Campus News & Events

Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, and his wife, Lina Fruzzetti, a professor of anthropology at Brown University, co-produced six films that are now being included in a retrospective hosted by the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Initiative for the annual Mother Tongue Film Festival. The festival features diverse films which explore language and knowledge around the world. This year’s theme is “The Healing Power of Storytelling.” While the festival must take place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each film is available to stream throughout the spring for a certain window of time. Östör and Fruzzetti also participated in a virtual…

Ten students majoring in earth and environmental sciences (E&ES) have completed their senior capstone projects. Each year, seniors in the major embark on a capstone experience that starts with a seminar in the fall (E&ES497) in which students design an original research project, go on a field trip to carry out the research and complete their fieldwork, and then analyze their results and present them in written reports and oral presentations. In past years, students have ventured across the globe for their field trips. However, the pandemic caused this year’s projects to look a little different. This time, the field…

When Emily McEvoy '22 began her college career at Wesleyan in 2018, she felt a deep sense of detachment from the local environment. At a campus in the middle of her home state, how could this be? The insularity, she says, was jarring, and she decided to dedicate her time to combat this issue. McEvoy immediately became involved with several local organizations, including Middletown's North End Action Team, and the student cohort of volunteers who helped staff their office. Most recently, McEvoy has been an organizer with the Middletown Mutual Aid Collective, which has raised close to $70,000 to support…

Wesleyan’s 189th Commencement will take place in person on Wednesday, May 26. "This year’s Commencement was previously planned for May 30; however, due to a number of factors, including current pandemic conditions and cancellation of an in-person reunion weekend, we have decided to move up the date," Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 said in a campus-wide email. The University is hoping that conditions will allow for two guests per graduate to attend the ceremony. Wesleyan is pursuing plans to accommodate the seniors and other graduates who have been studying remotely to return to campus for Commencement exercises. As with all…

Martha Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of earth and environmental sciences, is the co-author of seven new papers and articles. These include: “Distinct Mineralogy and Age of Individual Lava Flows in Atla Regio, Venus Derived From Magellan Radar Emissivity,” published in the March 2021 issue of JGR: Planets. Gilmore's former postdoc Jeremy Brossier, Katie Toner '20 and Avi Stein '17 co-authored this paper. “The Venus Life Equation,” published online in the January 2021 issue of Astrobiology. “Variations in the radiophysical properties of tesserae and mountain belts on Venus: Classification and mineralogical trends,” published in the February…

Suzanne OConnell, professor of earth and environmental sciences, is featured on Vox Media’s podcast Unexplainable in a March 17 episode titled “Journey Toward the Center of the Earth.” The podcast explores unanswered scientific questions about mysterious aspects of the world and examines what scientists are doing to find answers. The episode with OConnell delves into a 20th-century quest to drill into the Earth’s layers through the ocean, specifically to learn more about a very dense region between the crust and the mantle called the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or the Moho. “Project Moho was a bust, but it lay a foundation for…

Several Wesleyan faculty, students, alumni, parents, and staff have recently been featured in the news: March 10 EIN Presswire - AcademicInfluence.com Announces the Top-Ranked Private Graduate Schools in the U.S. for 2021. Mentions Wesleyan. March 11 The Middletown Press - Wesleyan University: COVID tests essential for return to in-person learning. Focuses on Wesleyan employees' efforts in creating the COVID-19 testing site. Market Screener - Safari Energy Reaches 500th Commercial Solar Project. Mentions that Safari Energy's first project was a small, three-kilowatt (kW) solar system installed at Wesleyan and how "that project was quickly expanded with the addition of a 92…

Johan "Joop" Varekamp, Harold T. Stearns Professor in Earth Science, professor of earth and environmental studies, is the co-author of an article published in Geology, March 2021. The study, titled "Volcanic Carbon Cycling in East Lake, Newberry Volcano, Oregon," focuses on the bubbling East Lake, the site of the Newberry Volcano, and the geological implications of the carbon reactions happening there. Varekamp co-authored the article with graduate student Christina Cauley and former students: Hilary Brumberg '17, Lena Capece '16, Celeste Smith '19, Paula Tartell '18, and Molly Wagner MA '19. The team researched this geological phenomenon from 2015 to 2019,…

During the 65th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting held virtually Feb. 22–26, Shawn H. Lin ’22 was honored with an Undergraduate Poster Award for his work on "Elucidation of Interactions Between Integration Host Factor and a DNA Four-Way Junction." Lin, a Wesleyan Freeman Scholar, is among only six undergraduate students internationally to receive the award. Lin's advisors are Ishita Mukerji, Fisk Professor of Natural Science, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, and Candice Etson, assistant professor of physics. Lin's poster is below (click to enlarge):

Ann Wightman, professor of history, emerita, died on March 11 at the age of 70. Wightman was born in South Euclid, Ohio. She earned her BA from Duke University and her MPhil and PhD from Yale. First arriving at Wesleyan as a visiting instructor in 1979, she remained here for 36 years until her retirement in 2015. Wightman was an accomplished scholar with a focus on Latin America. She felt that she found a “second home” doing research in the Andes, and she sought to capture the history of that region in her first book, Indigenous Migration and Social Change:…

On March 15, a panel of Wesleyan faculty and staff experts discussed the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine during a campus-wide webinar titled "Why Get Vaccinated?" Speakers included Dr. Thomas McLarney, medical director of Davison Health Center; Donald Oliver, Daniel Ayres Professor of Biology, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Ishita Mukerji, Fisk Professor of Natural Science, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; William Johnston, John E. Andrus Professor of History; and Frederick Cohan, Huffington Foundation Professor in the College of the Environment, professor of biology. Janice Naegele, Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, professor of biology, and Dean…

During the 2021 Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, held March 11–13, participants explored the topic of "Truth (and Lies) in Our Time." The Shasha Seminar is an annual educational forum for Wesleyan alumni, parents, and friends that provides an opportunity to explore issues of global concern in a small seminar environment. Endowed by James Shasha '50, P'82, the Shasha Seminar supports lifelong learning and encourages participants to expand their knowledge and perspectives on significant issues. David McCraw, vice president and deputy general counsel for The New York Times, presented the Shasha Seminar's keynote address titled "Lies and Liberty: The Future…

Östör Celebrates 6 Films Featured at Smithsonian Festival

E&ES Seniors Conduct Capstone Research at Wesleyan’s Long Lane Forest

McEvoy ’22 Named 2021 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow

Wesleyan’s 189th Commencement to Be Held May 26 In Person

Gilmore, Alumni Author Papers in 7 Journals

OConnell Talks Ocean Exploration in Vox Podcast

Wesleyan in the News

Volcanic Lake Study by Varekamp, Former Students, Published in Geology

Lin ’22 Wins Biophysical Society Poster Award

Wightman Remembered for Being a Dedicated and Charismatic Teacher

Wesleyan Experts Explore Benefits of Vaccination

Campus Community Explores “Truth (and Lies) in Our Time” During Shasha Seminar