Bill HolderQuiara Alegría Hudes, a Pulitzer Prize recipient, will be the new Shapiro Distinguished Professor of Writing and Theater for three years beginning in the fall of 2014. The appointment marks a return to campus for Hudes, who taught as a visiting playwright in 2012. Hudes’s most recent publication is The Elliot Cycle, three standalone plays written over an eight-year period. Each play uses a different kind of music – Bach, Coltrane, and Puerto Rican folk music¬ ¬– to trace the coming of age of a haunted young man from Puerto Rico. Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, the first play, was a…
Due to the predicted storm, Wesleyan is extending the closing for housing until Monday noon.
Bill Belichick ’75, head coach of the Patriots, "remains deeply appreciative of his Wesleyan past."
Mary-Jane Rubenstein, associate professor of religion and chair of the Religion Department, has been appointed Wesleyan's 2013-14 Distinguished Teaching Fellow. She also is associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Established last year by the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology Rob Rosenthal, the Distinguished Teaching Fellowship honors Wesleyan's most outstanding teachers and gives them the opportunity to teach a course outside their usual departmental offerings. The inaugural fellowship was awarded to Andy Szegedy-Maszak, Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, professor of classical studies. "It is no surprise that Mary-Jane is Wesleyan's second Distinguished Teaching Fellow: she is known…
Scott Backer, Jonathan Connary, Rick Culliton, Maureen Isleib, Tanya Purdy, Joyce Walter and Michael Whitcomb were presented recently with Cardinal Achievement Awards for their efforts on the National College Health Improvement Project (NCHIP) Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking. Over the past two years, they led Wesleyan’s participation in this project, which required a significant ongoing commitment above and beyond their usual duties. Over the course of the project, all the members of the team were constantly designing and conducting tests of different interventions, gathering data in order to assess impact, and refining tests based on what was learned. Because of…
Doreen Brown Freeman, who together with her husband, the late Houghton “Buck” Freeman ’43, generously supported Wesleyan and especially the Freeman Asian Scholars Program, died July 12 in Honolulu. The Freeman family, including Buck, Doreen and their son Graeme Freeman ’77, established the Freeman Foundation in 1993 after the death of Buck’s father, Mansfield Freeman, Wesleyan class of 1916, who had contributed greatly to Wesleyan’s East Asian Studies Program. Buck Freeman was chairman of the Freeman Foundation, and Doreen was a co-trustee. They demonstrated a hands-on style of giving that ensured a personal connection with all those receiving foundation support.…
John "Jack" C. Hoy '55, the dean of admissions at Wesleyan in the 1960s who oversaw a radically new commitment to expanding racial, religious and economic diversity on campus, died July 9 at his home in Duxbury, Mass. He was 79 years old. Hoy, who also held an MALS degree from Wesleyan in 1961 and was the parent of two alumni from the classes of 2003 and 2005, was deeply involved with Wesleyan for nearly his entire adult life. As an undergraduate, he majored in history, competed on the swim team, and was a member of the Eclectic Society fraternity.…
During Wesleyan's Commencement Ceremony on May 26, Wesleyan President Michael Roth awarded Joss Whedon ’87, Majora Carter ’88 and Jim Dresser ’63 with honorary degrees. Joss Whedon ’87 Joss Whedon is an award-winning writer, director and producer and delivered the commencement address on May 26. He is the force behind such popular television shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and the 2012 superhero blockbuster film, The Avengers. The son and grandson of successful television writers, Whedon was raised in New York and studied film at Wesleyan. After graduating, he landed his first TV writing job on the show Roseanne. He developed a script for the 1992…
Every year Wesleyan recognizes outstanding teaching with three Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching awarded at commencement. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the university’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, and current juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee of faculty, emeriti, and members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee. This year, Wesleyan honored the following faculty members for their excellence…
Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 made the following remarks during the Wesleyan Commencement Ceremony: "Members of the board of trustees, members of the faculty and staff, distinguished guests, new recipients of graduate degrees and the mighty class of 2013, I am honored to present some brief remarks on the occasion of this commencement. During your four years here, Wesleyan has been largely isolated from many of the troubles of this world. While you have been students, the United States has been engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on this Memorial Day Weekend, I begin by asking us all…
(Story contributed by Charles Salas, director of strategic initiatives) “A golden example of what exchange should be between academic communities in the United States and China.” That’s how Gao Xiang, vice secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and editor-in-chief of the Social Sciences in China Press, described the Chinese-American Scholarly Exchange Forum that took place May 9-11 at Wesleyan’s Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. The forum brought 15 distinguished scholars from China to Wesleyan to meet with American counterparts to discuss the topic of “Comparative Enlightenments.” The forum was framed by Wang Weiguang, president of…
Friday, 7 p.m. March 1. A tide of trustees, faculty, students and staff flowed into Beckham Hall for the Board of Trustees' dinner to a background refrain from the Black Eyed Peas – “Tonight's gonna be a good night.” And a good night it turned out to be, with stirring speeches and rousing dance moves. President Michael Roth officially launched the public phase of Wesleyan’s fundraising campaign by celebrating a number of recent gifts, including $3 million from John Shapiro ’74 and Shonni Silverberg ’76 in support of Wesleyan’s writing programs, building on their 2009 gift which established the Shapiro…