Lauren RubensteinProfessor of Theater Ron Jenkins is part of a growing movement urging Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to spare the lives of two Australian drug smugglers currently on death row in Indonesia. Their executions are scheduled for later this month. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were part of a theater workshop Jenkins conducted at the Kerobokan Penitentiary in 2011. That workshop focused on adapting Dante's "Divine Comedy" for the stage. Jenkins is now teaching the same class at a prison in Connecticut through the Yale Divinity School. In connection with that course, on Feb. 7, Jenkins moderated a panel at the Yale Divinity School…
As controversy over the measles vaccine continues to grow, and prominent politicians weigh in with their views, Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler writes in The Washington Post's "Monkey Cage" blog about the dangerous consequences that politicization of vaccine issues in the news media can have on public support for vaccines in general. In an article co-authored with with Sarah Gollust '01, now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, Fowler considers the the 2009 dust-up over mammography screening recommendations, and the 2006-07 debate over whether to require girls to get the HPV vaccine. Though neither started…
Bryan Stascavage '18On Feb. 5, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Community Committee (CoCo) hosted a Student Activities Fair in Beckham Hall. This video documents the diverse range of clubs at Wesleyan, including activism, interests, identities, politics, publications, sports and more. The purpose of this fair was to create a centralized location where clubs could promote themselves to students who may not be aware of what this diverse campus has to offer. CoCo is chaired by Elizabeth Shackney ’17, who is featured in the video that can be seen below: [youtube]http://youtu.be/L5TG4T79yj0[/youtube]
Olivia DrakeWinter Storm Juno created light blizzard conditions on Feb. 5. Wind gusts reached 29 mph. (Photos by Olivia Drake MALS '08) (more…)
The meeting ran much later into the evening than usual, and you are walking back to your car alone. The parking lot is both dark and deserted. Suddenly a figure steps out of the shadows not five feet in front of you. What do you do? Thanks to a special training course on campus, a dozen members of the Wesleyan community have a new set of skills to use in both assessing and responding to threatening situations like the one described above. Rape Aggression Defense—or RAD—training, was recently offered to the university's female staff members, coordinated by Krystal-Gayle O’Neill, a residential life area coordinator. Lieutenant Jay Mantie was the lead…
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Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler recently had two new articles on advertising in the 2014 elections published. Co-written with her Wesleyan Media Project co-director Travis Ridout of Washington State University, "Political Advertising in 2014: The Year of the Outside Group" was published in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics in December 2014. The paper notes a plateau in political advertising volumes and levels of negativity this election cycle, and an increasingly prominent role played by outside groups, especially in competitive races for the U.S. Senate. It also tracks the most competitive races, looks at issues featured in ads,…
President Roth recently spoke to The Washington Post about current level of anxiety over the job-readiness of college grads, and what colleges' roles and responsibilities really are to ensure their students are prepared for the workforce. “The erosion of the middle class,” he said, “has put a lot more pressure on parents and students to make it big in the world or the consequences are dire.” Roth told the Post that he believes universities can do more to prepare students for the job market "without abandoning their traditional role to provide a broad education." He said Wesleyan is investing more in its career services.…
Bill HolderStray dogs are everywhere in Santiago, Chile. They lie on sidewalks, wander the parks, and even cross busy streets unaided. No one seems to mind; they’re just part of the culture. For Kari Weil, University Professor of Letters, they also were a striking reminder of the purpose of her recent trip to Santiago. At the invitation of the U.S. Embassy there, she visited the Pontificia Catholic University of Chile Jan. 6-9 to discuss current trends in American animal studies. Although academics have studied animals from various perspectives for a long time, animal studies as a cross-disciplinary field has come into its own…
Brian KattenMichael Whalen '83, who returned to his alma mater as head football coach and associate athletics director in 2010, has stepped down as head football coach, effective Feb. 1, to devote his full attention to his post as athletics director. He assumed that position in July 2012. Dan DiCenzo, who has been associate head football coach and defensive coordinator at Wesleyan the last five years, is taking over the head coaching position, succeeding Whalen. “Coach Whalen has dramatically improved Wesleyan’s football program,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth, “and I am grateful for his remarkable service as coach. Now it’s…
#THISISWHY For many years, pilots in the Air Force, scientists conducting research with high-powered lasers, and others have struggled to protect their eyes and sensitive equipment from being damaged by intense laser pulses. In many cases, this was achieved by intense power filters, which offered protection, but self-destructed. Now they have a solution, which provides protection without damaging the filters themselves, thanks to a research collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and a team of researchers in Wesleyan's Physics Department. The research, led by Tsampikos Kottos, the Douglas J. and Midge Bowen Bennet Associate Professor of Physics, is included…
Hannah Norman '16(more…)