Lauren RubensteinIn the wake of the unparalleled homophobic violence committed in Orlando this month, and the Islamophobic and anti-Muslim sentiments expressed only hours later (notably, by presidential candidate Donald Trump), Professor of Religion Peter Gottschalk writes an op-ed for Inside Sources about the deep roots of all three in America. He opens on a personal note: "As a boy in the late 1960s and 1970s, I knew there were few more destructive suspicions that could be voiced about me than those connoted by the label 'gay.' While the term might be flung at someone by friends as a joke, it could be a…
On June 16, the Astronomy Department hosted the Van Vleck Observatory Centennial Symposium: A Celebration of Astronomy at Wesleyan University. Wesleyan’s observatory has been celebrating its centennial during the 2015-16 academic year, with a series of events and an exhibition, "Under Connecticut Skies." The symposium was co-sponsored by the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford (ASGH), and held in conjunction with StarConn. The exhibition was spearheaded by Roy Kilgard, support astronomer and research associate professor of astronomy, and Amrys Williams, visiting assistant professor of history. At the meeting, they discussed the exhibition, which was developed by a team of faculty, students and staff using the observatory's extensive collection of…
Laurie KenneyThis month, the Cardinal community is joining together to secure up to $1 million for financial aid for Wesleyan students by taking the $1 Million Cardinal Challenge. “Thanks to the generosity of John L. Usdan '80, P’15, P’18, P’18, this is the perfect time to make a gift to Wesleyan,” says Chuck Fedolfi ’90, director of annual giving for the Wesleyan Fund. “John will give $500 for financial aid for every gift of any amount to any Wesleyan cause received this month—for a total of up to $1 million.” So far, more than 568 people have accepted the challenge, which translates to $284,000 so far for financial aid.…
Olivia DrakeTom Morgan, Foss Professor of Physics, recently attended the 43rd Institute of Physics U.K. Plasma Physics Conference in Isle of Skye, Scotland. He presented a flash verbal presentation and a poster contribution dealing with the properties of water following focused laser induced breakdown. After a plasma (a gas of ions and free electrons) is formed in water by laser breakdown, the energy is dissipated through light emission, shockwaves and cavitation bubbles. When the breakdown is close to the surface of the water, surface waves and water ejection from the surface up to heights of 60 cm also occur. All of these…
On June 18, a 23-piece all-star band performed the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in its entirety at Chapman Hall at Middlesex Community College at a benefit concert in memory former Wesleyan Center for the Arts intern Stephanie Nelson, of Middletown, who passed away last year at the age of 25. This was the second annual benefit concert held in Nelson’s name. The first, held last summer, featured the Beatles’ White Album and raised almost $5,000 to establish the Stephanie Nelson Scholarship at Middlesex Community College (MCC), Nelson’s alma mater. This year’s concert was organized by Andy Chatfield, press and marketing…
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently honored Wesleyan University with a Circle of Excellence Gold Award in the Single-Day Special Events category. The Office of University Relations and the Office of University Communications collaborated on the prize-winning event, “Wesleyan Hamilton Evening on Broadway," which included a benefit performance and after-party. On Oct. 2, 2015, more than 1,300 members of the Wesleyan community descended on the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City as Wesleyan hosted a sold-out performance of Hamilton, written by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. '15 and directed by Thomas Kail ‘99. The evening…
Writing in The Washington Post, Lori Gruen, the William Griffin Professor of Philosophy, argues that fingers are being pointed in the wrong direction after Harambe, an endangered lowland gorilla, was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a 4-year-old child entered his enclosure. "The real culprits are zoos," she writes. Many in the animal protection community contend that the gorilla didn't pose a real threat to the boy, and are questioning if zoo staff did enough to try to separate Harambe from the child. Others are blaming the boy's mother for not properly supervising him. Gruen writes: For me, the real question is…
Photography by Sasha Rudensky '01, assistant professor of art, is featured in an exhibition titled "Tinsel and Blue" from June 8 to July 16 at the Sasha Wolf Gallery, 70 Orchard Street, New York, N.Y. Rudensky is a Russian-born artist whose work has been exhibited widely including at the Musee de l’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland; Fries Museum in Leewarden, Netherlands; Macro Testaccio Museum in Rome, Italy; ArtScience Museum in Singapore; and Danziger Projects in New York. In 2010, Rudensky’s work was included in “reGeneration 2: Photographers of Tomorrow Today,” an international survey of emerging photographers. Her work is held in…
Readers and writers are invited to a day of mystery, workshops and intrigue during Wesleyan's inaugural Mysterium: The Mystery Novel Conference on Oct. 8. The conference is hosted by Amy Bloom, the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, and taught by New York publishers, publicists and nationally-known agents, and well-known writers. New York Times best-selling author Laura Lippman headlines, followed by Master Classes in writing with best-selling authors Stephen Carter and Barbara Ross. Learn more about the Mysterium speakers here. "One of the great pleasures of mysteries—of all wonderful fiction—is that it allows the reader to slip into another life, another time, a different being," says Bloom.…
Michael O'BrienThe 2016 Memorial Day Weekend was a historic one for Wesleyan athletics as women’s tennis player Eudice Chong ’18 defended her crown as the NCAA Division III Individual Singles Champion, and the women’s crew team captured a bronze medal in the Varsity 8 Grand Final at the NCAA Division III Rowing Championships.
Gary Yohe, the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, made his off-Broadway debut in the TED-talk segment of "Rap Guide to Climate Change," written and performed by Baba Brinkman and directed by Darren Lee Cole, at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City on May 29. In this one-man show, running from February through July, Brinkman breaks down the politics, economics, and science of global warming, following its surprising twists from the carbon cycle to the global energy economy. Yohe was invited to be the climate expert for the TED-talk segment in the middle of the show. He spent…
Martha Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor and chair of earth and environmental sciences, joined legendary astronaut and engineer Buzz Aldrin and Hoppy Price of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a discussion on WNPR about the past, present and future of space exploration. The three were guests on The Colin McEnroe Show on May 25. Aldrin, who was one of the first two humans to walk on the moon, is the author of a new book, No Dream is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon. McEnroe asked Gilmore about our current level of understanding…