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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…

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Olivia DrakeJune 7, 20193min
From May 28 to May 30, Associate Professor of History Victoria Smolkin attended a conference in Rome, Italy, on the “Cultures of Unbelief," organized by the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network and the Vatican’s Council on Culture. She spoke on "The Culture of Unbelief 50 Years On," which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the original “Culture of Unbelief” conference, organized in 1969 by the Vatican’s Secretariat on Non-Believers and the University of California, Berkeley. Her copanelists included Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Andrew Copson, president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Professor of Theology and…

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Lauren RubensteinMay 13, 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 Inside Higher Ed: "The Need for a Recovery of the Humanities" In this essay, President Michael S. Roth responds to the "flood of negativity" in public discourse about higher education, in general, and the humanities, in particular. He suggests that "in order to recover the trust of students and their families, we must overcome our cultivated insularity." 2. NBC News: "Carbon Dioxide Hits a Level Not Seen for 3 Million Years. Here's What That Means for…

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Olivia DrakeMay 6, 20192min
On April 29, the HIST 269 (Modern Britain: From Empire to Quagmire, 1688–Present) class visited Wesleyan's Special Collections and Archives to present five-minute talks about their final research projects. The class is taught by Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history. At the beginning of the semester, each student chose a book from Special Collections and was required, for the assignment, to write a 20-page critical introduction to the book for modern audiences. The students shared their projects with Susan Kent, a professor from the University of Colorado at Boulder, who specializes in modern British history, focusing on gender, culture, imperialism, and politics.…

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Lauren RubensteinFebruary 19, 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, Associate Professor of History Victoria Smolkin explains the historical context and significance today of a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church. Smolkin is also associate professor, Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies, and a tutor in the College of Social Studies. Why a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church matters today A new Orthodox Church was recently established in Ukraine. Shortly after, Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the spiritual head…

Lauren RubensteinDecember 20, 20182min
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, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker explores our ongoing romance with the gas lamp in connection with the new Mary Poppins film. Tucker is also associate professor and chair, feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; associate professor, science in society; and associate professor, environmental studies. In 'Mary Poppins Returns,' an ode to the gas lamp “Mary Poppins Returns” transports audiences back to 1930s London. The beloved nanny at the center of the original 1964…

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Alexa Jablonski '22December 5, 20185min
On Nov. 11, Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history and Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies, joined forces with her brother, artist Vlad Smolkin, to share their work with the public at a new and revamped Main Street Gallery Art Opening/Books & Bagels Talk at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek in Chester, Conn. Smolkin is the author of a new book, A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism, published by Princeton University Press in 2018. A scholar of Communism, the Cold War, and atheism and religion in Russia and the former Soviet Union, Smolkin’s expertise also…

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Lauren RubensteinOctober 29, 20181min
In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Inside Higher Ed: "Career Path Intervention--Via a MOOC" An open online course by Gordon Career Center Director Sharon Belden Castonguay, which helps young people explore their interests and career options, is featured. 2. NPR: "Midterm Election Could Reshape Health Policy" (more…)

Lauren RubensteinOctober 1, 20182min
In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News The New York Times Magazine: "Letter of Recommendation: Phyllis Rose's 'Parallel Lives'" Professor of English, Emerita Phyllis Rose's 1983 book Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages, is featured in the New York Times Magazine. The book, which the reviewer notes she has re-read every few months recently, is a "group biography of several notable Victorians and their marriages," through which the reader can gain deeper insight into intimate relationships and societal change. Middletown Press: "Middletown Musician Noah Baerman Wins Guilford Performing Arts Fest…

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Olivia DrakeSeptember 12, 20182min
This summer, Mariel Middlebrook '20 gathered archival material on 19th-century alkali workers in London through a Wesleyan Student-Faculty Research Internship. The Student-Faculty Internship program provides students with paid opportunities to work on research projects in collaboration with Wesleyan faculty. As a recipient of the internship award, Middlebrook was able to work alongside Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker, who is collecting information on Widnes, an industrial town in Halton, Cheshire, Northwest England, that is known for being the birthplace of Britain's chemical industry in the late 1840s. (Tucker's article, "It’s No Downton Abbey, but It’s Just as Much a Part of…

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Lauren RubensteinAugust 20, 20182min
In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News The New York Times: Defending Conservatism, and Seeking Converts President Michael Roth '78 reviews Roger Scruton's new book on Conservatism, which he writes provides an "enlightening" background on a variety of important conservative thinkers, but stoops to scapegoating Muslims to "rally the troops." 2. Hartford Courant: First Group of Students Graduates from Wesleyan's Prison Education Program The first-ever Wesleyan Center for Prison Education Program graduation ceremonies, held in partnership with Middlesex Community College at York and Cheshire correctional institutions on…

Bill HolderAugust 17, 20183min
Professor of History and Letters Ethan Kleinberg is the recipient of the Reinhart Koselleck Visiting Professorship at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, a high honor accorded to world-renowned historians whose work is “of outstanding significance” for theoretical reflection and further development. Kleinberg will spend the summer term of 2019 at Bielefeld with the intention of beginning work on a project titled “Temporal Anarchy in History.” Candidates for the professorship do not apply for the honor; the Centre for Theories in Historical Research at Bielefeld selects recipients based on the example set by Reinhart Koselleck, one of the most renowned…