Joshua Cardenas ’19 had worked for five members of Congress but had never been involved in vetting and research before he took a job at the White House for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022. “If you have opportunity to work in the White House, you take it. Whether it be pushing the snow, cutting the grass, anything to work there,” Cardenas said. As associate director of research and vetting in Harris’ office, he said he was tasked with ensuring events were focused on the people and issues the administration wanted to support. Cardenas always knew he wanted a career…

The Wesleyan Javanese Gamelan Ensemble and guest artists, including Indonesian vocalist Peni Candra Rini, will perform a free retrospective concert of compositions by University Professor of Music I.M. Harjito on Friday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. They will perform under the direction of the composer and Sumarsam MA ’76, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music. Since 1983, Wesleyan has owned a set of gamelan instruments from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a donation to the University from Louise Ansberry. The use of some of the instruments in the gamelan date back to the 12th century. Today, the magnificent orchestra includes colorful…

Computer-generated characters and animations have long been a part of film and promotional productions like music videos and commercials. Motion capture, a technology that records the movement of people or objects, is used widely in the entertainment industry to bring characters to life. Now Wesleyan has a space outfitted with this technology at the Digital Design Commons, which officially opened on Sept. 27 at an event with student performances and a visual effects demonstration. The Digital Design Commons (DDC) now offers students an OptiTrack motion capture studio, complete with a dozen 3-D motion capture cameras, that can accurately track movement…

The Wesleyan Field Hockey team has a new home at Hicks Field, officially named at a Sept. 21 ceremony. This new field also has a new type of AstroTurf called Poligras Paris GT zero, which is the first carbon-zero hockey turf developed worldwide. "Playing on Hicks field has been surreal, a dream come true,” said Christine Kemp, field hockey head coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach. “We play faster, smoother, and more skilled field hockey than ever before. It's been incredible to see our players take such big steps in elevating the level of play, individually and as a…

Last year, 12 dynamic critics appeared at Wesleyan for a year-long speaker series through the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism. The wildly successful series will return this academic year, this time with an array of editors across the creative landscape. The critics series was meant to highlight different aspects of how literature is produced and consumed, whereas this year’s series aims to show students how the objects of this criticism are made, said Merve Emre, Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Literature and Criticism and director of the Shapiro Center. The Center’s mission is to teach students at Wesleyan how the…

Wesleyan’s holistic approach to admissions continues to support a socioeconomically diverse student body with the Class of 2028. Among the 824 first-year students and 48 transfer students who joined the campus community this fall, there are more first-generation and Pell-grant-eligible students compared to last year. A notable 16% are the first in their families to go to college, which is higher than the percentage of children of alumni. Of those who self-reported their race or ethnicity, the data is comparable to last year: The percentage of domestic students of color remains at 32% of the class. The number of Black/African…

Patricia Beaman didn’t always know that she could be successful as a professional dancer. But after four decades, she’s made her mark reviving a lesser-known form of art: French Baroque dance. A University Professor of Dance at Wesleyan, Beaman has made a name for herself in the Baroque dance world, specializing in French dances from that era, which spans the years 1600 to 1750. In addition to dancing professionally for 40 years, she has also been teaching dance for more than three decades. “It's nice to have that balance,” Beaman says of working in academia and on creative projects. Commuting…

Daniel Coxson ’27 spent his summer in Olney, Maryland letter writing, phone banking, and encouraging people to register to vote, among other civic engagement activities. “I made yard signs and a political pumpkin,” he said of the large fruit he painted dark blue with white letters spelling the word v-o-t-e in all caps. “That was my favorite.” Coxson is one of 24 recipients of the 2023-2024 Student Political Engagement Fund grants, funding administered by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life to support student engagement in the public sphere. With these grants of up to $5,000 during the…

The veteran community at Wesleyan now has a dedicated space to study, gather, and dine. Several community members—student-veterans, advisors, faculty, staff, and Public Safety officers, among others—did just that at the opening of the new Wesleyan Veterans Lounge in Hewitt Residence Hall on Sept. 12. “Support of veterans, or of any student for that matter, doesn’t end at admission. Retention, progression, and graduation—in short, their success—requires holistic support across campus, in academic, co-curricular, residential, and wellness spaces,” said Noble Jones, associate dean of admission and director of enrollment analytics. “We heard for several years that our student-veterans felt the need…

President Michael S. Roth ’78 joined WAMC’s “The Roundtable” on Sept. 13 to discuss his book “The Student: A Short History,” which maps out the way learning has changed over time. The Wesleyan Media Project (WMP) reported estimated that former President Donald Trump’s campaign has spent nearly nothing on ads that promote him in a positive light in research released on Sept. 12. New York Times Opinion contributor Kristen Soltis Anderson cited the Wesleyan Media Project’s research in a piece for The Times on Sept. 24. The Washington Post mentioned the Wesleyan Media Project’s research into the tone of the…

Six members of the Wesleyan community have accepted grants through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, a prestigious international academic exchange program that offers graduates, graduate students, and young professionals opportunities to study, research, or teach English abroad in over 140 countries. During the 2024-25 academic year, this year’s cohort — which includes Melanie Cham ’24, Eliot Kimball ’24, Sophie Mann-Shafir ’22, Daisy Montoya ’24, Simon Worth ’24, and Joanna Paul ’18 — brings their skills, interests, and curiosity to a far-flung geography spanning Argentina to India to Madagascar. The prestige of Fulbright experiences helps open doors to exploration and opportunities…

Despite the completion of a major project like the renovation of the Frank Center for Public Affairs, there is still work to be done on Wesleyan’s campus. Physical Plant, the team responsible for operations and maintenance of Wesleyan buildings and grounds, continues to make significant progress on many of the projects that will allow for deeper student learning and experience at Wesleyan. Alan Rubacha, associate vice president of facilities, said all projects are on schedule and on budget. Here are the latest updates on Wesleyan’s ongoing major construction projects: New Science Building The 197,000-square-foot New Science Building is set to…

Democracy in Action: Meet Joshua Cardenas ’19

Javanese Gamelan Ensemble to premiere works by I.M. Harjito

New Motion Capture Studio Opens at Digital Design Commons

Carbon-Zero Field Hockey Turf Unveiled at New Hicks Field

Visionary Editors to Speak at Shapiro Center Series

Wesleyan Maintains Diversity in Class of 2028

Faculty Member Revives French Baroque Dance Style in New Choreography

Grants Empower Students to Strengthen Democracy

Wesleyan Veterans Lounge Creates Space for Community

Wesleyan in the News: September 2024

Wesleyan Fulbright Fellows Embark on Global Journeys of Curiosity

Updates on New Science Building, Integrative Arts Lab Construction