Wesleyan’s Year in Review 2023

It has been a consequential year at Wesleyan. The University announced the end of legacy admissions and loans, policy changes aimed at improving the access and affordability of its liberal arts education. It also launched the largest fundraising initiative in school history. While Wesleyan was focused on its mission to provide a diverse group of students with an expansive and broad education, its students continued to learn and create and faculty continued to make significant contributions in their fields of study. Throughout the year, the Wesleyan Connection has documented this creative and compassionate community hungry to have an impact on…

Wesleyan University faculty and alumni are making art across the region over the next several months. Here is a small sampling of offerings: Assistant Professor of Art Tammy Nguyen’s first museum solo exhibition is on display at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston now through January 28, 2024. Assistant Professor of the Practice in Theater Edwin Sánchez’s one-act play, Still Nuts About Him, is based on Clara from The Nutcracker, and is part of the eleventh annual evening of theater Christmas on the Rocks at TheaterWorks Hartford. Sanchez also collaborated with playwright Jacques Lamarre on the latest addition to the…

Exams have been graded and final projects evaluated. Perhaps you’re enjoying some much-needed rest and relaxation after a busy semester, or you want to bring a little bit of Wesleyan home to share. We’ve compiled a list of entertainment offerings from Wesleyan alumni for you to enjoy until we return to campus in January. Television and Movies The seventh season of Big Mouth premiered on Netflix in June. Jennifer Flackett ’86 is writer and co-creator of the raunchy, animated adult sitcom about teenagers struggling through the turbulent, traumatic changes of adolescence. Big Mouth was renewed for its eighth and final…

In a time when campus dialogue is front page news as violence continues in the Middle East, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 has spoken and written extensively on the topic over the last few days, providing his perspective and insight into the environment at Wesleyan. Roth appeared on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” on Dec. 5 to discuss the campus conversation surrounding the war and student’s perception of safety during times of rising religious interpersonal conflict. “On our campus, we have seen that people have the ability to sit together in the same room and listen to…

Willette Burnham-Williams’ goal in her new role as Wesleyan’s vice president for Equity and Inclusion is to be the best servant-leader she can be. She has recently been appointed after a nationwide search that included the input of faculty, staff, and students. Burnham-Williams will begin on March 4. “I come into this position to serve the students, but also to serve the faculty and my colleagues. For me, it’s about being someone who is there to support and advocate, and to collaborate and co-facilitate,” she said in a recent interview. Burnham-Williams comes to Wesleyan from the Medical University of South…

Professor of Astronomy Seth Redfield was one of several collaborators who recently published the discovery of a six-planet system around a nearby bright star within the Milky Way Galaxy, according to a paper in Nature. Not only are the planets within our galaxy, but they are in perfect resonance, a rare and potentially highly important discovery for humanity’s understanding of planet formation, Redfield said. A planetary system in resonance means that the orbital periods—how long it takes a planet to complete a single orbit around its star—are in ratio with one another. Redfield said that in this case all six…

Students from high schools across the country are getting the chance to “live like a philosopher” thanks to a Wesleyan course taught by Tushar Irani, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Letters. The course is offered through Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab—an initiative that seeks to democratize college access and advance education justice by providing college-level courses to students attending Title 1 high schools across the country. (The New York Times wrote about the program previously.) There are six high schools participating in the course—from Albuquerque to El Paso to the Bronx—with a total of over 75 students…

Wesleyan’s newest Phi Beta Kappa Society members plan to impact the world through service, research, policymaking, music, literature, and art. There were 15 high-achieving Wesleyan students inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at a ceremony in the McKelvey Room on Dec. 6, joining over 500,000 members from 293 campuses across the country. They join former presidents, members of Congress, and Nobel Laureates as part of the nation’s oldest scholastic honor society. “It is really an impressive honor,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78, who is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. “It's not just your grades, it's not…

Four prototype mosaics sit on display in storefront windows along Main Street’s Downtown Business District this fall. The quartet are a sample of what Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art and Art Studio Technician Kate Ten Eyck will install in the pedestrian tunnel connecting downtown Middletown to the Connecticut River as part of a new public art project. The ongoing multi-year mural installation project, called “Mosaics on Main/TunnelVision," will showcase 200 million years of local history. Ten Eyck’s mosaic depicts the dinosaur Anchisaurus, one of the few fossilized skeletons found in the region, in Manchester and East Windsor. Ten Eyck held…

When given the option to control how their data is being collected and distributed with a simple click on a button, 94 percent of participants in a study from researchers at Wesleyan University said they would use the tool. The new opt out mechanism, called Global Privacy Control (GPC), promises to allow people to universally exercise their right to opt out of data sharing and selling through a simple click in their browsers to communicate their preferences to websites across the internet. “The opt out right is especially important because it controls whether or not people’s data enters the online…

President Michael S. Roth made the following announcement on December 5: Dear Friends, I am sorry to report the death of Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s former first lady, on December 3 at her home in Essex, CT. Midge’s contributions to the University were wide ranging and impactful. She and the late President Emeritus Douglas J. Bennet ’59, Hon. ’94, P’87, ’94, GP’27, ’27 worked steadily to improve relations with the City of Middletown, frequently opening their campus home to local officials and residents for receptions. She took a keen interest in a variety of arts initiatives, served the Board of…

Author and academic Michael Eric Dyson will offer the keynote address at Wesleyan University’s Democracy in Action Convening, a weekend exploration of the convergence of higher education and democracy. The event will be held February 16-17, 2024, and is free for Wesleyan students and $25 for all other attendees. Registration is now open. Across two days of thought leadership and engaging activities, participants will hear from a collection of scholars, community leaders, experts, and peers. Following a Friday afternoon filled with student-centered engagement opportunities, the Convening opens to all with Dyson’s keynote address that evening. Saturday will be filled with…

Wesleyan’s Year in Review 2023

Upcoming Faculty and Alumni Performances and Exhibitions

Winter Break Recommendations from Wes Creatives

Wesleyan in the News: President Roth on ‘Safe Enough’ Campuses

Burnham-Williams Named VP for Equity and Inclusion

Wesleyan Professor Collaborates on Discovery of Six Planets

High School Students ‘Live Like A Philosopher’ Through Partnership

Fifteen Students Inducted to Phi Beta Kappa

Wesleyan Professor to Create Mosaics on Main

Privacy Controls Important For Users, Study Says

Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s Former First Lady, Dies

Dyson to Offer Keynote Address At February Democracy in Action Convening