Campus News & Events

In 2020, Katerina Ramos-Jordán ’21 won first prize in the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Contest for her chapbook titled “ECHOESISTEMAS /lentos cerramientos.” Now, her work has now been published in book form, designed and produced by book artist Erika Morillo. Ramos-Jordán, born in Puerto Rico, is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and a 2020 recipient of the Beinecke Scholarship. She is double majoring in English and dance with a concentration in Caribbean studies. “This collection is dense in its tenderness, adding tildes (accent marks) to words in English, harboring dialect, and embracing blank space as cavernous,” contest judge Raquel…

Shawn H. Lin ’22 is the recipient of a 2021 poster award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s 25th Annual Undergraduate Poster Competition. Lin’s poster took the prize in Category 3: DNA, Chromosomes and Gene Regulation. This is the second poster award Lin has won this year. In March, he was honored with the Biophysical Society’s Undergraduate Poster Award for his work titled “Elucidation of Interactions Between Integration Host Factor and a DNA Four-Way Junction.” Lin is a Freeman Asian Scholar from Taiwan and is majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B). Lin also works in the…

Associate Professor of History Jeffers Lennox was featured on a May 4 episode of the podcast Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. In an episode titled “What Was Canada Up To During The American Revolution? with Professor Jeffers Lennox,” Lennox spoke about Canada and the American Revolution. The podcast, which is hosted and created by Van Ness, an Emmy-nominated television star and New York Times bestselling author, focuses on different topics each week. Van Ness interviews experts in various fields and delves into the subjects in which they specialize. The episode began with Van Ness asking an overarching question: “What’s…

This year, five Wesleyan students were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Honor Society. Thirty-one students nationwide were given this honor. Inducted students must be juniors or seniors with a GPA of 3.4 or higher on a 4.0 scale, belong to a student chapter of the ASBMB, and “demonstrate exceptional achievement in academics, undergraduate research and science outreach,” according to the website. The inducted students include the following: Nour-Saïda Harzallah ’21, a College of Integrative Sciences student majoring in molecular biology & biochemistry (MB&B) and physics. Harzallah, from Tunisia, works in Professor Francis Starr’s physics…

John Murillo, director of creative writing and assistant professor of English and African American studies, is the recipient of the 2021 Four Quartets Prize for his poem “A Refusal to Mourn the Deaths, by Gunfire, of Three Men in Brooklyn” from his poetry collection Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020). The prize, awarded by the T.S. Eliot Foundation and the Poetry Society of America, will bestow Murillo with $21,000. It was launched in 2018 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets being published in a single volume of work and is given to a “unified and…

Zubaida Bello ’22 is one of 16 people nationwide to win the Beinecke Scholarship in 2021. Bello, who aims to pursue a PhD in history and become a college professor, will receive $4,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school, as well as $30,000 while attending. Last year, the scholarship was awarded to Mellon Mays Fellow Katerina Ramos-Jordán '21, who was the first Wesleyan student to receive the award in 13 years. “The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities available to them and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study…

Construction will soon begin on an interdisciplinary space in the heart of Wesleyan's campus. On June 1, Wesleyan will break ground on a renovated and expanded Public Affairs Center (PAC) and new art gallery located between the east end of Olin Library and the campus walkway behind Judd Hall. The project involves a complete remodel of the current PAC building, which was constructed in 1927 as a dormitory; demolition of its east and west additions, which were added in 1954; and removal of the concrete and brick plaza, constructed in 1984. A new, three-story brick structure, designed by Newman Architects,…

Wesleyan’s intellectually dynamic faculty, students, alumni, staff, and parents frequently serve as expert sources for national media. Others are noted for recent achievements and accolades. A sampling of recent media hits is below: April 21 Celebrity Net Worth - Meet The Under-The-Radar Immigrant Black Doctor Who Has Made A Half-Billion Dollar Fortune While Revolutionizing Alzheimer's Treatment. Features Dr. Herriot Tabuteau '89. Street Insider - Oaktree Real Estate News. Mentions Cary Kleinman '97, chief legal officer at Oaktree. Seven Days (Vermont) - Obituary: Karen Oelschlaeger, 1984-2021: Woman who died of cancer was grateful for Vermont's Death With Dignity law. Features Karen…

Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio and Wesleyan President Michael Roth ’78 recently participated in an international virtual roundtable discussion hosted by the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme. The roundtable, titled "Implementing a Somatic Methodology in the Ukrainian Rehabilitation System: Developing Stress Resistance in Ex-combatants, IDPs, and Residents of Eastern Ukraine" was held virtually on April 28. The purpose of the roundtable was to develop a resolution of joint coordination between the various ministries in Ukraine responsible for the psychological health of veterans. Kolcio and Roth spoke about the importance of the Vitality Project Donbas, a collaboration between Wesleyan…

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the Wesleyan community in a myriad of ways from student life to research to the way we teach and learn. This spring, Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives, along with Academic Affairs, are hoping to build a historical record—and preserve for posterity—the stories, memories, messages, and creative works of the University's students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Postcards from a Pandemic Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives has launched a "Postcards from a Pandemic" project, which aims to help future students and researchers understand what it was like to be a member of the Wesleyan community during…

Darshana Banka ’22 volunteers with the COVID-19 Action Coalition (COVAC-MA) a group of over 25 students and alumni (led by Amy Fogelman '97) who advocate alongside Massachusetts physicians for public health measures that will reduce the spread of the virus and save lives. Currently, Banka leads COVAC-MA’s Medium Research Team. Banka recently co-wrote an article about food insecurity during the pandemic as part of COVAC-MA’s outreach titled, “Hungry for Change: Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity for low-income individuals and changed eating behaviors for many Americans of different socioeconomic levels,” Banka wrote. “Because…

This month, the Center for the Arts is hosting three virtual opening receptions for 19 graduating art studio majors to showcase their work as part of the Senior Thesis Exhibition. Since Zilkha Gallery is only open to Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff during the pandemic, the virtual format allows alumni, parents, friends, and other members of the Wesleyan community to view the students' work. "We're hoping to create access—especially for those of you who are not on campus—to see these shows in person and see what [the artists'] work looks like in space and scale," said Benjamin Chaffee, associate director…

Chapbook By Ramos-Jordán ’21 Published by Center for Book Arts

Lin ’22 Wins Poster Award for Work on DNA, Chromosomes, and Gene Regulation

Lennox Discusses History on Podcast “Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness”

5 Students Inducted Into American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Honor Society

Murillo Awarded Four Quartets Prize For Poetry

Bello ’22 Awarded Beinecke Scholarship

Wesleyan to Construct Renewed Public Affairs Center, Art Gallery

Wesleyan in the News

President Roth, Kolcio Speak at International U.N. Ukraine Roundtable

Share Your Wesleyan COVID-19 Experiences, Creative Works

Banka ’22 Co-Authors Article on Pandemic Food Insecurity for COVID-19 Action Coalition

Art Studio Seniors Display Thesis Exhibitions from the Art Studio Program in the Zilkha Gallery