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Olivia DrakeJune 24, 20192min
On May 25, members of the Class of 2019 were inducted into Wesleyan’s Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest national scholastic honor society. The Wesleyan Gamma Chapter was organized in 1845 and is the ninth-oldest chapter in the country. To be elected, a student must first have been nominated by the department of his or her major. The student also must have demonstrated curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations and must have achieved a GPA of 93 and above. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest surviving Greek letter society in America, founded in December…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 24, 20192min
Every summer, when campus is relatively quiet, the Facilities Team is hard at work maintaining, renovating, and upgrading all of Wesleyan’s buildings and grounds. Part of this work involves the large-scale replacement of furniture in residential facilities—a process that has recently been made more environmentally friendly thanks to a partnership with IRN, an organization dubbed “The Reuse Network.” According to Jeff Sweet, Wesleyan’s associate director of facilities management, the University has partnered with IRN for the past three years to recycle old residential furniture that is being replaced. IRN “matches the needs of charities and nonprofits throughout the world with…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 24, 20193min
On June 18, President Michael Roth '78 participated in a panel discussion titled, “Protesting the Podium: Campus Disinvitations” at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He spoke alongside three individuals who were involved in higher education disinvitation incidents—former U.S. senator Bob Kerrey, Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield, and Middlebury professor Matthew J. Dickinson—in a wide-ranging discussion that covered such high-profile disinvitations, as well as broader questions of free speech, inclusion, and safe spaces on campuses. Roth’s latest book, Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses, due out from Yale University Press…

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Olivia DrakeJune 24, 20193min
Joy Harjo, an author published by Wesleyan University Press and W.W. Norton has been named the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, as announced by the U.S. Library of Congress. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. She is the first Native American to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate. Harjo’s American Book Award–winning In Mad Love and War was published by Wesleyan in 1990. Other books include the pedagogical work Soul Talk, Song Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo, edited by Tanaya Winder; and theater work Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light: A Play by Joy…

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Olivia DrakeJune 17, 20193min
In celebration of Pride Month, more than 50 members of the Wesleyan community showed their support for LGBTQ communities by participating in Middletown's inaugural Pride Parade on June 15. The parade was jointly coordinated and sponsored by the City of Middletown, the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Wesleyan University. In 2018, the City of Middletown formed an LGBTQ advisory committee to work on the inclusion of Middletown’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning residents. The parade stepped off at 2 p.m. at St. John’s Square and proceeded down Main Street to Union Street. A festival on the South Green followed…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 17, 20192min
In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Wesleyan in the News 1. The Morning Call: "Allen Student Wins 'Hamilton' Scholarship, Congrats from Lin-Manuel Miranda" Anna Tjeltveit of Allentown, Penn., winner of the 2019 Wesleyan University Hamilton Prize for Creativity, is profiled. She shares how her winning submission, a one-act play titled, "Five Steps," came together at the last minute, and discusses her early career in theater as well as her plans for her time at Wesleyan. 2. WJLA: "Arlington Teen Wins ‘Hamilton’ Prize Gets a Shout Out from Lin-Manuel Miranda" Cole…

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Olivia DrakeJune 17, 20192min
In recognition of their career achievements, the following faculty members are being appointed to endowed professorships, effective July 1, 2019: Frederick Cohan, professor of biology, is receiving the Huffington Foundation Professorship in the College of the Environment, established in 2010. Susanne Fusso, professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, is receiving the Marcus L. Taft Professorship of Modern Languages, established in 1880. William Johnston, professor of history, is receiving a John E. Andrus Professorship of History, established in 1981. Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and professor of letters, is receiving the Class of 1958 Distinguished Professorship, established in 2008. Tsampikos…

Olivia DrakeJune 17, 20192min
Norman Shapiro, Distinguished Professor of Literary Translation and Poet in Residence, is the translator of Pierre Coran's book, RhymAmusings, published by Black Widow Press in 2019. "These 78 amusing rhyme-vignettes by preeminent Belgian children's poet and novelist Pierre Coran speak with an adult sophistication and endearing grace to the ‘child in all of us,’" Shapiro wrote about the book. Among the poems are "Six Hundred Six Sour Cherries," "The Little Goldfish," "Why Do Potatoes Have Eyes," "Scat, Cats," "The Whale in My Hat," and "The Flea and the Elephant." Publication of the book was aided by a grant from the…

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Olivia DrakeJune 17, 20192min
Wesleyan's Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT), Public Safety, Physical Plant, and other staff participated in a joint exercise on June 11 to test the area’s ability to respond to a real-life emergency. Wesleyan partnered with health and public safety departments from Mass Dispensing Area (MDA) 36—which includes Cromwell, Durham, Middlefield, and Middletown, Conn.—and the Middletown and Portland CERT teams on the drill. The full-scale six-hour exercise took take place at the University’s Freeman Athletic Center and Coles Road Fire Station in Cromwell. Many local senior citizens and members of the Wesleyan community volunteered to play the role of patients. Emergency responders…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 11, 20192min
Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a new article, Professor of Religion Peter Gottschalk writes about the history of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim movements in the U.S., and the confluence of the two.  Hate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have a long history in America's past Congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted recently that “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same bigoted coin.” Her comments came in response to media reports that the suspect behind the shooting at a San Diego synagogue…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 10, 20193min
Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a new article, Professor and Chair of Economics Richard Grossman analyzes the latest jobs report. May jobs report suggests a slowing economy – and possibly an imminent interest rate cut The latest jobs data suggests an interest rate cut may be imminent. The Labor Department reported on June 7 that U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 75,000 in May, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%. This level of job creation was well below economists’ forecasts…