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Editorial StaffDecember 4, 20244min
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…

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Mike MavredakisNovember 20, 20245min
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…

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Ziba KashefOctober 22, 20245min
What do Christian, Jewish, and Hindu Americans have in common? They all have someone representing their faith on the national political stage in the 2024 presidential campaign. That intersection of religion and politics was the focus of a talk, “The Fluidity of American Faith: Real Talk about Religion and the 2024 Presidential Race,” by investigative journalist and author Sarah Posner ’86 on Oct. 17 at the Frank Center for Public Affairs. In introducing Posner, Department of Religion Chair Andrew Quintman said, “religion informs our understanding of so many aspects of our human life and that's especially true of our current…

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Mike MavredakisSeptember 25, 20245min
Last year, 12 dynamic critics appeared at Wesleyan for a year-long speaker series through the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism. The wildly successful series will return this academic year, this time with an array of editors across the creative landscape. The critics series was meant to highlight different aspects of how literature is produced and consumed, whereas this year’s series aims to show students how the objects of this criticism are made, said Merve Emre, Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Literature and Criticism and director of the Shapiro Center. The Center’s mission is to teach students at Wesleyan how the…

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Mike MavredakisSeptember 17, 20244min
The veteran community at Wesleyan now has a dedicated space to study, gather, and dine. Several community members—student-veterans, advisors, faculty, staff, and Public Safety officers, among others—did just that at the opening of the new Wesleyan Veterans Lounge in Hewitt Residence Hall on Sept. 12. “Support of veterans, or of any student for that matter, doesn’t end at admission. Retention, progression, and graduation—in short, their success—requires holistic support across campus, in academic, co-curricular, residential, and wellness spaces,” said Noble Jones, associate dean of admission and director of enrollment analytics. “We heard for several years that our student-veterans felt the need…

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Mike MavredakisSeptember 9, 20247min
Despite the completion of a major project like the renovation of the Frank Center for Public Affairs, there is still work to be done on Wesleyan’s campus. Physical Plant, the team responsible for operations and maintenance of Wesleyan buildings and grounds, continues to make significant progress on many of the projects that will allow for deeper student learning and experience at Wesleyan. Alan Rubacha, associate vice president of facilities, said all projects are on schedule and on budget. Here are the latest updates on Wesleyan’s ongoing major construction projects: New Science Building The 197,000-square-foot New Science Building is set to…

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Andrew ChatfieldSeptember 3, 20249min
The Class of 2028 gathered on Andrus Field for a joyful celebration on Aug. 30. More than 600 first-year students took part in the 17th annual “Common Moment” as part of new student orientation. The celebration also included new transfer students from both the Class of 2027 and the Class of 2026. Joshua Lubin-Levy 06, director of the Center for the Arts, said the “Common Moment” is an opportunity during orientation for new students to get out of their heads and into their bodies, feeling and sensing the world around them through dance as they reflect on the kind of…

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Mike MavredakisSeptember 3, 20247min
Arrival Day is the first step in the next stage of the lives of Wesleyan’s Class of 2028. For these students, it was the first time they were able to see inside their dorms at Clark Hall, Bennet, the Butterfields, and also the first time they could put their personal stamp on the walls of their spaces away from home — with an unsettlingly green brat poster or a vinyl from an old rock band to show their new cohort of friends. For hundreds of Wesleyan’s newest first-year and transfer students, it was also the first day of the next…

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Andrew ChatfieldAugust 27, 20249min
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) opens the 2024-25 season with a wide range of special exhibitions and performances that encourage interactions and exchanges between visiting artists and the campus community. The CFA’s season also features artists in residence who integrate themselves into campus life as they incubate new work. CFA Director Joshua Lubin-Levy ‘06 and his curatorial team create opportunities for audiences to explore the way art can build new points of connection between otherwise discrete aspects of life and learning. “I invite students, faculty, and visitors to consider the CFA as more than a space, but rather…

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Mike MavredakisJuly 24, 20245min
Navy veteran Orion Cox ’28 once viewed higher education as a box to check before beginning his post-military career. After completing two Warrior-Scholar Project educational boot camps, however, his perspective changed. “Now I view college as a place to grow and become a better version of yourself,” Cox, 24, said. A Seattle native, Cox spent five years in the military as an air traffic controller to pay for his education, but he dreams of becoming a composer. He said he’d love to score an animated feature film one day. He enrolled at Wesleyan and will begin studying music in the…

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Andrew ChatfieldJuly 10, 20246min
During its 50th anniversary season, the Center for the Arts (CFA) brought to campus visiting artists who encouraged audience interaction in their live performances. The dance company Scapegoat Garden, directed by Deborah Goffe MA ’19, was among them. The company presented the latest iteration of Goffe’s work “Liturgy|Order|Bridge” last February in three, sold-out CFA Theater performances. “The very first seeds of the project, the first ideas I had, were really about the relationship with an audience — how one cares for an audience,” Goffe said. “Wesleyan is pretty well-practiced at holding things that are not easily categorizable.” In October 2022,…

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Mike MavredakisJune 26, 20244min
For each of the last six years, thousands of members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and supporting allies have descended on Main Street for a day of celebration and community-building at Middletown PrideFEST. Led by Wesleyan’s Office for Equity & Inclusion, University community members and several students from Wesleyan’s Upward Bound program walked in this year’s parade. Wesleyan is a co-founding partner of Middletown Pride, having participated each of the seven years it has run, alongside Russell Library, and the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. Middlesex Health has also joined the partnership. This year, more Upward Bound students joined Wesleyan’s march…