Lauren RubensteinWesleyan in the News 1. The Open Mind: "Democratizing the Jury" Associate Professor of Government Sonali Chakravarti is interviewed in connection with her new book, Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life, in which she offers a "full-throated defense of juries as a democratic institution." "I am very interested in how ordinary people engage with political institutions, and juries are the place where ordinary people have the most power," she says. Chakravarti calls for more robust civic education, continuing into adulthood, in order to have a "more effective, modern jury system." 2. Hartford Courant: "Sen. Murphy, Aiming to…
Olivia DrakeAt its meeting on Feb. 29, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 4.2% for the 2020–21 academic year. Tuition and fees for the 2020–21 year will be $59,386. The residential comprehensive fee for first-year and sophomore students will be $16,384, and for juniors and seniors the fee will be $18,626. The percentage increase in student charges aligns with the University’s average projected increase in total expenses. Wesleyan meets the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students seeking financial aid and devotes millions of dollars of its operating budget to the support…
Wesleyan's Chinese community (particularly students and parents) recently banded together to help their fellow citizens who are battling with the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. From Feb. 2–15, the student-initiated group WesInAction raised more than $23,000, which was used to purchase medical equipment for hospitals affected in the epicenter of the outbreak, Hubei province, China. WesInAction members also provide the campus community with facts about the outbreak and its prevention, and work to promote awareness of racial discrimination on campus. WesInAction student volunteers have done extensive research on COVID-19 and created a brochure that highlights key facts and statistics about it,…
From fish fossils to film memorabilia to 1880s Arguses to Korean zithers, Wesleyan University is home to thousands of artifacts and teaching tools that are available through a multitude of collections. Learn more about some of Wesleyan's major collections below, as they are among the best of Wes! Schedule your visit today! THE ODGEN AND MARY LOUISE REID CINEMA ARCHIVES (website): THE JOE WEBB PEOPLES MUSEUM AND COLLECTIONS (website): (more…)
The American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) recently named Krishna Winston, Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, Emerita, an honorary fellow of the association. The fellowship is limited to 25 fellows worldwide. Founded in 1926, the AATG has nearly 3,500 members and "believes that bringing the language, literature, and cultures of the German speaking-world to all Americans is a vital humanistic endeavor, which serves an essential national interest," according to its website. To receive this honor, Winston was nominated by 10 colleagues, with the nomination approved by the Honorary Fellows Committee and voted on by the…
On Feb. 19, two Wesleyan faculty presented a discussion on "Drug Courts and Prison Drugging: A New Book Reading" in the Vanguard Lounge in the Center for African American Studies. Kerwin Kaye, associate professor of sociology, is the author of Enforcing Freedom: Drug Courts, Therapeutic Communities, and the Intimacies of the State, published by Columbia University Press in 2019. And Anthony Ryan Hatch, chair and associate professor of science in society, is the author of Silent Cells: The Secret Drugging of Captive America, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2019.
Editorial StaffOver winter break, 16 students traveled to a variety of locations around the United States to support voter registration, participate in political campaigns, and work with advocacy groups as part of the Wesleyan Engage 2020 (E2020) initiative. E2020 is a comprehensive university effort to support student learning via civic engagement and liberal arts education. On Feb. 19, students gathered in Allbritton Hall to share their reflections on their winter session E2020 experiences. Some sought to educate young people about the electoral process and mobilize them to vote; others worked on issues such as immigration, criminal justice reform, housing justice, and…
Wesleyan’s new Engage 2020 Initiative (E2020) is facilitating student educational experiences in the public sphere ahead of the 2020 elections. As part of this initiative, Wesleyan also is highlighting the contributions of higher education more broadly in promoting democracy. Over the past few months, Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 has been speaking with other higher education leaders about the “shared responsibilities of higher education institutions for developing civically engaged citizens and contributing to the civic life of the United States.” While the particulars of this work may look different at each institution, leaders at schools around the US have registered…
Not one, but two spacecraft mission concepts co-developed by Martha Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of earth and environmental sciences, received second-round backing from NASA's Discovery Program on Feb. 13. Both concepts—which were awarded $3 million each—would assess whether Venus was ever a habitable planet by examining its landscape, rocks, and atmosphere. NASA's Discovery Program, now in its ninth year, funds investigations to develop concept studies for new missions. Although they’re not official missions yet, the selections focus on compelling targets and science that are not covered by NASA’s active missions or recent selections. Gilmore's projects…
Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, is the author and co-author of several new publications. They include: "A View of the Ocean, Between the Tropics (1765–1800),” published in Britain in the World: Highlights from the Yale Center for British Art by Yale University Press, 2019. “Popularizing the Cosmos: Pedagogies of Science and Society in Anton Pannekoek’s Life and Work,” published in Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society by Amsterdam University Press, 2019. (more…)
Lack of reliable transportation can prevent patients from making it to medical appointments or accessing other health care services. In a recently published paper, lead author Eli Solomon '20 explored and analyzed existing research on nonemergency medical transportation interventions. The article, titled "Impact of Transportation Interventions on Health Care Outcomes: A Systematic Review," was published in the American Public Health Association journal Medical Care. Solomon, a neuroscience and behavior major on a pre-med path, wrote the paper based on research he conducted in summer 2018 with peers at the University of California, San Francisco. While at UCSF, Solomon worked for…
More than 85 Wesleyan students and guests attended the Pathways to Inclusive Education (PIE) professional development brunch on Feb. 8 in Beckham Hall. PIE is a collective of cohort programs whose purpose is to remove obstacles along the pathways to secondary and postsecondary education for students who come from historically underrepresented backgrounds. The program serves students in ninth grade through their senior year in college. Hosted by the Office of Equity and Inclusion, participants represented the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Program (McNair Fellows); Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows (MMUF); Wesleyan Mathematics and Science Scholars Program (WesMaSS); Upward Bound Math-Science Program (Upward…