Lauren Rubenstein

Imagine you are advising a company that is a leading producer of a certain type of fruit product in the United States. The Chinese market has recently opened for export of this fruit product. How should the company best respond to this new market opportunity in China? What is the competition likely to do? This was the scenario facing 30 teams of students from across 16 schools in the Roland Berger Case for a Cause 2018 competition, which simulates the work of a strategy consultant. Wesleyan’s team of four students, sponsored by The Gordon Career Center, tied for first place…

semiautomatic, a book of poetry by poet and literary scholar Evie Shockley, published by Wesleyan University Press, has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. "Evie Shockley’s semiautomatic is an urgent, energized poetry giving voice to the pain at the intersection of racism and gender-based violence. These vibrant and musical poems turn rhetoric to poetry while questioning our 'semiautomatic' performance of daily life," said Wesleyan University Press Director Suzanna Tamminen. "We are thrilled to see her work receive such a prestigious recognition." According to the Press's website, semiautomatic "responds primarily to the twenty-first century’s inescapable evidence of the terms…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Hartford Courant: "Connecticut Natives at Wesleyan Organize TEDx Conference" Wesleyan hosted its inaugural TEDx conference on April 7, featuring talks by many distinguished alumni, local officials, and others. Two of the student organizers, Eunes Harun '20 and Leo Marturi '20, are interviewed about the event. 2. The Hill: "Trump, Pelosi Appear Most in Early Ads—for the Other Side" A new analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project finds that Donald Trump has been the top target of political attack ads this…

Melanie Khamis, assistant professor of economics and of Latin American studies, was named a fellow of the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School for the 2018–2019 academic year. In this fellowship, she hopes to continue and expand her research on “Gender in the Labor Market,” with a particular focus on the gender wage gap and occupational choices of women. “I am excited to have this opportunity to join and work with a community of leading researchers in this field,” said Khamis. According to its website, WAPPP is dedicated to closing "gender gaps in economic opportunity, political participation,…

Wesleyan has received a $1 million, four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support operations at the Center for Prison Education (CPE). The grant will allow CPE to expand its advanced course offerings, recruit new faculty, and bolster its partnership with Middlesex Community College (MxCC) and the Connecticut Department of Corrections. Since 2009, CPE has offered accredited Wesleyan courses to students at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison for men. In 2013, the program expanded to offer the same coursework to students at York Correctional Institution for women. Courses range from English to biology to philosophy,…

In the Language of My Captor, a much-lauded book of poetry by Shane McCrae published by Wesleyan University Press, is the recipient of the 83rd Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in the category of poetry. This is the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores diversity. According to the Cleveland Foundation, which presents the award, McCrae "interrogates history and perspective" with In the Language of My Captor, "including the connections between racism and love." "He uses historic persona poems and prose memoir to address the illusory freedom between both black and white Americans," according to the foundation's press release. "These…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News USA Today: "Indiana Senate Race Generates Most Advertising in the Nation" A new Wesleyan Media Project report on early campaign advertising in the 2018 midterm elections is featured. 2. WNPR: "Wesleyan Remembers Its Poet Laureate, Richard Wilbur" (more…)

Anna Savage '18 has received a Princeton in Latin America (PiLA) fellowship to work with the Mariposa Foundation in Cabarete, a town on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. She will begin the fellowship after graduation in May. Savage follows a proud tradition of Wesleyan students participating in PiLA fellowships. The Mariposa Foundation works to end generational poverty by providing a space in which girls and young women can receive high-quality academic and artistic instruction, as well as comprehensive sexual health education. The Mariposa center serves about 150 girls and places particular emphasis on musical and artistic expression, as well as on the cultivation…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Janice Naegele, the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, writes about the implications of a controversial new neuroscience study from the University of California, San Francisco. Naegele also is professor of biology and professor of neuroscience and behavior. Read her bio on The Conversation. Scientists have known for about two decades that some neurons—the fundamental cells in the brain that transmit signals—are generated throughout life. But now a controversial new study from the University of California, San Francisco, casts doubt…

Alvin Chitena '19 has been named a 2018 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and postgraduate opportunities. (more…)

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News 1. Inside Higher Ed: "Against Conformity" President Michael Roth '78 reflects on the questioning of liberal education—both in China and the United States. 2. China Daily: "Stephen Angle: Practicing the Confucianism He Preaches" A top Chinese newspaper profiles Stephen Angle, Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, professor of philosophy, from his early embrace of Confucianism and Chinese culture through his successful academic career. He was recently named Light of Civilization 2017 Chinese Cultural Exchange Person of the Year. 3. New…

On Feb. 24, Wesleyan hosted a "hackathon" for social good in collaboration with Random Hacks of Kindness Jr. The free event introduced more than 50 local children in grades 4 through 8 to technology and showed them how it could be used to create solutions that benefit nonprofit organizations. About half the children came from Middletown, while others came from as far away as Greenwich, Griswold and West Hartford to participate. Seven Wesleyan students and two staff members served as volunteer mentors, working with the children to devise computer applications that addressed a range of problems facing local organizations. Five nonprofit social…

Wesleyan Students Win Prestigious Consulting Competition

Wesleyan University Press Book Is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Wesleyan in the News

Khamis Named a Harvard Kennedy School WAPPP Fellow

Wesleyan Center for Prison Education Awarded $1M Mellon Grant

Wes Press Poet Wins Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

Wesleyan in the News

Savage ’18 Awarded Princeton in Latin America Fellowship

Naegele in The Conversation: Are Neurons Added to the Human Brain after Birth?

Chitena ’19 Named 2018 Newman Civic Fellow

Wesleyan in the News

Local Youth Learn How to Use Technology for Social Good at “Hackathon”