Olivia DrakeAs a 2016 recipient of the Keasbey Scholarship, Claire Wright ’16 will continue her education at Oxford University after graduating from Wesleyan this May. While at Oxford, she will pursue an MPhil in Comparative Social Policy. “Throughout my time at Wesleyan I have become increasingly passionate both about international development efforts and gender equality initiatives," she said. Wright's senior thesis focused on medical, social and political implications of using PTSD-focused aid for survivors of sexual violence in postcolonial nations. "I wanted a course of study that would allow me to translate these theoretical, intellectual insights regarding responses to violence against women…
Cynthia RockwellAward-winning science fiction writer Jack McDevitt MALS ’71 received an out-of-this-world honor: Lowell Observatory astronomer named an asteroid for him. In an e-mail, astronomer Lawrence Wasserman, explained, “I discovered the books of Jack McDevitt early in 2015 and spent most of the year plowing through every novel he has written. I was especially taken by his naming the first Mars spaceship for Percival Lowell, our founder. And, as a person who spent their teens in the ’60s reading Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, I was very pleased to find someone who writes science fiction that doesn't have any elves, dwarfs,…
Lauren RubensteinThe 74th annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) conference in Chicago April 7-10 was attended by several Wesleyan faculty members, students and recent alumni. The conference, held every April, is one of the largest political science conferences with more than 5,000 presenters from throughout the United States and around the world. It is traditionally held in Chicago's historic Palmer House Hilton. Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, Assistant Professor of Government Logan Dancey, and Assistant Professor of Government Yamil Velez all presented research at the conference. They were accompanied by Joli Holmes '17, John Murchison '16, Grace Wong '18,…
Frederic Wills '19Sue Rappaport Guiney ’77 and her organization, Writing Through, received one of six prestigious international Freedom Through Literacy award. Hosted by Judith’s Reading Room, an organization that provides literature to those who do not have access to it, the competition will donate $1,000 to the work of Writing Through. Guiney and the five other recipients will be honored at a dinner co-sponsored by the Colonial Association of Reading Educators (C.A.R.E.) in May. A novelist, poet and educator, Guiney founded Writing Through as a way to develop English fluency, conceptual thinking, and self-esteem through the creative writing process. She began on a…
Andrew Logan ’18On April 5, six Wesleyan alumni–David Rabban ’71, Roxanne Euban ’88, Lyle Ashton Harris ’88, Rick Barot ’92, Adam Berinsky ’92 and Jonas Carpignano ’06–were each awarded Guggenheim Fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. According to the foundation, these prestigious awards aim to “further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color or creed.” Rabban is an award winning author and academic whose research focuses on labor law, higher education and the…
On April 2, in a relentless rain, 20 Artists for World Peace volunteers—including Wesleyan Football Coach Dan DiCenzo and staunch members of the football team—loaded a 20-foot shipping container with $648,000 worth of medical equipment, eyeglasses, and other items. “It was great to see our guys help such a fine organization,” said DiCenzo. Jewelry artist Wendy Black-Nasta P’07, founder and executive director of Artists for World Peace (AFWP), had contacted the coach when she realized her group needed help. She had arranged for the shipping container, which arrived in the parking lot of Ace Hardware in Middletown, at 10 a.m. She…
More than 55 student-athletes attended a Women’s Mentoring Workshop on April 10 in the Daniel Family Commons. The workshop was part of the Athletics Advantage Program, also known as A+. The program combines individual training, mentoring, internships, career coaching, job shadowing, community service and other dimensions of the successful undergraduate Wesleyan scholar-athlete career. Twenty-three alumni, current coaches and Wesleyan Career Center staff spent two hours with the students and discussed declaring a major, finding a summer job and figuring out a career. Alumni mentors range from the class of 2015 to as early as 1975. “The event was a great success for both the mentors and…
(Story by Caroline MacNeille '16/Wesconnect) In a recent episode of the podcast Cellar Door, Piers Gelly '13 and a handful of alumni discuss the infamous Drawing I final project: a life-sized nude self portrait. The podcast focuses on objects, featuring often-overlooked subject matter like pockets and pearls. Gelly, who reports, writes, mixes and illustrates for The Chipstone Foundation, an arts non-profit, produced this episode that also features music by Jack Ladd '15 and Anna Schwab '16. The 'Student Body' episode features a dozen alumni talking about their experience creating the final project and its fate after the semester's end. No…
Four Wesleyan students recently participated in the Five College Korean Speech Contest, and three went home with prizes. The contest was held April 1 at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst and included students from Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and Hampshire colleges, and the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. The contest is sponsored by the Five College East Asian Language Program. Students in the Five College Consortium, and others in the New England area who are currently enrolled in Korean language classes, are eligible to participate, except for native Korean speakers or heritage learners. Participating students must write their own short speeches in Korean. Visiting…
Laurie KenneyOn April 6, artists and visitors gathered at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery for a reception for week three of the Senior Thesis Exhibition. This week's exhibition features work by seniors Sophie Becker, Casey Herrick, Samantha Ho, Gla, and Zach Scheinfeld from the Department of Art and Art History's art studio program. The exhibition will be on display through April 10. (Photos by Hannah Norman '16)
Katja Kolcio, associate professor of dance, associate professor of environmental studies, and a group of students attended the Ukraine in Washington forum at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on March 30, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered the keynote address. Poroshenko was in Washington for President Barack Obama's Nuclear Summit. The trip was funded by the Dean of Social Sciences and the Dean of Arts and Humanities. According to Kolcio, the highlight of the trip occurred when Poroshenko responded to a question posed by Misha Iakovenko '18 about the president's efforts to deal with corruption, and a recent article that appeared in the Kyiv Post by gas company…
Six Wesleyan students were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) honor society this year. Helena Awad '16, Noah Hamlish '16, Selin Kutlu '16, Melanie Parziale '16, Julianne Riggs '17, and Zarek Siegel '16 were honored with this prestigious award for exceptional work in biochemistry and molecular biology. The ASBMB Honor Society recognizes exceptional undergraduate juniors and seniors who are pursuing a degree in the molecular life sciences for their scholarly achievement, research accomplishments, and outreach activities. The mission of the society is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for…