduce food waste. Last year, the university composted about 3.5 tons of pre-consumer food waste from Usdan University Center and student residences. This year, the pre-consumer program has collected nearly 5 tons.

Additionally, in March, Wesleyan began composting all post-consumer food waste in Usdan Marketplace.

“In its first month, we have diverted nearly 5 tons of food scraps from the incinerator,” Kleindienst said. “If this program continues to be successful, the Sustainability Office hopes to expand it to other campus dining locations.”

Food Rescue, a Wesleyan student group, strives to reduce the amount of food regularly wasted and thrown out in campus dining halls and reallocate it to those who suffer from hunger and homelessness in the Middletown community. Student volunteers collect food that is normally wasted from Pi Cafe, Summerfields, and Usdan and take it to Eddy Shelter.

Students also organize, prepare and participate in community dinners at the shelter.

Tags: sustainability

Wesleyan’s Sustainability Office hosted several earth-friendly opportunities in honor of Earth Month. On April 21, students from the Bread Salvage group promoted their organization during Earth Fest, a music and food festival on Foss Hill.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Earth Day, sustainability

Graduate Student Services welcomed the 2013-14 BA/MA students during a pre-orientation lunch April 25.

Tags: graduate students