Campus News & Events

All Wesleyan alumni, students, parents, faculty, families and friends of the university are welcome to attend Reunion & Commencement Weekend May 22-25 on campus. The weekend is chocked-full of events including class reunions, WESeminars, academic department open houses, campus tours, an all-college picnic and festival, an All-Campus Party featuring mamarazzi and Illegalize, and the 182nd Commencement Ceremony led by commencement speaker Theodore Shaw '76. The full schedule is online here.

Twenty alumni, parents and community members participated in an Alumni Athletics Mentoring Workshop May 12 in Daniel Family Commons

Wesleyan hosted the Academic Scholarships, Fellowships and Prizes Reception for students May 7 in Daniel family Commons. "We gather today to honor students who represent the highest ideals of Wesleyan University―intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, creative expression, leadership, and service. While celebrating these recipients of awards, prizes, and scholarships, we also honor and thank alumni and friends whose generous contributions make these prizes possible," said Ruth Striegel Weissman, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The prizes and recipients are listed below: Butterfield Prize Established by the Class of 1967 and awarded to the graduating senior who has exemplified those qualities…

The College of the Environment has teamed up with local singer/songwriter (and mother) Rani Arbo

Wesleyan students celebrated the end of the 2013-14 academic year during the annual Spring Fling, held May 8 on Foss Hill. Musicians included Chance The Rapper, tUnE-yArDs, and DJ S-Type. Read more about the bands in this Wesleyan Argus article. Photos of Spring Fling are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

The Office of Human Resources reported the following new hires, advancements and transitions, and departures for April 2014: Newly hired Ryan Launder was hired as an administrative assistant for the Green Street Arts Center on April 14. Doug Gilchrist was hired as a boiler tender in the Central Power Plant - Physical Plant on April 15. Geralyn Ternullo was hired as an administrative assistant for the annual fund on April 21. Meg O’Brien was hired as an associate director of financial planning on April 28. Promotions Jennifer Curran was appointed Director of Continuing Studies. She served as Interim Director of…

Five Wesleyan faculty participated in Wesleyan Thinks Big May 2 in Memorial Chapel. Students nominated their favorite professors earlier in the semester to give nine-minute lectures, without slides, handouts, or Moodle, on a topic of their choice. (more…)

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Both the SAT and the ACT tests will be optional for high school applicants to Wesleyan University starting next fall, President Michael S. Roth announced this week. The tests, given annually to about three million students in 170 countries, have been part of the Wesleyan admissions process for many years. Wesleyan has required either the SAT with two subject tests, or the ACT. Now the university joins several hundred institutions, including many of its peer colleges, in making the tests optional. While students’ academic records will continue to be most important in Wesleyan’s admissions decisions, as they always have, applicants…

The broad contextual education that Wesleyan and peer institutions offer is frequently critiqued, sometimes excoriated, by those who accuse it of not preparing graduates for success in today’s world. But that accusation, says President Michael S. Roth in his sixth and latest book, Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters (Yale University Press, 2014), is as old as liberal education itself – and never less convincing than now. A historian whose previous scholarship has focused on making sense of the past, Roth charts the development of pragmatic liberal education through a succession of important American thinkers. Liberal education has deep…

The Campus Activities Committee sponsored the 3rd Annual Taste of Middletown, an event offering samples from 15 local restaurants and hotels including Typhoon Asian Cuisine, Sweet Harmony Bakery, Lyman Orchards and more. The event took place on April 30 in Beckham Hall and included a raffle prizes. More than 225 Wesleyan faculty and staff attended. Employees were encouraged to donate non-perishable food items to Amazing Grace, a food pantry located in Middletown. "Amazing Grace is grateful to all of our employees who donated a whopping 227 pounds of food and an additional $80 in cash," said event organizer Olga Bookas, director…

From daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and pansies to flowering cherry, magnolia and pear trees on College Row, spring blooms finally emerge across campus in warmer temperatures at the end of April. (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

Class Reunions, WESeminars, Commencement at R&C Weekend May 22-25

Female Student-Athletes Benefit from Alumni Mentoring Workshop

Students Honored For Academic Achievement with Awards, Fellowships

COE, Musician/Fellow Launch Online Environmental Teaching Tool for Kids

Students Celebrate at Spring Fling

Staff on the Move

Faculty Speak on Black Holes, Tolerance, Dante at Wesleyan Thinks Big

8 Seniors Inducted into French Honors Society

Wesleyan Makes Tests Optional in Admissions

President Roth Charts the Development of Pragmatic Liberal Education in His New Book

Faculty, Staff Sample Local Eateries at Taste of Middletown

What’s Blooming on Campus?