Campus News & Events

Two graduate students and three undergraduate students are recipients of Fall 2018 NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC) awards. They are among 39 students from 13 CTSGC academic affiliate institutions to be honored. NASA CTSGC is a federally mandated grant, internship, and scholarship program that is funded as a part of NASA Education. There are Space Grant Consortia in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Earth and environmental science graduate student Christina Cauley received an $8,000 Graduate Research Fellowship for her project “Chemistry and Biology of Giant Hydrothermal Mounds in Paulina Lake, Oregon." Her advisor is Joop…

In this Q&A, we speak with Amy Grillo, associate professor of the practice in education studies. This spring, she is teaching Schools in Society and Practicum in Education Studies. Q: You joined Wesleyan’s faculty during the fall 2018 semester. Welcome to Wesleyan! What are your overall thoughts so far on the University? A: I keep pinching myself, which is to say that I am incredibly happy to have landed here. I’ve found the students to be lively and engaged, both with their academic work and with the world beyond Wesleyan. The staff and faculty seem similarly energetic and positive. I was…

Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid, recently announced that she will retire. Meislahn will leave the University in September after the arrival of the Class of 2023, the 20th class she will admit to Wesleyan. Meislahn came to Wesleyan from her previous role at Cornell University in January 2000 and is the longest-serving dean of admission in Wesleyan history. Over the past two decades, she has overseen a period of enormous growth and progress in Wesleyan admissions. For the Class of 2004, the first class admitted under Meislahn, Wesleyan received fewer than 7,000 applications…

Karl Boulware, assistant professor of economics, presented a paper at the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting on Jan. 4. The three-day meeting was attended by more than 13,000 economists, who gathered to network and celebrate new achievements in economic research. Boulware's paper, titled "Labor Market Conditions and Charges of Discrimination: Is There a Link?" examines whether the degree of labor market conditions affects the frequency of claims of discrimination based on race, sex, age, national origin, color, and disability. "Our findings have implications for how macroeconomic policies might be used to promote equal opportunity in the labor market,"…

Hirsh Sawhney, assistant professor of English and coordinator of South Asian Studies, recently participated in Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest. The ninth annual event was held Nov. 15–18 in Mumbai and was attended by more than 100 participants from around the world. At the festival, Sawhney participated in a panel discussion about the way in which outsiders write about India, and how outside perspectives have shaped both Euro-American and South Asian perspectives on India. "A lot of this conversation focused on the undying legacy of empire, and we had a nuanced conversation about issues of representation and authenticity, a discussion…

Amy Bloom, the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, recently launched a new nonfiction writing course housed on the Coursera platform. This is Wesleyan's 21st free massive, open, online course (MOOC) offered through Coursera. Launched on Jan. 14, Bloom's Memoir and Personal Essay: Write About Yourself Specialization shows participants how to write with confidence. Taught by award-winning essayists and memoirists, this specialization provides tips, prompts, exercises, readings, and challenges that prepare students to write compelling nonfiction. Bloom, author of two New York Times best-sellers, also is professor of the practice in creative writing and professor of the practice, English. In this Q&A,…

The Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore's grown cafe has added plant-based menu items from New York Times bestselling author Marco Borges’s new book, The Greenprint. Owned by Shannon Allen and her husband, two-time NBA Champion Ray Allen, grown is already a USDA organic–certified fast food restaurant, offering multiple vegan menu items. A plant-based diet is a revolutionary lifestyle program and a movement for the world that empowers people to consume more plants and reap the myriad benefits plant-based living can provide. “I am elated to have official Greenprint menu items as a part of grown’s carefully crafted menu,” said Shannon Allen. “Marco…

During the Annual Meeting for the Society for Classical Studies, Michael Roberts, the Robert Rich Professor of Latin, Emeritus, served as a respondent in a session devoted to commemorating the 30th anniversary of the publication of his book, The Jeweled Style: Poetry and Poetics in Late Antiquity. The meeting took place in San Diego, Calif., Jan. 3–6, and included numerous paper and panel presentations; roundtable discussion sessions; performances by the Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance; meetings and receptions of affiliated groups; and more. In The Jeweled Style (1989), Roberts offers a new approach to the Latin poetry of late antiquity, one…

For four Wesleyan students, creating a mobile platform–based business that helps people with financial literacy just made sense. Their business pitch for "MakingCent$: Creating [in]Dependence" landed them the grand prize the Entrepreneurship Foundation's Best Online Submission competition. The Entrepreneurship Foundation is a Connecticut-based organization that provides resources to help both educators and entrepreneurs. Eunes Harun '20, Sanya Bery '21, Joey Ellis '19, and Marcia Saetang '19 created the app during their GOVT 326: Political Consulting for International Business course last spring. "We found that financial illiteracy is, unsurprisingly, rampant in underdeveloped areas; however, what astounded us is that it's even common within developed communities as…

Neely Bruce, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, was named Music Ambassador for the City of Middletown in 2019. He received the honor during a reception Jan. 10 at the Municipal Building in Middletown, Conn. Bruce, a composer, pianist, conductor, and scholar of American music, was previously an artist-in-residence at Middlebury College, Bucknell University, the University of Michigan, and at Brooklyn College. He is the chorus director for Connecticut Opera and music director at South Congregational Church in Middletown. His compositions include three full-length operas; five one-act operas; works for orchestra, chamber orchestra, and wind ensemble; about 300 solo songs;…

Lewis Robertson, professor of mathematics, emeritus, passed away Dec. 22, 2018, at the age of 80. Robertson received his BS and MS from the University of Chicago and his PhD from the University of California—Los Angeles. He came to Wesleyan with tenure in 1970 after serving as an assistant professor at the University of Washington, and he remained at Wesleyan for 28 years until his retirement in 1998. Robertson’s scholarly research focused on Lie groups, topological groups, and representation theory. His PhD thesis was on algebra, influenced by topology, and that remained his primary interest throughout his career. He published 23…

Michael Lovell, Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, passed away Dec. 20, 2018, at the age of 88. Lovell received his BA from Reed College, his MA from Stanford University, and his PhD from Harvard University after serving in the Korean War. He came to Wesleyan as a professor of economics in 1969 and remained at Wesleyan for 33 years, until his retirement in 2002. (more…)

5 Students Receive NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium Fellowships, Awards

Q&A with Amy Grillo on Education Studies

Meislahn to Retire as Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

Boulware Presents Paper on Labor Market Conditions at Economics Meeting

Sawhney Speaks at Tata Mumbai LitFest

Bloom Creates New Memoir and Personal Essay Specialization on Coursera

Wesleyan’s R.J. Julia Bookstore to Offer Plant-Based Menu Items at Cafe

Roberts’s Book Revisited by Society for Classical Studies

Students Win Entrepreneurship Foundation Business Pitch Competition

Bruce Named Music Ambassador for the City of Middletown

Robertson Remembered for His Love of Mathematics

Economics Professor Emeritus Lovell Dies at 88