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Mike MavredakisMarch 13, 20245min
Co-directors of the Wesleyan Media Project Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government, and Michael Franz, professor of government and legal studies at Bowdoin College, served on the ABC News’ Election Night Decision Desk for its Super Tuesday coverage on March 5. The pair contributed to the statistical team that helps the network confirm when statewide races can be called for candidates, a key role in election coverage. Franklin Fowler was interviewed for a segment in a Marketplace on campaign spending ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5. “If you’re just strong partisan, you’re going to get a lot of fundraising…

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Sarah ParkeMarch 13, 20247min
In this continuing series, we review alumni books and offer a selection for those in search of knowledge, insight, and inspiration. The volumes, sent to us by alumni, are forwarded to Olin Memorial Library as donations to the University’s collection and made available to the Wesleyan community. Tyler Anbinder ’84, Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York (Little, Brown and Company) In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. By…

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Mike MavredakisFebruary 14, 202413min
Elizabeth Bobrick, visiting scholar in classical studies, wrote a piece for Salon on the parallels between Athenian playwright Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initial refusal to let the country’s public mourn the death of political enemy Alexei Navalny or his family hold a public funeral. “Navalny’s mother and widow join Antigone in prodding us to remember that the treatment of the dead has consequences for the living—not for Putin, necessarily, but for everyone who gets in his way,” Bobrick wrote.  Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 appeared on WNPR’s “Disrupted” on Feb. 7 to talk about his role…

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Sarah ParkeFebruary 13, 20247min
The U.S. Department of State has released its list of Fulbright Program Top Producing Institutions for the 2023-2024 academic year and Wesleyan University has earned a spot for the fifth consecutive year. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international academic exchange program. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Six Wesleyan University students were selected for Fulbright awards for academic year 2023-24,…

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James SimsJanuary 31, 20246min
Imani Perry, a 2023 MacArthur Fellow and distinguished Harvard University professor, will deliver the commencement address at Wesleyan University’s 192nd Commencement ceremony on May 26, 2024. Perry will also receive an honorary degree alongside fellow recipients Raj Chetty, renowned for his studies of higher education and social mobility, and Michael Greenberg ’76, P’14, one of the world’s most distinguished neuroscientists. "At a time when the Academy is under fire, the inspiring achievements of these honorees shows just how powerful and beneficial academic work at the highest level can be," said President Michael S. Roth ’78. "Award-winning author and professor of…

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Sarah ParkeDecember 18, 202310min
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…

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Steve ScarpaDecember 6, 20235min
Phoebe C. Boyer ’89, P’19, ’23’s long Wesleyan journey has taken her from being an undergraduate worker who helped at Board of Trustees meetings to her upcoming role as the University’s next Chair of the Board. Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees named Boyer as Chair of the Board for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2024. The decision was made during the Board’s November 18 meeting. “I am honored to assume this responsibility and look forward to continuing to contribute to the Board’s collaborative efforts in support of this extraordinary, and ever important institution,” Boyer said. “I am so grateful that…

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Mike MavredakisNovember 29, 202316min
In a piece for Time Magazine, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 and Yale School of Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld argue university leadership has an obligation to speak out to ensure safety for students and employees. "It’s not an infringement on free expression to take a stand as an institutional leader, whether it’s to condemn perpetual military occupation, to denounce scientific falsehoods during a pandemic, to defend the importance of telling the truth about the legacies of Black slavery, or to point out that progressive pieties often make use of ancient anti-Semitic tropes to promote sick silos of solidarity," they…

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Andrew ChatfieldNovember 29, 20237min
Artist Renée Green ’81 spoke with Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee ’00 during Wesleyan’s Homecoming + Family Weekend in October. Chaffee is the curator of the exhibition “No Title: Relays and Relations, Works by Renée Green and Sol LeWitt,” on display in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery through Sunday, December 3. As a student at Wesleyan, Green was exposed to LeWitt’s methodologies, ethos, and ways of relating to other artists. She participated in a course taught by Professor of Art History Emeritus John Paoletti that focused on LeWitt’s art collection in collaboration with the Wadsworth Atheneum, which…

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Editorial StaffNovember 8, 20236min
By Rose Chen '26 Tony Award-winning director Thomas Kail ’99  joined the Gordon Career Center, in collaboration with the Theater Department, for a career conversation and a Q&A session on Monday, Oct. 30. Kail graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in history and went on to work with fellow graduate Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02. He became renowned for directing Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, the latter of which earned Kail a 2016 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Kail is currently represented on Broadway with the critically acclaimed revival of Sweeney Todd and has been tapped…

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Sarah ParkeOctober 31, 20237min
The Supreme Court ruling on SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC may have ended affirmative action in college admissions this past June, but Wesleyan will continue to recruit a racially and economically diverse applicant pool. This year’s 31st Annual Dwight L. Greene Symposium on Oct. 28 invited several distinguished alumni in the fields of law, civil rights, and admissions, to discuss access and opportunity in higher education, a topic that has been at the forefront of the higher education conversation for the past several months. The panel featured Tanya Greene ’91, director of US Programs, Human Rights Watch; Shereem…

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Jeff HarderOctober 19, 20239min
The Center for the Study of Guns and Society at Wesleyan brought together historians, museum curators, legal scholars, journalists, filmmakers, and other subject-matter experts for the Center’s second-annual flagship conference, Current Perspectives on the History of Guns and Society, which took place October 13-14. Through panel discussions, a film screening, and other sessions, the conference shed fresh light on the ever-expanding role of history in America’s contemporary gun discourse. [See photos from the event.] “How have the uses and meanings of guns changed over time?” asked Jennifer Tucker, professor of history and the Center’s founding director. “How does historical knowledge…