Campus News & Events

Russia has returned to the world stage in dramatic fashion in recent years with military interventions and interference in elections. What is driving this aggressive behavior? Will the current political system survive the scheduled departure of its architect, Vladimir Putin, in 2024? How should the United States deal with Russia? On Oct. 11–12, Wesleyan alumni and faculty panelists tackled these questions and more during the 2019 Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns. This year's theme was "Understanding Russia: A Dramatic Return to the World Stage," with Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, serving…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Wesleyan in the News 1. The Nation: "Edward Snowden Deserves to Be Tried by a Jury of His Peers, Just Like Everyone Else" In this op-ed, Associate Professor of Government Sonali Chakravarti argues against the Justice Department's decision to deny Edward Snowden's request for a jury trial. She contends that in Snowden's case, in which he is accused of leaking classified information from the National Security Administration in 2013, a jury trial "is not only a viable alternative to a hearing…

The Gordon Career Center invites alumni and parents to participate in WEShadow, the winter externship program. In today’s highly competitive employment environment, undergraduates start career planning early and you can make this happen. The WEShadow Program provides undergraduates with the opportunity to explore careers by “shadowing” a Wes alumna/us or parent during Winter Break. These job shadow opportunities range from observing a professional in a work environment to participating in a specific project within an organization or business. Last year, students benefited from shadow opportunities in various industries, including banking, theater, music, and medicine. This academic year, WEShadow opportunities will…

Throughout 2019, WESU 88.1 FM has been celebrating 80 years of community service on air and in the community. Established in 1939, WESU began as one of the first student-owned and -operated radio stations in the country. That fall, Wesleyan freshman Arch Doty Jr. began broadcasting his homemade 1-watt AM transmitter from his Clark Hall dorm room. Eighty years later, WESU is among the largest student groups on Wesleyan’s campus, uniting nearly 150 student and community volunteer broadcasters. "WESU’s mission is to provide a unique mix of public affairs and free-form community programming to listeners throughout the Connecticut River Valley…

The second publication by students in Genomics Analysis (BIOL 310) has been accepted by the well-known journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. This adds 26 Wesleyan students to the ranks of more than 40 students who have become published authors through the course's research on Drosophila sechellia, a type of fruit fly evolved to eat a plant that is toxic to most insects. The recent paper, "Genomics Analysis of L-DOPA Exposure in Drosophila sechellia,” is coauthored by all 20 students in Assistant Professor of Biology Joseph Coolon's class, and six students in his lab. "I created my Genomics Analysis course as a…

Haiti’s “Roots” band RAM came to campus for a one-day artists’ residency and led drumming and dance workshops for Wesleyan students. They met with students in two classes on Oct. 8. The group, led by Richard Morse, has produced music for more than 25 years. They recently released their seventh album, August 1791. In the morning, RAM led a dance workshop for two combined classes: Afro-Brazilian Dance taught by Joya Powell, visiting assistant professor of dance, and Contemporary Dance Technique II/III taught by Katja Kolcio, chair and associate professor of dance. And in the afternoon, they led a workshop for…

Melanie Khamis, associate professor of economics, recently presented two talks. On Sept. 2, Khamis discussed “Migration and the Labor Market: New Evidence from Mexico" at the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies at Yale University's MacMillan Center. On Sept. 20, she presented a paper titled “Personality, Gender, and the Labor Market” at the European Association of Labor Economists in Uppsala, Sweden. The paper addresses the topic of the effects of personality traits, both controlling for gender and interacting with gender, on labor market-related choices and outcomes. Coauthors of the paper include Giovanni Hutchinson '19 and Joyce Jacobsen, former Wesleyan…

The Physics Department's Wave-Transport Lab recently received awards totaling $709,000 to support its ongoing aim to understand and manipulate the movement of waves—sound, mechanical, or electromagnetic—through natural or human-made materials. The lab received a $340,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation program titled "Engineering Dynamical Symmetries for Extreme Wave-Matter Interactions in Elastodynamics," and a $369,000 grant from the Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research (ONR) titled "Waveform Shaping Techniques for Targeted Electromagnetic Attacks." The Wave-Transport Lab was established in 2016 when Fred Ellis, chair and professor of physics, and Tsampikos Kottos, the…

Eight Wesleyan undergraduates presented results of their summer research to the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium sponsored by the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (KNAC) on Oct. 5. This year’s symposium was held at Vassar College and attended by 125 astronomy students and faculty, primarily from the consortium colleges (Bryn Mawr, Colgate, Haverford, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, and Williams). Astronomy majors Mason Tea '21 and Rachel Marino '20 and sophomores Alex Henton '22 and Ava Nederlander '22 gave oral presentations of their projects conducted on campus this summer. In addition, astronomy majors Fallon Konow '20, Hunter Vannier '20, Gil Garcia '20,…

For the second time, an author whose work Krishna Winston, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, Emerita, translated, has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Austrian author Peter Handke on October 10 "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience," according to the Nobel committee. Handke has become "one of the most influential writers in Europe after the Second World War," the committee said. Winston, who specializes in literary translation, began translating Handke after his long-time English…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Suzanne O'Connell has written a new article for The Conversation's "Curious Kids" series answering the question "How deep is the ocean?" The article is based on her research studying the sea floor. Curious Kids: How deep is the ocean? Explorers started making navigation charts showing how wide the ocean was more than 500 years ago. But it’s much harder to calculate how deep it is. If you wanted to measure the…

On Sept. 26, the Molecular Biophysics Program hosted its 20th Annual Molecular Biophysics Retreat at Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown. Several Wesleyan faculty, students, and guests attended the all-day event, which included five talks, two poster sessions, and a reception. Lila Gierasch, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, delivered the keynote address, titled "Hsp70s: Allosteric Machines that Perform a Multitude of Cellular Functions." Gierasch, a leader in the field of protein folding, is a newly elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her work focuses particularly on folding in the cell…

Alumni, Faculty Discuss Russia’s Return to the World Stage at Shasha Seminar

Wesleyan in the News

Alumni, Parent Volunteers Sought to Host WEShadow 2020

WESU Celebrates 80 Years of Community Radio

Genomics Analysis Students Collaborate on Second Published Article

Haitian Band Performs, Teaches Dance and African Drumming Students

Khamis Speaks on Labor Markets

Wave-Transport Lab Receives DoD, NSF Grants to Support Research

8 Students Present Research at Northeast Astronomy Consortium

Author Translated by Winston Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature

O’Connell in The Conversation: How Deep is the Ocean?

Molecular Biophysics Program Hosts 20th Annual Retreat