Olivia DrakeOctober 13, 20102min
Wesleyan's Green Street Arts Center continues its Fall 2010 Sunday Salon Discussion Series with talks by J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of American studies and anthropology on Oct. 24, and Stephanie Weiner, associate professor of English, on Nov. 21. The Sunday Salon Discussions are informal lectures by Wesleyan's faculty. The Wesleyan and local communities are invited to attend. David Beveridge, the Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, hosts the event. Each salon includes opportunity for socializing as well as a reception with light refreshments. On Oct. 24 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., J. Kehaulani Kauanui will…

David PesciSeptember 24, 20102min
Wesleyan University is launching the Wesleyan Media Project, a non-partisan initiative designed to perform comprehensive tracking and analysis of federal and state political advertisements by candidates, parties and special interest groups. The project launches at the onset of a political election season poised to break advertising records. Throughout the course of the 2010 election cycle, the Wesleyan Media Project will provide real-time, public information on the content and targeting of advertising in federal election campaigns across the country. In light of the Supreme Court’s recent Citizens United decision, the Project will also provide systematic evidence on the extent of corporate…

David PesciSeptember 24, 20102min
Wesleyan University and the Animals and Society Institute (ASI) have formed a partnership and will offer the "ASI-WAS Human-Animal Studies Summer Fellowship" in 2011 through Wesleyan’s recently-launched College of the Environment. The ASI-WAS Human-Animal Studies Summer Fellowship marks the launch of Wesleyan Animal Studies (WAS), which will advance the rapidly growing field of Animal Studies and foster scholarship on human-animal relations from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. The fellowship will be hosted by Wesleyan faculty Lori Gruen and Kari Weil. Gruen is chair and associate professor of philosophy, associate professor of environmental studies, associate professor of feminist, gender…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 24, 20103min
[youtube width="640" height="480"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBlX-CsFVJQ&f[/youtube] After three years of engineering, implementing structural and electrical upgrades, and navigating the FCC, Wesleyan’s listener supported community radio station WESU 88.1FM, is now broadcasting at a newly assigned power of 6,000 watts of effective radiated power (ERP). “This is a major milestone for WESU since we have been broadcasting at a power of 1,500 watts for the past three decades,” explains station general manager Ben Michael. “This ‘once in a generation’ power upgrade makes our radio signal available to twice as many potential listeners in Connecticut and Massachusetts.” Michael estimates the potential listening audience of close…

David PesciSeptember 24, 20102min
The issue we ask "5 Questions" of Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, the director of the newly-launched Wesleyan Media Project, a non-partisan initiative designed to perform comprehensive tracking and analysis of federal and state political advertisements by candidates, parties and special interest groups in every media market in the nation. Q: What can you tell us about the Wesleyan Media Project? A: The Wesleyan Media Project will provide nonpartisan, publicly-available, real-time tracking and analysis of all political ads aired on television across the U.S. during the 2010 election campaign. It's a collaborative effort lead by me and two…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 24, 20101min
This 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…)

Olivia DrakeSeptember 24, 20102min
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…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 2, 20109min
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…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 2, 20102min
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…)

Olivia DrakeSeptember 2, 20102min
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,…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 2, 20101min
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…)