Wesleyan in the News

Wesleyan’s intellectually dynamic faculty, students, alumni, staff, and parents frequently serve as expert sources for national media. Others are noted for recent achievements and accolades. A sampling of recent media hits is below:

The Wall Street Journal features Fidelity Investments’ Joel Tillinghast ’80 regarding the meme-stock craze. “Mr. Tillinghast’s tastes in stocks are eclectic. His main mutual fund holds more than 900 names, and some 34% of his assets are in international stocks. His largest concentration is in retailers and consumer-goods stocks beaten down by expectations that e-commerce would crush bricks-and-mortar stores.” (Aug. 4)

On CNBC, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb ’94, Hon. ’21 said health officials will try to administer COVID-19 boosters to head off a winter surge in cases. “The first two [doses] were administered so close together, they really qualify as two primes,” Gottlieb said. “And this is the booster that’s hopefully going to induce a longer-term immunity, more durable immunity.” (Aug. 19)

Also on CNBC, Gottlieb suggests that the coronavirus will become an endemic virus in the U.S. and other Western countries after the recent surge in delta variant infections calms down. “We’re transitioning from this being a pandemic to being more of an endemic virus, at least here in the United States and probably other Western markets,” Gottlieb said. “An endemic virus is one that remains in the American population at a relatively low frequency, like the seasonal flu, for example.” (Aug. 13)

On NBC News, J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, professor of American studies, suggests that “there’s a huge split between those who literally want to have a Native governing entity with limited autonomy that’s subordinate to the U.S. nation-state and those who want the U.S. out of Hawaii.” (Aug. 30)

Robert Allbritton ’92 is profiled in Archyde for his work with Politico and Allbritton Communications. “Growing up and well-wired in Washington, he set up Politico in 2007, which soon made a name for itself in the power metropolis of Washington with excellent journalists and many insider stories. The New Republic magazine wrote of Allbritton that he had ‘reshaped the way we conduct politics.’ According to Allbritton, the portal has always been profitable.” (Aug. 29)

In an op-ed published by CNN, David Perry ’95 discusses Jeopardy! and Wesleyan’s former reference librarian Erhard Konerding. Konerding, now retired, “was renowned for his handlebar mustache, encyclopedic knowledge, and support for students as we pursued our own educational aspirations.” (Aug. 20)

Christina Leone, email marketing coordinator for the Office of Advancement, was a contestant on Jeopardy! Leone ended up winning $19,200 on the show. (Aug. 3)

An op-ed titled “How I put Down the Gun” by William “Juneboy” Outlaw as told to Charles Barber, writer in residence, is published in The New Haven Independent. “I tell the kids: ‘Don’t do what I did; the only consequences are death and prison.’ I have negotiated truces between gangs. I have gotten them to turn in guns to the police. To gang members, I have the ultimate street credibility based on my lived experience.” (Aug. 27)

Serena Chow ’21 is featured in an NBCU Academy story about creating the Argus Voices Fund, an initiative that raises money to support low-income journalists of color at the campus newspaper. “When we compensate people fairly, when we take into account the barriers for people, we become better as a newsroom and so does the news judgment that we’re all sharpening.”

Wesleyan’s new science center is showcased in The Hartford Business Journal. “The private, liberal-arts college located in the heart of Middletown, is planning to build a new $255 million, 193,000-square-foot science center that would replace its aging Hall-Atwater Laboratory building.” (Aug. 23)

In The Connecticut Mirror, Brian Stewart, professor of physics, discusses what climate “code red” means for the State of Connecticut. “Our future energy needs must be supported by the three pillars of renewable energy, energy storage, and demand management/reduction. The cheapest energy is the energy not used. Connecticut has barely scratched the surface of this resource.” (Aug. 18)

Voices News announces that William “Bill” Ollayos, area coordinator, is a Democratic candidate for the Southbury, Conn. Region 15 Board of Education municipal election. “Mr. Ollayos now works for the Office of Residential Life at Wesleyan University with responsibility for hundreds of students.” (Aug. 18)

Martha Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology, is quoted in Daily World Live for her involvement with NASA’s new interplanetary missions: DAVINCI+ and VERITAS. “There’s no reason, according to what we know about the planets, that Venus was not habitable at its onset,” she said. (Aug. 17)

Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government, is mentioned in The Cornell Chronicle for co-authoring a new study titled “Evidence-Based Message Strategies to Increase Public Support for State Investment in Early Childhood Education,” which was published in Milbank Quarterly. Fowler and her colleagues determined a narrative, storytelling approach – “showing rather than telling” is the best way to appeal to folks who might initially be resistant to increased spending on early childhood education. (Aug. 17)

In an article about Coursera, Tech Radar mentions “There are a smattering of offerings under the Arts and Humanities department. This includes a course in “Creative Writing” from Wesleyan University. (Aug. 25)

In The Register Citizen, Ishita Mukerji, Wesleyan Fisk Professor of Natural Science; Kyle McGregor ’24; Schuyler Sloman ’22; Rachel Hsu ’23; and others are mentioned for sharing their summerlong research at a recent virtual poster session. (Aug. 24)

Wesleyan’s Upward Bound Math-Science program is featured in the Connecticut Post. In 2021, 30 of the 32 students who graduated from the program are moving on to higher education. Twenty-six of those students are bachelor-degree bound. (Aug. 24)