Olivia DrakeYeran Zhou '15 created this video on Middletown Remix, an ongoing project in collaboration with Wesleyan's Music and Public Life program, to engage the university and broader Middletown community in discovering, sharing and repurposing the sounds around them. Learn how to participate in this video: [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPi2K6wz1J8[/youtube]
Ring in the new year with a night of entertainment, dancing, music, laughing, fireworks and crafts in downtown Middletown. Starting at 3 p.m. Dec. 31, the City of Middletown will host its second Middnight on Main 2013, an alcohol-free celebration with unique activities for revelers of all ages, centered in the city's historic downtown. More than 10,000 people attended the 2012 event. Since Wesleyan is co-sponsoring the event, Wesleyan students, employees and their families are encouraged to attend. More than 100 events are packed into bank lobbies, performance halls, storefronts, churches and galleries, spanning four blocks in Middletown. Activities include a…
Peta2 selected Wesleyan University as the 2012 “Most Vegan-Friendly College” in the small U.S. schools category. Wesleyan also won the contest in 2009. Tens of thousands of students nationwide voted for the nominees. According to Peta2, the number of vegan college students has more than doubled nationwide since 2005, and it only continues to rise as students learn about the routine abuse that animals face when killed for food. “When a school has chefs who specialize in vegan desserts on staff, you know you’re in for a treat,” Peta2 reported on Wesleyan's dining options. “This year’s (Halloween dessert) theme, Gotham…
Gina Athena Ulysse, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of African-American studies, was invited to perform her avant-garde meditation, "Voodoo Doll, What if Haiti Were a Woman?" at two international conferences in 2013. Ulysse's piece focuses on coercion and consent inspired by Gede, the Haitian Vodou spirit of life and death. She intersperses the story with Haiti’s geopolitical history, statistics, theory and Vodou chants. On Jan. 12-19, Ulysse will attend the 8th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. There, she will join more than 400 artists, performers, scholars and activists who will…
Influential experimental music composer, writer and artist John Cage (1912-1992), famous for his avant-garde music, was affiliated with Wesleyan from the 1950s until his death in 1992. During his 37-year relationship with Wesleyan, Cage collaborated with members of the Wesleyan music faculty, composed and performed on campus, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in 1960–61 and 1969–70. Wesleyan University Press published several of his books. To honor Cage's time and achievements at Wesleyan, the university is celebrating the centenary of Cage by focusing on his understanding of music as a social process through a collection of events.…
(Story contributed by Jim H. Smith) A recent discovery made by Michael McAlear, chair and associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, and four of his students helps explain the function of ribosomes and sheds light on genetic processes scientists have been trying to decode for more than half a century. A paper authored by McAlear and his laboratory team, describing the discovery, was published last month in the distinguished journal BMC Genomics. The discovery resulted from long-term research into the regulation of ribosomes, often described as molecular “machines,” the organelles of all living cells in which protein synthesis occurs. Guided…
In honor of University Press Week Nov. 11-17, Wesleyan University Press released an Influence Map highlighting the scope of its work in the state, nation and world. University Press Week highlights the extraordinary work of university presses and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society. Wesleyan University Press's editorial program focuses on poetry, music, dance, science fiction studies, film-TV, and Connecticut history and culture. The map, hosted by Google, displays many of the locations of where the press is carrying the name of Wesleyan University. Click on a "pin" in Connecticut, and the map displays a poetry anthology,…
This year, Wesleyan employees can "do something big" by participating in the annual Middlesex United Way Campaign. The campaign supports education, income, health and housing issues in Middlesex County through more than 30 agencies in the area. These include YMCA of Northern Middlesex County, Women and Families Center, Shoreline Soup, Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, Middletown Adult Education, the John J. Driscoll United Labor Agency, Inc., Habitat for Humanity, MARC Community Resources, Community Health Center Mobile Dental Program and more. Last year, United Way helped Amazing Grace serve 10,986 hungry neighbors. This year’s theme is "Do Something Big" and the Wesleyan…
Recognizing the importance of sustainability and commitments set forth in the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), Wesleyan has become a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). AASHE is a national organization that enables higher education institutions to meet their sustainability goals by providing specialized resources, professional development, and a network of peer support. Wesleyan also has become a charter participant in AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). Created by the higher education community, STARS is a comprehensive system that enables colleges and universities to gauge their progress toward sustainability.…
Wesleyan hosted its first Campus Sustainability Day on Oct. 24. CSD is a national event that began in 2002 to bring awareness to campus sustainability projects and encourage students to take action. This year, in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market, many Wesleyan student groups and the Sustainability Office set up tables outside Usdan University Center to share their recent projects with the campus community. Groups that attended included Wes Bikes, Middletown Urban Gardens, Butterfields Green Hall residents, WILD Wes, Long Lane Farm, WesFRESH, Green Fund, Local Co-op and Energy @ Wes. "The tabling went very well, with students stopping by…
More information on the 11th Annual Shasha Seminar is online here. (Photos by Dat Vu '15)