Olivia DrakeWesleyan President Michael S. Roth is the author of the book, Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, published by Yale University Press in May 2014. From Yale University University Press: “Contentious debates over the benefits—or drawbacks—of a liberal education are as old as America itself. From Benjamin Franklin to the Internet pundits, critics of higher education have attacked its irrelevance and elitism—often calling for more vocational instruction. Thomas Jefferson, by contrast, believed that nurturing a student’s capacity for lifelong learning was useful for science and commerce while also being essential for democracy. In this provocative contribution to the disputes, Roth focuses on…
Academic Affairs has named Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages, as the university’s Distinguished Literary Translator. Shapiro is one of the country’s leading contemporary translators of French. He holds a BA, MA and Ph.D. from Harvard University, and, as Fulbright scholar, the Diplôme de Langue et Lettres Françaises from the Université d’Aix-Marseille. At Wesleyan, Shapiro teaches courses in French theater, poetry, Black Francophone literature and literary translation. His many published volumes span the centuries, medieval to modern, and the genres poetry, novel and theater. His book, The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine is the recipient of the American Translators…
The colors of the Holi Festival brought the entire campus together to celebrate spring on Foss Hill on April 25. Shakti, the South Asian Student Association, hosts the event annually. View additional photos in this Wesleyan Facebook gallery. (Photos by Bill Fisher) (more…)
Bill HolderApril was Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and its observance at Wesleyan has coincided with a spirited discussion about campus climate, including a particular focus on the future of single-sex, residential fraternities. On April 20, the Wesleyan Student Assembly passed a resolution calling on residential fraternities to accept full co-education – “with a clear and swift plan of action” to become coeducational in membership and residence, and an initial co-educated pledge class in spring 2015. The purely advisory 14-12 vote, however, underscored a difference of opinion. (more…)
Erika Taylor, assistant professor of chemistry, assistant professor of environmental studies, delivered the keynote address at the 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, hosted by the School of Natural Sciences of Fairleigh Dickinson University on April 25. Taylor spoke on "Alternative Energy Sources: Enzymology That Is Essential for Making Lignin." At Wesleyan, Taylor is exploring the enzymology that is essential for making Lignin a viable biomass source for production of energy and as a commodity chemical feedstock.
Once a week, a group of Wesleyan faculty gather to work on individual projects. Although they come from different departments - psychology, classical studies, government, among others - they're all working towards the same goal: to write, be published, and celebrate each others' accomplishments. The Wesleyan Faculty Writing Group, founded in 2010, provides an opportunity for faculty to come sit in a shared space and work on any writing projects they are pursuing. Participants are currently working on book proposals, book manuscripts, articles, reviews, grant and fellowship applications and op-eds. "All of us have found that the occasional change of…
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Two Wesleyan students presented their research at the McNair Research Talks April 17 in Exley Science Center. The Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program is one of the federal TRiO programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program’s mission is to create educational opportunities for all Americans regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic circumstance. It assists students from underrepresented groups prepare for, enter, and progress successfully through postgraduate education. First generation college students from low-income families or African-American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, Native American Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Natives qualify as McNair Fellows. Since 2007,…
Kate CarlisleAssociate Professor of Art and Art History Katherine Kuenzli has won a prestigious American Council of Learned Societies fellowship for next year. The award will support her work on Henry van de Velde, a European artist whose aesthetic helped shape modernism. The fellowship – one of 65 awarded this year to scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences – provides salary replacement for faculty who are embarking on six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. “I am thrilled to have the support for and acknowledgement of my work,” Kuenzli said. “I began (the project) in 2009 and…
Lauren RubensteinComposer Trask '89 discusses how much times have changed since the cult classic first premiered
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Casey Smith ’17 has received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to study Arabic—considered a “critical needs language” by the U.S. government—in Oman this summer. Smith, who plans to major in the College of Social Studies, was one of approximately 550 American undergraduate and graduate students to receive the Critical Language Scholarship. CLS participants will spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes in one of 13 countries. They will study critical needs languages such as Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu, among others. Smith currently studies Arabic at Wesleyan. She began learning the language as a…