Campus News & Events

A student can be more than critical. A student can learn to follow, think independently, be creative, or love—or, all three. The act of being a student, as President Michael S. Roth ’78 explores in his, is one of pursuing freedom. “It's so great to be a student, because you're practicing freedom in a way that will increase your capacity to think for yourself and live with other people in a way that's meaningful,” Roth said during a Feb. 1 talk with an attentive audience of students, scholars, alumni, and parents at RJ Julia Bookstore on Main Street in Middletown.…

Imani Perry, a 2023 MacArthur Fellow and distinguished Harvard University professor, will deliver the commencement address at Wesleyan University’s 192nd Commencement ceremony on May 26, 2024. Perry will also receive an honorary degree alongside fellow recipients Raj Chetty, renowned for his studies of higher education and social mobility, and Michael Greenberg ’76, P’14, one of the world’s most distinguished neuroscientists. "At a time when the Academy is under fire, the inspiring achievements of these honorees shows just how powerful and beneficial academic work at the highest level can be," said President Michael S. Roth ’78. "Award-winning author and professor of…

President Michael S. Roth ’78 has announced the newly expanded Public Affairs Center will be named in honor of John Frank ’78, P’12 and Diann Kim P’12 and will reopen for classes this semester. The Frank Center for Public Affairs will house offices and classrooms for the economics, government, and history departments, as well as the College of Social Studies. It will boast a more energy efficient layout—including radiant panels for heating and cooling, displacement ventilation, and a green space on the roof—and expanded areas for serendipitous conversation and spontaneous collaboration, establishing the Frank Center as a hub for interdisciplinary…

As Wesleyan University comes up on the final moments of its most recent round of campus improvements, eyes are already turning towards the future. Staff and faculty members are working alongside members of the Board of Trustees to chart the future course of the University’s infrastructure. “Every other month we are meeting to talk about the progress of our campus planning … we are in the very early stages of this work,” said Alan Rubacha, Assistant Vice President, Construction and Infrastructure. Rubacha said the committee is working in three different areas—energy and infrastructure, academic and administrative facility needs, and residential…

Open trunks as far as the eye could see. Open eyes wandering all over—up into the rainy sky above, out past Andrus Field and up Foss Hill toward the Van Vleck Observatory, and down toward Usdan where Wesleyan’s newest attendees would eat their first meals as students. The new students arriving in Middletown on Aug. 30 for their first day on campus had an air of openness and curiosity about them. For many of the students moving in, it was that same openness that drew them to Wesleyan in the first place. An open-minded community, an open curriculum, being open…

Wesleyan welcomed to campus 14 veterans and active-duty military members, including one incoming student, for a week-long educational bootcamp with the Warrior-Scholar Project from June 4 to 9. "Recognizing WSP’s impressive impact and how veterans enrich our dynamically diverse educational community, Wesleyan was eager to both become a WSP partner and host a STEM bootcamp on campus," Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez, Vice President & Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, said. The Warrior-Scholar Project places former and current U.S. military in intensive classes for one to two weeks for them to begin to re-acclimate to a classroom setting. They offer sessions…

A day of celebration, demonstration, and love. Middletown Pride hit the heart of the city on June 3, as locals and not-so-locals joined together in support of love, equity, and inclusion. Wesleyan was one of four partner organizations of the Middletown Pride event, alongside the City of Middletown, Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Russell Library. Andrew White, Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian at Olin Library, said that he has been attending Pride events since the 1980s and has been involved in Middletown Pride since the first event. He said it marks Middletown and Connecticut as communities striving to “be…

Alumni from years ending in 3 and 8 gathered on Wesleyan's campus in Middletown from May 25 to 27 for the annual Reunion celebration at Reunion & Commencement Weekend. From WESeminars to the annual Alumni Assembly to a picnic on Foss Hill, the Wesleyan alumni community was on full display.

Wesleyan’s Alumni Association gathered in Memorial Chapel for its annual meeting on May 27, electing new officers and honoring some of the University’s most influential graduates. The event began with remarks from Alumni Chair David Hill ’86, who welcomed alumni back to their alma mater for Reunion Weekend and took a moment to acknowledge David Knapp ’49, the eldest registered alumnus in attendance. Three incoming Alumni Association officers were approved by the assembly for the 2023 slate: Ellen Glazerman ’84 P’26; Melvin Acevedo ’99; and Key Session ’17. “As we ask these volunteers to step into their leadership roles, I…

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence—a document written by a group of five men. Five months later, five different people gathered at the College of William & Mary to form Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the United States. Now 246 years later, 93 new and current members from Wesleyan’s student body—78 nominated from the spring semester and 15 inducted last fall—packed into the Memorial Chapel on May 27 to be inducted into the honor society. They join an estimated total of over 500,000 living members. Throughout Phi Beta Kappa’s history,…

In the last semester of the 1960s—a decade that’s since become a shorthand for a longer era of social, political, and cultural change—385 undergraduates comprising the Class of 1973 matriculated into Wesleyan. Among them were 50 Black and Latinx students, more than double the number of students of color admitted to comparable institutions. Months later in a January 1970 cover story, the New York Times Sunday Magazine chronicled the University’s strides in those early years of affirmative action in higher education with what some say was an undue dose of derision. “We, the Black, white, Latino, Asian, and women alums,…

At the sound of an emphatic drumbeat, the Class of 2023 and the faculty who led them to their degrees marched from atop Foss Hill on Sunday morning for Wesleyan's 191st Commencement. Smiles of celebration and stares of reflection were scattered among the crowd of students and their loved ones. Here is a selection of photographs from the special day:

Roth on The Student, Pursuing Freedom Through Education at RJ Julia

Announcing 192nd Commencement Honorary Degree Recipients and Speaker

The Frank Center for Public Affairs

Campus Construction Updates: Fall 2023

Class of 2027 Arrives at Wesleyan with Open Mind

Warrior-Scholar Project Session Hosted at Wesleyan

Wesleyan Partners, Walks with Middletown Pride

Gallery: Alumni Celebrate Annual Reunion

Alumni Honored for Distinguished Achievements, Outstanding Service at Annual Meeting

Students Inducted Into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society

In “Two Nations Now One,” the Class of ’73 Reflects on a Pivotal Era for Wesleyan

Gallery: Wesleyan’s 191st Commencement