David PesciWhat would you get if you took the feel of the famous "TED" talks but gave them a distinctly Wesleyan flavor? Wesleyan Thinks Big. Wesleyan Thinks Big is a new type of lecture series designed to give audiences presentations by popular faculty in a never-before seen format. According to the event's website, Wesleyan Thinks Big will feature fun and exciting faculty presentations with no slides, no handouts, and no Moodle. It will be an evening of "six faculty members, nominated by students, delivering nine-minute lectures on topics that excites and inspires the professors, even if it’s not something they talk…
Olivia DrakeEleven Wesleyan seniors will speak on their undergraduate research projects during the Spring 2012 McNair Fellow Presentation Series March 29 through April 26. The presentations describe the research that students conducted with Wesleyan faculty mentors. Many of the projects also are the subject of student theses or final papers presented for the Wesleyan B.A. requirements. The Wesleyan University Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement McNair Program was established in 2007. It assists students from underrepresented groups with preparing for, entering, and progressing successfully through postgraduate education. They are often first generation college students from low-income families, OR African-American, Hispanic, Native…
Much like the primaries for both sides in 2008, this race looks to continue its jockeying right into June. But through it there is one resource that provides some clarity, at least when it comes to the money being spent on campaign ads: The Wesleyan Media Project. Created in 2010, The Wesleyan Media Project is a nonpartisan, academically-based effort designed to television track advertising in all federal elections. It is directed by Erika Franklin Fowler, assistant professor of government. The co-directors include Michael Franz, associate professor of government at Bowdoin College, and Travis Ridout, associate professor of political science at…
Lauren RubensteinThe influence and power wielded by large corporations in our country has never been more pronounced than it is today. But how did we get here? In a new book published this month (March 27), Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics Richard Adelstein explores the remarkable transformation undergone by business in the U.S. over the half-century following the Civil War—from small sole proprietorships and partnerships to massive corporations possessing many of the same constitutional rights as living men and women. Approaching this story through historical, philosophical, legal and economic lenses, Adelstein presents an original, three-pronged theory of the rise of business firms.…
What are the challenges of building a national museum? Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, will speak on this topic during the Center for African American Studies' 18th Annual Distinguished Lecture. The event takes place at 8 p.m. April 4 in Beckham Hall. A reception will follow. Bunch, a historian, author, curator and educator, is the founding director of the national museum. In this position he is working to set the museum’s mission, coordinate its fundraising and membership campaigns, develop its collections, establish cultural partnerships and oversee the design and…
An originalist approach to interpreting the Constitution may not be perfect, but it’s “the only game in town,” was the message from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia when he delivered the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression at Wesleyan on March 8. “Do you think that judges—that is to say, lawyers—are better at the science of what ought to be than the science of history? I don’t think so,” Scalia told a packed crowd in Memorial Chapel. “The reality is that originalism is the only game in town; the only real verifiable criteria that can…
Sonia Sultan, chair and professor of biology, professor of environmental studies, has been elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Sultan, an evolutionary biologist, joins 39 other Connecticut experts in science, engineering and technology to membership in the Academy this year. Four other Wesleyan faculty are already members of the Academy. Election to the Academy, according to the CASE web site, is based on scientific and engineering distinction achieved through significant contributions in theory or applications, as demonstrated by original published books and papers, patents, the pioneering of new and developing fields and innovative products, outstanding leadership of nationally recognized…
As a 2012-13 Harry Frank Guggenheim Fellow, Magda Teter, the Jeremy Zwelling Professor of Jewish Studies, will narrate the cultural, social and political connections between Italy—center of papal power, and Poland—home to the largest Jewish community in the world, in her new book, The Pope’s Dilemma: Blood Libel and the Boundaries of Papal Power. Teter, who also is chair and professor of medieval studies, professor of history, and professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, will take a full year leave on sabbatical to work on the book. Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation sponsors scholarly research on problems of violence, aggression and dominance. The award…
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask 5 Questions of Laura Stark, assistant professor of sociology, assistant professor of science in society, assistant professor of environmental studies. Stark recently published a new book, Behind Closed Doors: IRBs and the Making of Ethical Research. Q: Professor Stark, what inspired you to study institutional review boards (IRBs), which regulate research on human subjects? A: I first became interested in this project in 2002 because of a great coincidence of scholarship. At the time, I was reading historical works that explained why the Nuremberg Code after World War II had so…
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Students didn't need to leave campus to get a warm weather fix during spring break. With temperatures skyrocketing to 75 degrees, many of the students who stayed in Middletown enjoyed the mid-semester recess on Foss Hill and College Row: (more…)
The next FEAS lecture is on "Murakami Ryz and the Madonna Horror Complex," at 4:30 p.m. March 29. View all upcoming FEAS lectures online here.