Campus News & Events

On May 6, dozens of Wesleyan students received academic scholarships, fellowships and prizes. Recipients represent the highest ideals of Wesleyan University — intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, creative expression, leadership and service. Several awards are supported by the legacies of alumni, administrators, faculty and friends whose lives and work are honored through endowed gifts. View all the awards and award recipients here.

#THISISWHY It may not be the most beautiful, or the most complex, or the most well known, but the simple song of the zebra finch is helping Professor John Kirn learn more about how new information is acquired and old information preserved during adult neurogenesis. (more…)

#THISISWHY The 2015 Wesleyan baseball season was highly anticipated, fraught with hopes of picking up where the accomplished 2014 squad left off. The entire starting lineup of 2015 was back from the 2014 team, which had gone 31-13, winning the first-ever NESCAC Championship in program history and going deep into the NCAA Division III regional with a 4-2 mark. Though three pitchers from the 2014 squad graduated that year, the Cardinals had three tremendous returners on the mound and a fourth pitcher with enormous promise. The result? A program record for regular-season wins (25), a third straight Little Three title and…

On April 24, the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center celebrated its 10th anniversary at an event that brought together students, teachers, supporters, and advocates to celebrate the past decade. Speakers at the event included Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew; Connecticut State Senator Paul Doyle; Pamela Tatge, director of the Center for the Arts; Robert Rosenthal, director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life; and Sara MacSorley, director of the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center. Students from Wesleyan and Middlesex Community College spoke about the impact that working at Green Street has had on their college experiences. The attendees also watched a performance by…

Wesleyan is home to students of many different faiths, as well as those who don’t practice any religion. The week of April 19, Wesleyan’s Interfaith Council of students organized a Faith Shadowing Week to allow students an opportunity “to get a glimpse at what the different religious and spiritual fellowships and events look like, and how different traditions and forms take shape,” as Lydia Ottaviano ‘17, head of the council, put it. (more…)

#THISISWHY On April 30, more than 150 scholar-athletes, along with their coaches, faculty and staff members, attended the third annual scholar-athlete banquet, held in Beckham Hall. Among the evening's highlights was the presentation of the Roger Maynard Memorial Awards to women's crew coxswain Brianne Wiemann '15 and baseball second baseman Andrew Yin '15. Since 1970, the award has been presented to the male and female senior student-athletes who best exemplify the spirit, humility and accomplishments of Roger Maynard '37, a former Wesleyan trustee and standout cross-country and track letterman. As the varsity-eight cox the last two seasons, Wiemann was integral in helping the Cardinals…

On April 21, Dione Longley '82 spoke about her new book, Heroes for All Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories, co-authored by Buck Zaidel (Wesleyan University Press), in the Davison Rare Book Room at Olin Memorial Library as part of the 2015 Friends of the Wesleyan Library Annual Meeting Talk. The book uses soldiers’ letters and diaries, and written accounts by nurses, doctors, soldiers’ families, and volunteers on the home front to vividly portray the war. Hundreds of period photographs (most, previously unpublished) add to the narrative. Longley was director of the Middlesex County Historical Society in Middletown for 20 years. Now a…

On April 28, Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, spoke on a panel at the CUNY Graduate Center on Nobel Prize–winner Günter Grass, one of Germany's best-known contemporary writers, who died earlier this month. Winston, Grass's translator, is also professor of German Studies, professor of environmental studies, and coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. She spoke alongside Professor Friedrich Ulfers of New York University and Breon Mitchell, professor emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. The event, which was standing-room only, was moderated by Ralph Bunche Institute Director John Torpey, a professor at the CUNY Graduate…

#THISISWHY In this issue of News @ Wes, we speak to Laura McIntyre from the Class of 2017. Q: Laura, please tell us where you're from and what you're majoring in. A: I'm a sophomore here at Wes. I'm majoring in sociology and am thinking about the film minor. I'm from New York City. Q: I understand the "Before I Die" public art project has been installed in locations all over the world. When and how did this project come to be? A: The project was started by an artist named Candy Chang as a personal project after someone close to her…

#THISISWHY Claudia Kahindi ’18 and Olayinka Lawal ’15 have received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to launch KIU, an English education project, in Kahindi’s home area of coastal Kenya this summer. Named for the Swahili word for “thirst,” KIU will serve more than 100 fourth-grade students at Kahindi’s alma mater, Kilimo Public Primary School, in Kenya’s Kilifi County. (more…)

#THISISWHY In this video, meet Brooklee Han '18 of Redding, Conn., a figure skater who has been competing internationally since 2010. She competed in Sochi, Russia in 2014 as a member of the Australian Olympic Team.

Long Lane Farm will host its annual May Day Festival from noon to 5 p.m. on May 2. The rain date is May 3. The event is open to the community, and will feature food, live music, face painting, crafts and activities, a bake sale, and a small farmer's market. A yoga class will be offered at 2 p.m., and a contra dance held at 3 p.m. Long Lane Farm is located at 281 Long Lane in Middletown at the corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth Street.

Students Honored with Scholarships, Prizes

Grant Supports Kirn’s Research on Adult Neurogenesis

Wesleyan Baseball Heads to Nashua, N.H. to Defend NESCAC Title

Green Street Teaching and Learning Center Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Students Explore Different Religious Traditions During Faith Shadowing Week

Scholar-Athletes Honored at Banquet

Longley ’82 Speaks at Friends of Wesleyan Library Event

Winston Speaks at Retrospective for Günter Grass

McIntyre ’17 Brings “Before I Die” Public Art Project to Wes

Students Receive Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Launch English Education Project

Figure Skater Han ’18 Competed in 2014 Olympics

Long Lane Farm to Host Annual May Day Festival