Olivia Drake(more…)
Michael O'BrienSix members of the Wesleyan women's tennis team, and four members of the men's squad were named 2017 Division III Scholar Athletes, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in July. In addition, both the men's and women's tennis programs earned All-Academic Team honors. Representing the women's team were Aashli Budhiraja '18, Dasha Dubinsky '18, Helen Klass-Warch '18, Ella Lindholm-Uzzi '17, Nicole McCann '18 and Victoria Yu '19. On the men's side, Steven Chen '18, Jonathan Holtzman '20, Michael Liu '17 and Jake Roberts '17 all earned praise. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must be…
Bill HolderThe Robert F. Schumann [’44] Foundation has given Wesleyan $2.5 million to establish the Robert F. Schumann Institute of the College of the Environment (COE). The Institute will integrate approaches to learning, research and communication about environmental issues in ways that extend the COE’s educational programs within and beyond Wesleyan. The Schumann Institute will provide students with life-changing experiences that will develop their abilities to address environmental issues. In order to achieve these goals the Institute will collaborate with or stimulate programs in global studies, civic engagement, arts, environmental (in)justice and sustainability and food security and agriculture. “I’m so pleased…
Former Wesleyan University men's soccer player Danny Rubenstein '17 and rising junior Tara Berger ’19 of the women’s basketball team, both won gold medals recently in their respective sports at the 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel. The games were hosted at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium and featured roughly 10,000 Jewish and Israeli athletes from over 80 countries. Forty-three sports competed at the "Jewish Olympics." Rubenstein—a member of the United States of America men’s soccer team— played in all six contests during the tournament and earned the starting nod after the second game. After going 2-1 during the round robin format, USA defeated Uruguay…
Lauren RubensteinWriting in The Washington Post, Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and Sarah Gollust '01 show how local television news coverage is making it more difficult for the Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. "The ACA repeal was always going to be a tough, uphill battle in the Senate, as we explained here in May. The stakes are high — both for the millions of Americans who now have insurance through Obamacare, and for the Republican Party that promised to repeal it," they wrote. "Senate efforts have failed so far for a variety of reasons.…
This summer, graduate student Suhail Yusuf Khan and his band Yorkston Thorne Khan are performing in music festivals around the world. The band is comprised of Khan, a sarangi violinist and a vocalist of Indian classical music; James Yorkston, a folk singer and guitarist; and Jon Thorne, a jazz bassist. Yorkston, Thorne and Khan performed at the Glastonbury Festival June 25 in Somerset, England. Afterwards, the group was mentioned in The Telegraph's "10 highlights" article written by Alice Vincent: While it's easy to stumble upon a whole new field or an excellent hidden bar at Glastonbury, the best festivals give you a…
Suzanne O'Connell, professor of earth and environmental sciences, was named a Councilor of the Geological Society of America for the GSA's governing board. O'Connell will hold this position July 2017 through June 2021 along with two other faculty from the University of Rochester and California State University. "GSA members have again elected thoughtful and innovative individuals to lead the organization and further the impact of geoscience," said GSA Executive Director Vicki McConnell. "I am excited to work with the new Officers and Councilors as they join the GSA leadership team." In addition, Marty Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor of earth and environmental…
How did summer get to be such a make-or-break season for Hollywood? It wasn't always this way, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies Jeanine Basinger recently told Marketplace, from American Public Media. “In the old days, the studio system rolled out movies,” she said. “I mean, let’s take MGM. In 1952 [it] put out a feature film every week, so for 52 weeks they rolled out 52 features.” In the 1940s, 80 percent of Americans went to the movies once a week. But with television gaining popularity, attendance had plummeted by the 1970s. Until 1975, when Jaws was released around the July 4th weekend. It…
Editorial StaffNoah Hamlish ’16 is one of five delegates representing the U.S. in this year’s Youth Ag-Summit in Brussels. Organized by Crop Science, the summit is a weeklong event that connects youth leaders from 49 countries to brainstorm ideas for agricultural sustainability and tackle global food security issues. In a feature article in Agrinews, Hamlish recounts the experiences that have spurred his interest in food challenges and farming innovation: He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. “I’m a city boy through and through, but when I got to college, I started to focus a…
Writing in Inside Higher Ed, President Michael S. Roth responds to a recent Pew Research Center survey showing a sharp partisan divide in how Americans view higher education. While 58 percent of Republicans and right-leaning independents say colleges are having a negative impact on "the way things are going in the country," 72 percent of Democrats and left-leaning independents see colleges as positive. (more…)
(By K Alshanetsky '17) Composer and musician Simon Riker ’14 showcased the original musical comedy Me Prometheus: Caveman Love Story at this year’s NY Summerfest Theatre Festival over the weekend. Conceived by Riker in 2010 and written in collaboration with friend Emerson Sieverts, the absurd full-length show about the prehistoric discovery of fire was produced first at Wesleyan and again at William and Mary. This summer, Me Prometheus appeared in its third live iteration with four sold-out shows on the New York Theatre Festival stage. In an article for the Times Square Chronicles, Riker is described as a “composer, music director, singer, and…
Cynthia RockwellAdweek named Michele Roberts ’77, executive director—and first female leader—of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), to its “30 Most Powerful Women in Sports” list, which features outstanding executives, athletes and journalists, among others. Previously an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Roberts began her career as a public defender in Washington, D.C. In the June 26 article, Adweek’s Tim Baysinger noted that Roberts would be negotiating across the table from league commissioner Adam Silver when the two worked on a new collective bargaining agreement—and Roberts would be trying to avoid a lockout, something her two predecessors were…