All News – Page 35

The Hindu religious festival Navaratri holds a special place in Indian arts and culture. According to the popular mythology surrounding the festival, over the course of nine nights, the goddess Durga engaged in epic combat with a demon bent on destruction. As the celestial conflict raged around them, ordinary people comforted themselves with music and dance, sharing their talents with their neighbors. With the defeat of the demon, the time became known as a chance to ask for new blessings. "The festival has always had a special connection to the arts," said Hari Krishnan, Professor and Chair of Wesleyan's Department…

Barry Chernoff, the Robert F. Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, has the look of someone who has just received everything they’d wanted - happiness combined with the realization of how much work there is ahead. “Be careful what you wish for,” he said with a laugh while describing the ambitious goals that will be realized by the recent $2 million grant from the Robert F. Schumann Foundation to support sustainability initiatives at the Robert F. Schumann Institute of the College of the Environment, at Wesleyan, and in the surrounding region. The goals include building a network of local community non-governmental…

For decades, the former Davison Art Center located in the Richard Alsop IV House at 301 High Street has been a focal point for the visual arts on campus, housing an invaluable and wide-ranging print collection. With the collection's move to the Olin Library, the old building has a new artistic focus as part of a Digital Design Commons on campus supporting music, dance, theatre, and visual art. “The idea is for this to be a tech hub for the arts,” said Roger Mathew Grant, dean of the arts and humanities. “The arts are always at an intersection of the…

(Updated September 28, 2022) President Michael S. Roth '78 published a piece in the September 26 Boston Globe urging educators at all levels to speak out to defend democracy. "We in higher education must energetically cultivate democratic values — including freedom of expression, rights to representation, and the protection of the vulnerable — at home on our campuses. And we must take a stand against the would-be strongmen who threaten these values in our country and beyond. As educators, we should encourage our students and colleagues to join us in fighting for basic democratic rights. And should that fight be lost…

By Maia Bronfman '23 “How much do Americans know about the kitchens and the bathrooms and the marriages of places anywhere else in the world?” Bernardo Antonio Gonzales, professor of Spanish and founder of the Center for Global Studies, asked the question to pose a self-admittedly trivial but thematic backdrop for the annual Contemporary Cinema from the Hispanic World Film Series. Along with María Ospina, associate professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, Gonzales has curated a series of films by young directors from Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. “These films have little chance of making the…

Tuesday morning September 27 was sunny and clear, a perfect day for preschoolers to inspect their new school. Children who attend the Neighborhood Preschool (NPS) were welcomed to the new facility located at 60 Long Lane. Tuesday’s family walk-through and time capsule ceremony prepared the little ones, and their parents, for Opening Day on Monday, October 3. Tuesday’s event began with preschoolers handing artwork over to be included in a time capsule, which was buried after the families toured the new building to see the classrooms for the first time. NPS Director Suzanne Donnelly said the building represents a new chapter.…

A new Survey Lab led by Steven T. Moore, assistant professor of government, will have the opportunity dig deeply into public opinion to learn how and why Americans think the way they do about political and cultural issues. “This is one of the more exciting parts of my job. We’ve got all kinds of theories on how the world works, but they often don’t work out in reality. I’m trying to figure out which ones are concrete and which ones are telling us about how people are processing complicated events in this pivotal moment in American politics,” Moore said. The…

Recent research by Erika A. Taylor, associate professor of chemistry, suggests that the way scientists have long believed some antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections work could be incorrect. Aminoglycoside antibiotics have broad-spectrum, bacterial killing abilities and are often prescribed for childhood infections caused by Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, which can be found in E. coli, Salmonella, and V. cholera, amongst others. The stakes of the research are real, Taylor explained. Improved antibiotics would prevent needless deaths from E. coli, Salmonella and other Gram-negative bacteria. Relatively simple treatments, such as those for urinary tract infections, would be more efficient, improving people’s…

At the end of the pathway that curves down along the left side of the blue College of the Environment (COE) building at 284 High Street to the back door is WesThrift, where students can pick up a new outfit, a dorm accessory, or even a baseball cap at no cost. Items are in very good condition and displayed as any thrift or consignment store would, on racks and shelves, sorted by dresses, blouses, shirts, sweaters, jeans/denim, fancier pants, purses, and hats. They also have shoes ranging from slippers to boots and dorm items. According to Jen Kleindienst, Director of Sustainability,…

Three students who have demonstrated exemplary work and interest in civic engagement, community organizing, and artistic practice on campus will join the inaugural Embodying Antiracism Think Tank. Olivia Adams ’23, Courtney Joseph '25, and Ava Olson ’25 have been named Student Fellows, and will work on projects ranging from the development of a new television show, to the creation of a documentary film and a visual artwork, all of which will help the University grow in support of antiracist values. The students will engage with ten local community organizers, Wesleyan faculty, and visiting artists announced earlier this year. Each student…

Martha “Marty” Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 Claudia J. Alexander Prize from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for her study of Venus’ geology. Gilmore is a Science Team Member on the DAVINCI and VERITAS missions to Venus, and the principal investigator of a Venus Flagship Mission Concept Study for the Planetary Decadal Survey. Gilmore’s work has “helped usher in a new decade of exploration of Venus with the selection of two new NASA Venus missions,” according to the AAS.…

This fall, Wesleyan welcomes 60 new faculty members to campus. The group contains 24 new visiting faculty members, 20 assistant professors, four Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral fellows, three Distinguished Writers in Residence, six teaching fellows, one university and one associate professor, and a Van Vleck post-doctoral fellow. The new faculty bring a diverse skill set to campus. Among them are experts in art, multi-lingual ASL, astronomy, biology, chemistry, dance, digital storytelling, economics, education, environmental studies, fiction, French, German, government, Italian, mathematics, media literacy, music, philosophy, physics, poetry, psychology, public history, public policy, religion, Spanish, and theater. Bios of the new…

Wesleyan’s 46th Annual Navaratri Festival Celebrates the Diversity of Indian Music and Dance

Chernoff Leads Effort to Improve Local Sustainability Networks

Alsop House to Serve as State of the Art Digital Design Commons

Wesleyan in the News, September 2022

Contemporary Cinema from the Hispanic World Film Series Launches in September

The Neighborhood Preschool Prepares for Opening Day

New Survey Lab to Explore Political and Cultural Issues

New Research Questions Efficacy of Some Antibiotics

WesThrift Promotes Sustainability and Equity

“Learning from one another:” Wesleyan selects three Student Fellows for inaugural Embodying Antiracism Think Tank

Martha Gilmore Wins Claudia J. Alexander Award

Wesleyan Welcomes New Faculty