Ziba Kashef

While Professor of Philosophy Stephen Angle was on sabbatical in Beijing, China in 2016-2017, he wanted to find a way to directly engage fellow experts on and advocates of Confucianism. He attended conferences and met with other Confucianists before coming up with the idea of organizing a series of dialogues about the meaning of Confucianism today. The dialogues—eight in all—culminated in Angle’s latest book Progressive Confucianism and its Critics: Dialogues from the Confucian Heartland. To Angle’s knowledge, the dialogues—most of which took place at Renmin University in Beijing—were the first of their kind to put Chinese Confucians, most of whom…

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Iris Yoon first became intrigued by topology—a branch of mathematics concerned with the study of shapes—as an undergraduate student. “I took a topology class in undergrad which was fascinating to me,” said Yoon. “And I found this field by accident. I went on Google and searched ‘applications of topology’ and found that it was an actual field of research.” That fascination led Yoon to contact a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, who invited her to join his weekly research seminars and ultimately served as advisor for her Ph.D. in applied mathematics and computation science. …

A month after one of the most momentous national elections in recent memory, the Wesleyan Media Project hosted their 2024 Post-Election Conference at the Frank Center for Public Affairs on Dec. 6. The all-day event featured four panels, moderated by Government department faculty members: Associate Professor of Government Logan Dancey, Associate Professor of Government Alyx Mark, Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, and Assistant Professor of Government Justin Peck. More than a dozen scholars from institutions across the country presented their research to the audience of faculty and students. The topics of panel presentations ranged from political advertising in 2024…

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, 15 students were formally inducted into Wesleyan’s Gamma chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society. This impressive group were early-decision inductees, meaning they met the rigorous criteria before they are expected to graduate. At the start of the event, Nadja Aksamija, associate professor of Art History and president of the Phi Beta Kappa Committee, shared that these high-achieving students joined an estimated 525,000 society members from across the country. Aksamija went on to explain that Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776, is the oldest surviving Greek letter society in America. To receive this honor, the latest group…

For 85 years, WESU, Wesleyan’s campus radio station, has offered a mix of music and public affairs programming. This year, the station launched a new program, Engage Radio, to shine a light on the community-engaged work of its university partners and residents from across the greater Middletown community. Broadcast bimonthly on Friday afternoons, Engage Radio has featured a blend of stories that has included artist in residence Sunny Jain talking about his music and the experience of South Asians globally; Center for Prison Education (CPE) Director Tess Wheelwright sharing the history and milestones of CPE; and community partner Donna Hylton,…

At the age of 27, Valentina Ramia received an urgent call from a friend in Ecuador, where she was born, to join a newly formed government. With her master’s degree in public policy analysis and management, Ramia left her work at a think tank in New York to return home and assist with governing in the new administration. The year was 2007. In her role as an under secretary, Ramia was put in charge of social policy in a newly formed department, and asked to help resolve a crisis in the prison system. Working with the prisoners’ unions and other…

From across the country, thousands of Wesleyan alumni and family members came together for a weekend of community, connection, and conversation during Homecoming and Family Weekend (HCFW) from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3. HCFW activities kicked off on Friday with numerous opportunities for alumni, families, and students to attend classes, open houses, exhibits, and WESeminars—presentations that allow Cardinals to revisit the classroom and experience the pragmatic liberal arts that is the essence of Wesleyan. For many, it was first and foremost an opportunity to reconnect. Sueann M. Papertsian P’28, from New York, was looking forward to reuniting with her son,…

What do Christian, Jewish, and Hindu Americans have in common? They all have someone representing their faith on the national political stage in the 2024 presidential campaign. That intersection of religion and politics was the focus of a talk, “The Fluidity of American Faith: Real Talk about Religion and the 2024 Presidential Race,” by investigative journalist and author Sarah Posner ’86 on Oct. 17 at the Frank Center for Public Affairs. In introducing Posner, Department of Religion Chair Andrew Quintman said, “religion informs our understanding of so many aspects of our human life and that's especially true of our current…

For three days in mid-September, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) embarked on an unusual trip. The university’s three chaplains—representing Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith traditions—took a dozen students from Wesleyan’s Mega Interfaith Leadership Council (MILC) to Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass. Over the course of the long weekend, the group engaged in interfaith conversation, introspection, and community. Between moments of silence, guided hikes, and presentations on topics like spirituality, leadership, and resilience, the spiritually diverse group connected with each other across what can seem like vast, even intractable, differences. “We’re at the beginning…

Wesleyan’s holistic approach to admissions continues to support a socioeconomically diverse student body with the Class of 2028. Among the 824 first-year students and 48 transfer students who joined the campus community this fall, there are more first-generation and Pell-grant-eligible students compared to last year. A notable 16% are the first in their families to go to college, which is higher than the percentage of children of alumni. Of those who self-reported their race or ethnicity, the data is comparable to last year: The percentage of domestic students of color remains at 32% of the class. The number of Black/African…

Daniel Coxson ’27 spent his summer in Olney, Maryland letter writing, phone banking, and encouraging people to register to vote, among other civic engagement activities. “I made yard signs and a political pumpkin,” he said of the large fruit he painted dark blue with white letters spelling the word v-o-t-e in all caps. “That was my favorite.” Coxson is one of 24 recipients of the 2023-2024 Student Political Engagement Fund grants, funding administered by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life to support student engagement in the public sphere. With these grants of up to $5,000 during the…

On Monday, Aug. 26, we welcomed 18 new permanent faculty and 51 visiting faculty to campus for the 2024-25 academic year. The work of these distinguished academics spans a wide range of disciplines and expertise, from civic engagement and public life, design and engineering, chemistry, climate change and sustainability, psychology, molecular biology and biochemistry, theater, music, physics, history, economics, biology, Jewish studies, earth and environmental science, philosophy, among many others. Our new faculty include Khalilah Brown-Dean, who is the Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Executive Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. Brown-Dean,…

Angle’s New Book Debates Critical Questions About Confucianism

Math Researcher Provides New Tool to Study the Brain

Post-Election Conference Probed Impact of Political Ads, Messaging

Fifteen Wesleyan Students Joined Phi Beta Kappa

New WESU Program Shares Community Engagement Stories

Narratives of Fear: An Anthropologist’s Research with Asylum Seekers

Celebrating Community at Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024

Alumni Author Talk on Religion and the Presidential Race

Bridging Differences Through Interfaith Community and Dialogue

Wesleyan Maintains Diversity in Class of 2028

Grants Empower Students to Strengthen Democracy

Wesleyan Welcomes New and Visiting Faculty Members