Olivia Drake – Page 128

In the summer of 2014, students from more than 200 countries enrolled in Professor of Psychology Scott Plous's Social Psychology "MOOC" (massive open online course). The class was offered by Wesleyan, hosted by Coursera.org, and drew more than 200,000 students. The final assignment of the course, "The Day of Compassion," asked students to live 24 hours as compassionately as possible and to analyze the experience using social psychology. (more…)

Fifteen Wesleyan students were elected to early decision membership in Phi Beta Kappa during an initiation ceremony Dec. 3. To be elected, a student must have demonstrated curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations, and must have achieved a grade-point average of 93 and above. For students elected in the fall, it is an especially exacting selection process because admittance is based on a student’s performance at Wesleyan only through their junior year. (more…)

Wesleyan’s non-commercial college and community radio station, 88.1FM WESU, is holding its 10th annual WESU Holiday Pledge Drive. WESU is a constant source of diverse music, provocative public affairs, and creative free-form programming that has engaged countless curious and discerning listeners for more than seven decades. The station is currently celebrating its 75th year of operation. Community support during this pledge drive supports locally produced free-form radio created by student and community volunteers. Currently, WESU operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and is supported by a volunteer staff of over 150 student and community volunteers, one part-time paid staffer, and…

For her six years of service to the nation, Afghanistan veteran Kyle Foley '18, a Posse Scholar at Wesleyan, received a quilt from the local Quilts of Valor Foundation during a ceremony Dec. 3 at the Emblem Club in Middletown. Since 2003, Quilts of Valor have become a national community service effort to bring the home front to wounded soldiers and to honor returning Veterans. Quilts of Valor members pay tribute to those who have been touched by war by giving them a symbol of comforting and healing. During her six years in the Navy, Foley was a Seabee, specifically a construction mechanic, and was…

Five groups of students enrolled in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Service Learning Laboratory course E&ES 324 presented their semester-long research Dec. 1 in Exley Science Center. Fellow students, faculty, staff, community members and community partners attended the presentations.

Wonky weather left Wesleyan in a fog Dec. 3. (more…)

Jim Greenwood, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, was awarded a Faculty Seed Research Grant from the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, supported by NASA. The honor comes with a $6,000 award. Greenwood will use the grant to support his research on “D/H of ‘Dry’ Extraterrestrial Materials.” Understanding the distribution, delivery, and processing of volatiles in the solar system is of fundamental interest to planetary science. Volatiles influence a number of important properties of planetary bodies, such as the cooling, differentiation, volcanism, tectonism, climate, hydrosphere/atmospheres and especially habitability. Greenwood will use the award to develop a new state-of-the-art inlet system for the measurement…

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded Wesleyan's Center for the Arts a $20,000 grant to support the 2015–2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series. The CFA is one of the 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Breaking Ground Dance Series, now in its 15th season at Wesleyan, features cutting-edge choreography, world-renowned companies, and companies pushing the boundaries of the art form. Upcoming performances this season include the return of Montréal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard on Feb. 6-7, 2015 and Tari Aceh! Music and Dance from Northern Sumatra on Feb. 27. Compagnie Marie Chouinard will be…

A new Energy Conservation Policy, adopted by Physical Plant and the Office of Sustainability, will ensure that Wesleyan's energy use is consumed in the most sustainable manner possible while maintaining indoor temperatures that are safe and comfortable for teaching, research and operational purposes. The policy aims to minimize the university’s energy consumption and direct/indirect carbon dioxide emissions while defining standards for reasonably comfortable indoor environments within each building. The policy promotes environmental, financial and social sustainability. (more…)

Conor Hunt '16, Trevor Dorn-Wallenstein '15, Girish Duvvuri '17, Coady Johnson '15 represented Wesleyan as student speakers at the 2014 Undergraduate Research Symposium of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium held at Swarthmore College on Nov. 8. A total of five faculty members and eight students from the Astronomy Department, including Greg Schulman '17, currently at Clark University, joined colleagues from around the northeast at this annual event.

#THISISWHY In this Q&A meet Colin Russell from the Class of 2015. Q: Colin, what are you majoring in? What have been your most instrumental courses so far? A: I am majoring in neuroscience and behavior while also on the pre-medical path. Two of the most instrumental courses in my journey through Wes have been Organic Chemistry and the Organic Chemistry Lab that is paired with the lecture course. The reputation of Organic Chemistry was extremely intimidating prior to taking the course, and I was nervous that I would not like this subject that is the basis for so much of the…

#THISISWHY The Office of Human Resources awarded two Cardinal Achievement Awards in November 2014. Library assistant Jennifer Hadley received a Cardinal Achievement Award for her volunteer work as coordinator of the Friends of Olin Library. Over time, Hadley has become the primary organizer for the activities of the Friends that include a semi-annual book sale, two or three annual issues of the library’s newsletter, Check it Out, and the sponsoring of an annual Constitution Day lecture by an invited scholar. For the recent book sale this fall, Hadley coordinated the sorting of books, publicized the sale on campus and in the community, arranged the…

Plous’s MOOC Student Honored by Jane Goodall for Compassionate Act

15 Elected Early Decision to Phi Beta Kappa

88.1 FM WESU Radio Hosting Holiday Pledge Drive

Posse Scholar Foley ’18 Recipient of Quilt of Valor

GIS Service Learning Class Shares Field Research, Projects with Community

Foggy December Campus

NASA Supports Greenwood’s Extraterrestrial Materials Research

NEA Supports Center for the Arts’ Breaking Ground Dance Series

New Energy Conservation Policy Promotes Environmental, Financial, Social Sustainability

Students Represent Wesleyan at Keck Astronomy Consortium

Neuroscience Major Russell ’15 an A Cappella Singer, Organic Chemistry TA

Hadley, Stegmaier Honored with Cardinal Achievement Awards