Randi Alexandra PlakeWesleyan’s 2016-2017 Creative Campus Fellow in Music Pamela Z, a composer and performer, is performing Correspondence, a work in progress, tonight (March 9). Her ensemble performance includes voices, electronic processing, sampled speech sounds, gesture-controlled MIDI instruments, projected image, and an array of mechanical and digital communication gadgetry. Ms. Z’s performance looks at the history of personal communication from hand-written letters and telegraphs to electronic messaging and video chats in Correspondence, a sonic and visual exploration of the ever-evolving modes of personal communication. More than 20 students are involved in the performance as members of the chorus, playing viola, bassoon, percussion, and operating typewriters. As a Creative Campus Fellow, Ms. Z is…
Olivia DrakeWesleyan will present three honorary doctorates at the University’s 185th Commencement on May 28. The distinguished writer Claudia Rankine will deliver the Commencement address. Wesleyan will also honor Jo Handelsman, former associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Cristina Jiménez, executive director and co-founder of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. The Baldwin Medal, the highest award of the Alumni Association, will be presented to John ’62 and Gina Driscoll. Claudia Rankine Poet, essayist and playwright, Claudia Rankine is the recipient of numerous awards for work described…
Bill HolderAt its meeting March 4, the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 3.7 percent for the 2017-18 year. Tuition and fees for the 2017–18 year will be $52,474. The residential comprehensive fee for first-year and sophomore students will be $14,466, for juniors and seniors, $16,446. As always, Wesleyan will meet the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students. Recent initiatives have eliminated loans for our neediest students and lowered overall student debt to levels far below the national average. Over the next four years, Wesleyan will phase in additional changes to financial aid…
Andrew Logan ’18Eiko Otake stands on the top of a breakwater in a dark gray kimono. To her right, the ocean crashes into piles of concrete cubes–their shapes, stacked together, seem almost too clean, like abstractions of stone. She clutches a large but frayed scarlet cloth that catches the wind and encircles her, hovering just inches from her skin. Following the breakwater into the distance, a large cubic structure is visible along the water’s edge. It is the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Plant, 12 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. She is standing at the midpoint between the infamous two, in the…
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Frederic Wills '19Amy Bloom ’75, director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, leveraged her more than 30 years of experience as a licensed clinical social worker to be a featured guest speaker at "Lady Parts: Car Talk for Women’s Bodies Fundraiser," which took place March 5 at the Ivoryton Playhouse. The afternoon was a blend of comedy and candid conversation. Bloom and co-host, Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a Yale-trained OB-GYN, gave audience members an avenue to discuss everything from hormones and menopause, to lactation, STDs, contraceptives and pregnancy. “It was an opportunity to learn…
Michael O'BrienDual-sport athlete and Middletown native, Devon Carrillo '17, has been named Connecticut's 2017 Male Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance (CSWA). Carrillo will be honored at the CSWA 76th Annual Gold Key Dinner on April 30 in Southington, Conn. The senior has excelled on both the football field and the wrestling mat for the Cardinals. Carrillo is the first Wesleyan athlete to receive the prestigious award, which began in 1973 and includes past winners Dick Jauron (Yale football, 1973); Rick Diana (Yale football, 1982); Steve Young (NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, 1985); Craig…
At its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure on Courtney Fullilove, associate professor of history, and Tushar Irani, associate professor of letters and philosophy. Additional tenure announcements may be made after the May meeting of the Board of Trustees. Brief descriptions of their areas of research and teaching appear below. Courtney Fullilove is a historian of 19th century U.S. social history. Her research interests in state building, agriculture, medicine and law are united by an engagement with the politics of development, particularly in the areas of sustainable development, biodiversity, intellectual property law and cultural heritage. Her book, The Profit…
Donna Morea ’76, P’06, chair of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees, sent the following message to the campus community on Saturday, March 4: I’m pleased to announce that today, the University recognized the extraordinary leadership of President Michael S. Roth and offered him an extension of his contract. I’m delighted to report that he has committed to lead Wesleyan through 2023. This is truly an exciting time for Wesleyan. With the support of our community and Michael’s outstanding leadership, our reputation for being at the forefront of pragmatic liberal education continues to grow. Michael led our highly successful THIS IS WHY…
Chabad at Wesleyan hosted a hamantaschen making workshop March 1 in Exley Science Center. Hamantaschen (also called ozney Haman or Haman’s ears in Hebrew) are tasty, flaky treats with fillings that are often made during the Jewish festival of Purim. Purim is celebrated on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). The festival commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman the Agagite’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as recorded in the Megillah (book of Esther). The points on the…
A new teaching and learning space can be found on campus: STEM Zone 42. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Zone 42, located in the Science Library, is a collaborative project by the Office of Equity and Inclusion, the WesMaSS program and Academic Affairs. Operating as a pilot program this semester, STEM Zone 42 is a space where students currently taking introductory biology and chemistry courses can receive academic support. Students can get help from course teaching assistants, course instructors, peer mentors and fellow students. “We are hoping to reduce barriers students experience in seeking academic help and create and…
Lauren RubensteinProfessor of Religion Peter Gottschalk recently authored an article, "Who are the Sufis and why does ISIS see them as threatening," which appeared on Raw Story and The Conversation. The Sufis, who have been the target of violent attacks in Pakistan in recent years, practice austerity "stemming from a sincere religious devotion that compelled the Sufi into a close, personal relationship with God, modeled on aspects of the Prophet Muhammad's life. This often involved a more inward, contemplative focus than many other forms of Islamic practice." And, according to Gottschalk, though "many Muslims and non-Muslims around the globe celebrate Sufi saints…