Olivia DrakeThis fall, students have the opportunity to work towards one of four certificates, in addition to their degree. The new certificate programs include South Asian Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Writing; and Social, Cultural and Critical Theory. “These are outstanding endeavors by the faculty to keep the curriculum fresh and innovative, and to help students study across the disciplines but with a road map for curricular coherence,” says Karen Anderson, associate provost. South Asian Studies Certificate Wesleyan already offers courses and resources for all students interested in studying the cultures of Bangladesh, (more…)
The Center for the Arts (CFA) has launched the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), which brings arts professionals together to examine curatorial practices from the fields of visual arts and performance, in order to better understand and improve upon the ways in which performance is managed, produced and presented in this country. Starting in summer 2011, the ICPP will offer a professional certificate program in Curatorial Practice in Performance. Students will study artistic and curatorial practice, social and cultural context, and entrepreneurial strategies and complete an independent project in consultation with an advisor. Through a close examination of…
David PesciThis article was moved to: https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/09/24/wesleyan-media-project-launched-will-analyze-political-ads-2/
Nathan Repasz ’14 of Erie, Pa. arrived on Wesleyan’s campus Sept. 1 in a Jeep loaded with the all the necessities for the year. “He brought all 40 of his t-shirts … and a trillion socks. He probably just doesn’t want to do any laundry,” jokes Nathan’s mother, Lenore Skomal. “It’s a good thing that he only brought a third of his instruments. Just three drums, a pan flute and harmonica. He left behind the guitar and Egyptian oud.” Nathan, an aspiring music and environmental science major, joined more than 750 new and transfer students who moved into their campus residencies on…
An $800,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support Wesleyan’s College of the Environment (COE) for the next four years. Wesleyan’s faculty and administration approved the COE in 2009 to graduate students who have engaged with critical environmental issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives; who are sensitive to how those issues are connected to social and political concerns; who can interpret scientific information correctly; and who can communicate conclusions effectively and honestly. The Mellon Foundation grant will support funding for post-doctoral teaching fellows, visiting COE fellows, (more…)
This issue, we ask “5 Questions” to Ron Jenkins, professor of theater. Jenkins is an expert in Balinese theater, international traditions of comic performance, and directing and translating the plays of Italian Nobel Laureate Dario Fo. He was awarded a residency at the Bellagio Center by the Rockefeller Foundation next spring. He is a former Guggenheim fellow whose research in Bali over the past 30 years has been supported by fellowships from the Watson Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Fulbright Fund. Q: Professor Jenkins, you’ve been teaching theater at Wesleyan for 11 years,…
On Sept. 1, Matthew Givner ’10 became one of 19 Princeton-in-Asia fellows from around the world who is teaching English in a Chinese province. Givner moved to Dalain, a city of 6.5 million people located 288 miles east of Beijing. There, he is teaching English, writing, reading and speaking to students at Dalian University of Technology with three other fellows. He teaches 14 class hours per week. Givner learned of the program through a family friend and Wesleyan’s Career Resource Center. He attended two information sessions on the program at the Career Resource Center and decided to apply. (more…)
In 1900, when the student residence at 24 Fountain Avenue was built, heating oil was cheap. Insulation wasn’t a concern. Window sealant didn’t exist. Hot water gushed from the shower heads. “We call homes like this ‘balloon framed,”’ explains Gary Rawlings, lead energy auditor technician for Wesleyan’s contractor Lantern Energy. “Air from the basement flows up through the walls and escapes through the window frames, the area around plumbing pipes, doors, and attic. In this particular house, there’s a big gap around the air duct. That’s never a good sign when you can see down into the basement.” The 24…
Sure, first-year teachers need to be masters of their subject material and their classrooms, but to be truly effective in that first year and beyond teachers also have learn one vital skill: avoiding “bad” decisions. “Novice teachers, in particular, don’t necessarily need to make good decisions right away, but what they must develop is the tacit knowledge to identify what a bad decision or bad response may be. That may sound easy in theory, but when you consider all of the challenges that come from outside the classroom such as administrative duties, dealing with colleagues and dealing with parents, it…
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Wesleyan's Center for the Arts (CFA) $750,000 to support the development of artists’ new work, interdisciplinary collaborations, co-teaching initiatives and arts-based campus-wide projects as well as the planning and partial funding of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), a new post-graduate professional certificate program for performing arts presenters. "The CFA’s goal is to elevate the place of art, artists and the artistic process at Wesleyan in ways that innovatively strengthen teaching, student learning and art-making," says Pamela Tatge, director of the Center for the Arts. "The Mellon-funded projects will help to…
On July 11, Craig Malamut ’12 photographed a pacific solar eclipse 2,500 miles west of South America. As a Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium Summer Fellow, summer exchange student, Malamut had the opportunity to travel to Easter Island with a group from Williams College. The last time an eclipse occurred over the island was in 591 A.D. The expedition was led by Jay Pasachoff, the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College and chair of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Eclipses. This was Pasachoff's 51st solar eclipse study; it was Malamut’s first. “Before getting this position, I was…
Wesleyan has announced the following promotions of faculty, effective July 1, 2010: Promotion with Tenure During the academic year, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees maintains an ongoing process of tenure case consideration. During its most recent review, the Board awarded tenure to one faculty member effective July 1, 2010. Michael Singer, associate professor of biology, was appointed assistant professor at Wesleyan in 2004. Previously he was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona’s Center for Insect Science, in Tucson. Singer’s research examines the evolutionary ecology of tri-trophic interactions between plants, herbivores and carnivores. In considering (more…)