Campus News & Events

Wesleyan employees increased both giving and participation in this year’s campaign to support the Middlesex United Way, raising more than $111,000 for the local community. More than 400 Wesleyan staff and faculty members gave this year, about a 36 percent participation rate, according to Campaign Coordinator Cathy Lechowicz, director of the Center for Community Partnerships. An online auction also raised more than $600, and some lucky employees won gift certificates to local restaurants—including Haveli India Restaurant, Esca Restaurant, Luce, Nardelli’s, Mondo, and Sweet Harmony Café & Bakery—a night at the Inn at Middletown, a golf foursome at the Yale Golf Course…

Total enrollment in Wesleyan’s massive open online courses (MOOCs) recently surpassed 1 million students, as Wesleyan professors prepare to offer a new run of two film courses through Coursera in the coming months. According to Jennifer Curran, director of continuing studies and Graduate Liberal Studies, enrollment is poised to continue growing in the lead-up to The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color, taught by Scott Higgins, associate professor and chair of film studies, beginning Feb. 2, and Marriage and the Movies: A History, taught by Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, curator of the Cinema Archives, beginning…

Phillip K. Howard, a leader of government and legal reform in America and author of The Rule of Nobody and The Death of Common Sense, will speak at Wesleyan on Feb. 4. His talk, titled, "Can American Government Be Fixed?" will be at 4:30 p.m. in PAC002. Howard will argue that looking for new leaders is a fool's errand until we restore their ability to lead. Modern government is structurally paralyzed by the accretion of dense bureaucracy. From the school house to the White House, people with responsibility find themselves mired in legal quicksand. An aging democracy is part of the problem — obsolete programs are defended by…

Two Wesleyan students and two alumni participated in the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala and Awards Dinner in New York City in December. During the event, Ripple Awards were presented to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, entertainers/ philanthropists Robert De Niro and Tony Bennett, and Physicians Interactive Chairman Donato Tramuto. Ella Israeli '17, a government major minoring in film studies film studies, was chosen to introduce New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who presented the Ripple of Hope Award to De Niro. Israeli also spoke about her involvement in the center's film contest. Her speech is online here.…

Beginning Feb. 4, Wesleyan’s Van Vleck Observatory will open to the public every Wednesday night, rain or shine, for presentations by faculty and students on the latest space-related discoveries, as well as a chance for everyone to view the sky through a telescope, weather permitting. The program will start at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Presentations are intended to be accessible to visitors of all ages, although aimed primarily at high school level and above. (more…)

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected Wesleyan to receive its 2015 Community Engagement Classification. “Wesleyan has always been a place where involvement with the world was important, but in the past decade or two we have truly become a much more ‘engaged university’ in many ways, and that’s good for everyone—students, faculty, staff and our community partners,” said Rob Rosenthal, director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology. “This kind of recognition from our peers across the country reinforces our belief that we’re doing valuable work…

Professor of Economics Richard Grossman recently accepted two new posts. He was appointed to be a research fellow in the Economic History Program of the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Founded in 1983, CEPR's mission is "to enhance the quality of economic policymaking within Europe and beyond, by fostering high quality, policy-relevant economic research, and disseminating it widely to decision-makers in the public and private sectors." Grossman is one of only a few American research fellows at CEPR. He was also recently appointed associate editor for socioeconomics, health policy and law of the journal Neurosurgery. See here for a bio of…

The Center for Jewish Studies is presenting the Eighth Annual Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival. Five contemporary Israeli films and one television show will be screened; each will be commented on by an expert, including a script writer, a film professor, a director, a critic and others. All screenings are at 8 p.m. in the Goldsmith Family Cinema in the Center for Film Studies. Admission is free. Below are a list of films, dates and speakers: Feb. 12 Hunting Elephants, commented on by Isaac Zablocki, director of film programs at the JCC in Manhattan. (more…)

Wesleyan has a new look online. On Jan. 14, the Office of University Communications and Information Technology Services' New Media Lab launched a new Wesleyan homepage and associated landing pages. The new design features a photo-rich look with an abundance of newsy campus content up top. As users scroll down, they'll see links to upcoming events, President Roth's blog, an Exploring Wes section catered to prospective students, and several more links connecting users to Wesleyan resources, tools and social media. Content, overseen by University Communications, is updated multiple times a week. “The new page reflects current industry standards in web…

Beginning this month, Wesleyan will solicit input from all faculty, staff and students about how they use the physical spaces on campus, and how campus should be optimized in the future. Wesleyan has engaged Sasaki Associates to assist with this semester-long exploration of campus’ evolution over the next 10 to 15 years. The end result will be a digital report containing a framework and principles with which to create a new master plan. The report will be shared with the campus community and presented to the Board of Trustees in May. “Wesleyan takes pride in the distinctive residential learning experience…

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Tula Telfair, professor of art, is having a solo exhibition of 21 new monumental oil paintings at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum Jan. 10 through March 15. The opening reception is 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 29. In a "World of Dreams— New Landscape Paintings," Telfair paints monumental landscapes and epic-scale vistas that act as windows into another world — a dream world — where everything seems familiar yet remains beyond grasp. Drawing upon the long tradition of landscape painting from the backdrops of the Renaissance through the Romanticism of the 19th century, she presents a thoroughly contemporary perspective upon an archaic art form. Instead of documenting…

Wesleyan Campaign Raises Funds to Support Middlesex United Way

Enrollment in Wesleyan MOOCs Surpasses 1M

Government, Legal Reform Leader Howard to Speak at Wesleyan Feb. 4

Israeli ’17 Speaks at Awards Gala Hosted by the Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

Astronomy Department Hosts Public Stargazing, Space Discovery Presentations

Wesleyan Honored with Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification

Grossman is Appointed Research Fellow, Journal Associate Editor

Eighth Annual Israeli Film Festival Begins

Wesleyan Launches Responsive Homepage

Wesleyan Community Invited to Explore the Future of Campus

Students, Faculty Participate in Metacognition Workshops Jan. 29-30

Telfair’s Solo Oil Painting Exhibition Opens in Louisiana Museum