Lauren Rubenstein

Phillip Resor, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, was recently interviewed on WNPR about an amazing part of Connecticut's geological history. According to the story, several hundred million years ago, Connecticut was in the middle of a massive continental collision, which formed the super continent Pangea and pushed up huge mountains. Deep beneath the earth, a borderland beneath the two continents formed. Today, geologists call it the Lake Char fault system; it runs along the I-395 corridor in southeastern Connecticut. Resor took WNPR reporter Patrick Skahill to East Haddam by Gillette Castle to walk along the banks of the Connecticut River, and showed him fine black…

Giulio Gallarotti, professor of government, professor of environmental studies, tutor in the College of Social Studies, was a guest on the McAlvany Weekly Commentary to discuss his book, The Power Curse: Influence and Illusion in World Politics. Gallarotti discusses how power creates the seeds of its own destruction. The applications are explored both in the context of geo-politics and international finance. Listen to the interview here. Gallarotti's book can be found here.

Wesleyan's Development Conference Committee will host its first conference, titled, "Creating a Better World: Perspectives on Local and International Development," on Feb. 21. It will feature talks by Paul Glewwe of the University of Minnesota, Vijay Prashad of Trinity College, and Cheryl Doss of Yale University. Wesleyan Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology Anu Sharma will moderate a question and answer session. The conference will take place from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. in Allbritton 311. No advanced registration is required. According to Chazelle Rhoden '15, who is co-organizing the conference with Sitar Terrass-Shah '17, the Development Conference Committee is a…

Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins is part of a growing movement urging Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to spare the lives of two Australian drug smugglers currently on death row in Indonesia. Their executions are scheduled for later this month. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were part of a theater workshop Jenkins conducted at the Kerobokan Penitentiary in 2011. That workshop focused on adapting Dante's "Divine Comedy" for the stage. Jenkins is now teaching the same class at a prison in Connecticut through the Yale Divinity School. In connection with that course, on Feb. 7, Jenkins moderated a panel at the Yale Divinity School…

As controversy over the measles vaccine continues to grow, and prominent politicians weigh in with their views, Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler writes in The Washington Post's "Monkey Cage" blog about the dangerous consequences that politicization of vaccine issues in the news media can have on public support for vaccines in general. In an article co-authored with with Sarah Gollust '01, now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, Fowler considers the the 2009 dust-up over mammography screening recommendations, and the 2006-07 debate over whether to require girls to get the HPV vaccine. Though neither started…

Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler recently had two new articles on advertising in the 2014 elections published. Co-written with her Wesleyan Media Project co-director Travis Ridout of Washington State University, "Political Advertising in 2014: The Year of the Outside Group" was published in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics in December 2014. The paper notes a plateau in political advertising volumes and levels of negativity this election cycle, and an increasingly prominent role played by outside groups, especially in competitive races for the U.S. Senate. It also tracks the most competitive races, looks at issues featured in ads,…

President Roth recently spoke to The Washington Post about current level of anxiety over the job-readiness of college grads, and what colleges' roles and responsibilities really are to ensure their students are prepared for the workforce. “The erosion of the middle class,” he said, “has put a lot more pressure on parents and students to make it big in the world or the consequences are dire.” Roth told the Post that he believes universities can do more to prepare students for the job market "without abandoning their traditional role to provide a broad education." He said Wesleyan is investing more in its career services.…

#THISISWHY For many years, pilots in the Air Force, scientists conducting research with high-powered lasers, and others have struggled to protect their eyes and sensitive equipment from being damaged by intense laser pulses. In many cases, this was achieved by intense power filters, which offered protection, but self-destructed. Now they have a solution, which provides protection without damaging the filters themselves, thanks to a research collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and a team of researchers in Wesleyan's Physics Department. The research, led by Tsampikos Kottos, the Douglas J. and Midge Bowen Bennet Associate Professor of Physics, is included…

Wesleyan employees increased both giving and participation in this year’s campaign to support the Middlesex United Way, raising more than $111,000 for the local community. More than 400 Wesleyan staff and faculty members gave this year, about a 36 percent participation rate, according to Campaign Coordinator Cathy Lechowicz, director of the Center for Community Partnerships. An online auction also raised more than $600, and some lucky employees won gift certificates to local restaurants—including Haveli India Restaurant, Esca Restaurant, Luce, Nardelli’s, Mondo, and Sweet Harmony Café & Bakery—a night at the Inn at Middletown, a golf foursome at the Yale Golf Course…

Total enrollment in Wesleyan’s massive open online courses (MOOCs) recently surpassed 1 million students, as Wesleyan professors prepare to offer a new run of two film courses through Coursera in the coming months. According to Jennifer Curran, director of continuing studies and Graduate Liberal Studies, enrollment is poised to continue growing in the lead-up to The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color, taught by Scott Higgins, associate professor and chair of film studies, beginning Feb. 2, and Marriage and the Movies: A History, taught by Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, curator of the Cinema Archives, beginning…

Phillip K. Howard, a leader of government and legal reform in America and author of The Rule of Nobody and The Death of Common Sense, will speak at Wesleyan on Feb. 4. His talk, titled, "Can American Government Be Fixed?" will be at 4:30 p.m. in PAC002. Howard will argue that looking for new leaders is a fool's errand until we restore their ability to lead. Modern government is structurally paralyzed by the accretion of dense bureaucracy. From the school house to the White House, people with responsibility find themselves mired in legal quicksand. An aging democracy is part of the problem — obsolete programs are defended by…

Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dan Berrett traces the ongoing tension in American between visions of higher education "as a vehicle for intellectual development" and as a simple tool to prepare students for jobs. Citing Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth's book, Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, Berrett shows how the debate over the value of a liberal education has evolved from the days of the Founding Fathers to W.E.B. Du bois and Booker T. Washington to today. "A farmer reading the classics or an industrial worker quoting Shakespeare was at one time an honorable character. Today’s news stories lament bartenders with…

Resor Explores Connecticut’s Geological History

Gallarotti Discusses His Book “The Power Curse” on McAlvany Weekly Commentary

“Creating a Better World” Development Conference to be Held Feb. 21

Jenkins Moderates Panel, Writes Op-Ed on Plight of Two Death Row Inmates in Indonesia

Fowler on the Effects of Politicization of Vaccines in the Media

Fowler’s Articles on Advertising in 2014 Midterm Elections Published

President Roth on the Responsibility of Colleges to Make Students Job-Ready

Wesleyan Physics Lab, U.S. Air Force Partner on Groundbreaking Research

Wesleyan Campaign Raises Funds to Support Middlesex United Way

Enrollment in Wesleyan MOOCs Surpasses 1M

Government, Legal Reform Leader Howard to Speak at Wesleyan Feb. 4

President Roth’s Book Cited in Exploration of Views of Liberal Education Over Time