Editorial StaffEarl Bloodworth, the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships’ 2022 Mentor in Residence for the Re-Imagining Justice Initiative, is committed to giving incarcerated people a second chance. The stark truth of his work is that for many individuals who have experienced the criminal legal system, they’ve never had a first chance. In an effort to correct what he sees as a real need in Connecticut, Bloodworth serves as the director of the Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs in Bridgeport. “You gain the trust and build up rapport with people who have been let down by a lot of folks in their…
At its meeting on Feb. 25, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by 3.7% for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year. Tuition and fees will be $64,022 (plus a $300 matriculation fee for first-time students). The Residential Comprehensive Fee (RCF) for first-year students and sophomores will be $18,180 and for juniors and seniors will be $18,906. The higher RCF for juniors and seniors reflects the higher cost of student life options. The total direct expense for first-year students and sophomores will be $82,202. The total direct expense for juniors and seniors will be $82,928. Wesleyan continues to recognize…
By Maia Dawson '24 On March 31, International Transgender Day of Visibility, the Resource Center hosted Kat Blaque, a transgender rights activist, for an open dialogue with students. Demetrius Colvin, the Director of the Resource Center, described the event as “dedicated to raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide as well as celebrating their contributions to society.” It’s important, too, to “make sure that we’re not just highlighting the challenges and the struggles and the violence which is very real, but also… people are thriving, people are pushing things changing things, allowing more people to be free,” Colvin…
By Maia Dawson '24 Study Abroad offices are basically logistics hubs. There are the regular nightmares, like visa acquisitions. Then there are the less regular nightmares, like earthquakes or tsunamis. There are even the unique nightmares; lore has it that two Georgetown students were imprisoned in Cairo during the Arab Spring and then repatriated by their study abroad officers. Wesleyan's Office of Study Abroad has had its hands full during the global pandemic. When the first wave of the coronavirus hit Italy in March 2020, there were twenty-eight Wesleyan students in Bologna. Emily Gorlewski, director of the Study Abroad program at…
Eight faculty members were conferred tenure by the Board of Trustees at its most recent meeting. Their promotions will be effective July 1, 2022. These faculty include Claire Grace, associate professor of art history; Han Li, associate professor of mathematics; John Murillo, associate professor of English; Paula Park, associate professor of Spanish; Ying Jia Tan, associate professor of history; Jesse Torgerson, associate professor of letters; Danielle Vogel, associate professor of English, creative writing' and Joseph Weiss, associate professor of anthropology. Brief descriptions of their areas of research and teaching appear below: Claire Grace is a scholar of American and contemporary art with…
Men’s Basketball defeated Williams 78-75, in overtime, winning its second NESCAC Championship in program history. In a matchup that had all the makings of an instant classic heading in, the thousand-plus on-hand were gifted a game for the ages as these two storied rivals battled for 45 minutes in a back-and-forth contest that featured 20 lead changes and 16 ties, all of which culminated on center court with the Wesleyan men's basketball team celebrating as NESCAC Champions. The top-seeded Cardinals (24-3), playing in front of packed Silloway Gymnasium for the second straight day, locked horns with the Williams College Ephs…
President Michael Roth '78 announces that Wesleyan University will recognize three extraordinary individuals during the 190th Commencement on Sunday, May 22, 2022. The honorary degree recipients will be Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who will also deliver the Commencement address; Joseph J. Fins ’82, physician and professor of medical ethics and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College; and Gloria Steinem, a trailblazing leader of the American feminist movement in the late 1960s, award-winning journalist, and political activist. Unfortunately, Rita Moreno, who was previously announced as a recipient of an honorary degree,…
By Maia Dawson '24 Ivanie Cedeño '22, a lauded entrepreneur, remembers a metal container her grandmother, Eurania, used to have. Cedeño recalls how she would watch her sew. “When she would put clothes away they were all pressed and everything had its spot, everything fit perfectly,” Cedeño said. She is cautious about the precision of the memory, though. Perhaps her love for her grandmother has idealized her recollection. Cedeño’s startup, Sol Blossom Crochet, honors these memories. The company won first place at a presentation to Middletown’s Board of Commissioners, the final stage for a Startup Incubator class she took this…
By Maia Dawson '24 Benjamin Chaffee, associate director of visual arts, adjunct instructor in art, and curator for Wesleyan’s Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, has to crouch slightly when he tries to envision an exhibition from the perspective of someone of average stature. He said that when Brandon Ndife, one of the artists featured in the gallery’s latest pair of exhibitions, came to set up his postapocalyptic yet homely sculptures, Ndife had to crouch too. The result of his careful curation is an uninterrupted view from the entrance of three consecutive sculptures, and the hint of one more hiding around…
Richard "Dick" T. Vann, professor emeritus of history and letters, died on Feb. 1 at the age of 90. Vann received bachelor's degrees from Southern Methodist University and Oxford University and an MA and PhD from Harvard University. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1964 and taught in the College of Letters and History Department until his retirement in 2000. “Dick was an intellectual force at Wesleyan for decades—a gentle and persistent force for creative, interdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences,” recalled President Michael Roth '78. “A gifted teacher, his History and Prophecy seminar was already legendary when I…
Michele Roberts '77 retired at the end of 2021 after seven and a half years as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). To honor her leadership and legacy, the NBPA Foundation has endowed a financial aid scholarship at her alma mater, Wesleyan University. Named for Roberts’ mother, the Clara Johnson Roberts Scholarship Fund is a fitting tribute to the woman who sparked her daughter’s law career by bringing her to observe trials at their local courthouse in the South Bronx. Like many of the players she worked with, Roberts came from very modest beginnings and rose to…
Gertrude Hughes, professor of English, emerita, died on Jan. 5 at the age of 85. Hughes received her BA from Mount Holyoke College, her MAT from Wesleyan University, and her Ph.D from Yale University. She returned to Wesleyan as an assistant professor of English in 1976 and remained until her retirement in 2006. “Gertrude was a remarkable woman, a valued colleague, and a treasured friend,” recalled Bill Stowe, Benjamin Waite Professor of the English Language, Emeritus. “She began her academic career later than most, completing her Yale PhD under the formidable Harold Bloom while raising four children. Her book on…