Bill HolderTheodore M. Shaw ’76, one of the nation’s leading proponents of civil rights, will present Wesleyan’s Commencement address on May 25, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s address here. Wesleyan also will award honorary degrees to Helena Chmura Kraemer, whose work in biostatistics has had a transformative impact on medicine and psychiatry, and to Hayden White, a distinguished theorist of history. Theodore Shaw ’76 For decades Ted Shaw has been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for equity and inclusion in our society. In courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, he has argued cases involving voting…
Olivia DrakeBy 2050, the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment is requiring that Wesleyan become carbon neutral. To meet this goal, the university needs to reduce its emissions 1,000 tons annually for the next 36 years — the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by 860 trees each year. To help the university meet this goal, Wesleyan's Sustainability Office and the Sustainability Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship (SAGES) hosted a Sustainability Action Planning Workshop on Feb. 21. More than 50 faculty, administrators, staff and students gathered to brainstorm and develop creative new ideas for Wesleyan’s next Sustainability Action Plan. "In order…
Ishita Mukerji, dean of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics division, is one of 50 local scientists to be elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Mukerji also is professor of molecular biology and biochemistry and is an expert on fluorescence and vibrational spectroscopy. Mukerji is the 10th Wesleyan faculty to be elected into the academy. She will be introduced at CASE's 39th annual meeting and dinner on June 5 at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, Conn. Election to the Academy is on the basis of scientific and engineering distinction achieved through significant contributions in theory or applications, as…
Mike SembosThe Dance Department now has a studio/office space of its own, having opened new digs in a converted church at 160 Cross Street Feb. 28 with a grand opening gala. Artist-in-residence, African dancer/drummer Iddi Saaka gave the inaugural performance at an intimate reception attended by dance majors and some early alumni from the program (which first took shape in the late '60s and early '70s as an extension of the Theater Department). “We finally have our own space, our own building, our own entity,” said Hari Krishnan, assistant professor of dance. “Statistically, more than 40 percent of students at Wesleyan have…
Lauren RubensteinRegistration is now open for the 58th annual Wesleyan Writers Conference, one of the nation's leading programs, to be held on campus June 11-15. Both experienced writers and new writers are welcome. This is a time to start a new project or develop your current work with the help of the conference's faculty, distinguished writers who work closely with participants. Manuscript consultations and publishing advice are key parts of the program. Participants may attend daily seminars in the novel, short story, poetry, and nonfiction (including memoir and literary journalism), and the program also includes guest speakers, readings, workshops, panel discussions and…
At its meeting on March 1, Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 2.2 percent for the 2014–15 year, reflecting the second year of a new policy to link tuition increases to inflation. The increase is based on the three-year national CPI average of June 30, 2013, the latest full fiscal year available. The Board adopted a three-year average in order to reduce year-to-year fluctuations in tuition increases. “We’re committed to keeping Wesleyan affordable for all our students,” said President Michael Roth. “We’re holding down our tuition increases, ensuring that our students graduate not burdened…
This story has been moved to: https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2014/03/03/mukerjicaseelection/
Last summer, history and government major Shannon Welch ’14 was an intern at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. She was paging documents at the Center for Legislative Archives when she stumbled across a little known and disturbing proposed constitutional amendment on the books in her home state of Maryland. “I came upon this 13th amendment that was making slavery institutionalized for the rest of time,” she said. “The federal government could never touch it. Then I found a document that Maryland had ratified it, and I was shocked. They let me keep researching, and I found out that Maryland had…
Kate CarlisleHistorians will tell you that the past can often have a direct and profound effect on the present age. Take Magda Teter, for example. A scholarly probe into post-Reformation Europe recently led the professor of history and director of Jewish Studies at Wesleyan to an event that may have changed the course of Jewish and Christian relations in Poland. “This is how scholars can sometimes play a role in getting people to talk to each other,” she said. “It didn’t start that way, but that was the good result.” Sandomierz, a sleepy Renaissance town in southeast Poland, (now known in…
Wesleyan's Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship announced the finalists for its 2014 PCSE Seed Grant Competition. These $5,000 awards are intended to fund the launch or early stage growth of a Wesleyan-connected social enterprise, project, program or venture. Last year’s winners used the seed funding to launch a grant-funded community supported agriculture effort in Middletown, work with incarcerated youth in Chicago, advocate for farmers’ working conditions in Bali, and scale up the MINDS Foundation and Maji Safi Group, two Wesleyan-borne social enterprises. This year’s finalists will pitch their projects at a public event from noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 28…
Brian KattenThe Wesleyan spring sports season gets off and running March 1 when men's and women's lacrosse begin NESCAC play against Hamilton, the men on the road and the women at home. The men are coming off a 13-5, Little Three champion season with a wealth of talent returning, earning the squad the no. 16 spot in the USILA preseason Division III national poll. Women's lacrosse will be looking to stake a claim in the always tough NESCAC under interim head coach Amanda Belichick as six opponent squads are ranked among the top 15 nationally in the preseason. Also looking to…
Natalie Robichaud ’14Wesleyan students and alumni are invited to a networking and relationship building opportunity, Connect@Wes, held Feb. 28 and March 1 on campus. Events held throughout the weekend are designed to help with career advancement. Events begin with "Creating Connections," a hands-on opportunity for students to practice presenting themselves as professionals through structured speed-networking. Students will apply to participate and will be matched with expert advisors (recruiters and hiring managers as well as alumni and parent volunteers) for brief, one-on-one sessions. Expert advisors will use their experience and expertise to critique what they have heard and give valuable insight on how…