2017 – Page 25

Alok Appadurai ’00, co-founder of Fed by Threads, the first sustainable, sweatshop-free, multi-brand, American-made organic vegan clothing store in the United States that has used a portion of its profits to feed over half a million meals to Americans in need, offered the keynote speech on "Food Justice and Sustainability" at the 2017 Americas Forum, held at the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall on April 28. He has recently founded GoodElephant.org, designed to create a global "herd" that will work on changing the world by nurturing compassion and empathy to promote social and environmental reform—and his book, Good Elephant, will…

April 29 was a dog-gone good day for more than 150 students and 13 dogs as they gathered together at the Center for the Arts Green for a Doggo Meet and Greet. Sara Dean '17, a self-proclaimed "dog lover," created the event and advertised it on Facebook. She invited Wesleyan students, staff and faculty to bring their pooches to campus. "It hit me that there are a lot of students with emotional support dogs on campus, (more…)

This spring, the 10 McNair Fellows of the Wesleyan Class of 2017 are presenting their undergraduate research projects at Senior Talks on Thursdays at noon from April 18 through May 4, in Allbritton 311. The presentations describe the research that students have conducted with Wesleyan faculty mentors. Many of these projects also are the subject of student theses or final papers presented for the Wesleyan BA requirements. The Wesleyan University Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program, established in 2007, assists students from underrepresented groups with preparing for, entering, and progressing successfully through postgraduate education by providing guidance, research opportunities, and academic and financial…

(By K Alshanetsky '17) Anthropologist Shalini Shankar ’94 has been named one of 173 recipients of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for 2017. Winners of the annual competition were chosen from a pool of 3,000 applicants that includes scholars, artists and scientists who are advanced professionals in their respective fields. She was chosen on the basis of prior achievement as a productive scholar who has published several works on teen and youth culture, as well as her exceptional promise to continue research in the social sciences. Shankar, who studied anthropology in Wesleyan and received her PhD in the field from New York University, is…

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Kevin Prufer ‘92 is co-editor a forthcoming collection of essays on literary translation Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries (Graywolf 2017). For this collection, Prufer invited 25 translators and poets to select a poem and three corresponding English translations. To follow the selections, each of the 25 contributors composed a brief essay on what these various versions say about the art of literary translation. Additionally, Prufer co-curates the Unsung Masters Series, published through Pleiades Press, which attempts to bring out-of-print and relatively unknown poets to new readers. To complement the writer’s poems, each edition features critical essays, interviews, and letters. Prufer sees this initiative…

Gabriel Urbina ‘13 had been out of college for eight months when, “one day, for whatever reason, this idea for a show popped into my head.” The show manifested itself as a radio drama called Wolf 359 which, four years later and in the midst of its final season, has found itself maintaining a vibrant cult following among its ever growing fan base and a finalist in the Digital Audio Drama category of the 2017 Webby Awards. Of further note: Wolf 359 is a hugely Wesleyan collaborative effort — of the 12 cast and production members, all are Wesleyan alumni! Staff writer…

Five Wesleyan seniors were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honor society at the ASBMB annual meeting in Chicago, April 22-26. They are: Jennifer Cascino '17, Kaileen Fei '17, Julianne Riggs '17, Rachel Savage '17 and Stacy Uchendu '17. The ASBMB Honor Society recognizes exceptional undergraduate juniors and seniors who are pursuing a degree in the molecular life sciences for their scholarly achievement, research accomplishments, and outreach activities. The mission of the society is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support…

On the 75th anniversary of Casablanca, President Michael Roth writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education about teaching the iconic film to modern college students. He writes, "...I have to encourage students to open themselves to the pace, the acting styles, and the conventions of classical Hollywood cinema. I push my smart, hip, and often progressive students to give up their condescending attitude toward the past." He writes: This year, the immigrant story at the heart of Casablanca is more powerful than ever. Many of my students are sympathetic to refugees escaping brutal conditions, and in our current political atmosphere this is no small…

(By K Alshanetsky '17) Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson ’94, managing director for Sapphire Ventures, was recently profiled in Forbes magazine. A 2014 "Forty Over 40 Women to Watch" honoree and one of 2016's "Top 30 Women Rising Stars in Institutional Investing," Clarkson is highly regarded in the tech and venture communities. The Forbes article, Want To Be Appreciated, Give Someone A Shot by Whitney Johnson, details both Clarkson's background and her commitment "to magnify opportunities for other women,"—or "give them a shot," in the vernacular of the Broadway hit, Hamilton. Clarkson found her first post-college position—a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley—through what is now Wesleyan's Gordon…

In honor of Arbor Day on April 28, Wesleyan is celebrating the planting (or proposed planting) of more than 45 new trees on campus in 2017. Pale-pink blossoming cherry trees, a hardy pin oak, an endangered dawn redwood and a Chinese lobed-leaf Ginkgo biloba are among the new perennial plantings peppered across the Wesleyan landscape. Since trees become a permanent fixture, Grounds Manager Rob Borman takes many factors into consideration before tilling up any soil and planting roots. He notes the history of campus; the existing tree canopy; what trees will thrive in Connecticut’s climate; proximity to buildings, sidewalks and roads;…

On April 21, the Wesleyan Refugee Project (WRP) hosted a speaker panel in Memorial Chapel about refugee resettlement. WRP is a student-led group dedicated to volunteering, advocating, fundraising, and raising awareness of current refugee crises. The team works with a number of international and local nonprofit organizations, assisting in areas such as tutoring, legal aid, and refugee resettlement. Angie Smith, a photographer based in Los Angeles, Calif. and the founder of Stronger Shines the Light Inside (SSTLI), delivered the keynote address. SSTLI traces processes of refugee resettlement though a series of photographs and interviews with the refugee community in Boise,…

Appadurai ’00 Speaks on Food Justice and Sustainability at 2017 Americas Forum

Doggo Meet and Greet Helps Students De-stress before Finals

2017 McNair Fellows Present Research Projects in Senior Talks

Shankar ’94 Named 2017 Guggenheim Fellow

102 Students Present Research at Psychology Poster Session

Poet Kevin Prufer ‘92 Publishes Forgotten Poets, Essays on Literary Translation

12 Wesleyan Alumni Receive Webby Nomination for ‘Wolf 359’ Radio Drama

Students Inducted into Honor Society, Win Awards At American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Roth Writes About Teaching Iconic Film ‘Casablanca’ to Today’s College Students

Clarkson ’94, of Sapphire Ventures, Featured in ‘Forbes’

Wesleyan Celebrates Arbor Day with 45 New Tree Plantings

Wesleyan Refugee Project Hosts Panel, Exhibit on Refugee Resettlement