Wesleyan in the News, September 2022

(Updated September 28, 2022)

President Michael S. Roth ’78 published a piece in the September 26 Boston Globe urging educators at all levels to speak out to defend democracy. “We in higher education must energetically cultivate democratic values — including freedom of expression, rights to representation, and the protection of the vulnerable — at home on our campuses. And we must take a stand against the would-be strongmen who threaten these values in our country and beyond. As educators, we should encourage our students and colleagues to join us in fighting for basic democratic rights. And should that fight be lost in America and the capacity to reason together be rendered pointless (or even persecuted), what then becomes of a genuine education? The nature and mission of our colleges and universities will change fundamentally. That so many are demanding just that should be warning enough,” Roth wrote.

Shereem Herndon-Brown ’96 and Timothy Fields were featured on WBUR Bostons’ Here and Now to discuss their book ‘The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions’ which addresses unique challenges.

Adam Hinds ’98 Pittsfield, Massachusetts State Senator was named CEO of Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

Wesleyan Media Project was cited by Axios Dallas as producing a “data-rich” report which revealed Texas has outpaced Florida with the most political ads for a Governor’s race.

Beverly Tatum ’75, Interim President for Mount Holyoke College and clinical psychologist will speak about higher education leadership in a virtual conversation October 10 at the North Carolina Central University Higher Education Administration Program’s National Speaker Series.

Gary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies and member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will give a public presentation October 3^rd about how the earth’s climate is changing.

Santi White ’97 stage name Santigold was on PBS News Weekend to discuss her album “Spirituals” released in September.

Erika A. Taylor, associate professor of chemistry, has launched new research into the performance of common prescribed antibiotics, seeking a way for them to become more effective.

Angela Lee ’94 was profiled in Forbes about her promotion of Black Business during Black Business Month at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, partnering with Sean “Diddy” Combs and NAACP Image Award winner Regina Hall.

Steven T. Moore, assistant professor of government hopes to create an environment in his new Survey Lab where, through the use of surveys, both students and faculty can learn important findings about Americans’ political and social beliefs.

Alexandra DePalo ’01 joins Open Table, a nonprofit that addresses food insecurity in Framingham, Massachusets after serving as the Director of Public health.

Alpay Koralturk ’08 founder of Kaiyo, an online marketplace for pre-used furniture to promote sustainability is partnering with Trees New York to do environmental impact work. They hope to put a tree on every block of the city over the next decade.

David Deblinger ’88 wrote about organizing a reading of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” for The Village Trip arts festival.

President Michael S. Roth ’78 wrote an article about the ‘Safe Enough’ campus for Inside Higher Ed. In it, he describes his vision of a campus where students learn, “prudence and courage, openness, and resilience,” which leads to a transformative college experience.

Amy Bloom, ’75 Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing was featured on This American Life September 16^th, 2022. This episode, entitled “Ends of the Earth,” tells the story of the caregiving role she took on at the end of her husband’s life, the subject of her next book IN LOVE.

Sheila Tobias, 1936 – 2021, was an Associate Provost at Wesleyan for eight years. She joined Wesleyan in 1970, when women returned as students for the first time since 1909. Author of “Overcoming Math Anxiety” in 1978, which expanded on an article written for Ms. Magazine which Gloria Steinem called, “one of the most important pieces we’ve ever published.”

Martha “Marty” Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences has been awarded the 2022 Claudia J. Alexander Prize from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Mike White ‘92 won three Emmys at the 2022 awards show, including Outstanding Series, Directing, and Writing for season one of The White Lotus, on HBO. (September 13)

Catina Bacote ‘94 is new assistant professor of English at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and was featured in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education as one of a quartet of Black women appointed to faculty positions this fall. (September 9)

Melissa E. King ‘19 was appointed assistant professor of chemistry and biomolecular science at Clarkson University. She is a recipient of the American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women and the Tishler Teaching Award from Wesleyan University. (August 31)

Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government was interviewed about the increase in 2022 campaign ads by Brian Bakst of Minnesota Public Radio. (September 8)

Giselle P. Reyes, visiting professor of Chemistry was on the team awarded the 2023 American Chemical Society Award for Team Innovation (September 12)

Alvin Lucier, ’79, John Spencer Camp Professor of Music emeritus, was remembered with a tribute concert held September 12, at the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Texas. Lucier was an American composer of experimental music and sound installations, and a member of Sonic Arts Union. (September 12)

Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history, will speak with Bridget O’Keefe on “Russian and Ukraine at War” October 1, at the Haystack Book Festival Norfolk, CT.  Smolkin, whose book, “A Sacred Place is Never Empty,” was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2019 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize, and her Russian translation was longlisted for the Alexander Patigosky Literary prize. (September 4) 

Rosemary Ostfeld, assistant professor of environmental studies and founder of startup Healthy PlanEat, is running the Entrepreneurship Academy at the new Eastern CT Innovation Center. The center was purchased with $1.3 million from the state Bond Commission and will house the startup ecosystem for a 40-town service area. (September 12)

Paul Colburn ’79, an Army Veteran who is a Connecticut DEEP-certified Master Wildlife Conservationist, presented “Black Bears in Connecticut” to the Middlebury Land Trust in an effort to educate the public about peaceful co-existence with the local black bear population. (September 9)

Joshua Lubin-Levy ’06 was named Wesleyan’s new Director of The Center for the Arts. (September 9)

Annie Volker ’24 and Debbra Goh ’24 recently opened WesThrift, a free store on campus in the basement of COE supported by the Sustainability Office, hoping to serve first-generation/low-income students at Wesleyan. (September 8)

John K. Rauch ’50, 1931-2022 co-founder of Venturi, Rauch & Scott Brown architecture firm was remembered as an unsung hero of postwar American architecture. The Architectural Record notes, “he played an integral role in landmark buildings such as Guild House (1864) and the Institute for Scientific Information Headquarters in Philadelphia (1979), and the Trubek and Wislocki Houes (1971) on Nantucket. (September 7)

Sarah Ali Hassan, Lebanese singer was interviewed by L’Orient le Jour newspaper about her plans following her performance with her band, Crystalized Stranger, as John Legend’s opening act in Egypt. (September 1)