The Wesleyan Connection

Wesleyan alumni reunited with classmates, attended WESeminars, toured campus, visited with former professors, and congratulated the Class of 2013 during Reunion & Commencement Weekend May 23-26. On May 26,Wesleyan awarded 785 bachelor degrees; 30 master of arts degrees; 30 master of arts in liberal studies degrees; and 21 doctor of philosophy degrees:

Award-winning writer, director, and producer Joss Whedon ’87 delivered the Commencement Address during the 181st Commencement Ceremony:

“At Wesleyan, I have the opportunity to teach and try my ideas out on the best undergraduates I’ve ever met.” In this video, Professor Richard Adelstein talks about the defining characteristics of the students he’s encountered in his nearly 40 years at Wesleyan.

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Watch five exciting professors at Wesleyan give talks on the ideas they can’t stop thinking about during Wesleyan Thinks Big, March 28 in Memorial Chapel. Students nominated their favorite professors earlier in the semester to give nine-minute lectures, without slides, handouts, or Moodle, on a topic of their choice. Wesleyan Thinks Big was inspired by TED Talks and encourages professors to talk about things they aren’t able to fit into class but are excited and inspired by. The videos are online here. View photos of the event here.

The faculty and their topics are:
Paula Matthusen, assistant professor of music, spoke on “Sounds in Remembered Spaces.”

Jeff Rider, professor of romance languages and literatures, spoke about “The Importance of Old Stories.”

Balu Balasubrahmaniyan, adjunct assistant professor of music, spoke on “Periyar’: E.V.Ramasamy and Social Activism in India.”

Vera Schwarcz, Mansfield Freeman professor of East Asian studies, gave a talk titled “A Jewish Wanderer Listening for the Unsayable in China.”

Jacob Bricca ’93, adjunct assistant professor of film, spoke on “Cinema Verite and the Reality of Infection.”

In this video, Sarah Croucher, assistant professor of anthropology, assistant professor of archaeology, discusses her community archaeology project in the “Beman Triangle” in Middletown, Conn. The houses built on this land from the 1840s were home to a community of African Americans living in Middletown, tied to the nearby A.M.E. Zion Church. Artifacts discovered in the area from 19th century trash pits shed new light on the lives of the community members, and the longstanding relationship between the church, Middletown and Wesleyan. Read more about Croucher’s project in this past Wesleyan Connection article.

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In this video, Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior, talks about his research on cognitive remediation – one of several newer psychological treatments for schizophrenia. He discusses the promising results he and his Wesleyan students have observed working with patients at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn.

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In this video, Wesleyan President Michael Roth speaks with Judith Butler, the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley, at the Center for Humanities on Feb. 13.  Their conversation ranges from Butler’s earliest philosophical influences to her pioneering book, Gender Trouble, and her current work on desire and recognition. Butler taught at Wesleyan in the 1980s.

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In this video, Lori Gruen, professor of philosophy; professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies; professor of environmental studies, talks about the ethics of caring for chimpanzees who have been subjected to invasive biomedical research. She discusses recent positive developments in the movement to retire to sanctuaries the last 1,000 federally-supported research chimpanzees in the United States. Professor Gruen maintains the website www.last1000chimps.com to track the movement of the remaining research chimps in the U.S. from labs to retirement. Find more information about Chimp Haven, the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary where many research chimps live in retirement, at www.chimphaven.org.

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Yeran Zhou ’15 created this video on Middletown Remix, an ongoing project in collaboration with Wesleyan’s Music and Public Life program, to engage the university and broader Middletown community in discovering, sharing and repurposing the sounds around them. Learn how to participate in this video:

On Friday, Sept. 7, The MASH, inspired by Fete de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, highlighted the student music scene at Wesleyan University and kicked off the year-long campus and community-wide Music & Public Life program. The event opened with Wesleyan President Michael Roth joining the faculty and staff band Mattabassett String Collective for a short set at the Usdan University Center.

Three outfitted stages — located at the West College Courtyard, Usdan Huss Courtyard and Olin Library lawn — provided students with both the opportunity to listen to some of Wesleyan’s most popular student bands and to sign up and play for the audiences themselves. The music continued through dinner with a performance on Andrus Field with the student band Treasure Island opening for the alumni band, Bear Hands. Several concerts and music events planned by student organizations, the Music Department and the Usdan Center took place throughout the evening, further highlighting the student music scene at Wesleyan.

The video is below:

Matt Donahue ’14 is a double major in psychology and neuroscience and behavior, works in several departments on campus, and is the chapter president of Brighter Dawns, a student run non-profit that aims to improve health conditions in the slums of Bangladesh. Learn more about Donahue in the video below:

Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Center for the Humanities, professor of letters, professor of history, discusses the core mission of the Center and his vision for its future in this video:

In the video below, Bruce Corwin ’62 Hon ’87 talks about his life, his career in the Motion Picture Exhibition Business, and his second career in philanthropy. Bruce founded the group “Alumni On Campus,” to help address the social and educational issues that plague Los Angeles High School.