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Lauren RubensteinFebruary 9, 20212min
Several Wesleyan faculty and alumni have been featured in national media outlets recently. They include: The New York Times—Life on Venus? The Picture Gets Cloudier; quotes Martha Gilmore The New York Times—Robert L. Herbert ['51], 91, Dies; Saw Impressionism With a Fresh Eye Transport Topics News—Democrat Ron Bloom '77, P'24 Named Postal Board Chair Amid Calls to Fire Louis DeJoy Stamford Advocate—Democrats: Impeachment Trial an Obligation ‘Whatever the Verdict’; quotes Justin Peck Hartford Courant—E.J. Dionne: Does Bipartisanship Matter More Than Helping Kids?; features Michael Bennet ’87 (more…)

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Lauren RubensteinNovember 30, 20202min
A couple years ago, Ron Cooper '79, a retired corporate executive-turned-travel, documentary, and portrait photographer, was in New Mexico to photograph cowboys, Civil War re-enactors, gunslingers, and snake-handlers. After completing the shoot, one of the subjects asked if he could show Cooper a very different character that he also portrayed. "I agreed and he went to change. He came back as Santa Claus in a terrific Western-style Santa suit, complete with bolo tie. As it turns out, he had a side gig during the holiday season as Santa Claus at a shopping mall in Albuquerque," Cooper recalled. "Not long after…

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Lauren RubensteinNovember 24, 20203min
Fitzroy “Pablo” Wickham ’21 has been named the Jamaica 2021 Rhodes Scholar. The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious, international scholarship programs in the world. Each year, it provides about 100 fully-funded scholarships to students around the world for post-graduate study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. According to the website, the “Rhodes Selection Committees are looking for young people of outstanding intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service.” At Wesleyan, Wickham is a double major in theater and neuroscience and behavior. At the University of Oxford under the Rhodes Scholarship, he…

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Lauren RubensteinNovember 9, 20205min
Jeopardy! fans around the world are mourning the passing of longtime host Alex Trebek, who died on Nov. 8 at age 80. According to The New York Times, Trebek had hosted the show consistently since 1984, missing only one episode during that time—on April Fools' Day in 1997, when he swapped places with the host of Wheel of Fortune as a gag. Many Wesleyans had the opportunity to compete on Jeopardy! over the years. Below, some reflect on their experiences and share remembrances of Trebek. J.R. Mannetta '13 competed on Jeopardy! in January 2020. When you go on Jeopardy! you don't actually…

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Lauren RubensteinNovember 2, 20205min
Angie Makomenaw, mental health education and prevention coordinator, joined Wesleyan's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) in January 2020. She talks about her goals in this new position, the uniquely challenging circumstances affecting students' mental health, and how CAPS is reaching and supporting students during the pandemic. You are Wesleyan’s first mental health education and prevention coordinator. Please tell us about your role and what needs on campus you were hired to address. This position was created out of an understanding of the importance of prevention in mental health. I am accountable for organizing initiatives for the Wes community in the…

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Lauren RubensteinOctober 11, 20207min
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sebastian Zimmeck is leading a major initiative to help consumers gain greater control of their personal data online. On Oct. 7, Zimmeck and his collaborator, Ashkan Soltani of Georgetown Law, as well as a group of partner organizations that includes The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mozilla, and the parent company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr, among others, announced the beta launch of the Global Privacy Control (GPC), a new effort to standardize consumer privacy online. As Zimmeck explains it, privacy regulations introduced in recent years such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and…

Lauren RubensteinSeptember 28, 20202min
As organisms evolve over time, changes in size—both miniaturization and gigantism—are a major theme. In fish, which are the specialty of Barry Chernoff, the Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Biology and of Earth & Environmental Sciences, miniaturization happens in many lineages, though it’s not very common. Evolutionary biology has long held that this miniaturization is often accompanied by developmental simplification or paedomorphisis (becoming sexually mature while appearing juvenile-like). Last March, just before the pandemic began, Chernoff and students in his Tropical Ecology course (ENVS/Bio/E&ES 306) took a trip to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.,…

Lauren RubensteinSeptember 24, 20205min
On Sept. 24, Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth '78 and Amherst College President Biddy Martin issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Education's investigation of Princeton University surrounding racism and adherence to federal non-discrimination law: Across the nation, individuals, families, communities, businesses, corporations, and educational institutions are coming to grips with the country’s legacies of slavery and racial oppression,  which stretch back over four hundred years. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education announced that it will be investigating Princeton University for possible misrepresentations in its reports of adherence to federal non-discrimination law because…

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Lauren RubensteinSeptember 2, 20203min
Martha Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of earth and environmental sciences, is prominently featured in a recently released suite of five documentary films about the history, science, exploration, and possible settlement of the planet Venus. In the films, Gilmore, who is co-coordinator of planetary science at Wesleyan, along with other experts in a range of fields, help to illuminate and elucidate the fascinating history and possible future of the second planet from the sun, commonly known as Earth's "sister planet." The suite of films was produced by filmmaker and space exploration advocate Dave Brody P '24.…

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Lauren RubensteinJuly 8, 20203min
In late June, Wesleyan was among more than 300 colleges and universities to issue a joint statement, “Care Counts in Crisis: College Admissions Deans Respond to COVID-19,” organized by the Making Caring Common Project and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The movement underscores a commitment to equity and to encouraging students to balance self-care, meaningful learning, and care for others. We spoke to Wesleyan’s Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ’96 about this shared commitment, as well as how admissions at Wesleyan has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has obviously…

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Lauren RubensteinJune 30, 20204min
Sarah Ryan is Wesleyan's first associate professor of the practice in oral communication. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and attorney whose research explores public deliberation, civic participation, and criminal justice reform. We spoke to her about her distinctive interdisciplinary background and why learning communication skills is important for students' future success. Your position, associate professor of the practice in oral communication, is a new one at Wesleyan. Can you please explain the genesis of this position, and what it adds to the Wesleyan curriculum? Sarah Ryan: In 2017, Wesleyan received a Davis Educational Foundation grant to create a regional consortium…