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By Phuc Ngo ’26 Director of the University Jazz Ensemble Noah Baerman appeared on WNPR’s “The Colin McEnroe Show” to discuss the musical inspiration he received from the myth of Sisyphus. “For me, it is the same boulder every day, in the macro sense,” said Baerman. “Love, justice, trying to facilitate transcendent experiences through art, basic humanity… the core mission I expect is going to be the same for each day that I’m fortunate enough to draw breath.” Architectural Record featured the new Pruzan Art Center, located between Olin Memorial Library and the newly renovated Frank Center for Public Affairs.…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous in day-to-day life. From predictive text to virtual assistants to video games, AI is now embedded in most technologies we use. Its impact on research, though, is yet to be seen. Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society Tsampikos Kottos and researchers from five other universities aim to explore that impact. Researchers will attempt to create a physics-based generative AI platform, referred to colloquially as “Physics-GPT.” The purpose of the platform would be to control chaos by, paradoxically, introducing a bit of randomness to the systems. To develop Physics-GPT, Kottos and his collaborators…

By Eliana Fiore In an engaging lunchtime talk on Nov. 21, Matt Motta ’13, assistant professor of health law, policy, and management at Boston University’s School of Public Health, presented research findings indicating that one in three Americans harbor some degree of resentment towards scientists and other public health experts. Not only do anti-intellectual attitudes exist to that degree, but his research shows that Americans with these views may act on them. Motta, whose new book entitled Anti-Scientific Americans: The Prevalence, Political Origins, and Political Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism in the U.S. was published in September, defines anti-intellectualism as “the distrust and…

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,…

Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith Hon. '97 launched her yearlong residency at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts (CFA) on Oct. 27 with the first public staged reading of her new work This Ghost of Slavery. The cast featured 15 actors, including Associate Professor of Theater, African American Studies, and English Rashida McMahon, along with students Connor Wrubel ’25 and Raimi Bagwell ’26. First published in The Atlantic, the work blends contemporary interviews with activists and social justice workers with her research into the archives of American slavery, revealing how historical trauma shapes present-day behavior. The play depicts events…

Legendary director Charles Burnett paved the way for generations of African American filmmakers in his work, including director Shaka King who made the recent Academy Award-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah. Burnett and King spoke and screened their work at Wesleyan during the 2024 Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, titled “Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema,” on Nov. 8 and 9. The two filmmakers were joined by international film producers Ama Ampadu and Tamara Dewit for presentations and a panel discussion. Endowed by James Shasha '50, P'82, the Shasha Seminar supports lifelong learning and encourages participants to expand their…

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…

Artist Glenn Ligon '82, Hon. '12 spoke with Associate Professor and Program Director for Art History and Associate Professor of American Studies Claire Grace on Nov. 1 in the Frank Center for Public Affairs during Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024. The exhibition, Reading Signs: Jasper Johns and Glenn Ligon in Print, which features etchings and lithographs by both artists as well as screenprints by Johns from the Davison Art Collection, is on display at the Pruzan Art Center in the Goldrach Gallery through Dec. 11. In her introduction to the conversation, Grace noted that Ligon’s work has been at the…

Wesleyan students  Akhil Joondeph '26 and Tanvi Navile '25 performed during the Indian Dance Showcase as part of the 48th anniversary Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan on Oct. 12. Each dancer demonstrated a different classical dance style. The students were invited to perform at the festival by Hari Krishnan, professor of Dance, Global South Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They were joined by Connecticut-based choreographers Sarada Nori Akella, who performed South Indian Kuchipudi dance, and Rachna Agrawal, performing North Indian Kathak dance. Navile and Joondeph had previously taken Krishnan’s South Indian Bharatanatyam dance class together. “At Wesleyan, there's such a rich cultural history of the Indian…

Three Wesleyan professors—Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, Associate Professor of Government Logan Dancey, and Assistant Professor of Government Justin Peck—made sense of this year’s election results and the potential path forward during a talk, “The 2024 Election: What Happened and What’s Next?” on Nov. 7. Fowler, co-director the Wesleyan Media Project, said that there would be careful analysis of the year’s election once all the votes are fully counted. Fowler also cautioned against reading too much into the results or focusing on identity politics until those analyses are completed. She said that many political scientists were able to predict…

Wesleyan’s Government Department gathered students to take in the results of the Nov. 5 election together, with games, snacks, and multiple news feeds. “I feel like today, and this time in particular, is very anxiety inducing,” said Adriana Begolli ’25, co-chair of the Government Majors Committee. “Everyone can't focus on their work because they're really nervous. So, we really just wanted to come up with a space that people can learn more about what's going on, but it doesn’t feel super anxious.” Professor of Government Mary Alice Haddad said she helped to create the event because this election night…

For many, the ideal of democracy lies in the concepts of government by the people and the rule of the majority. While this is a significant part of what makes a democracy work, or fail, the discourse surrounding elections plays a key role, too, said Xander Starobin ’27. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Starobin and dozens of other Wesleyan students have taken action to strengthen democracy, canvassing in states that could define this year’s election, and the country, going forward. “To be able to go canvass—which is directly talking to people about what people are concerned about,…

Wesleyan in the News: December 2024

Taming Chaos in Physical Systems Through Artificial Intelligence

Matt Motta ’13 Delivers Talk on Anti-Intellectual Beliefs and Politics

New WESU Program Shares Community Engagement Stories

Anna Deavere Smith Starts Yearlong Artist Residency

Celebrated Filmmakers, Producers Share Insight into Black Cinema at Shasha Seminar

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

Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 Talks Career, Work at Pruzan Art Center

Students Perform During Annual Celebration of Indian Music and Dance

Wesleyan Faculty on Election Results, Path Forward

Gallery: Election Night Watch Party

Wesleyan Students Canvass Voters in Key Swing State