Lauren RubensteinOn April 29, Sara Seager, Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke on "The Search for Earth 2.0" at the annual Sturm Memorial Lecture. (Photos by Dat Vu '15) (more…)
On April 28, Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, spoke on a panel at the CUNY Graduate Center on Nobel Prize–winner Günter Grass, one of Germany's best-known contemporary writers, who died earlier this month. Winston, Grass's translator, is also professor of German Studies, professor of environmental studies, and coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. She spoke alongside Professor Friedrich Ulfers of New York University and Breon Mitchell, professor emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. The event, which was standing-room only, was moderated by Ralph Bunche Institute Director John Torpey, a professor at the CUNY Graduate…
President Michael Roth reviewed New York Times columnist Frank Bruni's new book, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania for The Washington Post. Though Bruni directs his thoughts specifically to the young men and women competing to gain admission to Ivy League and other highly competitive colleges and universities, Roth sees his message as speaking "more broadly to the culture of manufactured meritocracy--a culture of rankings and branding, of recruiting and rejection." "Bruni tackles the roots of this lesson with example after example of successful, accomplished and happy people whose college experiences were far from the elite halls of Stanford…
#THISISWHY In this issue of News @ Wes, we speak to Laura McIntyre from the Class of 2017. Q: Laura, please tell us where you're from and what you're majoring in. A: I'm a sophomore here at Wes. I'm majoring in sociology and am thinking about the film minor. I'm from New York City. Q: I understand the "Before I Die" public art project has been installed in locations all over the world. When and how did this project come to be? A: The project was started by an artist named Candy Chang as a personal project after someone close to her…
#THISISWHY In this video, meet Brooklee Han '18 of Redding, Conn., a figure skater who has been competing internationally since 2010. She competed in Sochi, Russia in 2014 as a member of the Australian Olympic Team.
Long Lane Farm will host its annual May Day Festival from noon to 5 p.m. on May 2. The rain date is May 3. The event is open to the community, and will feature food, live music, face painting, crafts and activities, a bake sale, and a small farmer's market. A yoga class will be offered at 2 p.m., and a contra dance held at 3 p.m. Long Lane Farm is located at 281 Long Lane in Middletown at the corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth Street.
Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, has won an $85,000 grant from the Leverhulme Trust to serve as a visiting professor at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom in 2016. There, he will be working on a research project titled, "Visualizing the Nation" with Manchester professors Vera Tolz and Stephen Hutchings. The Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Manchester is a leading institution in the study of Russian television and mass media. Rutland is also professor of government, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies, tutor in the College…
WESU 88.1 FM is holding its annual Spring Pledge Drive to support another season of community-driven radio. The station aims to raise $20,000 this spring to close out a capital campaign that started at the beginning of 2014, when the station kicked off its 75th anniversary year. Meeting its pledge goal this spring will allow WESU to complete some much-needed studio updates, including an audio mixing console in the air studio, as well as other technical improvements that will strengthen infrastructure and better accommodate live in-studio performances. These upgrades will also enable WESU to broadcast from remote locations. (more…)
Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, was awarded a grant of $408,609 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the structure and mechanisms of DNA repair proteins responsible for fixing errors in the genetic code and preventing carcinogenesis. The three-year grant will fund PhD and undergraduate students' research on DNA mismatch repair (MMR). MMR corrects base mismatches and loops in DNA, and is therefore a critical guardian of genetic and cellular integrity. Defects in this essential, evolutionarily conserved DNA repair process cause high levels of mutations in the genome, which in turn lead to cancer. In humans, MMR…
Wesleyan welcomed about 450 admitted students and their families to campus April 15-17 to experience life at Wesleyan first-hand. Visitors had an opportunity to explore all that Wes has to offer through tours of campus, film studies, science facilities, the Center for the Arts, and the theater department; parent-to-parent and student-to-student panels; departmental and center open houses; and a student activities fair, as well as lectures, performances and film screenings. (Photos by Dat Vu '15, Hannah Norman '16, Gabe Rosenberg '16, Dena Matthews and Lauren Rubenstein.) (more…)
#THISISWHY On April 17, 30 senior and BA/MA students in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division presented their research to the Wesleyan community. Nearly 100 people attended the annual Celebration of Science Theses poster session, which was held in the Exley Science Center lobby. The event was co-organized by Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Barbara Juhasz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, director of the service learning center; and Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy. (Photos by Dat Vu '15.) (more…)
Vera Schwarcz, the Freeman Professor of History and East Asian Studies, professor of history, delivered the 40th Annual Mansfield Freeman Lecture on April 16. She spoke in Daniel Family Commons on "The Human Dot on Yellow Mountain: Re-thinking 45 Years of China Study." (Photos by Dat Vu '15.)